Recommend me a power meter
Discussion
Having realised that my bike is now probably as good as I'll ever need it to be but that the lump of flesh and bone that rides it probably isn't quite up to scratch, I've decided that my final upgrade will be a power meter.
I've never ridden with a PM on the road although I do have a Wattbike so am familiar with my FTP and 4D power and would like to have power info for road riding to help measure efforts for climbs and longer rides. I'm also planning on doing some racing next year (I was all signed up and ready to go this year and then...) and again, I think the power data would help to make sure I don't get carried away and blow up spectacularly.
I don't have any specific requirements in terms of pedal or crank based. I do ride two different bikes regularly so I suppose it would be useful to be able to swap the pedals between bikes (and I basically have a summer and winter bike so it's not like I'd be doing it all the time). But having said that, I tend to trundle around on the winter bike and don't intend to race it so I could live with just having a crank-based one on my good bike since that's the one where I think it would be most useful.
Any advice welcome on ones to go for or avoid or relative advantages/disadvantages of pedal or crank based. Budget is probably £500ish which may limit options a bit and I ride with a Wahoo ELEMNT (although I'm assuming most PMs will work with most computers). I'm not too worried about really high levels of accuracy, more ease of use and reliability.
I've never ridden with a PM on the road although I do have a Wattbike so am familiar with my FTP and 4D power and would like to have power info for road riding to help measure efforts for climbs and longer rides. I'm also planning on doing some racing next year (I was all signed up and ready to go this year and then...) and again, I think the power data would help to make sure I don't get carried away and blow up spectacularly.
I don't have any specific requirements in terms of pedal or crank based. I do ride two different bikes regularly so I suppose it would be useful to be able to swap the pedals between bikes (and I basically have a summer and winter bike so it's not like I'd be doing it all the time). But having said that, I tend to trundle around on the winter bike and don't intend to race it so I could live with just having a crank-based one on my good bike since that's the one where I think it would be most useful.
Any advice welcome on ones to go for or avoid or relative advantages/disadvantages of pedal or crank based. Budget is probably £500ish which may limit options a bit and I ride with a Wahoo ELEMNT (although I'm assuming most PMs will work with most computers). I'm not too worried about really high levels of accuracy, more ease of use and reliability.
Bit out of touch with what's out there these days. But I personally wouldn't bother with pedal, they seem to break, a lot, regardless of which brand it is. Stages crank based one is pretty pointless, and likely very different to your wattbike, I'm sure the ring based, or dual sided one's are OK though.
I've got 3 Quarq meters and they're all pretty good IMO. Not expensive (even less now!), reliable, and the figures are repeatable and all in-line with each other from what I can tell. I'd also say power2max/fsa powerbox are solid too.
There's loads of options out there now, but for me, I'd always put my money into a brand that's been doing it for a while and are proven.
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/group-tests/power-me...
Maybe that is useful, not sure.
I've got 3 Quarq meters and they're all pretty good IMO. Not expensive (even less now!), reliable, and the figures are repeatable and all in-line with each other from what I can tell. I'd also say power2max/fsa powerbox are solid too.
There's loads of options out there now, but for me, I'd always put my money into a brand that's been doing it for a while and are proven.
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/group-tests/power-me...
Maybe that is useful, not sure.
I've got Garmin Vector 3s and while having power has been great, and I'm sold on the pedal power meter concept, they've been a bit unreliable. Thinking about swapping them for Favero Assioma Duos, about which I've heard nothing but great things.
Only thing holding me back is that they'd be no good on the gravel bike, as I wouldn't use road pedals.
Only thing holding me back is that they'd be no good on the gravel bike, as I wouldn't use road pedals.
I have a Quarq Crank and a SRAM AXS Spider (which is basically another Quarq) both are excellent.
Here is GPLama's review of the SRAM Spider:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&a...
Here is GPLama's review of the SRAM Spider:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&a...
Been using a Quark for a year and it's been spot on.
when I was looking around, some brands (FSA I think) needed some features unlocking via a firmware upgrade for a £50 fee- I needed Bluetooth rather than ANT+ so I could use Trainerroad on an iPhone, which was an added cost even though the hardware was already there.
What can be an issue is what bottom bracket and chainrings your bike uses, as these can add a chunk of money on to the cost if you need to use adaptors or change chainrings etc. When I got mine it was cheaper to go for a more expensive PM that was a direct fitment than get a cheaper one that needed extra bits to actually work.
when I was looking around, some brands (FSA I think) needed some features unlocking via a firmware upgrade for a £50 fee- I needed Bluetooth rather than ANT+ so I could use Trainerroad on an iPhone, which was an added cost even though the hardware was already there.
What can be an issue is what bottom bracket and chainrings your bike uses, as these can add a chunk of money on to the cost if you need to use adaptors or change chainrings etc. When I got mine it was cheaper to go for a more expensive PM that was a direct fitment than get a cheaper one that needed extra bits to actually work.
Edited by lufbramatt on Tuesday 29th September 15:56
Thanks for the feedback everyone. It seems like Quarq or Power2Max is the way to go and to just have this fitted to my 'best' bike.
I've done some research and it looks like I need to figure out what bits and bobs I actually need in order to fit to my existing chainset (Ultegra R8000) but the costs don't seem to be quite as high as I'd thought they might be. Which is rarely the case with these things!
I've done some research and it looks like I need to figure out what bits and bobs I actually need in order to fit to my existing chainset (Ultegra R8000) but the costs don't seem to be quite as high as I'd thought they might be. Which is rarely the case with these things!
Just going down this route with a Quarq spider on one of my SRAM equipped bikes but experience tells me if my experience is positive I'll want to do the same to more bikes.
Has anyone tried the Chinese brand Xcadey? A lottery in terms of quality and support I guess, but I suspect they are just a copy of an existing brand. Not a lot of meaningful reviews out there to confirm though.
The Velocomp Powerpod looks an interesting idea and has the benefit of being portable too.
Out of stock but the Avio Powersense is cheap.
Personally I'm not too concerned about the actual number it generates as long as it is consistent from ride to ride, fore it's about helping me understand if I'm pushing hard or just having a bad day!
Has anyone tried the Chinese brand Xcadey? A lottery in terms of quality and support I guess, but I suspect they are just a copy of an existing brand. Not a lot of meaningful reviews out there to confirm though.
The Velocomp Powerpod looks an interesting idea and has the benefit of being portable too.
Out of stock but the Avio Powersense is cheap.
Personally I'm not too concerned about the actual number it generates as long as it is consistent from ride to ride, fore it's about helping me understand if I'm pushing hard or just having a bad day!
Roastie ITR said:
I have 4iiii left sided crank power meter & would recommend, especially for the money.
Only problem is is making sure that both of your bikes have the same crankset i.e. both are Shimano Hollowtech ll & have the same crank arm length (If you want to swap between bikes).
+1 easy to get the right model and crank length and bargin at the price. On my first I had an issue after 2.5 years and 4iii shipped another from Canada no quibbles.Only problem is is making sure that both of your bikes have the same crankset i.e. both are Shimano Hollowtech ll & have the same crank arm length (If you want to swap between bikes).
The 4iiii crank one does look like good value for money and a bit less of a faff to fit than the Quarq or Power2Max ones.
Just a thought, would an Ultegra or 105 crank fit on Tiagra? I could potentially get two 4iiii crank ones (one for each bike) for around the cost of the other two brands.
Just a thought, would an Ultegra or 105 crank fit on Tiagra? I could potentially get two 4iiii crank ones (one for each bike) for around the cost of the other two brands.
I have got;
Quarq x3
Rotor 2in power
Favero Assioma Duo
I also had Stages and Garmin Vector 3.
The Quarq have been faultess, as have the Rotor and Favero.
The stages was a Gen 2 and I suffered continual drop outs. It went back. The Garmin had a few issues, but hopefully the latest changes fixed it. Sadly they were on a bike involved in a prang, so never got to find out.
Going Quarq can be relatively cheap if your bike can take a Dub BB, if it can you can get Quarq cranks £199 and a Quarq spider £355, plus chainrings. If you cannot have a Dub crank and are limited to 24mm, then you have to get a Red GXP crank, which is £355, just for having Red written on it instead of Quarq.
For pedals, the only flaw with the Favero is that they are ugly, but work brilliantly. They need to release a V2 without the pods and it would be perfect.
Quarq x3
Rotor 2in power
Favero Assioma Duo
I also had Stages and Garmin Vector 3.
The Quarq have been faultess, as have the Rotor and Favero.
The stages was a Gen 2 and I suffered continual drop outs. It went back. The Garmin had a few issues, but hopefully the latest changes fixed it. Sadly they were on a bike involved in a prang, so never got to find out.
Going Quarq can be relatively cheap if your bike can take a Dub BB, if it can you can get Quarq cranks £199 and a Quarq spider £355, plus chainrings. If you cannot have a Dub crank and are limited to 24mm, then you have to get a Red GXP crank, which is £355, just for having Red written on it instead of Quarq.
For pedals, the only flaw with the Favero is that they are ugly, but work brilliantly. They need to release a V2 without the pods and it would be perfect.
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