I found this in a box in the cellar. For reasons unbeknownst to me I seem to have purchased this 'cykel computer' a few years back for the rock bottom price of 20 kroner [€3.00]. One of those classic supermarket impulse purchases of an item I have absolutely no use for.
What possible interest do I have in recording my distance travelled, my speed, my whatever else the thing records? Even if I did record it, I have nobody to talk to about it. The other 499,999 other daily cyclists with whom I share the bike lanes certainly don't give a shit about my average speed or distance travelled - let alone their own.
If I showed up at work and said "hey! I just did XX km in XX minutes!" I would be met with strange looks and worried grimaces.
So after taking the shot I promptly chucked this Cykel Computer into the trash - the electronics container, of course, so the city can dispose of it properly - and my life is better off for it.
But a shiny, new bell... THAT'S something important AND useful. Hmm. I'll keep my eye out for one.
49 thinking out louds:
Distance? Speed...?
Oh, I see! THAT kind of computer.
I thought it was for uploading photos on the go.
Powered by pedalling.
I considered getting one, but I think I'd end up trying to beat my time to work, speed up hills, speed down hills etc, which probably isn't safe (my eyes should be on the road ahead, not a tiny LCD).
Perhaps "Cykel Computer" is some foreign language phrase that means "Fun sponge".
Anonymous, the text on the price tag says "tilbud" which means "sale" in Danish; but in Swedish it means "accident". Maybe "accident" is what happens if you get one of these and look at it too much. :-)
That sale and accident are the same word makes perfect sense. Buying things on sale is normally an accident.
You could have at least given it away to someone who wanted or... gasp! needed one.
"Waste not. Want not," we Americans used to say in a much wiser time.
(caution: sarcastic comment)
ah, to be carefree and actually enjoying a bicycle ride...every ride is work, and i work harder on my bicycle than i ever do in gainful employment, the cycling computer helps me map my route far from home, turn at x.x miles and proceed down un-named road for another x miles, i have tried counting revolutions of my wheel and factoring in the metrics, thank god i'm a mathematics wizard.....next accessory a GPS device
Next Mikael will be modeling his lycra shorts and new helmet sitting on his carbon fiber bike. It's the thin end of the wedge!!!
My first response:
Even on 'training' rides, I find NOT having a computer keeps me focused on monitoring my body with my brain, not numbers.
Second response:
Andy B from Jersey has a point. Even if we flaunt disdain for lyrcra around these parts, and like to criticize anything tangentially relating to lycra..
someone could have "needed" or at least enjoyed that computer. Because some people DO enjoy the digits and data! And that's okay!
As long as we're on bicycles, right?
Funny . . . just too funny - especially the 'fun sponge' and Danish / Swedish language comments!
So there's a market for really nice bells is there . . . . hmmmmm . . .
You lot are too funny. :-)
despite the enormous similarities between Swedish and Danish [we can understand each other when speaking, reading, etc.] there are certain words that are different.
'Taske' is a bag in Danish, but means 'crotch' in Swedish, which is funny when you say in Sweden that you forgot your bag...
i disposed of the Fun Sponge in an environmentally responsible way and did the world a favour. :-) if someone out there NEEDS one, they can BUY one.
Well I get expenses for using my bike for work. 12 pence per mile so I need to provide the accountants with a log of journeys.
Don't Danish companies reimburse you for using your transport for work?
Computer is very useful if you ride for health or fitness purpose. You can say "I must ride 30 km every day and no slower than 25 km/h average" and computer helps you to do it. And in everyday-commuting, computer gives you some extra self-respect. The cars around you do have computers, so have you. You can feel yourself equal with them.
My Mother once told me that Danes and Swedes can understand each other but the Swedes choose not to ;-) I was out surfing a couple of weeks ago and there was a guy sat out on his board with an mp3 player. I thought it was a real shame that he was cutting himself of from all the sounds of being out in the sea. As I get older I want less technology in my life.
people have been riding bicycles for more than a century without computers. i don't see why they need them now.
a great example is the Green Wave in Copenhagen where the traffic lights are coordinated for bicycles so that if you ride 20 kph you'll hit green all the way.
the 75000 cyclists who use these green wave routes don't have computers. they just use a day or so to figure out their speed.
and if you want excercise, you just ride your bike for 30 min. or whatever. i can't see why you need to measure speed or distance. just move your body like people have done since the bicycle was invented.
@Anonymous;
I feel superior to cars because I´ve got larger wheels. ;-)
Who´s next in the dick waving contest?
we have skirtguards for protecting skirts and coats from the spokes... perhaps we need a big dickguard, too... :-) THAT would hurt if it got stuck in the spokes...
plingplingplingpling--ooooouch!!!
I just bought a Pashley Roadster, and their "ding dong" bell has the coolest sound. Everyone smiles when I ring it. See:
http://www.pashley.co.uk/products/roadster-sovereign.html
Maybe those dildoes were for testing out prototype dick guards! He needed so many because it is in the early stages of development. Of course, if you just keep the damn thing in your pants there shouldn't be a problem.
still thinking about those dildoes, are we, adrienne? interesting. :-)
Maybe they were ding dongs...?
dude, we get it. things are so simple and pure over there. great, i'm all for that cycling culture. but i'm not appreciative of it when it comes off as elitist and exclusive. some have different perspectives and preferences, yeah?
indeed. people have different perspectives and preferences.
this being my blog, I highlight MY perspectives and preferences.
is that strange? blogging about one's own opinions? i think not. in fact, if you look around the internet, you might find that this is quite a common phenomenon.
Wow! All this discussion over a fun spon...er, I mean highly useful device for measuring how much fun you are having! I have a confession, I sell fun sponges and such for a living but when I go to ride I am finding that I am using my 45 pound touring bike in street clothes and leaving my race bike and lycra and all the tangental stuff at home. Hmmm...
no, no, fair enough.
don't get me wrong, i enjoy the blog as a whole a great great great deal.
the internet is certainly a great tool to express opinions, and further, forge dialogue. and the dialogue provided by this blog is often no less than inspiring - but at times it also leaves me feeling somewhat alienated - which, i would assume, is not the end goal of a blog wishing to aid in and promote the dissemination of copenhagen-style bicycle culture.
i in no means wish to attack your perspectives and preferences, but merely desired to bring attention to the effects - though certainly unintentional and to a degree negligible - they can have.
one of the best parts of this blog is the discussions here in the comments. :-)
I use a cycling computer every day. It's great. It tells me distance, time, speed... but most importantly, it tells me the time at a glance. That way I know whether I have to pedal harder to catch my bus or not. I'd be just as happy with a small watch mounted on the handlebars, but the cycling computer was just as cheap.
Hey dude, your blog is simply awesome! Keep up the good, no great, great work!
Many cities in my country can do with this kind of biking culture ... Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune ... hopefully it will catch on ...
I have a watch mounted watch.
I find it most helpful
i've read about those fancy 'wrist watches'. i wonder if they'll catch on... :-)
>>>i can't see why you need to measure speed or distance...
It is a must for some. As a brittle diabetic who rides a bicycle everywhere instead of driving a car, it's important for me to keep track of the time and intensity of my rides so I can eat and/or dose insulin correctly. Guestimating is not good enough as a severe low while riding could have devastating consequences. Sure your entitled to blog your own opinion but I for one do get tired of the way you overgeneralize your own opinnons to apply to everyone. A cycle computer is not innately "bad." Using one doesn't make me worthy of your contempt.
I used to use one, but not anymore - for the same reason you tell.
I actually disgust myself- my computer is built into my bike, and I like it! I like the irony of a computerized Dutch bike. No accounting for taste! ;)
"people have been riding bicycles for more than a century without computers. i don't see why they need them now."
I supposed they don't need them, just like no one needs a radio, television or iPod. But sometimes some things are just nice to have...
I think the point Owen makes is a fair one. Like you say, it's your blog, and thus obviously your opinions. I guess I wonder though, who is your audience? "Copenhagenize the planet" would kinda seem to imply you're trying to get the rest of the world to emulate Copenhagen in your daily use of bicycles, which means your audience is really not Danes, but the rest of the world looking for an example. So when you have an American, Brit, Canadian, etc. coming to your blog and reading about what a dickhead you think they are because they wear a helmet and have a cyclo-computer, I don't think it really furthers your cause.
On the other hand, if your blog's audience is really your fellow Danes, and your purpose is to mock cyclists from other parts of the world, then flame away.
I like your blog, I do (obviously, as I keep coming back!). But I think Owen's point is fair in that you often risk alienation with some of your rather blunt views on cyclists from other nations/cultures.
You are funny Danish guy, ha-ha. I "don't give a shit" about what everyone else thinks.
ja ja me funny Danish guy! haha!
I agree with Owen and Fonk. It is your blog, but it is difficult to imagine that you intended for this post to convey the message, and attitude, that it does. When trying to convince other people (here, in the US) to look at how things are done in Europe, Denmark, and Copenhagen, this is not something to show them.
a cycle computer, like all other cycle gear, overcomplicates a simple issue.
the number of cycling people on the planet who would agree with this point outnumber those who wouldn't by 100,000 to 1 [rough guess].
so i don't get the criticism. those who read the blog and who use gear like this are going to do so anyway.
i'm speaking about - as I always do - getting the masses of non-cyclists inspired to ride and i happily highlight the folly of how some companies/people miss this point.
What disgusts me is the conspicuous waste you are displaying. Buying something only to throw it away looks to me exactly like a jacked up SUV with giant tyres - 'look at me, I'm rich because I can afford to waste my money like this'.
disgust? are you really disgusted?! goodness.
the funny thing is that i have yet to meet anyone who lives the perfect environmentally-friendly life - and I live in a city that is light-years ahead of the rest of the planet.
there are no saints, only sinners.
perhaps your disgust... i still get a kick out of that word... can be tamed when you consider the fact the useless bit of gear was disposed of properly.
It's quite possible that the resources used to make that computer, which you could have left on the shelf will outweigh any 'enviro-credits' you believe you gained by riding a bike. The disposal is hardly significant compared to the cost of manufacture. You could have at least returned the item to the shop or given it to a charity.
The very fact that you impulse bought something you didn't want (let alone need) indicates you have a weakness for buying stuff you don't need, which is hardly green. You also weaken your 'more green than thou' case by flying around the world - your single trip to Australia clocked up at least 30000km of CO2 burning, stratospheric particulate spreading plane flight, more than twice the average American's car usage (and planes are on par with cars for environmental damage). Most Americans hardly leave their town or city.
Stick to what you do well - illustrate the value of good bike facilities in Copenhagen. Stop being so dismissive, or you'll alienate your readers.
njh,
Lighten up with that righteousness! Mikael certainly isn't claiming perfection or writing about cradle to cradle sustainable economics. He's just pointing out the uselessness of such accessories from a rather sympathetic point of view ("look a the ironic mistake I made...").
Sure he could have sought out a new owner for that thing but it's still just a cheap bike computer and would probably never get used or add any value to anybody's life anyway. So he tossed it responsibly and wrote a few words about it.
That's a far cry from "...a jacked up SUV with giant tyres. - 'look at me, I'm rich because I can afford to waste my money like this'."
you could, of course, have posted it to the Denmark Freecycle group (http://www.freecycle.org/) where someone who *does* care about speed and distance could have made use of it. better to re-use or give away than throw away.
i doubt that someone who has been convinced by the sports marketing crowd that they 'need' a cycle computer would fancy a cheap Chinese version that cost 20 kroner.
To the people above who talk about being alienated...
If you wear sports cycling 'gear' then in a 'bicycle culture' you are highly likely to stand out. You will be the alienating your self.
But not only that, by wearing gear when not racing in countries like the US and the UK etc, you're also likely to alienate cycling, slowing down any possible growth in the numbers of people cycling.
By enforcing the myth that special gear is needed for cycling, you are making it alien to most people.
well said, Cian.
but, but how will you know if you are speeding. Or late for work. The only reason I have a cooker is because it has a clock.
njh, to be fair, Mikael is not preaching about getting "enviro-credits" so I don't see where your criticism comes from.
As for something Mikael actually said:
"a cycle computer, like all other cycle gear, overcomplicates a simple issue. the number of cycling people on the planet who would agree with this point outnumber those who wouldn't by 100,000 to 1 [rough guess]."
But I expect many thousands would have different opinions on what 'the issue' is. I ride on leisure spins most weekends into the countryside around Dublin. I'm not especially interested in racing, but some of them are. Cycle computers do not interest me, but they are are useful for gaining information to improve one's training if one so wishes. I don't think any of these friends think that the computer is useful for commuting. But what you seem blind to is that cycling is not just a means of transport, but it is also a sport.
While not a prudent piece of commuting apparatus, for those training for sport, computers are useful. I agree with your overall purpose - that cycling in the city with lycra, aero bars, computers, helmets etc does not encourage others to cycle. I don't use any of this stuff for commuting. However, it has its place in sport cycling, and is thus not inherently bad.
So in conclusion, the cycling 'issue' is more than just about commuting.
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