Crank length and road grade measurement

Touche! ;-) ;-)

Actually, after doing a web search, I discovered the
word 'inclinometer', which can be built with a protractor
and a plumb line for perhaps $1. I understand that some of
the more recent 4x4 SUV's have inclinometers built in, to keep
drivers from tipping them over.

A web search also indicated that a French company considered
building such a capability into one of their bicycle
speedometer/odometer/heart rate monitors, but probably
discovered that the heart rate monitor was more accurate!

At 01:09 PM 7/3/02 -0700, John Foss wrote:
>> Does anyone know of a good way to measure road grades?
>
>A heart rate monitor?
>
>:-)

On Wed, 3 Jul 2002 14:25:49 -0500, tron
<tron.78cgo@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:

>Looks like harper wins again.
I stand corrected. Thanks for posting.

Klaas Bil

"harper" <harper.788ra@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote in message
news:harper.788ra@timelimit.unicyclist.com...
>
> hbaker1@pipeline.com wrote:
> > *Does anyone know of a good way to measure road grades?
> >
> > What kind of an instrument would I have to borrow or purchase?
> > *
>
> The instrument is a precision combination square with protractor head. A
> picture of it is here:
>
> http://tinyurl.com/jyi
>
> These are pricey guys and an adequate substitute could be found for much
> less I'm sure.

You can do the same using a protractor and a short (shorter than the radius
of the protractor) piece of string with a weight on it. Line the protractor
up so it is at the same angle as the road and then hang the weight from the
middle of the protractor and see what it hangs at.

If you want a percentage grade then do some trigonometry to convert it.

Joe

hbaker1@pipeline.com wrote:
> Does anyone know of a good way to measure road grades?

> What kind of an instrument would I have to borrow or purchase?

I believe a clinometer would do what your asking ( not to sure on the
spelling tho my English- Danish dictonary has it spelt that way , so it
must be right). These can be made using a protractor and a plumbline (
string with weight on the end). Or you could try and borrow a basic one
from a high school ( where I used them back when I studied
geography). There is some maths that goes with it, but I forgot that.

Basicly you set up two poles with identical hieght markings, often red and
white strpes at set intervals. place one pole at bottom of slope and one
at top. Line up clinometer with one of the height marks on the bottom
pole. Sight along it to the SAME height marker on the other one and read
off the angle of the slope from the protractor like bit. add that info to
the measurement on the ground between the two poles.Do the maths and hey
presto, you have the gradiant of the slope.

Sarah


--
Unicon 11 ~ Washington USA.~ July 25 - Aug 2 2002
The world unicycle convention and championships.
http://www.nwcue.org

I purchased an inclinometer at Orchard Supply Hardware (owned by
Sears) for about $10. It may be accurate to about 1 degree, which
may be the best you can do unless you want to spend a lot more
money or do a lot more work.

[harper]

Originally posted by hbaker1@pipeline.com
I purchased an inclinometer at Orchard Supply Hardware (owned by Sears) for about $10. It may be accurate to about 1 degree, which may be the best you can do unless you want to spend a lot more money or do a lot more work.

The 1 degree precision is adequate. Any hill of appreciable grade will have variations greater than that.

The street in front of my house is about 8 degrees (14% grade) and my
driveway is about 10 degrees (17% grade) -- neither of which I can get
up while mounted, as yet.

On Thu, 04 Jul 2002 14:30:56 GMT, hbaker1@pipeline.com wrote:

>I purchased an inclinometer at Orchard Supply Hardware (owned by
>Sears) for about $10. It may be accurate to about 1 degree, which
>may be the best you can do unless you want to spend a lot more
>money or do a lot more work.

On Wed, 03 Jul 2002 22:22:43 GMT, Sarah Miller <sarah@vimes.u-net.com>
wrote:

>hbaker1@pipeline.com wrote:
>> Does anyone know of a good way to measure road grades?
>
>> What kind of an instrument would I have to borrow or purchase?

I made one myself many years ago out of an old cigar box and a
circular piece of wood. I'll try my hand at ascii art:
___
|O|
---

The piece of wood could rotate inside the box. It was made heavy on
one side and had a graduation on the other side that could be looked
at through an opening in the top of the cigar box. Simple really and
nowhere near accurate. I don't know where it's gone. Maybe I'll remake
it to check (my progress re) the grades I can get up and down.

Klaas Bil

For some reason, my postings through my ISP seem
to be getting lost. I'll try the email route.

I purchased a 'protractor' (actually an inclinometer)
from Orchard Supply Hardware (now owned by Sears). It
is made by 'Empire', and consists of a little bubble
gauge rotating in a 360 degree cage marked with angles.
The whole thing is about 2" in diameter and costs $10.

I measured the grade of the street in front of my house
at 8 degrees (14% grade), and my driveway at 10 degrees
(17% grade). I can't negotiate either of these while
mounted on my unicycle -- yet.

[jshu99]

Originally posted by dan

Jesse,

how much faster are 4.3 inch cranks as opposed to 5 inch?

George, Is the metal plate going to be avalable to use in conjuction with the plastic seat?

dan

4.3" cranks added between 1-2 MPH to my average speed. This is on rides that are about 80% flat terrain and 20% hills.

Jesse

[U-Turn]

Some compasses have a built-in inclinometer. Placing it on a two-by-four layed parallel (I love spelling that word) with the hill would help average the small local variations.

[phil]

... two-by-four layed parallel (I love spelling that word)

<pedant>

What, "laid"?

</pedant>

Phil, just me

How about using the unicycle?

Carry a sight level and a calculator with you. At the bottom of the incline
in question lay the level on top of the crown (or some other pre-measured
point high on the uni). Sight through the level to a point up on the
incline. Ride to the identified point counting the revolutions of your
wheel. Do the math.

$15 Sight Level: http://www.mcmaster.com/ item number:19225A63

Doug

[john_childs]

Originally posted by Doug Massey
How about using the unicycle?

Carry a sight level and a calculator with you. At the bottom of the incline in question lay the level on top of the crown (or some other pre-measured point high on the uni). Sight through the level to a point up on the incline. Ride to the identified point counting the revolutions of your wheel. Do the math.

That does involve a unicycle so it gets some bonus points. But it's too complicated.

Here are two angle locators. These links go to Amazon.com. There are other similar angle locators. They're less than $10.

<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...111705-5006536>
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...111705-5006536>

I'm gonna have to find the percent grade for some of the hills I ride. I've always been wondering how steep they are.