New turbo or power pedals

[Morty1]

Afternoon

I do 90% of my cycling inside on trainerroad but race tt's.

I currently have an Elite Turbo Muin wheel off dumb trainer which gives me power output but it's definitely not anywhere near accurate. It does give a decent feel(although a bit inconsistent as oil inside the unit warms up), but it is nice and stable.

I have a few vouchers from Christmas so want either to get a new turbo, i know i can get a decent price for the muin second hand at present. Or some power pedals to use as the power source on the turbo. I know it would be useful to have the pedals for outside but do think it would be fun to get a full smart trainer and maybe try zwift.

What do you recommend?

[lufbramatt]

I'd go power meter. It's great being able to do decent sessions outside, especially in the summer when the last thing you want to be doing is sweating inside on the trainer.

[Morty1]

Thanks, its probably the sensible option although i do enjoy the turbo(i am strange i know) so am tempted with a shiny new turbo😁. Would be great having power at tt races though.

[Ares]

Power meter.....but power pedals are notoriously inaccurate, and inconsistent.

Even a single arm crank power meter would be better IMO if you don't want to stump up approaching £4-figs for a decent smart trainer.

[Morty1]

I was not keen on the single arm crank due to having different crank lengths on my road bike and tt bike so would have to get meters. At least with pedals i could swap easily.

[lufbramatt]

The Favero Assiomas are meant to be pretty good. The Garmins not so much.

I'd be worried about stacking it and smashing them to bits though.

[mikecassie]

Power measuring pedals would be my go to with the vouchers. At least then you can use them in TT's and other times when riding outdoors. I have no recommendation for pedals but I'm sure plenty others will be along with their recommendations.

[sociopath]

lufbramatt said:

The Favero Assiomas are meant to be pretty good. The Garmins not so much.

I'd be worried about stacking it and smashing them to bits though.

I have the Favero pedals, very good and rasy to use, theyre also pretty consistent reading and seem accurate both between the individual pedals and also with what my wattbike records.

[Harpoon]

I was debating the same purchase at the end of 2019.

My final thoughts were that a smart-turbo improves the indoor training experience but bar the fitness results of that training, it's no-use on the road. Power meter pedals can be easily swapped between bikes, so on my old bike which lives on the turbo I get accurate results (rather than virtual power). Five minutes with an Allen key and they are ready on my best bike.

So I purchased Assioma Duo pedals. I will upgrade to a direct-drive smart trainer at some point but whilst demand exceeds supply on the high-end models, I'm waiting for this to change and thus see some discounting return.

Ares said:

Power meter.....but power pedals are notoriously inaccurate, and inconsistent.

Even a single arm crank power meter would be better IMO if you don't want to stump up approaching £4-figs for a decent smart trainer.

Which makes and models of pedals are you referencing? I could understand comments on reliability for PMs like the Vector 3 pedals but that comment implies all PM pedals.

Take DC Rainmaker's PM pedal shoot-out:

DCR said:

I added this as a specific section since I’m sure many will ask about it. At this point, when it comes to accuracy, all three units deliver where it counts. You can see this within my PowerTap P1 in-depth review, as well as my Favero Assioma in-depth review. Given the Garmin Vector 3 pedals are in the final stages of firmware, they are still finalizing things. But accuracy of the power numbers isn’t something I’m having any issues with. So all look good there.

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2017/09/power-meter-pedal-shootout-vector-3-vs-powertap-p1-vs-assioma.html

From his Assioma Duo review:

DCR said:

Ultimately – looking at all the data I have – I see absolutely zero issues with accuracy of either power or cadence in the Favero Assioma pedals. They’re solid.

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2017/09/favero-assioma-in-depth-review.html

I'll also include this line from CyclePowerMeters.com where I purchased my Assiomas from:

CPM said:

The Assioma has been the most reliable product we have sold bar none. So I don’t have any hesitation in recommending it. The only reasons for going to the P2 would be: No power source close to where you store your bike

There's also the GPLama YT review where he compares the Assioma to a Quark PM and a Tacx Neo (starts about 15:46 in):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWOlKT3jDJs

[Ares]

Harpoon said:

I was debating the same purchase at the end of 2019.

My final thoughts were that a smart-turbo improves the indoor training experience but bar the fitness results of that training, it's no-use on the road. Power meter pedals can be easily swapped between bikes, so on my old bike which lives on the turbo I get accurate results (rather than virtual power). Five minutes with an Allen key and they are ready on my best bike.

So I purchased Assioma Duo pedals. I will upgrade to a direct-drive smart trainer at some point but whilst demand exceeds supply on the high-end models, I'm waiting for this to change and thus see some discounting return.

Ares said:

Power meter.....but power pedals are notoriously inaccurate, and inconsistent.

Even a single arm crank power meter would be better IMO if you don't want to stump up approaching £4-figs for a decent smart trainer.

Which makes and models of pedals are you referencing? I could understand comments on reliability for PMs like the Vector 3 pedals but that comment implies all PM pedals.

Take DC Rainmaker's PM pedal shoot-out:

DCR said:

I added this as a specific section since I’m sure many will ask about it. At this point, when it comes to accuracy, all three units deliver where it counts. You can see this within my PowerTap P1 in-depth review, as well as my Favero Assioma in-depth review. Given the Garmin Vector 3 pedals are in the final stages of firmware, they are still finalizing things. But accuracy of the power numbers isn’t something I’m having any issues with. So all look good there.

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2017/09/power-meter-pedal-shootout-vector-3-vs-powertap-p1-vs-assioma.html

From his Assioma Duo review:

DCR said:

Ultimately – looking at all the data I have – I see absolutely zero issues with accuracy of either power or cadence in the Favero Assioma pedals. They’re solid.

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2017/09/favero-assioma-in-depth-review.html

I'll also include this line from CyclePowerMeters.com where I purchased my Assiomas from:

CPM said:

The Assioma has been the most reliable product we have sold bar none. So I don’t have any hesitation in recommending it. The only reasons for going to the P2 would be: No power source close to where you store your bike

There's also the GPLama YT review where he compares the Assioma to a Quark PM and a Tacx Neo (starts about 15:46 in):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWOlKT3jDJs

It was the Vector and Powertap I was primarily referring to. The LOOK ones are good, but mega money. I'd not some across the Assiomas...so stand corrected if they are as good as everyone seems to say!!

[Matt_N]

If we do actually get to go racing this year having power on your trainer and whilst racing is of the most benefit, so pedals would win out for me.

I use a 4iiii LH on my TT bike and dumb Elite fluid trainer.

[lauda]

I’d have no hesitation in recommending the Assiomas. Dead easy to fit and set up, excellent battery life between charges and seem stable/accurate.

[johnpsanderson]

I've no practical experience of either - although I keep promising myself i'll invest in power metering of some kind if I get back to racing fitness (still working on HR/RPE, which I know will seem archaic to many!). If I get there i'll be doing both TTs and circuit races.

I'd definitely get pedals over smart trainer. The only advantage I can see to a smart trainer is being able to go and play/race on Zwift, and that being important if you struggle to train indoors.
If you take your testing seriously (which I would assume you do!), then presumably you'll want to race based on power data as well as train using it, to get the most improvement.

Edited by johnpsanderson on Friday 8th January 16:09

[Morty1]

Thanks for advice.

I decided to go mad and just get an elite direto. Reason being that although i know i am currently paying top dollar i think i can get a decent price for my old muin at the moment to offset that. I also spend 90% of the time on the turbo, i nice turbo just has more value to me at present. Plus would like to try some zwift racing and want the full experience if i do that.

I could only justify the single sided pedals (garmin vector 3s are on sale) at present and wasn't convinced they would give me enough accuracy as i know i from training on the watt bike in the gym my left-right balance jumps about a bit.

I still want to pick up a power meter at some point but might just try and get a cheap crank arm for the tt bike. Either that or wait until the iq2 pedals finally come out😁. On top of that for my local 10 mile tt i can judge my effort on speed really.

Anyway thanks for the advice, sorry i didn't really follow it. Come a sunny Wednesday night in May i will probably be cycling along thinking 'wish i had listened and got that power meter😂'.

[johnpsanderson]

Morty1 said:

On top of that for my local 10 mile tt i can judge my effort on speed really.

If my (technologically advanced) cycling mates are anything to go by, I reckon i'd get burnt as a witch for saying that!

I suspect you are right though in a lot of ways - whatever the numbers say, you can always go harder than you think in a race!