I’ve recently fitted a bike computer for the first time in years and struggled to decide if I should set it to km or miles.
It’s a pain in the arse really, as road signs are in miles, I think in terms of miles, but most mtb routes are in km.

I don’t understand why the UK hasn’t adopted kms yet, when pretty much every other measurement is now metric. Is it too expensive to replace all the road signs (and I guess not all cars have dual speedos)or is it a step too far, like the Euro!

Seems stupid to see a job through part way.
I think we should bite the bullet and go for it!

I use KM’s. All OS maps are in KM’s, so makes sense to set bike computers up in KM…

I guess not all cars have dual speedos

Pretty certain it’s law to have a dual display for the speed. Not sure when this came in though.

I agree, it’s stupid that we still measure distance in miles. Must just be a cost thing.

most mtb routes are in km.

I still ride all my mtb routes in miles.

The lower numbers make me think I’ve gone less far so I’m not so tired.

Roadies do Metric Centuries for the opposite reason 😉

I have to use miles when I cycle because the speed display runs out of numbers if they’re in Kmh.

I always work on the basis that only unfit people (in this country) use KMs, as it makes it sound further/faster. I can’t process KMs without converting to miles to get my frame of reference right. 😆

It’s just another way in which the UK insists on being different (despite it costing us) like driving on the other side of the road compared to the majority of the world. People get so precious about daft things like the imperial / metric systems, but it doesn’t really matter. We really need to pick one and stick with it, at the moment we seem to have a half-arsed mix of both systems, which can be confusing, expensive and open to mix-ups / mistakes.

a half-arsed mix of both systems, which can be confusing, expensive and open to mix-ups / mistakes

I’ll say – I always thought Wednesdays was ‘drive on the right hand side of the road’ day.

Caused me no end of problems.

It’s good practice for arithmetic though.

Benefit and want.

Whilst having things like metric money, metric things that affect pricing in shops, etc. make peoples lives easier for a load of other things it really makes no difference.

Like miles vs km – All they are really used for in day to day life is to give people a rough way to visualise how far something is. Kms are no better than miles for this the vast majority of the time and most people are already familiar with miles since they are already on the road signs.

So while it would obviously be better to be 100% metric in the long run there is no real need to make the change now or any time really so it won’t change.

never know a roady do a metric century.

Miles offroad

KM on road

Miles offroad

KM on road

knots on water

Mach no. @ Alt in the air

Warp no. in space!

Why don’t we just use nautical miles on land too?
I agree the units should be rationalised.
My sat nav uses miles, bike comp uses kms.
Its not a difficult conversion just unecessary.

we seem to have a half-arsed mix of both systems, which can be confusing

We are used to our system but people coming from abroad must wonder WTF we are doing with the mix of metric and imperial.

Pint of beer
Litre of fuel, but consumption of said fuel in miles per gallon
Pints of milk
Everything on roads in miles
Food measured in kg

seems very random.

Litre of fuel, but consumption of said fuel in miles per gallon

that’s the petrol retailers trying to confuse people, not the government.

Pints of milk

one of my local shops only sells milk in L. i was baffled at first.

i work in km. imperial is illogical and outdated. drive in miles though as you have to.

It’s just another way in which the UK insists on being different (despite it costing us) like driving on the other side of the road compared to the majority of the world

Could be worse. We use a variety of ‘engineered in the USA’ products which use things like 5/64″ screws rather than M2 screws.

The whole fuel being sold in litres, but consumption being measured in mpg is proper mental though.

Litre of fuel, but consumption of said fuel in miles per gallon

Had never stopped to think about that before. Insanity..!

(I ride my bikes in KMs, but do it to give some mental stimulus to do the conversions. When people ask how far I’ve been, I give the answer in miles. I’m a t–t.)

The fuel thing makes perfect sense once you factor in humans.

Litres are used for fuel as it is a measurement where is is useful to be able to calculate the cost of multiple units, part units etc. Metric makes sense.

Fuel consumption is just a useful tool for comparing performance. It is not important what the absolute measurement is, just the comparison between cars or current performace vs past peformance. The unit isn’t really important, so long as it is consitent. Changing the units used would introduce this inconsistency. So there is no real compelling benefit of change.

It’s just another way in which the UK insists on being different (despite it costing us) like driving on the other side of the road compared to the majority of the world.

Obviously with a statement like this you’ve never actually travelled…, and even in France the home of metric somethings’ are imperial – tyres for one.

For one I haven’t a problem flipping between both systems, but then I’ve a BRAIN!

The change to metric will happen over time. I am just short of 50 and was never taught the imperial measures, always have used metric (and the SI units). As such as we get older the move to metric will happen. The move to km will probably be the last one as it is such a public change. It will be phased in over time, so we will have a mixture of signs until at some point.

I use metric for everything I wasn’t even taught old at achool 😀 Can’t get my head around old stuff like ounces. what is is? 12 ounces in a pound then 14 pounds in a stone? crazy. 10s are sooooo much easier.

emsz – you need to do more drugs if you want to get your head round that 😉

I bet most of the ‘I use metric’ people still measure tyre pressure in psi and quote their weight in stone.

It’s a misplaced nostaligia that’s one of the things that holds this country back. We haven’t taught imperial measures at school for a couple of generations yet we still have to deal with a distance measure (miles) where most of the population cant translate it into a measure we understand (how many metres are there in a mile? shit, I don’t know how many YARDS there are in a mile).

Likewise pints and fluid ounces. Pounds and stone for weight. Still using feet and inches for height and clothing measurements (32″ waist?).

I’d feed it though to backward looking noddy house architecture and preservation of large amounts of badly built victorian housing. Don’t even start on the House of Lords and the monarchy.

It is not important what the absolute measurement is

It is if you are a poor student and want to know exactly how much petrol to put in a borrowed car to get to Afan/North Wales/wherever.

If you think we are bonkers, try talking to Americans who are attempting to defend the ‘English’ units as they call them, claiming metric is unworkably confusing.

Kms are foreign, and therefore inherently suspect. We didn’t win a war to use German distances… or some such.

1600 meters in a mile about 1750 yds in a mile.

Americans generally struggle with the 24 hour clock (‘Military Time’) so I’m not sure them complaining a unit of measurement is ‘confusing’ is bad thing.

Edit:

We didn’t win a war to use German distances

It’s worse than that, they’re French.

why doesn’t my mountainbike have 66.04cm wheels, it’s all so confusing to my tiny brain

Jo, yeah, bye bye to the 29er nichemongers! Bring on metric! Then they’d be the 73.66ers.

Didn’t think of that, did they? 😉

why doesn’t my mountainbike have 66.04cm wheels, it’s all so confusing to my tiny brain

Oh don’t get started on the crazy mish-mash of metric vs imperial in cycling!
Half inch pitch chains, tyres/wheels measured in inches (with the exception of random numbers like 700c and 650b), suspension travel in mm (although early rear suspension was always referred to in inches). Headset sizes in inches, stack height in mm, pedal thread size in fractions of an inch (9/16th). The steerer clamp end of the stem in inches, the bar clamp end in mm with the actual length of the stem being in cm.
Road bikes frame size measured in cm, MTB in inches (mostly)
What a mess!

12 ounces in a pound then 14 pounds in a stone?

Nope. 5/10. Must try harder. 🙂

16oz to a pound, 14lb to a stone.

But 20 fluid oz in a pint. Why? because a “pint of water weighs a pound and a quarter” and 1 1/4lb is 20oz.

The Americas get this wrong though. Only 16floz in a US pint. Their gallons are smaller too, I’m not sure so please correct me, but I think this comes from their odd sized pint/floz thing

I can use either, because that’s how I was brought up, but distances and speed sound wrong in metric to me, and I can convert instantly in my head. Also, I work in the building trade, and that’s still very old fashioned as a lot of the guys are older. I have been asked how much concrete to fill “2 by 3 meters and about a foot thick” though….. 😀

Someone tried to tell me that metric was rubbish and confusing because the units weren’t ‘natural’ or anything we could relate to based on the human body.

He stopped talking when I mentioned that almost everyone else in the world gets along just fine.

The lengths some Americans will go to to try and dress up blatant nationalism in respectable arguments amazes me.

It’s a misplaced nostaligia that’s one of the things that holds this country back.

From what, exactly? 🙂

Liquid volumes should be measured in schooners which is neither metric or imperial.
Makes it much easier to determine how many standard units of alcohol one has consumed.

What about common sayings?

“I’ll go the extra one point six one kilometres for him, he’s a lovely chap”

“Four hundred and fifty four grammes for four hundred and fifty four grammes, it’s the best one you’ll find”

Not so simple now is it?

Always raises an eyebrow when I tell people I grew up using lsd… 😯

Their gallons are smaller too, I’m not sure so please correct me

yep.

Bloke crashed a plane near me because its tanks held ‘n’ American gallons and he’d used the wrong conversion rate when filling it with Imperial ones. Ran out of fuel.