I want to get more intentional about my fitness and measuring my performance and whatnot. As such, I’m in the market for fitness tracking technology for the first time.
However, I’m very much a Free Software / self-hosted sort of person, and I’m very un-thrilled about how proprietary all this stuff seems. It looks like the sensors themselves are kind of standardized (“ant+”, whatever that is), and some of the data formats can be imported and exported, but the bike computers themselves and the companion apps and the online services appear to be trying to become walled gardens.
Short of building a bike computer from components myself, what hardware and software should I be looking into?
Edit: my most immediate concern is figuring out what bike computer to get, to be able to log data from the ANT+ speed, cadence, and heart rate sensors I’ve already bought (along with a GPS track). I’m considering anything from a Wahoo ELEMNT Bolt V3 ($300), to an off-brand(?) one like a Magene C506 ($100) or iGPSSport BSC100S ($38), to using my smartphone with an ANT+ dongle and the “A Training Tracker” app (Github, Play Store).
Bicycling should be enjoyed. I’d throw all that junk away and just ride.
Personally I enjoyed riding without all the gadgets way more, but I do see the appeal.
“I need the data to know whether I really exercised.”
“My ride doesn’t count unless my numbers are good.”
“I can’t enjoy riding without constant feedback.”
“The device must prove I’m healthy/fit/doing enough.”
Sounds fun.
No one needs to play psychologist to know you’re a fucking cunt.
I’ll bet he smugly rides a steel frame, too.
I’m a cock. And I wouldn’t fuck your cunt if it was the last one on the planet Earth.
What a fucking stupid troll.
This.
That being said I have a Wahoo Kickr turbo trainer from 2019. The app that I need to work with it went through a series of updates that expanded the tracking, prioritised cloud storage, and placed ads on the screen. What I found is that installing a much earlier functional version of the app gets what you want if you can block updates. So maybe, if you can find out what version of the app you like was the last before the enshitification, download that APK and stick with that.
No, not “this.” That guy is an asshole trying to tell me that what I want is wrong. For the record, I actually do want what I asked for and do not have an X/Y problem.
Thank you for the advice about using old pre-enshittification versions of apps, though.
Goddamn! I’m sorry people are giving you such a hard time for wanting to collect some data from your rides and use it for planning and stuff.
I want a similar thing for running and it’s really painful. I do not want to subscribe to an app and I don’t want to send my data to some company for monetization. I just want to collect and use the data myself.
I grew up in the 90s and got my first computer in 95. Seeing how awesome the world of software was back then has made me so damn depressed about the subscription hellhole we live in now.
Fuck these morons. I’m not saying it’s for you but peleton has been insanely helpful tracking my fitness progress. Good luck finding one that works for you.
Regardless of who he is or how tackless he is: the point that just going out there and enjoying the ride is golden and shouldn’t be lost on you.
Do you even begin to understand how fucking presumptuous it is to assume I need to be told that? I have been riding bikes for decades and have never used a bike computer. I wanted advice for the thing I don’t already know plenty about, not the thing that I do!
You two need to get a clue that this discussion is supposed to be about bicycling and your high horses aren’t welcome.
I’m a professional bike mechanic. If you’re in my store I’d sell you everything you want more. But here I’m just being honest. 90% of the people I sell that shit to… They want it removed within 6 months. “Distracting” is the most common complaint. Extra weight. Extra fuss. Extra gear. Most cyclists want to travel light. (And your smartphone can handle a lot if you feel nerdy.)
It’s a neuroticism. I’m not insulting you. That’s just the definitional word. The other 10% post their shit on Strava and 90% still don’t give a fuck.
But you do. You really do. So do it. You got the money. Go to your LBS and tell them your budget and what you want and I’m sure they will gladly hook you up.
Lol I’m a bike mechanic, and we put that stuff on people’s bikes all the time, and they never ask for it to be removed.
You’re just being an ass. Okay it’s something you aren’t interested in, fine, but there’s no need to be an asshole to the people that are interested in the data. Just because you can’t handle seeing data and being unable to have fun, doesn’t mean everyone else has the same problem.
Nobody puts that shit on their bikes these days except old people who don’t know how to use a smartphone.
You just want to pontificate and aren’t paying attention to anything I’m actually saying. I don’t want the proprietary shit normies think is good. A random LBS employee will not be able to help me – case in point, you sure as hell aren’t!
What I need is advice from people at the intersection of bicycling and being Free Software weirdos. Hence asking on Lemmy.
Narcissistic too with an antipersonality disorder.
Watch out everybody, we got a serial thriller.
Just cadence. It’s so easy! Pedal.