Did you consider a $4000 SRM?

I did, and I almost went for it. I had two reservations though. One was the price. I am right out of college, and the $200 difference is a big one. Once I have some money saved up, If I decide to get back into racing or more into the Tri's and TT's, then I will probably do that. My line of thinking was this takes care of a pretty advanced computer with some basic power functions. If I want to invest in a powertap down the line, I already have this unit, and I can run to two together to make a pretty slick setup. The other issue is that I am essentially living in and out of my car for the next four or five months with no permanent residence. I am moving from literally the atlantic ocean to the pacific ocean and back over the course of the summer, along with a few other 5-7 hour trips. I have a small sedan, and I honestly just don't have room for another wheel in my car. Down the road, when I have established myself better financially, or if I get another bike, I will probablly save up for the PT. Until then, this will fit the bill alright.

Moving a wired PT is very easy with a second wiring harness. And unless you want to go wireless at a cost of an additional $269, you'll need second wiring harness for the Ibike, as well as another$99 cadence pickup.

As for weight, it's only a few hundred grams more than a typical mid range rear wheel. And the trianing beneifts if you use it well, will give you more speed than those grams could ever cost you.

As for the OCD thing, you can be a poser, or train to get faster.

You do need to store and analyze the data, if you're really going to get the benefit of a power meter. Otherwise you just have an expensive toy.

And when you start adding it up the Ibike gets expensive $199 for the Sport, $99 for a cadence sensor. $269 if you want to go wireless, and $249 if you want to be able to download data.

That's over $700 for a unit that has calibration hassles and inaccuracies.



There is simply no value proposition to support the Ibike. (other than as a head unit for a real power meter if you're willing to spend that money.)

+2 on these. Enough of us have won races on PTs to demonstrate that the weight isn't an issue unless you're really climbing. I've never once had the other guys on the podium make fun of my mismatched wheels. The only person who cares about OCP stuff is the one who owns it.

Sure there is a value proposition. By most accounts, it sounds like the accuracy issues have been addressed with the 3rd generation unit. So even if you paid the $700 for a full-blown iBike, what you end up with is a reasonably accurate tool (actually, looking at the comparison done by VeloNews, very close to real power meters out there) that you can easily transfer between bikes, and use with any wheelset your heart desires. Yes, the weight of the wheel doesn't matter for 99% of riders, but why should you deprive yourself from power measurements if you feel like riding your Zipp wheels on the weekend (or during a race)?

90% of the time you'll use a Powertap in training, so the wheel it's on won't matter much. Again, I bought mine laced to a 404 clincher, so it works for racing too unless it's pretty hilly. Most of the courses I'm going to either race or TT on are fine for the heavier Ptap Zipp wheel set.

If there is no problem with mismatched wheels, then there shouldn't be any with matched ones. Having a matching wheelset doesn't mean you are a poser or don't care about training hard.

Why would anyone care what anyone else thinks? What other people think of me is none of my business, plus the whole friggin world can totally go eff itself for all I care. This means you.

I mean this of course in the best kum bay ya BF Bike Weenie sense, and you are all still total friggin idiots for being on this stupid website to begin with.

What I'm saying is that matching the front wheel has exactly 0.0% impact on my rear wheel choice. I don't care what priorities others have, and nobody else does either.

Go to a race, or the local training ride. Count the power meters. My bet out of 100 riders, you'll see 2-3 SRM's, 6-8 Quarqs, 15-20 Powertaps, and 0-1 Ibikes.

I don't see anyone buying the Generation III Ibikes. I do see a lot of the cheaper PT's. I think that tells you something.

No, but if your priorities lead you to an Ibike Sport, because the cost of having a matched front wheel with your PT were too much, that might say something.

I had a second-generation iBike Pro and now I use a PowerTap. It seems to me that the iBike was very accurate almost all the time. The numbers were very similar to what I'm seeing with te Powertap. The ONE exception was when topping a hill and starting a steep descent. On one 17% grade, I could pedal easy and register over 1,400 watts. Lesser downward slopes still gave odd readings, but less odd.

Everywhere else, the iBike worked very well. No calibration issues. No strange readings.

I've never used the current generation but, when used in conjunction with a Quarq/SRM/PowerTap, the Aero sounds as if it would offer data -- especially on aerodynamic efficiency -- that you can't get anywhere else. (Even a wind tunnel would be unrealistic by comparison.)

can you please stop mentioning this? I'm trying my hardest not to hit submit on the order!

Not buying a more reliable device for training because you don't want to "have to" buy a matching wheel means you care more about posing than training.

just buy it


the georgia tech guy comes across like someone who learned all the rules of BF (OCP, poser, how to take pictures) and is now getting gang ***** by the group who races and he doesn't understand why the issue that there isn't a matching saris bartape hasn't come up in this discussion.

I know you don't care; good for you.

Road cyclists tend to be purists, and have a tendency to shut things down without trying them (like Campy fanatics vs. Shimano). If you had tried the iBike and found it to not work, I would have been more likely to listen to you recommending against getting one.

As you mentioned before, iBike Sport is not really comparable to the PT so I am not sure why you are comparing them now. I still think it is better than paying $100-$150 for a cyclo-computer, though.

This assumes that PT is more reliable enough to make a difference than the current iBike, which most tests show not to be the case.

The point I am trying to make here is that people are bashing the iBike without a good basis. When compared to a similarly priced entry-level PT (or even other more expensive power meters), the tests out there suggest it is almost as accurate, and it allows you to use any wheels you want and put it on any bike you want, without the mess of wires. Even if it is not as accurate, I don't think the differences will be large enough to have an appreciable impact on anyone's training.

You should see my bike to see how OCP I am. Actually, here:

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/IMG_1262.jpg

See how many mismatching components you can spot.

I myself have not used one, but I know several people who have, including the new model. Some of these people were happy with them initially, but long-term they all became frustrated with them and abandoned them.

IF you are very careful to calibrate it correctly, AND stay on top of the calibration when conditions, equipment, etc. change, and you mostly ride in the same position, and don't do any sprinting, then sure, it seems to be generally almost accurate. Otherwise, if you are like most people, you don't stay on top of if it, you don't recalibrate it when you change things, and you end up like FordFasterr, claiming ridiculous numbers on some thread on the internet... :p

You can take a PowerTap wheel or SRM or Quarq, and swap them between bikes and not worry about recalibrating, just a simple zeroing at the start of a ride, and verification of the calibration from time to time.

I have however used a PT for a number of years, and a Quarq. I have talked to a number of people who have used the Ibike. No one I have personally met liked the Ibike, and of those people, none of them are still using it, while many of them now have Powertaps or Quarqs.


I mention the Ibike Sport to point out, its not adequate for training, so the true cost you need to look at for an Ibike is $700, not $199.

And the Ibike Sport IMHO is not better than a $100-150 computer. Its actual cost if you want cadence is $298, and it's wired, not wireless, unless you want to pay another $269 for wireless.

Wireless Ibike Pro might not be too bad if it were substantially cheaper than a PT, but it's not.

So you can go cheap and get something that's inadequate for serious training, or you can spend as much as a PT, and have a still inferior device.

There's a poster in this thread who said that on descents, the iBike has displayed way too high. If I'm on an SST ride (which is 3x/week, at least), then my normalized power is extremely important. Having 30" blasts over 1000W when I'm holding 310W will mess up my training analysis.

That seems like a basis for bashing to me, for my training.

Thanks for the constructive input. Posts like this, even if it is not first-hand experience, will make it easier for the OP (and others) to decide for themselves.

Here is a quote from the poster:

"There are times when I am pedaling downhill and it is registering 0 watts, and other times when I am not and it gives me small trace numbers in the double digits"

Small trace numbers are not exactly 1000W blasts.

^ You're misconstruing WR's post. He was saying the virtual wind tunnel function of the Ibike Aero, paired with a strain guaged based power meter, would be sufficiently accurate to give you meaningful aerodynamic data.

I don't think that's an endorsement of buying a Ibike over a PT.

I conceeded myself earlier in the thread I'd like an Ibike Aero, with a Quarq, but am not willing to pay the price.

Yeah, if it wasn't in this thread, it's a link I read off this thread, but someone was pedaling normally down hill and saw 1400W with a GenIII.

I don't have time to cite all the references to why the iBike is a better wind tunnel than a power meter, but that's my take on it.