I am torn between buying a cycle-ops powertap or a set of powercranks. I'm just looking for something to help keep me on the trainer, throughout the winter, and am not sure which of the two would have the biggest impact, or cause the most improvement in my riding come springtime.

Thoughts??

Thanks
Tyler

Why do you need either to be on the trainer???

PowerTap I say, though.

Powertap. It's proven. The PC's are still seen by some( a lot) of people as a gimmick.

But I personally think a powertap would do more benefit since you can ride it every day, and it tells you if you're working too hard, or not hard enough. Plus you can race with it next year.

Personally, i hate the trainer. I'm just looking for something to help me want to get on the trainer, not just to spin but to actually do a training session.

How easy is it to switch, a powertap from one wheel to another?? I will be getting a new bike around February, and will have to switch the it from my trainer wheelset to a new one.

And has anyone tried powercranks??

Thanks
Tyler

I vote the cranks (SRM).

I had the e-trainer first (the wattage version of the Cyclops, complete with virtual racers on the PC). I enjoyed that but felt the slippage on the roller wasn't great. If I got the tension high enough to not slip, there was a ton of rolling resistance - makes downhills super hard. I never got over 800 watts on the thing without massive tire slippage. Eventually it melted (smoke poured out of it and everything went dead). On a related note - the CompuTrainer, prob the best indoor wattage trainer, recently "updated" their design to accommodate up to 1500 watt efforts (the previous rating was 750 watts). Since a hack Cat 5 can break that barrier (one local Cat 5 impressed his teammates by ripping out a 1500+ watt sprint in the depths of winter), I feel that such trainers not an ideal way of measuring max power. Fine for steady efforts, AT tests, etc, but not for max power.

I then got the PT because it's the same folks as Cyclops (and I hadn't heard of the PTs spontaneously melting and catching fire) and now I could take the power thing onto the road. I loved the "download your ride", the power, the heartrate, and the fact that you could see different parts of your ride and the related HR, power, etc. You learn that your hardest effort didn't take your HR to max but that pain in the butt hill did. etc.

Problem is that I wanted to race with it too - I work so much harder in races than in training that I really wanted to see my race power and heartrate numbers. I realized that to replicate my wheel collection, or even part of it (see the poll on how many wheelsets in this forum), I'd need to buy perhaps a half dozen PT hubs. That's really expensive. And I'd be adding weight to all my wheels.

So I bought an SRM. Since I could buy a new bike with a Record kit, wheels, and frame/fork for about $1000 more than a new SRM setup alone, I did that. Now I can use any wheel I own, indoors or out, and be able to measure relative power all the time.

Of course, if you don't want to get the cranks, I have a PT to sell

buy the cranks,
cdr

Setup the trainer in front of a TeeVee.

Make sure you have a DVD player.

Get a subscription to here: https://www.pornonastick.com/framese...x?affiliate=69

Problem solved.

Neither will make you want to be on a trainer. They will only tell you if you are suffering enough. I know because I have a Powertap and spend about 7-10 hours per week on the trainer in the winter.

For what it is worth, Spinervals DVD's make my trainer time more enjoyable. I would probably enjoy them more without the Powertap because I probably wouldn't work as hard.

okay, forget the wanting to get on the trainer bit, cause that is going nowhere. I'm a junior triathlete, my weakness is cycling, i have extra money, and rather than blowing it on a nintendo wii or ps3 i wanna get something that will help my cycling improve over the winter. Tri World's qualifying races are early in the season, (and its a bit of a longshot for me), but there is a chance, and i need to be stronger, faster, more powerful on the bike

powercranks or powertap, or other?

Again, Powertap with or without trainer.

And Racing and training with a Powermeter by Allen and Coggan.

PT.

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