Worth getting a Cadence Sensor?

General Discussion
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I bike and zwift mostly for health, leisure, and commuting. That said, I still like to make sure I am improving in how I bike. With that in mind, is it worth getting something like a Wahoo Blue for cadence or would I just be wasting my money since I don’t race or anything else really competitive on a bike?

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Hi Matt,

Welcome to the Zwift forum.

I find it very helpful to know my cadence when training, I like to train at different cadence ranges to stimulate the muscles differently.

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It’s not an expensive addition, but unless you are particularly aiming for a specific range I think it’s a bit of a novelty. It’d be interesting to find out what your natural cadence is, but you can work it out by counting pedal strokes for a minute or thirty seconds.

It’s worth experimenting with pedalling faster or slower, but do you need to know the precise numbers; probably not. You just need to know what feels right to you. I know that I feel like I’m grinding when my cadence is 80rpm; but to other people that might feel quite a brisk cadence.

I didn’t have one on my commuting bike for years, and I didn’t miss it. I added one recently just because the training website I’m using required one in order to derive workout intensity from heart rate & cadence since I don’t have a power meter on my commuter. If not for that, I still wouldn’t have one.

I do have one on my road bike, but it’s more for interest than anything meaningful.
If you’ve got £20 to spend, grab one for funsies, but honestly I don’t think it makes much difference. You’ll still pedal slower up hills… =)

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i just recently got a cadence sensor. it was definitely not the game changer that power and HR have been.

however, when i do some workouts that have cadence goals, it is very nice to know that i’m on-target.

so – my opinion – if you never do workouts with a cadence component, i’m not sure you’ll care about a cadence meter. if you do, it’s a nice addition, but HR is a much more interesting metric, so spend money on HRM first!

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As others have mentioned, cadence sensors are cheap and add metrics that you might find useful (now or in the future).

Personally, I recommend Wahoo. I’ve never had a problem with a Wahoo speed or cadence sensor.