During a routine inspection of my long-distance bike, the (in)famous acid-red CAAD12, I discovered that the cadence magnet had slipped a little on the left Cannondale Hollowgram Si crankarm, thereby touching (and chafing) the Wahoo Blue SC sensor pod.
I had not paid much attention before, and simply repositioned the magnet whenever I noticed any rubbing.
By now, both, the foot of the sensor pod as well as the cadence magnet were worn alarmingly thin. Something had to be done.
Choices
Researching the Web gave a plethora of solutions, yet I definitely didn’t want to glue anything onto my crankarm. Some magnets would fit into the hexagonal inner shape of the pedal axles — an attractive solution, if procured in the right size.
With extremely tight clearance between crankarm and chainstay, coming across the “WOOdman CadenZ” range of magnets seemed to solve my problem: These cadence magnets are available not only for two different axle diameters (6 and 8 mm) but also in four different lenghts from 4,5 to 14 mm, with the shortest of them (4,5 mm) being an exact match for my setup.
And, yes, they also come in red! Wonderful red anodized aluminum!
Forever, the perfectionist in me strives to weed-out bigger and minor issues, ideally before they manifest themselves as major defects or even catastrophic failures. Ordering the tiny aluminum part that is the “CadenZ” thus was a no-brainer. But then again, looking at the high proportion of shipping cost vs. the equally steep price of the miniscule item made me for a moment doubt my sanity.
This time the package took a minor but irritating detour and was lost in transit for a couple of days. An annoyingly long wait later I unwrapped the shiny red CadenZ and surely had a look at the installation and maintenance instructions. Yes. There’s a maintenance interval to be taken into account:
2-Year Interval
With an equally tiny rubber o-ring, the magnet fastens into the hollow hex-shaped spindle of the pedal axle. And there’s a clear description reminding the user to (a) apply some grease on installation, and to (b) change said o-ring every two years!
Installation was straightforward. And even though I initially had my doubts regarding the magnet staying put, it seems to hold its own and has not moved a micron since.
Wired
The most challenging part of the entire installation procedure was not the magnet itself though: Having wired my Supernova Airstream tail light around the Wahoo Blue SC sensor pod, that cable now collided with the CadenZ magnet.
To realign everything I first taped a piece of transparent film on the chainstay, precisely facing the magnet. With a sharpie, I marked the itinerary of the magnet across the chainstay on the tape, repositioned sensor pod and cable, and eventually attached everything firmly with a pair of zip-ties.
Let’s hope for a long lifespan for this most recent and tiniest of optimizations on the CAAD12 “FrankenBike”.
BTW — woodmancomponents.com offer more than just the CadenZ. I especially like their “Gator Series TiZ” aluminum-brass-titanium QR skewers. Gorgeous!