Originally Posted by
carleton
According to one published paper that I read (that I can't cite because I can't find it), power output on spin bikes is comparable to what one can do in the real world.
Of course, it depends on the spin bike and the quality of the power measurement (i.e. is it a crap power meter or not). Also, crazy high "blips" show up even in the best power meters. Back when I first started racing I was good for about 1,500-1,700W. One day I saw "Max Wattage: 2,400W" from my older SRM and was like "Whoooooah!!...." But what had happened was that the power meter got wet during a rainstorm when the bike was on top of the car the day before. Condensation was still in there monkeying with the sensors.
So, you have to take the numbers you get with any power meter with a dose of common sense.
I've emailed the manufacturers of the bike I use(Matrix IC7). Their website claims the power meter in the bike is accurate to +/- 1% and never needs recalibration due to it using photocells which I believe is an extremely similar concept to the Ergomo Pro Powermeter that was floating around a few years ago. I'm taking this with a hell of a pinch of salt as the maximum I've ever seen on my Garmin Vector is 1400 ish whereas I'm seeing 2000+ on this static bike. I'd try to compare it on the other static bike they have in the gym but its out of commission for the moment.
