What power to buy?

duffyshuffle

Planning on training road bike until April then TT after that for outside, and using the TT on the turbo inside until April.
Prob going to race an IM and will defo race a half and a few oly's.
I have Mavic ksy sl's on my road bike and carbones on my TT. I will use an old wheel for the indoor cycling. I have a basic trainer and have been working off HR mainly for bike but never really done any focused threshold work.

Question is, if I was to buy something for power for my training, what is the best to get, i'm not too well informed on brands or ease of swapping PT's between wheels/bikes etc... so any info would help. Is a turbo with power on it any good? Assume i've a grand or so to spend but happy to spend less...

Also, ideally something you can buy in Ireland as a cycle to work scheme purchase,

Thanks

tunney

duffyshuffle wrote: »

Planning on training road bike until April then TT after that for outside, and using the TT on the turbo inside until April.
Prob going to race an IM and will defo race a half and a few oly's.
I have Mavic ksy sl's on my road bike and carbones on my TT. I will use an old wheel for the indoor cycling. I have a basic trainer and have been working off HR mainly for bike but never really done any focused threshold work.

Question is, if I was to buy something for power for my training, what is the best to get, i'm not too well informed on brands or ease of swapping PT's between wheels/bikes etc... so any info would help. Is a turbo with power on it any good? Assume i've a grand or so to spend but happy to spend less...

Also, ideally something you can buy in Ireland as a cycle to work scheme purchase,

Thanks

Power is an invaluable tool for triathlon racing however there are a few caveats.

#1 People now view PMs and power as a must have. But then continue to use PMs as they do their HRMs. To record sessions not to guide them. If you won't train to numbers then its not for you.

#2 Education - you have to read about power, understand it and be happy to continually educate yourself

#3 People - I know when I got my PM I was in my old club. It quickly became apparent that the training rides were pretty useless and I had to start riding on my own. If you can't find like minded people to train with then you would have to ride on your own. Thankfully my clubmates now ride reasonably well.

#4 Cost - they are expensive.

PMs at the moment break down into two categories. Wheel and crank based.

Wheel based is the PowerTap. Its a hub built into a number wheel and like a normal whell can be transferred between bikes in seconds (assuming second mounting kit). It does restrict your wheel choice though. What alot of people are now doing is getting a good quality clincher (either deep section or something like a mavic open pro) and then using that to train on. Come race day they stick on a wheel cover and BAM a disc wheel. It can be switched easily between bikes. It is the cheapest option but does restrict wheel choice.

Crank based is SRM or Quarq.
SRMs - depending on the version can be switched between bikes in minutes. they are extremely expensive but are considered to be the gold standard of PMs. They can be used on any bike with any wheels and that is good. What is bad is the price and the aftersales. Batteries need to be replaced by SRM and my head unit is still with SRM since the beginning of June.When they work they are excellent.
I've never used a Quarq but I do know it is cheaper than a SRM and it allows you to use different wheels. I think I would try a Quarq next to be honest.

All of the above PMs work on trainers and I would go for a normal trainer and a PM over a power one. Remembering while the Flow has power its not that accurate and a good and accurate power traininer is the same cost as a PM.

I know a few clubmates have gone PT and wheelcover (order in bulk from US) and they liked them (9:50 in IM WA at the weekend and a womens 10:20 in same race).

Bang for buck a PT and a disc cover is probably the way to go. A 404 shaped clincher with a PT would cover all the bases when combined with a disc cover.

For IM racing the real benefit is in pacing during long rides and the race itself so I would go for the real thing than just a turbo one.

anyways - hope this helps. Just my take on it.

duffyshuffle

Cheers Tunney,

Great info, I suppose it'd be much handier to have power readings on the road vs turbo as i do a lot more there. I do like to train to figures and like to train in small groups and split up in the groups for threshold work etc... so it might suit.

So if I already have two good sets of mavic's (carbones and ksyrium sls), would it benefit me to buy one that suits them like this one http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=39766 Cycleops Powertap pro+?
I've a road and tt bike, one is 9 speed, one is 10 speed, will that matter for the type of PM i get?
If I got the wheel based one, I could use it Jan - May on trainer and outside, then swap it over to the race wheel hub for race season? I would train on tt bike from April but could swap hubs to use the sl's on the tt bike after being done with the road bike?

Are my carbones a 404 like wheel that you could turn in to a disc wheel easy enough? Any link to where you'd look at the covers?

Thanks again for the info, sorry for the noob-to-power questions!

tunney

duffyshuffle wrote: »

Cheers Tunney,

Great info, I suppose it'd be much handier to have power readings on the road vs turbo as i do a lot more there. I do like to train to figures and like to train in small groups and split up in the groups for threshold work etc... so it might suit.

So if I already have two good sets of mavic's (carbones and ksyrium sls), would it benefit me to buy one that suits them like this one http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=39766 Cycleops Powertap pro+?
I've a road and tt bike, one is 9 speed, one is 10 speed, will that matter for the type of PM i get?

Would be fiddly with a PT to change cassette as well but possible.

duffyshuffle wrote: »

If I got the wheel based one, I could use it Jan - May on trainer and outside, then swap it over to the race wheel hub for race season?

Nope its built into one wheel and thats it, stays in that wheel, never leaves, never changes, you change the entire wheel from bike to bike.

duffyshuffle wrote: »

I would train on tt bike from April but could swap hubs to use the sl's on the tt bike after being done with the road bike?

Nope - sorry

duffyshuffle wrote: »

Are my carbones a 404 like wheel that you could turn in to a disc wheel easy enough? Any link to where you'd look at the covers?

Thanks again for the info, sorry for the noob-to-power questions!

www.wheelbuilder.com

If you felt comfortable training on the carbones use them for the PT or better yet - pick up a second hand wheel and use that.

mloc123

tunney wrote: »

Nope its built into one wheel and thats it, stays in that wheel, never leaves, never changes, you change the entire wheel from bike to bike.

Nope - sorry

He could get the hub built into his race wheel but its a pain and will work out expensive depending on spoke choice..

pgibbo

Did you get the battery issue sorted on your PT mloc? Also, how difficult would it be to swap the wired one between bikes? Would it be time consuming? Cheers.

mloc123

I did, new battery has worked fine... I will put the issues down to old batteries and storing the headunit in the docking cradle.

Swapping will be a pain in the ass, so much so that I think I will buy a second mounting kit.

pgibbo

mloc123 wrote: »

I did, new battery has worked fine... I will put the issues down to old batteries and storing the headunit in the docking cradle.

Swapping will be a pain in the ass, so much so that I think I will buy a second mounting kit.

Cheers for that. Will the mounting kit be expensive?

mloc123

Good question... I will have to check. CRC do them for about €80 I think, much cheaper from the US but have to factor in postage.