I’m buying a new bike and the option to go wireless and get cadence and have the bike computer integrated into the shifters is pretty appealing. The $150 price tag is not very appealing. Anyone have an opinion on the Flight Deck? Is the calculated cadence as accurate as a magnet driven system (I know it won’t be when coasting). Are there any features missing from the Flight Deck that you wished it did have? THANKS!!!
I’ve got FDs on my road and touring bikes, but not on my tri bike. The thing I like most about the FD is being able to see what gear I’m in without looking back at the cogs. This is especially nice during fast group rides where you need to be hyper-aware of your surroundings at all times. I don’t use the virtual cadence feature very much because I usually have a pretty good feel for my cadence. Overall, I really like it and wish there was a way to integrate the buttons into bar end shifters. If there was, I’d add one to my tri-bike as well. Note that with FDs, the wireless option only eliminates the wires from the computer to the fork…there are still wireless going to your shifters (to hook into the buttons).
I’ve got two FlightDecks and like them a lot. I don’t think the cadence is as accuate as a magnet set-up… but it’s in the ballpark. The flip side is the cadence ALWAYS works… even if the magnet or sensor gets bumped. I also have a Mavic with cadence. It’s nice, but… I’m going to be getting another computer this Fall and I’m 100% sure it will be another FlightDeck.
JB
I love mine. Totally dig it. Having the buttons on the hood is very nice. Knowing what gear yer in is great too.
I ride by cadence (virtual or otherwise) the vast majority of the time, so it’s nice to have that feature w/o a bunch of unsightly wires running to the back of my bike.
Now that Cateye has a wireless computer w/ cadence, I’d probably consider that as an option too if I were buying new today (although I’ve heard there can be interferance issues w/ HRM’s and the Cateye). When I got my FD ('99) it was the only game in town.
As for wish-list features, it would be perfect if it took speed off the rear wheel, so you could use it on a trainer. (I have the same wish for the Mavic WinTech wireless system - too bad they don’t make a rear skewer pickup option available, then that thing would totally rock). Oh, and one minor complaint, is that you can accidentally switch view modes by hitting one of the buttons on the brake hood - I notice this is most prone to happening while climbing out of the saddle. Since I don’t climb that way too often, it’s not a biggie for me.
These days, I just take a quick look down to see what gear I am in! Works fine for me.
Fleck
A trifle too complex for my taste. The modular ting makes it a pain to stock and sell too when there are other, simpler systems out there that work as well or better and are easier to sell, install and configure.
If you have someone else, like your LBS, do the dirty work installing it I wager you will like it. The luster was lost for me in the installation process.
I have one. My opinion of it is mixed. and after using it for over a year, enough time has passed since paying for it that I can evaluate it without thinking about what it cost me. This has led me to decide to get rid of it.
The good
It works just as advertised. It tells you what gear you are in. The cadence is accurate, its just that it does not update instantaniously so there can be a lag of a second or two but I don’t find this to be a big deal. (Since the cadence is calulated based on speed and gearing, if you don’t have your sprockets entered into the unit correctly when you set it up the cadence will be way off.) I’ve heard complaints that it shows cadence even when you are not pedalling but I find this useful. For example, if you are coasting down a hill, you can see if you have to shift before you start pedaling.
No wires is nice.
The gear indicator is much more useful than I thought it would be.
The bad
In terms of usability, if Shimano shifters where designed like the FlightDeck, the company would be a bit player in the cycling world. When it comes to setting up and programing, there is almost nothing about the FlightDeck that is intuative. They gave the programing assignment to some mechanical engineer intern.
To give you an idea of what a PIA it is to program this thing, I have been intending to change to a new rear cassette. I have the cassette but I have not changed it yet because I haven’t found the time or patience yet to deal with reprograming the FlightDeck.
In use, accessing specific info is harder than it should be. Info is divided into 2 distinct groupings and it takes a 2 second push of a button to switch between groups, then button pushes to move from item to item within a group. If you have speed and cadence on the display and you want to check on how long you have been riding, it takes a 2 second push to change menues, then a couple of pushes to get to the stopwatch and then a 2 second push to get back to speed and candence. There is no tactile feedback so you end up looking at the unit to see if it is changing. This issue may not sound like much but it bugs me alot and keeps me from looking at all the info the unit makes available during a ride. I just leave it on speed and cadence, just like I did with my $25 cateye. In the end, the shifter buttons don’t really add much since the internal menu structure is so screwy.
There have been a few occasions where it has refused to either turn on at all or it has refused to autostart. I’ve had a couple of occassions where in messing around trying to get it to start, I got into programing mode and actually ended up having to completely reprogram the unit. It is bad when your cycling computer causes you to delay starting a ride by almost an hour. Sure I am an idot and all these problems ended up being my fault but every other computer I have had protected me from myself to some degree. The FlightDeck doesn’t do that.
All that being said, I would keep it except for one very big issue I have.
My biggest beef is that it has a front wheel sensor and the cadence is dependant on speed (only availabe on the front wheel) so the unit is completely worthless on a trainer. If the front wheel is not spinning, there is no way to get speed or cadence. I am going to dump it for this reason alone. It is an elegant setup with no wires but in the fall I have to install a wired Cateye so I can use my trainer. Right now I actually have TWO computers on my bike, the Flight Deck and a Cateye for the trainer since I am going back and forth between outdoors and indoors. So much for elegance.
I’m going to get one of the new Polars shortly. I can get my HR and both cycling computers into one unit. The only thing I am losing is that I’ll have to look back if I want to know what gear I am in.
Isn’t speed on a trainer sort of…unneeded? It won’t be accurate compared to speed on a road, so why does it matter? It’s probably harder to compare speed on trainer vs. road than power output on trainer vs. road which I know is kinda bogus from experience. Speed should be based on friction and weight, which is completely dependent on how much friction you add on the trainer, which can even be different from ride to ride. Maybe I’m wrong?
My flight deck stopped reading my cadence and current gear, but it was installed by the factory, so I don’t know how to fix it. I feel like an idiot, but I dont even know how it transmits the current gear or the cadence. I’ve changed out rear deraillurs so that is probably the current gear problem…any ideas?
I used a flight deck for years and, in general, liked it. Besides telling me speed and counting mileage, I really liked the gear indicators. My biggest gripe and the reason why I changed over to the Polar was that the wires between the shifters and the head unit were very short, which limited the placement of the head unit. This didn’t bother me until I tried to mount the unit on my aerobars, which it wouldn’t reach. It was admittedly challenging to reprogram in case of a cassette change too.
I’ve had one on my road bike since 02 and have always really liked the FD. I always tell people it does everything for me except my taxes. Very easy to use and never had any accuracy problems. Actually, never had any problems at all. I didn’t transfer it to my tri bike because I couldn’t operate it off the bar ends. And I actually didn’t want one on my tri bike - no computer, no power meter, just a pair of wheels, legs, and eyes. I didn’t install it myself so can’t comment on that, but useability is great.
Actually, now that I think of it I have a used FlightDeck that I’ve been meaning to sell if you want it. It is a 9 speed version, NOT wireless. When I upgraded some components on my bike I upgraded to fully wireless. This one has the wire from front magnet to computer.
If you tighten down the trainer the same each time, then the speed should be a decent of comparative power, which is much easier than calculating it for each gear and cadence. It is all moot if you have a PM.
I used the unit for about a month on my road bike. It worked great but I got a new Garmin unit on my tri bike & decided to swap it between both bikes.
The flight deck computer I have is all wireless & 10 speed compatible. (Double or triple chainring) I would be shocked if it had 100 miles of use…
PM me if your interested in taking it off my hands. (Or anyone else for that matter)
Travis
Me no likey. Non-intuitive. Expensive. No auto-start. I struggled with it for a while and replaced it with one of these:
http://aebike.com/page.cfm?PageID=30&action=details&sku=LD7708
and a $25 (if that) Cateye computer with cadence.
Easily 1/3 the cost and significantly more functional.
I had one that came on my used road bike. I didn’t like it much. It has a bit of a delay on it. It also quit working a couple of time at around 5000 ft. It started working again when I descended. I have one sitting in my garage I’ll be glad to send you if you want it. I was in a hurry to get it off my bike so I cut the wires on the harness leading from the shifters so you will have to either splice the wires or get a new harness. PM me with your address if you want it. If you get one use Sheldon Brown’s website to get the instructions to program it.
Good Luck