Fishrising

Hey fellow Clydes! Who out there rides with a PowerTap rear hub? Can you provide any insight? Thoughts? Experiences?

I'm thinking about getting one, 32 hole on Open Pros. I am 6'7" 230ish pounds.

bigfred 

Ohhhhhh, I am so following this thread. I'm considering the same. Only, laced to a DT 585.

TrojanHorse

I saw a thread recently on the road forum that indicated the new powertap hubs chew through batteries. Something to do with where the transmitter is located. They're supposed to last for a year or more but people are reporting 3 weeks or less, which would be a HUGE hassle.

I'll see if I can find it again.

Power meters are one of those things I lust for on my bike. Lust I tell you. I want to see when I dial up 100 watts!

Ah, here's the thread. Hope it helps you in some way: https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...wertap-G3-hubs

Seve

I find this topic interesting as well.

Although, at this time I'm leaning towards a crank based solution rather than a PT/hub - wheel specific application.
I found this one interesting and less money up front than SRM or Quark
https://www.power2max.de/index.php

mkadam68

It'd be a shame if you got it then only used it for eye candy purposes. To get the best use out of it, make sure you have a program or drills, or something.

Mine is on a Velocity rim, 32h, courtesy of BF's own Psimet. Heavy as all get out, but still true after a year. I've had to replace the batteries twice: once they died, the second, some water got in and rusted them. All good now. I'd like to have 2: one for training/every day & a lighter one for racing/events. But, expensive.

My junior uses it now almost exclusively, because he possibly has a future in this sport.

Mr. Beanz

What model Velocity if I may ask?

sstorkel

I have a Psimet-built PowerTap wheel. I went with the PowerTap Pro+ hub, Kinlin XR-300 rim, 28 DT Competition spokes, and brass nipples. I use my Garmin Edge 705 as the head unit. After two years of riding it, I think I might finally have to true it this summer...

As mkadam68 suggests, a PowerTap isn't terribly useful if you're not going to download the data to your computer, analyze it (using something like WKO+ or Golden Cheetah), and use the analysis to modify your carefully crafted training regime. Before investing the money in a PowerTap wheel and head unit, you should probably read Racing and Training with a Power Meter or The Cyclists Training Bible. If you don't immediately fire up Excel and start writing a year-long training plan, then a PowerTap may end up being a really expensive wheel...

That said, a power meter does provide a better estimate of calories burned than just about anything else. For that alone, it might be worth the cost!

Fishrising

Thanks all! Please keep the comments coming! How about any clyde weight concerns on the PowerTaps as rear hubs?

mkadam68

Fusion, I believe. It's not labelled so I'm going by memory. And at my age...

socalrider

before you spend good money building up a nice set of powertap wheels - please do not use open pros.

Yes I know the choir will start singing I have a 10 year old set of open pros and they are great.. Yes I know the open pro's of old are not like the new ones. The new ones WILL crack at the eyelets. I know a couple of shops that no longer spec them because of all the problems in the last couple of years.. BTW I have a 20 year old set of open 4cd and sups and they still ride perfect.

Rims I would consider would be velocity fusion or deep v - Best choice would be DT Swiss RR465's - better choice over open pros at same weight or beefier RR585's for strongest wheel build.

paisan

I have a Powertap wheel, I got a good deal on a set of the factory built sets that come laced to A23's. The factory build was crap, the spokes were nowhere close to evenly tensioned and I was getting loose spokes and/or having to retrue them after everyride. I eventually got tired of dealing with it and rebuilt the wheels myself, now i have no more problems. Because of this I do not recommend anyone buying the factory builds directly from Cycleops unless they have wheel building experience. If you're going to have to pay a wheel builder to rebuild a factory set, you might as well get it done right from start.

As others have said if you do not intend to use a plan that is based on power then don't waste your hard earned money because if you don't follow some sort of plan they become a heavy, expensive set of wheels that spit out numbers that mean nothing. Another thing to consider is that depending on the terrain where you live you might find it hard to keep to the prescribed power levels for your workouts. If this is the case then you might wind up doing most of your power workouts indoors. This is the predicament I find myself in. Where I live is nothing but short, steep hills so attempting to keep xx watts for xx time is tough when you are either going up 10% grades for a couple of minutes or flying down the backside of them. Luckily I also have a computrainer so any sort of workout that calls for xx watts for xx time is done on that in my basement.

My situation is a little unique compared to the other posters because I have the computrainer for my power workouts. So I mostly use my PT to guage/control my efforts during long rides, long climbs in the mountains, and during long pulls in the wind, etc. I also use it to compare workouts on known courses outside to see if and where I'm improving or where I need to do more work. I also use it to collect the info from a ride and make courses for my trainer based on my power outputs for rainy days when I don't want to ride outside. It's much more accurate to do all of the things above with power than with a HRM or perceived effort alone. Especially considering HR fluctuates and perceived effort is just that.. perceived. The meter never lies. If your tired it tells you, if you're fresh it tells you, if you've gotten in over your head and about to enter that really dark place it tells you. I use mine with a Garmin Edge 705 and for software I use PerfPro analyzer

Fishrising

Thanks socalrider for the heads up on that, I will do more research on wheels, haven't done that in a while. Currently I have 2 sets of 2007(?) Ksyrium SL SSCs, which have been great for me, one set for a 10spd, one for a 9spd. Thinking of using one of those to use a PT on. Need to weigh that option against a net new wheel set as well...

Thanks to the others as well, points well taken, definitely don't want to waste money on these and plan to use the PT for training.

Mr. Beanz

Ah, thanks! That's not far from a Deep V.

socalrider

Fusion is a great rim - not as deep as deep v which is 30mm - the fusion is 25mm deep - gives great lateral stiffness yet only weighs just a hair more than the open pro or rr465..

FYI - if you have a good builder you can get most rims at 32h to work at 230lbs. - I have been riding on a Velocity Aerohead - one of there lightest rims built up 36 hole on campy rim and came in at 950g. wheel has been rock solid for a year.. Want to thank Mark at Mark & Dave's bike shop in Rancho Cucamonga for being a great wheel builder.