man, i have a ton of cassettes.

what's the group consensus on what is fair for lightly used DA and ultegra cassettes? 60% of wholesale? (assuming the cassettes are not trashed, of course.)

mine all look in really good shape, some basically new.

will take me another day or two before i have time to list them all out.

why do you keep bringing lance up all the time? what does he have to do with outlawing aero gear in TTs????

I buy new (old) sram red cassettes off amazon for like $120. Used anything needs to be significantly less for me to consider it.

Not a negotiation or anything, just writing out how I price stuff.

TR - Sounds about right.

6700 - $25-$35
7800/7900 - $50-$75

Higher tooth count are worth more, i.e. 11-28 is worth more than 11-21.

So I am going t take advantage of Teton's SRM offer. Right now I'm planning to get the Sram GXP SRM. Does anyone have a good reason to go with the FSA KForce SRM over the Sram? I run Sram shifters/derailleurs.

Also, I bought a lightly used DA 7800 12-27 cassette for $10 at a recent bike shop moving sale.

I haz DurAce and run sram shifters, derailures, but shimano cassette and chain. Works nice.
I used to have a regular Force Crank and it was POS, but it was one of the first iterations. I am sure they have gotten better.

so, torque wrenches; i could either get a cheap one from Nashbar (Nashbar branded) for $50 or get the Shimano PRO torque wrench that cost 2x the money

comments, suggestions?

I got the Craftsman torque wrenches. The ratchet on that you can set and stops at the desired pressure, and the one that gauges the torque based on the bend of the bar (which is the recommended one for Vectors). They both do the job.

this should be stickied in all TT/Track discussions.

I love my PRO one, my mechanic friends have the craftsman re-calibrate capable ones and like them, but they were out of my budget.
Nashbar- probably going to be fine, if money is tight go ahead. That said, I trust the PRO one to have more longevity

I have the Spin Doctor 1/4" drive kit which I got during a 20% off and free shipping sale at Performance. It's not a high grade tool but it's accurate enough for the small torque stuff and comes with a nice set of bits and an extender. I have a 3/8" commercial N-m torque wrench from CDI that I use for cranks and automotive stuff.

Got it; thanks guys

Garmin introduces cheaper, one-sided Vector S power meter, plus new data to geek out on - VeloNews.com

Garmin has a one sided Vector PM, which should compete with Stages.

There is also supposed to be new software that can somehow determine your power standing vs sitting. Opposed to Torque Effectiveness and Pedal Smoothness, this seems useful.

It's notable that the Vector S will work with most cranksets. This may mean I'll finally be able to use something other than my 2100 gram Open Pro/Powertap wheels for races...but that'd eliminate one of my reasons/excuses for being so damned slow!

why is my initial inclination that a one-sided pedal system would be inaccurate but I never thought that about the one-sided crank system?!

Better yet, why do we only have a chain on one side?? What about the other side??

For serious though, crank power meters strain gauges are reading the torque going into the drivetrain, so obviously both sides are powering the drivetrain.

There was a kilo bike that had a chain on the left side as well as the right. I think it used a lower gear on the left and wasn't tightened so that as you accelerated it unscrewed. Somehow it worked such that after that the right side chain engaged properly, a higher gear, so the rider could accelerate hard and then finish well. I'm pretty sure it got banned immediately.

There was also a fixed gear road bike (derailleurs above and below the freewheel, apparently that makes a fixed gear derailleur bike work) which drove a BB shaped like a crankshaft. A piston pressurized the three main tubes. An extra shift lever acted as the valve to either store or release energy. When released the pressure drove the piston. The inventor did some nutty 10 mile TT time without really being a cyclist, like 25 min, aka 25 mph. Store on downhills or easy sections, release on hills.

That must be what Fabian Cancellara is using.

Pedal systems still have a poor reputation. Mainly from people who have never used pedal systems. Stages used to have a bad rep then when Sky picked them up as a sponsor it disappeared overnight. They are far from perfect but not nearly as horrendous as some would make them out to be.

The problem with one sided anything is that L/R Balance can really deviate. When I had a pinched nerve, my L/R was 44/56. Now its 52/48.

1. When you say one-sided, I'm assuming you mean "other than crank/chain/hub based devices" or am I missing something? 'cause those are in one location, but measure total force. Just making sure I am tracking with you.

2. The L/R balance especially gets dicey when dealing with short durations. Several tests on elite level track riders (generally smooth as far as pedaling goes) show that not only is balance not equal, it varies based on duration. I don't have the results in front of me, but I recall that balance on efforts under 4-5 minutes varied quite a bit, and it wasn't until longer durations +5' that the power smoothed out.

Most pros- especially on the Team Sky model of racing- are largely training for durations that are quite a bit than the ones I prioritize. (mountains, long cross-wind sections, etc), but amateurs are often training these 30"-5' durations that are fundamental to winning a 45' crit, making the selection in a hilly RR, etc.
Were we (as a generalized set of racers) more prone to +4h races with multiple +15' climbs, etc... yeah, I expect we'd spend quite a bit more time on steady power to the pedals- but given the bread-and-butter of American bike racing are crits (short), or road races decided by specific moments of selection and no sustained efforts over 10-15'... I'm not terribly compelled by a device that is most certainly inaccurate at the durations critical to my racing results.

I find that in crits, my left leg does more than my right. like 52/48. pushing out of right-hand corners adds up I guess.

Your crits are all clockwise in California?

I wonder if one direction is more common than the other. Of the 6 crits I raced this year, 3 were CW and 3 were CCW.

1 - Devices that only measure one legs output (which I believe atm is only Stages) which replaces the left crank with a model that has a strain gauge.

2 - You're right, it isn't really effective when you look at L/R in the short term, and for an uninjured athlete its not too functional of a statistic. Whatever side you make your jump on in sprints is going to be the dominant one by far, and most of us favor one side. For example, I typically use my left when starting at a stoplight or pedaling after cruising on a descent.

For me, I monitor it as my SI Joint slips out of place and the L/R changes. If its Right dominant I know its slipped out and I have to pop it back in place (which fortunately seems to occur less often). I have mine set at 30 second average and have to monitor it over a steady effort of about 5 minutes.

the series that I've been doing, which is like 100% of my crit experience, has been clockwise.

I'm planning to try this saddle myself in my seemingly eternal quest for butt comfort. After about a month of using it, do you still like and recommend it?