nemeseri

Another new feature is that you can buy either one side for doubled power (just like Stages), or buy the whole kit and use the right and left power meter separately. Basically that's why I pushed the button on it. Now I can bring the left arm with me when I travel. My only problem so far is that you get much-much more with their head unit, but I love my Garmin. Also their mac software and cyclo-sphere website has a terrible user experience and a very outdated design.

tetonrider

i'd be curious to hear more about your experiences as you have time.

an issue with the vector was (is) transmission of 2 data streams to the head unit. it can result in dropouts and/or missing/mismatched data. this can be an issue with some pedal metrics. i wonder if this was an issue with the vector or, as i suspect, could be an issue with any power meter that tries to integrate double-sided measurement with 2 devices (e.g. forthcoming double-sided stages, pioneer, etc.).

last i checked (a week or 2 ago), buying a cheap DA crank and sending to pioneer made sense vs buying from them. i feel like pioneer was charging about $400 for a DA crank.

TheKillerPenguin

Since this is the go to power thread, I'm stopping by to give props to Cycleops customer service. One of my powercaps has been eating batteries like every other ride lately, even after a firmware update, and they're replacing it for free after a phone call. Every time I've dealt with them they've been kick ass on all levels. So, cheers to them.

Wesley36

I have gone through like 4 batteries in the last 2 weeks! I thought I had upgraded my firmware on the weekend, but as it turns out, I was using an old version of PowerAgent. Upgraded that, it detected the out-of-date firmware and updated. Now the problem seems to be sorted. Being able to attach the PowerCap to a USB connection is so much better than having to send it in!

Hida Yanra

I get this aching, actually painful soreness in my gums - even when I consciously keep my mouth open so I don't grind my teeth.

Hida Yanra

It's a bit spendy still - 1K if you own your own crankset, and then there's setting magnet up on the frame, so it's not THAT easily portable from one bike to the next.
Another concern I have - given how the pod sits inside the chainring I doubt you'd be able to change chainrings - and that's almost the biggest draw to me about my 6800 cranks - I use them for everything from 54/42 to 50/34 to 46/36... **I don't know that you can't change rings for a fact**, need to verify, but I don't see how it'd work with the way the pod sits in the void of the ring.

That said - I've certainly been thinking about it.

globecanvas

Maybe TMI, but when I am >= 100% for longer than about 20 minutes I start to feel like I might soil my bibs. Not exactly, but that's the closest analogy I can come up with.

nemeseri

I plan to create a Pioneer Power Meter thread in the road cycling forum with my initial experience. I did the same thing, bought the installation kit and ordered a cheap DA crank.
I only tried out the power meter in left only mode paired with my Garmin 510 and it worked fine. Since then I've been using the pioneer head unit and I'm kinda torn between those two solutions. Time will tell. Big downside of using your Garmin is that you lose pedal efficiency data and you have to remove the battery cover to change mode (left only, dual). Also I found that the zero calibration is more detailed on the Pioneer head unit.

You *can* change chainrings, but it's not easy. In an other thread I found some discussions about how hard it was, but I'd probably take it to my LBS to change them. On the other hand you can order extra magnets, put them on every of your frames and only move the left crank arm. You would have dual power on your main bike and left only on your winter / crit etc ones. Since you will know the difference between your legs you can adjust your data if you want.

Hida Yanra

iiiiiinteresting. Thank you for the info - I'd love to hear more about it if you want to type it all out.

Ah - good to know.
See, thing is - I know that I can buy a used SRM for +/-1K, swap it between bikes without any more hassle than swapping a single crank arm (Shimano or SRAM based cranksets), change chainrings without any hassle at all, and that's a whole new crankset - which comes in handy when the PM based cranksets always have something happen once a year that leaves me without the crank for a bit of time (SRMs need an annual re-charge, Quarqs need their annual warranty replacement, etc)

So - for a similar cost I can get an SRM that I have a great deal of certainty in its reliability, and I'm gaining another crankset (that I'd likely need), and the chainring situation isn't a hassle - the Pioneer seems to be a great system, but it's not overwhelmingly better - **for my situation, in my opinion**

shovelhd

Well used SRAM SRM for used SRAM with new Pioneer pod, I agree with you. DA9000 to DA9000, not even close. Used DA9000 SRM's are very rare, so it's new versus new. If swapping the pod was easy, I'd seriously consider it.

Hida Yanra

I've got a 6800 crankset that I'd convert - and I still may - dunno.
But if Contador/Sagan can win races on an FSA SRM, I think that I'll likely be able to suffer through using one.

johnybutts

Got my SRM back from servicing this week, installed and gonna do a short ride tomorrow.

I haven't ridden in roughly 2 years. Put on about 20-25 lbs. FTP gonna suck. I'm ready for it.

Rich Gibson 

I've done the same. Looking at it bounce up and down is distracting and tends to demotivate me out of concern for overdoing it. Instead I have AHR showing which is a more stable gauge of my current situation.

Rich

Rich Gibson 

I've searched back a bit and hope I'm not duplicating a post but I wanted to add my experience. I own a 2013 Fuji Roubaix 1.0 LE. LE apparently stands for 'limited edition' as it's a special build at Performance Bikes. I did some research and bought a Power2Max FSA Gossamer power meter. I also bought the bottom bracket pair of bearings with it; total cost $535 delivered. The stock praxis chain rings are a perfect fit. The hardest part was getting the bearings out. Two LBS mechanics wanted to hammer the P2M crank axle into the existing bearings; I did not let them try. It turned out the left bearing was a couple mm smaller in diameter. Had they tried they would have trashed the axle. I found a mechanic near my age who pressed the bearings in place and everything went perfectly after that.

It's all been working perfectly since the installation.

Rich

tetonrider

good on ya.

if you want to look at the bright side, gains should come quickly--far quicker than they do when you're years of continuous training in.

good luck!

tetonrider

good to know that it IS possible. frankly, i'd trust my own wrenching vs that of my shop in this regard. wonder what makes it a shop job vs a home one.

nemeseri

Here is the thread I got my info from (se no. 3 and the following discussion): Pioneer Powermeter, real use case - Weight Weenies

tetonrider

i read that as pretty much a "no."

i know that easily swapping chainrings from, say, compact 50/34 to 55/42, is a feature for those cranksets, but i wonder how often people really do it.

this would pretty much kill the possibility if someone had a once-a-year hill climb they could swap from standard to compact the day before.

i'd still love to ride play with one if it fell into my lap.

Silvercivic27

Hey nemeseri, you do know that with the latest firmware update you can now change the mode (powermeter vs pedaling monitoring mode) from the pioneer head unit without taking the cover off, right?

nemeseri

Just like I said above, one alternative is to move just the left crank arm between bikes. If you have enough data on the differences between your legs, you can have a fairly good result even with just the left side doubled. And just like @Silvercivic27 mentioned, you can change the mode straight from the head unit now (if you use the pioneer). Looking at the $700+ Stages prices I think it's still a very good deal.

Yeah I know it, thanks.

misterwaterfall

Quarq is going back for it's yearly warranty replacement. Just looked at the last invoice and this one has been in service sense 12/2014. Might have to take a look at the new Pioneer a bit sooner than I expected...

spectastic

what kind of ftp do you need to be competitive in the p/1/2? like 300W+?

Ygduf

there is no answer to this question outside of "you need enough ftp to collect 20 upgrade points in the 3s"

there are many paths to the waterfall.

shovelhd

Ewang does not make you competitive. Upgrade to Cat2 and then find out for yourself.

Doge

Better racers can do with much less. Juniors need a lot more.