Heart Rate Monitors

Cycle heart rate monitors are intended for those who are serious about keeping tabs on their performance, although in recent years a typical bike HRM has become far more flexible in its potential uses. Most bike heart rate monitors are either attached to your wrist or mounted somewhere on your bike or your person for increased accuracy. While exercise enthusiasts may be the ideal audience for these devices, you may find that there is enough functionality to justify interest from a broader user base.

Brands like Polar create some of the most technically advanced HRM devices on the market. As well as keeping track of your heart rate in real time the best bike HRM gadgets can actively monitor your performance over the course of a training session and give you an estimate of your aerobic fitness levels which you can then use to view your improvement over time.

Modern heart rate monitors are designed to take advantage of your home computer or laptop, linking up with online services run by the manufacturers so that you can look at your vital statistics and improving fitness levels. This can go some way to justifying the expense of the pricier models because you will essentially be getting a wrist-mounted personal trainer that will help you push yourself harder and see better results at the end of the day.

Some companies like Garmin produce heart rate monitors for cyclists which include GPS features for mapping and navigation, so the possibilities are always increasing.