"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - powertap vs quarq

i am thinking of moving from a powertap to a quarq. anyone have any input on reliability issues w/ the quarq. i have had 2 poweratps and the first was rebuilt once then i sold it and the second is on its second rebuild. all 3 time the torque tube has went bad. that being said all 3 were covered under warranty and PT's canadiam service has been beyond impeccable. what say you?

I bought a used Quarq about a year ago, It's been great, really stable zero offset, starts right up and works perfect every time.

One cool thing I found that I didn't expect is that you can spin the cranks backwards to wake the crank up, on my SRM, it doesn't wake up spinning them backwards. A little thing, but it means I can zero the cranks before riding without stopping at the end of the driveway or lifting the back on the bike and spinning by hand.

I think crank based is the way to go, I have 4 different wheelsets, so it's nice to run whatever I want and still have power.

I think you're bound to hear some horror stories about broken Quarqs because there are so many out there. I rarely see powertaps or SRMs on the road

The quarq I bought last year has been completely reliable, except that when the battery gets low it there's no low battery indicator. It just dies.

Some of my friends and teamates have had problems with their Quarqs, but those were earlier units.

I still use my PT on my rain bike.

I rarely see powertaps or SRMs on the road

What?

Had powertap, now have Quarq. About 6k miles without issue. Just replaced battery after my Garmin 500 alerted me that the quarq was low. If you can afford it, it's a no brainer in my opinion. I have 3 sets of wheels so that was important to me.

Depending on price a used SRM could be a better value. While the accuracy of all three systems is good when they are working, the other two seem to have a lot more issues from what I've seen. Many of the guys I know with Quarq have had issues at some point, both early and later units. My experience with used SRM's have been the equivalent of buying a used tire iron. Not much goes wrong.

With Quarq being bought by SRAM, I'd be a tad leery about them continuing to provide the same level of service, and I've been told they are replacing non-SRAM failed units with SRAM cranks. Worth some due diligence.

i love the idea of an srm. i dislike the idea of a non-user replaceable battery. does anybody know if you need to recalibrate an srm for rotor rings?

I'm more interested in the new Rotor Ring Power Meter.

i love the idea of an srm. i dislike the idea of a non-user replaceable battery. does anybody know if you need to recalibrate an srm for rotor rings?

You can replace the battery if you can solder.

Theory says you should calibrate the SRM every time you change rings, which is a 5 minute task. Reality has been that I've seen little to no change swapping among the various rings I have, including Rotor when I done the calibration.

great info racer ex. i can solder so maybe it is time to look into an srm.

great info racer ex. i can solder so maybe it is time to look into an srm.

I'd go wireless and PC7. Or if you like Garmin as the head unit you can find just the cranks on occasion.

The wired ones work great but they aren't supported anymore and the wires themselves can be a weak point.

I have both. They each have their pros and cons. My SRAM Quarq is less than a year old and has been repaired under warranty once. I think Quarq got a bad batch of electronic pods, as I know a significant number of people with SRAM Quarqs of the same vintage that had the same failure. That can happen to any electronics manufacturer. The new one is holding up fine so far, and it's been ridden in everything except cold weather.

What's the entry price for a used SRM that's ANT+ compatible?

I've had a PT Pro+ for almost 4 years now, no issues w/ it so far.

My race wheels don't have power, but I can live with that - it's mostly for training anyway.

What's the entry price for a used SRM that's ANT+ compatible?.

All the wireless models are ANT+. I got my Dura unit a few years ago for $1200. Price depends on the unit, time of the year, Etc. FYI most SRM's can swap out the arms so length isn't fixed, factor in the cost of a set of arms minus salvage value for the old ones. That was a bargain but now's the time that folks are getting rid of stuff in anticipation of the latest/greatest so from now till Jan is the best time to buy...and that include PT's and Quarqs.

Interesting in that I bought mine when all the hype was out there about Metrigear. There was a window when there were quite a few used SRM's for sale. Since then the market has firmed up quite a bit and I'd guess $1500-1600 would be around the starting point. Also interesting to note that the wired units are staying at a pretty high price point for something that's 4+ years old and "anitquated".

FYI, I paid $1345.00 shipped for my Quarq new during a Black Friday sale.

I've had a PT Pro+ for almost 4 years now, no issues w/ it so far.

My race wheels don't have power, but I can live with that - it's mostly for training anyway.

I'm in the same boat, though I have the PT SL 2.4 that has been upgraded to an SL +.

My wife has a Quarq and been using that about two years now.

Both have been perfectly reliable. I debated a few months ago whether to get a Quarq on my new build and then sell the PT, but I ended up just keeping the PT. (Quarq plus new wheels was going to add about $1,500 to the build after selling the PT, and I didn't feel like paying that much more.)

I have a Quarq and love it, and had had ZERO issues with it.

My biggest grip is the various bottom brackets out there. What ever Quarq you buy, make sure you plan to stay with the same bottom bracket unless you want to run adapters which I see as a PITA and negates the point of various BB designs.

More quarq questions if anyone knows, Quarq BB30s should work on all BB30 bottom brackets correct? One of my buddies was telling me cannondale has to have a special quarq for its BB30, but that strikes me as BS. Both bike I will use this on are Cannondale BB30.

http://www.quarq.com/support/bottom-bracket#bb30

shovel: at work and it's blocked ;p that's why i asked.

The short answer is you should have no problem, but I would encourage you to read through the compatibility section. It's not a matter of BB30 compatibility, that it has, it's a matter of your particular frame and bottom bracket clearance.

wait, Quarq is blocked but bikeforums isn't?

wait, Quarq is blocked but bikeforums isn't?

Yep. Bikeforums not blocked, but company websites (with whom we do business) are blocked under "Finance and investing" since they are public companies... It's absolutely ridiculous.

Just was sent this link from a friend

http://www.stagescycling.com/

Just was sent this link from a friend

http://www.stagescycling.com/

Seems pretty cool.

At first I was thnking you could just glue this on to any crank arm (like campy), but it doesn't seem quite that simple..

I saw the Stages unit release a few days ago. Looks great, very convenient and with the Rival crank on my bike and Garmin 500 I'd be ready to go for $700. It would be nice to get rid of the heavy Powertap wheel I've been racing and training on exclusively for the last three years.

I hope it doesn't turn out to be vaporware.

I saw the Stages unit release a few days ago. Looks great, very convenient and with the Rival crank on my bike and Garmin 500 I'd be ready to go for $700. It would be nice to get rid of the heavy Powertap wheel I've been racing and training on exclusively for the last three years.

I hope it doesn't turn out to be vaporware.

It has issues and drawbacks. Their comparative testing to a PT showed a marked tendency to over-report when the unit was pushed over 350w or near abouts, and showed an 80w spike at 400 (read 480) on some 30 second averaging. I made a few comments over in the 41 regarding this, then decided to just leave them to polish their turds to a high gloss. What do I know about PM's and training :rolleyes:

It's also a one leg reporter, and on most people's non-dominant side.

Worth noting that Metrigear had published test data and mockups before they came to market...for years...and that Stage One's store is "Coming Soon"

Still if that actually releases in a time frame that suits my needs I might go guinea pig on it for my second bike.

Cheap enough that you can get one for each crank arm and then average the power data :p

Cheap enough that you can get one for each crank arm and then average the power data :p

It's not a crankarm attachment, it IS the crankarm. They don't make drive-side arms.

Blah.

It has issues and drawbacks. Their comparative testing to a PT showed a marked tendency to over-report when the unit was pushed over 350w or near abouts, and showed an 80w spike at 400 (read 480) on some 30 second averaging. I made a few comments over in the 41 regarding this, then decided to just leave them to polish their turds to a high gloss. What do I know about PM's and training :rolleyes:

It's also a one leg reporter, and on most people's non-dominant side.

Worth noting that Metrigear had published test data and mockups before they came to market...for years...and that Stage One's store is "Coming Soon"


I'm ok with "pretty good" accuracy as long as it's repeatable and useful to me.

More important, I'm happy with any power meter that reads high and makes me look like f**kin Superman.

Quarq customer service is tops.