jsk

Because my Garmin auto-uploads to Garmin Connect via bluetooth as soon as I finish my ride, and from there it auto-syncs to Strava and Training Peaks. I don't have to plug the garmin into the computer and manually upload. Nice to have the ride data synced and available to view by the time I get the bike put away.

thespiderghosts

So I bought I Pioneer installation box, but now I'm worried. I thought I would have enough clearance but all the bold warnings in the instructions have me double checking. Has anybody installed or seen installed a Pioneer meter on an Emonda SL?

hack

Powermeter prices just keep dropping and new meters keep rolling out. Power2max down to $600, Rotor just came out with a new model, Pioneer dropping prices, Quarq dropping prices, etc.

lorill

but we're still in need of a solution that works for several bikes, other than a powertap wheel.

revchuck 

The Garmin pedal-based system does.

lorill

Well, I have my good bike for the road, and another one for the trainer. I'd be wary to swap it from one bike to another every two days.

Powertap isn't the solution because I don't want to toast my tires on the trainer (plus my bikes don't have the same number of speeds).
I can't be the only one with this use case, or I'm missing something. Maybe rollers with resistance would do it, i could then use only one bike.

I had high hopes on brimbrother's solution, but it looks like it will never be available.

Stas87

I'm waiting for 4iiii to be tested on track bikes. I'm happy with my stages, but I'm curious to see if 4iiii is acceptable for racing on a velodrome. Personally, I would rather not be a guinea pig.

Wylde06

It takes me maybe 5 minutes to swap my quarq from my road bike to tt bike, is it ideal? probably not...but its simple and easy to do

lorill

It's not only a question of time. If you had to swap it 150x each year, wouldn't you be worried about the wear to the various nuts and bolts ?
(sorry for the wonky english, it's not my mother's tongue)

Wylde06

Not really. It only requires taking off the non drive side arm with an 8mm allen wrench, take off crank, install on next bike and tighten arm with the wrench

Hermes

SRM has raised their prices and I had to wait 3 weeks for my new Rotor SRM.

Also, first cost is not necessarily the lifecycle cost of a power meter on a net present value basis. IMO, the low end power meters have to have a zero dollar residual placed on the unit after the warranty period is up meaning they are not reparable even if the owner wants to pay. Whereas, SRM is serviceable after the warranty period and SRMs hold their value even after years of operation.

Of course, one can say that one can purchase 3 Stages for the price of an SRM. And you may have to.

Remember Ergomo? That was a power meter that measured strain in the bottom bracket. They went bankrupt.

From a business analysis point of view, I see SRM, Garmin (Vector), SRAM (Quarq) and Saris (Powertap) as companies that have enough Brand recognition, money, customers and product differentiation to survive / prosper in the face of price competition. Contrasted against new entries that are selling on price with value propositions and price points that may contain low gross margins not generating enough cash to sustain the business. Or the gross margins are sufficient due to very cheap construction resulting in poor reliability.

And there is accuracy and reliability questions even during the warranty period. Not all value propositions are created equal and specifications may be misleading and not be achievable under various ambient and racing and training conditions. YMMV

hubcyclist

stupid question here. I've always assumed that with a older (mid 90's) shimano 105 setup (2x8 speed) that my best options for power would be either powertap or pedal based, but was curious if replacing the crankset with something like the power2max or stages with a newer 105-5700 10 speed crankset would work with what I have, or if it would require additional component upgrades. whether they are worthy investments for a 20 year old bike is another matter, but anything can be transferred to a newer bike in the future

TheKillerPenguin

Powertap is cheap *enough*, you can find hoops with powertap hubs for pretty reasonable prices. My only beef with them is that poweragent is a truly bad piece of software.

Specific to you, I'm not sure if the g3s are 8spd compatible? You can certainly find an SL+ model on eBay that would work and be pretty cheap.

shovelhd

The G3 should handle 8 speed Shimano. I would not suggest using a 10 speed crank with an 8 speed drivetrain.

hubcyclist

yeah that's what I thought re:cranks. I had used a powertap pro model last weekend from a club mate and caught the bug, and have been looking on ebay at what used options look like.

ancker

I finally bit the bullet in December and bought a second PT hub.
Found a NOS PRO (all black housing) hub for $499, used $250 worth of gift cards, bought Stans ZTR340 rims/spokes/etc from bikehubstore, and sold my Williams System 30s. Total price out of my pocket was something like $300.

Even with the recent price drops on Quarq/Power2Max/etc I think I ended up with the ideal situation (for me). I now have a carbon wheelset for road and an aluminum tubeless ready wheelset I can use for road and CX.

carpediemracing 

Moved the pertinent posts to the training status thread.

https://www.bikeforums.net/33-road-bi...l#post17734337

furiousferret

With the market the way it is I consider Left / Right balance a requirement for a Power meter. You have a fall and screw up one leg, a Stages or Powertap isn't going to be able to tell you that power drop is specific to a single leg or an across the board dip in fitness. Last injury my 20 minute power went down 30 watts, and all of that was right leg watts. Occasionally monitoring power as XXX Left / XXX Right imo is just as important as the total number; you just have to bear in mind that most of us have a leg we prefer to start pedaling and jump on sprints which will account for 2-3% difference.

kevmk81

I have a question about FTP testing. The past week (less than a week) or so, I've had a slight cold going on. Nothing too bad. I seem to be at the tail end of it. Last week was a rest week for me, still riding of course, but total time on the bike pretty much halved than my normal. Saturday I was feeling fresh (or so I thought), so I tried to do an FTP test. I try to do 1 test every 4 weeks - during the easy week. I have done them on the first day back to a normal riding schedule though (Mondays are my off days). Saturdays test resulted in me quitting the 20 minute test 10 minutes into it, and just doing an easy zone 2 spin for the rest of the hour, instead of needlessly stressing myself any more than I have to. Heart rate during Saturdays test just kept drifting up, even halfway through was drifting up towards unsustainable, and my RPE & power seemed to be getting harder and harder to maintain, even reducing my effort for a minute didn't help. Once I slowed down to zone 2, it took the rest of the time of the test (10 minutes) to get down to lower zone 2 heart rate. Pretty unusual for me. :-( I hate being sick. So, my question is, I'm feeling better each day, I'm wondering if doing another FTP test tomorrow would be a good idea, or just skip it entirely and wait till next months test to re-evaluate fitness/training zones? Thanks for any advice!

shovelhd

Are your zone based workouts getting too easy? If they are still challenging I would not change anything. If they are too easy bump your FTP by 5-10 watts and go from there until your next scheduled test. Illness recovery for athletes can take way longer than the first day you feel better. It's easy to bury yourself.

shovelhd

New Stages app and firmware update out today.

furiousferret

Expert advice. If you do a lot of intervals based on %FTP you don't really need to test very often.

wens

Going to double up my question and ask if anybody knows if it was beta tested in the wild and is stable.

kevmk81

Thanks! Looks like I'll bag it then and wait till next month

aaronmcd

Yeah, I'd say definitely wait. I had a cold in January, and even after I felt better, power was down 10-15% for a good week.