The Lucas Cyclometer

The mechanical marvel that pre-dated the cycle computer

- Kevin Raymond

Cyclists like numbers. Whether it’s watts produced, metres climbed, or Strava segments conquered, if we can put a number on it then we’ll record it, analyse it and (if the numbers look good) boast about it to our mates. This is nothing new. Before the days of power meters and GPS tracking, though, we had to content ourselves with speed, distance and maybe heart rate, and before the days of cheap digital bike computers, the most the average cyclist could hope to record was distance and time. Any old wristwatch or stopwatch could cover the latter, but for distance the tool of choice was the Lucas Cyclometer.