Measuring Wheel

[SGT Rock]

This may seem like an odd request, but does anyone out there have a measuring wheel I could borrow? I need to measure some trail.

[Bob S]

I use to use a measuring wheel (2 of them actually) in my business. I clean carpet and measured the room sq ft. they would be off 6 inches in 25 foot, then I would measure it the other direction and it would be right on. I switched to a laser tape measure and it made a world of difference.


I would use a GPS to do trail measuring. Not a rola-tape.

[Montego]

Measuring a trail? Thought you were suppose to stay off that foot Sgt Rock! :D

[SGT Rock]

I'm gathering equipment for my re-hab. I ain't planning to start tommorrow.

[Montego]

Ah, just ribbin' ya a bit :D. Actually, leaving for the trail in a few hours and just too full of anticipation to settle down at this point.

[doggiebag]

Ah, just ribbin' ya a bit :D. Actually, leaving for the trail in a few hours and just too full of anticipation to settle down at this point.
Good luck on your hike Montego. Slow and steady. Regards.

[Tennessee Viking]

This may seem like an odd request, but does anyone out there have a measuring wheel I could borrow? I need to measure some trail.
My club has a measuring wheel with bike tred. But I doubt we can lend it out. And you probably don't want to come up to Kingsport for a wheel.

The Smoky Mtn Club should have a similiar one in their equipment.

Dicks or some sporting good store, or even some tool rental place, should sell or rent them.

[Montego]

Good luck on your hike Montego. Slow and steady. Regards.

Thanks doggiebag. Plan on slow and steady, but d**n that food weighs more than I thought it would :eek:

[SGT Rock]

Have fun. I figured you were messing with me.

[ofthearth]

Have got one. Hope to be at Damascus for trail days if that works for you.

[SGT Rock]

That may do it. I will remember this and get back with you.

[shelterbuilder]

They aren't that difficult to make - a bicycle wheel mounted to a front fork with a set of handlebars welded to the top of the fork post. Add a cycling computer to the wheel and you're all set! BMECC uses one similar to this, and it rolls right over Pa. rocks!! :D

[Nightwalker]

Get in touch with Pittsburgh on the AT-L (http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/at-l)

[take-a-knee]

They aren't that difficult to make - a bicycle wheel mounted to a front fork with a set of handlebars welded to the top of the fork post. Add a cycling computer to the wheel and you're all set! BMECC uses one similar to this, and it rolls right over Pa. rocks!! :D

That is a really cool idea. Back when a lot of bicycle shops were swapping out solid forks for shock type forks on mountain bikes those things were lying around all over the place, and those bike computers aren't expensive.

[Dances with Mice]

Just add computer. (http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=7511&c=member&imageuser=1030]http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/files/1/0/3/0/uni-torch_thumb.jpg)

http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/files/1/0/3/0/uni-torch_thumb.jpg (http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=7511&c=member&imageuser=1030)

But seiously, I hang with a group that has more worn-out or out-grown unicycles in their closets or garages than the national average. I've thrown away a couple myself. An old uni would make a great measuring wheel. I'm going to be on the lookout for one now.

[ki0eh]

I did a study of GPS vs. measuring wheel on the PA Mid State Trail and found that the wheel length was about 5% greater - except on the rail trail section where it was the same. We considered the ramifications of this and determined that we thought the wheel more closely approximated the actual hiker experience. One section was unwheeled at the time so we increased the measured length by 5% before reporting it. :)

I heard that Finger Lakes Trail has a homemade measuring wheel made by some engineer in Rochester who got hold of a computer that decrements (not increments) when the wheel is pushed, in some kind of strange units - so the volunteers using that wheel have no idea how far they went without inputting values into a spreadsheet!

The Mid State Trail's chief wheelman uses a cheap tapeless voice recorder in field rather than fiddling with a notebook. It's gotta be retyped anyway... (If you were doing both wheel and GPS you could use the same technique to record what the waypoint is when marked.)

Source for real measuring wheels: http://www.forestry-suppliers.com/product_pages/View_Catalog_Page.asp?mi=5687

[sasquatch2014]

I think that part of the Varoiance with a wheel vs GPS is that the GPS really records straight across gaps that the wheel may drop down into some like between rocks. While it may not seem like much it all adds up over time.

[ki0eh]

...or over rocks, or around rocks... (this was PA after all)

[WalkingStick75]

I used my GPS (Garmin 60CSx) in Maine last year and found it to be very accurate compared to the trail data. Easier then the wheel too.

[Heater]

Might want to inquire with your local track and field guys. Might borrow one there.

[Bob S]

Rola-Tapes lie more then a politician. Yea they are easy to use, but you will get less then accurate data from them.

I own 2 of them (they sit and do nothing now) and have used close to 1-doz of them over the last 25-years, none are worth it.

[Wags]

rock, most landscapers own one. if you're buddy's with any i'd suggest asking them if you could borrow one over a weekend