CatEye Wireless Micro: How the obsessive cyclist keeps track

There's a scene in the movle "Breaking Away” where the main character, cruising southern Indiana on an Italian 10-speed, pulls in behind a truck stacked with building stone. As the truck accelerates, he hangs out in its suck zone (kids, don't try this at home) and a friendly trucker sticks a hand out the window as a speedometer: three... four... five... six fingers! Sixty MPH! and the pride of Bloomington howls with joy!

Clearly, he wasn't riding with a CatEye.

I'm pretty sure the fastest I've ever gone on a bicycle is 38.4 MPH (not drafting a semi), according to a handlebar-mounted cycle computer. Over thirty years I've gone through five or six and my most recent one (a twelve-year-old TREK) finally bit it. It still functioned, but was useless with an intermittent connection to the sensor. Given that, I figured my next computer should be wireless: though more expensive, wireless adds convenience and (probably) lifespan. My wife has a ten-year-old CatEye wireless that functions perfectly, so why mess with success? A CatEye Micro Wireless Computer it is. After two years, I have no performance complaints - though I do have a few with "intangibles."

The Good:

• A CatEye Micro Wireless Computer is feature-rich. Besides the large speed display, you rotate through other displays at the bottom of the screen with a push-button (clock, elapsed time, max speed, average speed, trip distance, and odometer). It has a rudimentary "interval" function so you can time an interval and display its elapsed time, distance, and average speed.
• The computer has A/B capability so you can mount it on two bikes, even with different tire diameters: one for training, the other for competition or, more realistically, a road bike and a mountain bike. The second bike requires its own sensor and receiver mounts, at additional cost.
• There's auto on/off: the timer "wakes up" when you start moving and stops keeping time when you're still. It goes to sleep, showing the clock only, after ten minutes; and shuts down completely after two weeks.
• The receiver mounts on bar or stem; with supplied rubber "grips" and cable ties for the bracket. The computer slides into its mount with a snap catch, and can be removed for security. The sensor has a universal mounting bracket with its own cable ties, which CatEye says fits all front forks. Switching to a different bicycle requires removing the sensor but leaving the mount in place. Both brackets have sticky tape for added security.
• The display includes a pace arrow that points up when you're exceeding your average speed and down if not.
• The computer is easy to install and relatively easy to program - you have to set the clock and odometer (if you care), choose between metric and English units, and set tire diameters (for both bicycles).
• Total weight (computer plus sensor) is 30g (about one ounce).

The Indifferent:

• The CatEye Micro Wireless Computer can be programmed for manual start/stop instead of automatic.
• There's a yellowish backlight that illuminates for several seconds. No sane person rides after dark here in Houston, so I only know this vicariously.
• There’s no cadence function, which competitive riders find essential but recreational riders (probably) don't.
• There's no discrimination function in the signal: find yourself in a tightly-packed peleton and who knows whose sensor the computer is actually reading; though since you're all going the same speed, what difference does it make?
• Rotating through functions uses one button, so it’s tedious to change from mode to mode. The "on-off-reset" button is concealed at the end of the case instead of on the top surface, so accidental resets are harder than they used to be.

The Bad:

• The receiver must be mounted within seventy centimeters (27.5 inches) of the sensor. Unless you have a very small bicycle, you can’t use the sensor on the rear wheel; rendering the computer useless (except as a clock) for an indoor trainer. There is nothing on the box that mentions this.
• The installation instructions are a double-sided sheet about the size of a newspaper, printed in about twelve different languages (including Hungarian!). The operating instructions are reduced to a crappy icon table, as is common among "international" products, that looks like a flow chart for a particularly demented video game.
• Though there are twin odometers, removing the computer's battery erases both odometer and tire size. You'll need to record their values (assuming you noticed them before the battery conked out) and re-program by hand.

Overall:

I'd hoped to use this computer to track mileage on an indoor trainer during Houston's cool and rainy season, but no dice unless I mount the computer on the top tube. I wish CatEye would make this limitation more obvious on their packaging. I also wish that the owner's manual were a little less cryptic. They've provided a larger, better-illustrated English language version of the installation instructions on-line; why can't they do that with the operation instructions?

Otherwise, I'm satisfied. The accuracy is, as expected, superb; sensitivity is good; installation is easy (after I pulled out the magnifying glass). Our household history with the manufacturer suggests above-average longevity and durability. Cyclocomputers are essential to the obsessive among us, and this one is a very good basic wireless model.

I bought mine at the REI on Westheimer, but CatEye computers are widely available. According to their website, you can also find them at Northwest Cyclery, Performance, Southwest Cyclery, Bikesport and Spring Valley Bicycles; plus both Bicycle World and the Bike Barn chain list the CatEye Wireless Micro on their websites.