Power Meter pedals
 

I am asking this group because generally the older riders may not care about power meters but I am thinking of getting one. My p[tions really are pedals based that seems the easier. Anyone her have the Garmin or Assiamo system and if so do you like them?

I use to want them. But for all the issues people had. I figured crank based PM's were a better bet. And they are much less expensive. Though I also realize that most complaining were probably a very small minority.

I also thought that it'd be nice to be able to swap them from bike to bike. But also realized it'd still be too much trouble. And I could get two crank based PMs for the price of one pedal PM. At least back 5 years ago I could.

I have used the Assiamo Uno (single sided) for about 5 years now. Not a single problem.

For the new bike, I had a crank arm meter installed by 4iiii. Also seems to work fine.

I've been using the Assiamo Duo for about 5 years and like them a lot. They appear to be accurate (according to DC Rainmaker) - simple to install, the battery life is excellent, and they pair very quickly with my bike computer. As an added bonus, I use them to calibrate my Peloton from time to time. Also, I was on vacation and rented a nice bike. It was nice to be able to easily put the Assiamos on and have my power meter with me. Great product.

I have had the Assioma pedals for about 5 years. They used to go with Look cleats, but now you can also get them with Shimano-SPD cleats.

They are accurate and dependable. As already mentioned, DC Rainmaker makes the case that they are the best pedal-based system available.

I swap them between bikes in about two minutes. The key to making the swap easy is to swap often enough and lube the threads enough so that they unscrew from the cranks without extreme leverage.

None of us really needs to know our power. By the same token, none of us needs to know our average speed. But I learn a lot from having a PM. For example, yesterday riding with a couple of friends we were going up a steady grade for about two miles, with me riding 3rd wheel. We weren't going too fast, but it felt HARD. Is this really a hard effort, or am i just feeling lousy? Looking down, I saw that I was holding 275 watts. OK, this is a tougher hill than it appears. No problems, carry on.

I've got two pairs of Assioma Duos (with SPD hack) and a pair of Assioma Pro MX (comes as SPD). Oldest set is 5 years old, and still works fine.

The Assiomas are consider as accurate as any other power meter. And I are one of the most affordable. Very well made and just work.

They had a safety recall on one of them. Though I had no problem. I filled out a form, they sent a complete replacement pedal. Activating the new pedal, disabled the old one. Can't complain about a company trying to stay ahead of an issue and fixing a problem I didn't know I had.

Last year I swapped all my cranks out for shorter ones, using pedal based meters was a big win for that. I can't think of any downside with these for road riding. There's some concern using pedal based meters for MTB. But I have done that without issue. But obviously pedal strikes are common with MTB rides so there is some potential to damage them. But the pedal bodies and be replaced like any pedal, and while I'm sure some riders have bent pedal spindles, I don't think that is common.

The older Duos I have, have the electronic pod on the side. This could interfere with using MTB style shoes (again with the SPD hack). But the Pro MX and the newer road version, have all the electronics in the spindle. Nothing large a chunking sticking out. Only issues with this, is you cannot use them with pedal extenders to increase q-factor. Any extender will cover the end of the spindle and block the radio communication of the pedal.

I'm not an older rider, nor do I know your riding objectives, so I won't comment on a power meter is a good idea or not. That being said, I've got experience with both Garmin Rally XC100(single sided SPD pedals) and the Favero Assiomo Duo Shi(dual sided with Shimano road pedal bodies.)

Knowing what I know now, the Faveros are a much better product, and at a better value IMO. One of the bearings disintegrated on my Garmin pedals recently, and the other side wasn't far behind it. Luckily I was just inside the 2 year warranty, so Garmin exchanged a brand new set of pedals. The customer service was excellent, but if this happened outside of the warranty, the bearings are not replaceable. Meaning that you have to buy complete pedal bodies(at $200 a side) just to replace the bearings. Another negative for them, has been the accuracy. To get accurate readings, I have to install them exactly at 34nm(which is a lot,) using a crow's foot and a torque wrench. Followed by a zero offset, a calibration, a few sprint efforts, and 1 final calibration. Otherwise, they are a random number generator...not exactly something that you want to switch between bikes all that often.

In comparison, the Faveros are pretty easy to swap between bikes. I install them like any non-power pedal(no torque wrench,) just do a calibration and they're good to go. That being said, I did end up with some sloppy bearings on mine, but I do put quite a bit of miles on them. Luckily, the bearings are replaceable...much better value prospect compared to the Garmins. The other thing, is the Q-factor is greatly increased on the Duo Shis...might be a problem for some, but it actually leads to a better fit in my case.

Not a problem with the new Pro RS models, which have a low Q factor for both types of cleat systems. I think they are still selling the Shis, but I can't think of a reason one might want them now that they have the newer pedal models.

I've used Garmin Vectors for years without problem. Were I not already invested in the Garmin universe, I'd probably opt for Favero (yeah I know they're compatible, but. . .)

My Canyon Endurace came with a NDS 4iiii PM. I really liked it, it seemed accurate and I enjoyed using it. Unfortunately the crankarm was damaged and there is no way to take the PM off the old crankarm and put it on another so I was pretty much out of luck unless I wanted to buy one outright. I've put about 700 miles on without a PM and I don't miss it. One day I'll probably buy one of their 2 sided units but for now I'll just ride without a PM.

If they're so easy to swap, why do you have three pairs?

Because I don't feel like moving pedals around every time I want to ride a different bike. Sometimes the choice is immediately before I want to ride.

But some people don't want to spend that much, so it is an option to move them around. And also, I did move all of them when I shortened all my cranks.

Assiamo. love mine. not a racer but I enjoy knowing my data after a ride

My doctor recommended Assioma MX (SPD), based on a recommendation from the doctor she replaced. Newby alert, I just got them last month. They're really easy to set up and install; so far I love them.

Maybe get your doc to write a script and get insurance to cover your pedals 😆

I have both the Assioma and Garmin Rally pedals. The Assiomas have been flawless although I’m not wild about a proprietary charging cable.

OTOH, I’ve bought my last Garmin product.