Originally Posted by
ericm979
I'm the only person I know who has PT wheels fail regularly. Mine needs it's 6th rebuild in a little over 4 years. The PT hub geometry is not the best for low l/r tension differential but it's not that bad. The problem is me, not the wheel. I've killed other rear wheels. Something about the way I pedal standing up on steep climbs is hard on wheels. I do a lot of climbing, often over 800,000' per year, and a lot of it is on steep climbs. (The problem is that the NDS spokes start breaking, and in an effort to get the NDS tension higher I use more tension on the DS than the rim can handle, so it cracks. There's a thread about it in the racing section).
I would not worry about it. And Saris's service is great. OTOH I have a friend who has a non-working SRM that he hasn't been able to get fixed. It could be that he's not trying hard enough but with Saris (and from what I read Quarq as well) it's easy to get the meter serviced. Saris has even replaced the freehub body for me when I sent the hub in for a new bearing.
I rode my first powertap, a wired SL, for about three years. I sold it to a buddy of mine that has been riding it for about two years now. It has seen plenty of snow and rain and it is still working perfect. I'm impressed enough with it (and the company) that I now own my third powertap. However, I haven't used it yet since it is for my back up bike. I've got a SRAM Quarq on my primary bike. That thing is awesome.