phlegmon

My coach wants me to start training with power, so the above are my choices. I am a pretty decent time trialist with some local road races wins under my belt last year. I am having a difficult time deciding which unit to buy as they all seem to have some serious limitations and would value any opinions you all might have.

Since the ergomo mounts to the bike, I would need to buy one for my tt bike and one for my road bike. At $1600 each, that option is pretty much out.

The power tap could theorectically switch between bikes if I used the same wheel, but I would rather train on my heavy stock wheels and race on my 303's, and tt on my tri-spokes or disc, depending on the course, so that doesn't work for me either.

The ibike would be ideal, I suppose, but reading through the threads here, the data looks like it can get iffy at times.

So in conclusion, does anyone else share my dilemma and how did you reconcile it?
Many thanks!

DXchulo

I'd go for the Powertap. It's the best deal for the money. You don't have to race with the Powertap on, although it would be very helpful. If you do race with it you can estimate how much time the Powertap is costing you to lose, and when you look at your numbers after the race you can see if it actually made a difference between winning and losing.

Squint

https://biketechreview.com/phpBB2/vie...0364cce27ec22f

https://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.c...=unread#unread

shawneebiker

Sounds like the Ergomo would be your best bet. It has many more features that the PT doesn't have like rolling TSS, IF, Altitude, Current/Avg. Grade, Average and Current power for an interval on the same screen.

I have a PT SL and am considering having it re-built with a 404 Pave for training and racing. I kinda wish I would have got the Ergomo to begin with so I can use any wheels I want. With that said I think the PT has been very reliable.

From what I've read about the ibike I think it is not reliable and isn't much more than a gadget at this point. Maybe in the future it might be considered with the best of the PM's, but for now it isn't as accurate or repeatable in varied conditions. Read about it on the other power forums and decide for yourself. I wouldn't even consider it for serious power training at this point.

cslone

I would toss the Ibike right off the bat. Too many inconsistencies and issues. The Ergomo would be okay, but I don't personally like the way that it measures power, as was stated in the other thread.

That leaves Powertap and SRM. For the PT, you could get the pro model and an SL hub and train on the 32H Pro and race on a 24 hole SL hub. You're probably looking at least 1500 to do that. With the SRM, it's a crank, so you could use your own wheels, but you'd have to change the crank from bike to bike unless you bought 2 of them(probably not economically possible). Now, Andy Coggan, guru of power, says he can change his SRm from bike to bike in less than 10 minutes, and that's how he solves the multiple bike problem with his SRM.

So, if you want ease, get the Powertap
If you want to use your race wheels, get the SRM.

I personally have the powertap with a 32h Open Pro. I train with it 100% of the time and race with it once a month just to have some numbers. i should be racing with it, so I am looking to get a second hub to build into a 24 hole wheel for racing. I have a Zipp999 set for my TT bike, so I never TT with it.

merlinextraligh

FWIW, amongst the people I race with, maybe 5-10% use a Power meter. Of those Powertap SL is the runaway favorite, with a few using Powertap Pro. I don't know anyone that uses the Ergomo, or the Ibike.

For the Ergomo, I think it's the cost, and as you've pointed out being limited to one bike. For the Ibike, I think its the lack of proven results so far.

Personally, if you're paying for a coach, and riding Zipps, I wouldn't consider the Ibike, the major advantage of which appears to be cost.

JayC

I had an iBike. I returned it after a few weeks. I found that A) The unit needed constant tilt recalibration as well as coastdown calibration. Even when wearing the same clothes you had to do a coastdown or the numbers would be off. You also have to weigh yourself with all your gear before every ride for the iBike to be accurate. I kept a set of scales out in the garage and would put my gear on and hold the bike to weigh before every ride. That got old quick.

Some other issues with the iBike. It doesnt work on rough pavement. It will basically lock itself into the previous slope % when it starts encountering rough pavement and thats what it uses to calculate power. My problem was roads with cracks, etc in them. Every time I'd hit a crack, the power numbers would spike. On roads with a crack every 10-12 feet, that made that stretch of road basically unusable for me.

I bought a Powertap SL and even tho Ive only had it a few weeks, its been trouble free. I get on the bike and I ride. I havent needed to rezero it yet and the data seems to jive ride after ride.

Another iBike quirk is that it tends to lose a ton of wattage if you're drafting behind someone. I was seeing about a 80-90 watt loss with the iBike and most people seemed to think that was normal. The PT shows about a 50 watt loss, which I think is closer to realistic.

My PT is laced to a 32 hole DT Swiss RR 1.2 rim and I had a matching RR Swiss 1.2 wheel done for the front using an Ultegra hub. Ive been happy with it so far. Hopefully riding and training on these heavy wheels will make a difference when I switch back to the lighter wheels.

El Diablo Rojo

From what I've learned from the guys around here who have used the ibike is that it's more akin to a HAC4 or a 7xx series Polar. I have a PT set up very simular to JayC's and prior to the SL I had a pro for about year with and am very pleased with set up. Vinokurtov has a ergo and an SRM and say's his ergo is as good as the SRM.

merlinextraligh

one other thing, the Powertap customer service is very good.