Power Meters

S_D

Hi all,

Looking to gather some data to improve my racing next year and want to invest in a power meter! I see there is lots on the market and I dont know too much about them as I havent used before! I was looking at a single side / dual or t he vector pedals but its all confusing... anything to beaware off / avoid ?

Thanks in advance

nordicb

Dual sided pedals will give double the data rate for both legs than single side, which is simply multiplied by two.
Vectors, other than gen 3, seem to be too cumbersome to setup. The latest 3rd gen ones look neat, but appear to be too raw and have lots of issues.

Powertaps, which I have, seem to work well, but are quite bulky and have higher stack. Never had any confidence cornering on them. Not big fan of Look cleats either.

Most seem to be only taking Look or Look-alike cleats.

If I was to go after power meter again, I would look for crank based options.

thekooman

ive a 4iiii single sided crank arm 105 which i got for 320 and its been faultless. but a friend of mine had to return his.
all of my bikes have Shimano 175mm cranksets so i can move between TT, road and CX/Winter bike with ease.

Quigs Snr

S_D wrote: »

Hi all,

Looking to gather some data to improve my racing next year and want to invest in a power meter! I see there is lots on the market and I dont know too much about them as I havent used before! I was looking at a single side / dual or t he vector pedals but its all confusing... anything to beaware off / avoid ?

Thanks in advance

Get a crank based powermeter.. best value is probably the power2max ng eco. The amount of folks who buy flaky flawed single sided things or pedals is astonishing (No thanks garmin... the vector 3s look great but they are even less reliable than the 2s)

07Lapierre

I have the Vector pedals. (2nd Generation). As long as you use a torque wrench, they're easy enough to fit. The main advantage of pedal based PM's is that they can be moved from one bike to another.

dahat

I have been using a Stages Gen 2 last two years and bar the cold weather causing excessive battery drain its been great.

At the time I wasn't in a position to get a crank based one due to cost as the power2max wasn't available to me. Training to powerboat guidance and while crank based would be perfect you will still get enough from a Stages Pm to see the benefit from your investment.

As above I have two bikes so it is easily switch for bike to bike for turbo or season at the time, massive plus for me.

sullzz

I have the Favero Assioma pedals , they never miss a beat .

JimmiesRustled

I actually have a power2max ng eco for sale. Fantastic units. Have 3 at the moment.

Weepsie

I've powertap P1 pedals. Now the right pedal will be seen by my phone and laptop, but not by any of my GPS devices. It's possibly an issue with the battery cap as the first ones were rubbish.

I don't like the stack height and clearance however, they are bloody well built. Clipped a kerb, and it scuffed the left one a fair bit, but still working away.

Plan on getting rid of them though as I don't race, I was just very curious about the metrics and found they were sucking the enjoyment out of it all for me.

Inquitus

I have had a Stages Gen 1 still works perfectly after 5 odd years, would recommend crank based as best, then dual sided pedals, then hub or crank arm based in that order, but generally all serve an excellent job as a training aid and value for money is your best guide assuming all are in perfect working order. I think P2Max generally offer the best bang for buck but it's budget and what's out there that should ultimately decider.

koutoubia

sullzz wrote: »

I have the Favero Assioma pedals , they never miss a beat .

This.
I Have the Duo. Easy to put on with an allen key (supplied). follow the instructions and it should be paired within a min or so.
Magnet rechargable batteries without removing the pedals.
App for the phone (android not sure about iphone) that connects via bluetooth that can do updates and checks the battery level.
Garmin finds its after one revloution of the pedals which wakes them up.
The flashing lights look kinda cool.
So far hasnt missed a beat and i have started to changed the way I pedal as a result

Shoco83

I've only recently invested in a stages power meter.

Any advice on where to start with it? I've had 4 rides with it so far and going from a smart turbo in erg mode to using a power meter on the road is a rather big change. I find it very hard to maintain a consistent power on the road, I was surprised to find just how much the slightest change in gradient effects your power out put.

I plan to incorporate trainerroad sessions onto the road when possible.

dahat

Shoco83 wrote: »

I've only recently invested in a stages power meter.

Any advice on where to start with it? I've had 4 rides with it so far and going from a smart turbo in erg mode to using a power meter on the road is a rather big change. I find it very hard to maintain a consistent power on the road, I was surprised to find just how much the slightest change in gradient effects your power out put.

I plan to incorporate trainerroad sessions onto the road when possible.

Check your smoothing settings and set it at 3 seconds, works best for me.

It is extremely hard nearly impossible to keep to exact wattage so maybe working to power zones works best. Do your FTP and get the zones from that.

sullzz

Shoco83 wrote: »

I've only recently invested in a stages power meter.

Any advice on where to start with it? I've had 4 rides with it so far and going from a smart turbo in erg mode to using a power meter on the road is a rather big change. I find it very hard to maintain a consistent power on the road, I was surprised to find just how much the slightest change in gradient effects your power out put.

I plan to incorporate trainerroad sessions onto the road when possible.

Make sure your Garmin is smoothing out the power to 3 second power avg rather that just power otherwise your power will be jumping through the figures constantly as you pedal .
Regarding changing at gradient , this will come to you as you ride with it more .

sullzz

dahat wrote: »

Check your smoothing settings and set it at 3 seconds, works best for me.

It is extremely hard nearly impossible to keep to exact wattage so maybe working to power zones works best. Do your FTP and get the zones from that.

Got there before me

Shoco83

Yeah I have it set to 3 seconds and also have zone displayed beside it, zones are based on turbo ftp.

Yeah I guess it will take a bit of getting used to and get a feel for. It was a bit of a shock going from perceived effort to actually seeing what zone I was in!

niallo32

Have the Stages Gen 2 - same as other poster - have Garmin set to 3 second average

koutoubia

What I found was ,and can imagine it was especially noticeable on power pedals,
that I was actually lifting my feet off the pedals at differnet parts of the pedal stroke creating wild spikes. Once I figured out what was happening the spikes are no where near as wild as before.

S_D

JimmiesRustled wrote: »

I actually have a power2max ng eco for sale. Fantastic units. Have 3 at the moment.

How much?

fondriest

JimmiesRustled wrote: »

I actually have a power2max ng eco for sale. Fantastic units. Have 3 at the moment.

Link/ price please, I'm actually looking at these at the minute to replace a different powermeter.

Macy0161

I have ultegra 4iii single sided. I got it on offer from probike kit. I struggled to justify the cost of dual or total power where as single sided and on offer brought it down. Dual sided or total power is better, but I still say single sided is better than none. Easy to transfer between my bikes too.

If they were compatible with my bikes, I would've gone FSA powerbox, but not being able to transfer easily without multiple bottom bracket changes (and then more cranksets to make the bikes ridable without the powerbox) put it well over the price of the pedal options.

harringtonp

sullzz wrote: »

I have the Favero Assioma pedals , they never miss a beat .

How is the charging working out ?

harringtonp

koutoubia wrote: »

This.
I Have the Duo. Easy to put on with an allen key (supplied). follow the instructions and it should be paired within a min or so.
Magnet rechargable batteries without removing the pedals.
App for the phone (android not sure about iphone) that connects via bluetooth that can do updates and checks the battery level.
Garmin finds its after one revloution of the pedals which wakes them up.
The flashing lights look kinda cool.
So far hasnt missed a beat and i have started to changed the way I pedal as a result

How long have you been using it for ?

harringtonp

sullzz wrote: »

I have the Favero Assioma pedals , they never miss a beat .

How long have you been using it for ?

harringtonp

I've had

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/01/power2max-power-meter-in-depth-review.html

since October 2013. Used it loads, great power meter but the left crank has finally worn were it goes on to the spindle and it keeps coming off. The PM/spider itself is still as perfect and reliable as it was on day 1.

Looking at either a new left crank, new crankset (that I can transfer the spider on to) or new power meter altogether

sullzz

harringtonp wrote: »

How long have you been using it for ?

I can’t be 100% sure because I had the bepro pedals before these but at a guess I’d say about 8 or 9 months .
I’ll

Shoco83

Just wondering for anyone that uses a stages, my calibration reading are always anything from 955-960

However when I go on to the stages link site, I get a notification saying it is out of calibration range, has anyone else ever had this issue?

Taxuser1

Obviously a useful tool for the more serious trainer who will stick to a power based training programme through thick and thin. but is that what you are looking for in your cycling OP? Or is it just to see numbers? I sold mine when it became more about the latter and couldnt commit to the power based training for a host of reasons but mainly because i kept getting sick. So just changed to feel and heart rate. Used the turbo virtual power readings for some sessions. Didnt need to look at power readings when racing and it was useless to me after a race. Also, the chainset i had was heavier than my current one

koutoubia

harringtonp wrote: »

How long have you been using it for ?

Sorry I unsubscribed form the thread so didnt see the question.
Been using them since early summer.
Never ran out of battery but charged them twice just to make sure they were topped up.
They will be getting a lot more use in october so will top them up to 100% and see how many kms i get before getting to 10% or so

Rhetoricman

Been using Stages gen3 crank since May.
Still learning how to interpret and apply all the info coming at me. I'm really in the early stages (pardon the pun!).
Reading through Hunter Allen & Andrew Coggan's book, Training and Racing with a Power Meter...there's a lot in it!!

thekooman

Rhetoricman wrote: »

Been using Stages gen3 crank since May.
Still learning how to interpret and apply all the info coming at me. I'm really in the early stages (pardon the pun!).
Reading through Hunter Allen & Andrew Coggan's book, Training and Racing with a Power Meter...there's a lot in it!!

whats your plan? whats the end goal? racing, sportives, triathlon? when you need to peak?
for bike racing i find the Zwift workouts less than 1 hour great...have a look on whatsonzwift.com(the wringer, the gorby, Emilys short mix, etc). 30, 1 min, 3min and 5 min efforts