Bar mounted compass

[Wag67]

I’ve used a liquid filled one fixed with a Velcro strap on all my tours. Great for getting through towns and cities. Had it for twenty years. Gutted when I lost it last year when I treated myself to having new bar tape fitted in Copenhagen at a bike shop/cafe. The tech forgot to reattach it and I didn’t notice. Found another easily enough for a few pounds on eBay though, waiting for the next tour


I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my wobbly bog brush using hovercraft full of eels

[Brucey]

using search terms 'compass velcro' in ebay produces some useful results. I quite like the look of the Suunto wrist compass, but it ain't cheap. There are various alternatives which are cheaper though.

cheers

[Oldjohnw]

I just carry my very good silva used for hill walking. But then, I use paper maps. Proper old fashioned, me. It means stopping to check it but I stopping.

[Wag67]

I got mine like I posted, on eBay. Cost £2. 25. I already had a strap. Works great


I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my wobbly bog brush using hovercraft full of eels

[hamster]

Orienteering wrist or thumb compasses work well and are available from around £10; however on a steel bike they are at best approximate! The army map reading handbook recommends a distance of several metres away for an undisturbed reading.

I've never tried degaussing my bike! Another good argument for a carbon fibre frame?

[Mick F]

Has anybody noticed any problems with steel components of the bike affecting the needle?
The frame or cables for instance. Or parts of the bell itself.

Kelvin's Balls and Flinders Bars.

Look 'em up!

[Mike Sales]

Has anybody noticed any problems with steel components of the bike affecting the needle?
The frame or cables for instance. Or parts of the bell itself.

Kelvin's Balls and Flinders Bars.

Look 'em up!

I don't need to. It is the need for balls and bars on steel boats which prompted my question. That and my experience of wandering in the mist amongst rocks with a magnetic field.
Also using a hand bearing compass too close to electronic items.

[mattheus]

Orienteering wrist or thumb compasses work well and are available from around £10; however on a steel bike they are at best approximate! The army map reading handbook recommends a distance of several metres away for an undisturbed reading.

I've never tried degaussing my bike! Another good argument for a carbon fibre frame?

Are you saying the Army handbooks specifies the min distance from a BIKE?!? they think of everything!
______________________________________

This has developed into a really informative thread. i shall be looking into a Suunto clip compass for my watch strap, reading up on Burt's Sun Compass, and estimating the value of a Carlton Green smile.

[Mick F]

Has anybody noticed any problems with steel components of the bike affecting the needle?
The frame or cables for instance. Or parts of the bell itself.

Kelvin's Balls and Flinders Bars.

Look 'em up!

I don't need to. It is the need for balls and bars on steel boats which prompted my question. That and my experience of wandering in the mist amongst rocks with a magnetic field.
Also using a hand bearing compass too close to electronic items.

Some years ago - plenty of them! - I was given a compass for the car. Sucker thing onto the window or dashboard, and a floating sphere of the compass dial. There was a complicated setting up procedure involving little magnets to neutralise the car's magnetic field. I never trusted the damned thing and had no real need for it either.

It didn't last long.

[Mike Sales]

Some years ago - plenty of them! - I was given a compass for the car. Sucker thing onto the window or dashboard, and a floating sphere of the compass dial. There was a complicated setting up procedure involving little magnets to neutralise the car's magnetic field. I never trusted the damned thing and had no real need for it either.

It didn't last long.

Amazing. I never imagined anybody would have gone to such lengths.
I have read up the procedure of "swinging the compass" and making a correction table for a steel boat, but never had need to go through all that hassle.

[Brucey]

more recently I've had a similar device in a land rover, but it didn't come with any corrections. It seemed to work OK at first.

However it turns out that the aluminium bodywork doesn't screen the magnetic field from the fat old cable running to the starter motor. The result of this is that when the starter motor is working, the compass is practically spinning like a top. After a while the compass started pointing in the wrong direction on a permanent basis. Since the land rover was old before I fitted the compass, I doubt the car has changed its magnetic field much, so I think the compass itself is now jiggered. It sort of points in a direction, but it ain't north any more....

cheers

[hamster]

Are you saying the Army handbooks specifies the min distance from a BIKE?!? they think of everything!

Manual of Map Reading, Air Photo Reading & FIeld Sketching!

For future reference, 'safe distances for readings from common objects'
Tank 75m
Heavy gun 60m
Field gun 40m
Steel helmet 3m (let's not start that debate again )
It even goes down to a bunch of keys (0.5m).

[2_i]

I have many times used my wrist compass in cars. The key was to take the hand of the steering wheel and shift it around to figure out what compass direction was persistent. Nowadays cars often have geographic direction indicators in mirrors and they are usually correct. One of my common uses of a compass is when taking an underground train in a foreign location (including London tube) and checking whether I chose the correct side of the train line.

[AndyK]

I don't know why you say 'many' phones don't have a compass, if they have GPS which is pretty much all of them and a signal then you have a de facto compass, downloading a compass App is also no big deal either.

I did already answer that in my post. The GPS processor only knows which direction you're facing when you're moving. That's why many phones have compasses built in - but some don't. To take a random example, gsmarena.com tells me that Samsung currently offers 255(!) models of phone, but only 168 of those have compasses.

[Brucey]

FWIW there are wristwatches that also have a compass built in to the main mechanism somehow. I know nothing of them other than that they exist.

cheers