The iPhone's ability to be personalized by its user with cycling apps and hardware, while also functioning as a GPS, phone, MP3 player and camera, makes it the tour de force gadget for any weekend bicycling enthusiast or even a professional racer, on the road, or off.
However, the original iPhone was not manufactured with GPS capability, rendering it obsolete for most of the information contained in this article.
Handlebar and Frame Mounts
Mounting the iPhone to the handlebar or stem offers a rider full visual access to cycling app controls and indicators, maps, iPod controls and more, while having both hands on the handlebar. There are a variety of mounts on the market from which to choose, by manufacturers such as: Fisica, Bicio, Arkon, Amzer, PED3, Dahon, Pro.Fit International and others. One downside to mounting the iPhone on the handlebars is the dangling earbud wires hanging near moving knees and arms, which may interfere with the safe operation of the bicycle, though when on the road, it is recommended not to wear earbuds so as to hear traffic. There is also the risk of damaging or destroying the phone if it pops out of its mount in a crash.
Cycling Apps for the iPhone
A variety of bicycling-specific applications are available for free or for purchase from Apple's iTunes Store. Some bicycle computer apps include: B.iCycle, Bicycle Stats, Biky Coach, Cyclemeter, iMapMyRIDE, BikeMateGPS, BikePRO, SprintGPS's Cycle Tracker Pro and a host of others. Apps use the iPhone's assisted GPS — a combination of triangulation through cell phone towers and GPS satellites — to determine location, direction of travel, speed and more. Note that the accuracy of any assisted GPS app is compromised in areas of low connectivity to the GPS satellites and/or cell phone towers.
Other features to consider are route and stats logs on the iPhone or via an Internet database, ability to load and race against a route already ridden, social networking, live tracking and status updates via a social network, in-app iPod controls, in-app photo taking with geo-location tagging and voice feedback.
Training Hardware
A variety of apps integrate basic cycling data such as speed, time, distance, pace and maps with the option of adding training hardware such as pedal cadence and heart rate monitors to a training arsenal. Two such apps capable of integrating hardware for training purposes are iMapMyRIDE and Biky Coach.
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