Future of Power Meters?
 

Pedal-based is getting closer to reality! Check out: http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/...r-meter_138155

Edit: The partnering with Polar apparently hasn't gone over so well.

Old news...

My question is what happens if you lean into a turn and clip a pedal? No more power meter?

Overpriced.

Probably for a lot of people, "don't do that" will be an acceptable answer. I can't remember the last time I hit a pedal in a turn, although I always set the right one up to make sure this doesn't happen ... if I'm leaning that steeply into a turn, I really don't want any surprises! Along the same lines: I lean my aluminum bike up in spots where it could fall ( loose gravel, a lot of wind, etc ), but I'm a lot more careful with the carbon one.

Overpriced, Overweight, under compatible.

I was hugely excited about the Metrigear system, speedpaly based, ANT+ compatible at $1000. It would have been fantastic for a tandem.

The Polar/Look at 448 grams, not ANT+ and around $2000 not so much.

I think they'll have a hard time convincing people not to buy Quarqs at that price and weight.

+1

At that price I will stick with my Powertap and Garmin500...

I expect that they'll show up in the pro peleton simply because the team mechanic will have lots of spare "whatevers" and can put a new one on between stages if its trashed. They'll use 'em. Then the Cat 1s will use 'em. Then the Cat . . . (use you imagination). Sound vaguely familiar?

why would you want a power meter in the pedals instead of the hub? so you can tell which leg is stronger?

cost/weight doesn't seem to be the reason

I doubt it.

No ANT+ compatibility + insane price tag + competition from Metrigear (if it comes out soon) spells disaster.

At that price point, I would rather just spend the extra and get the gold standard of power meters: SRM.

Almost sounds like another marketing gimmick, doesn't it? Then again, I wonder what they said when Tullio unveiled the quick-release skewer?

I predict when they're popular in the pro peleton, everyone will sing their praises - just like index shifters and carbon fiber frames/components. Ain't marketing . . . er, technology wonderful?

Then again, maybe they're just the Sony Betamax of powermeters!:p

3 reasons:

1) independent leg measuring.

2) ease of moving from bike to bike.

3) tandems.

I'm not sure in practice how important 1 will turn out, but it should be interesting data.

As for 2, you can move a Quarq or SRM in under 5 minutes, but a lot of peple wil probably be less intimidated to move pedals. The unti on the back of the pedal, and potentially claibration issues could complicate things though.

As for 3, it would be the only real answer for Power meters on a tandem which was not overly complex, allowed the use of a conventional tandem drive train, and was not extremly expensive. So I haven't ruled it out for our tandem, but that's an extremely limited market.

And as for weight, the added weight to the Look/Polar system exceeds the weight of a Quarq or SRM, and I believe the top line Powertaps.

There have already been a few power meters to bite the dust. Ergemo most notably, Metrigear which never even made it to market (unless this is the spirit of Metrigear) the original Polar chain tension system, which while still marketed is pretty much dead, and the Ibike, which might as well be dead.

I wouldn't say it's closer to reality. At this point it is just talk. Metrigear has been talking for years and looks to be further along.

I wouldn't bet on them delivering before 4Q2011, and they will be working out bugs for another year.

If you're pushing the limits, it happens. I scrape pedals (and lately, since I switched to Speedplays, my shoes) in at least a couple of crits a year. Probably more than that. And if a bike hits the ground, whether through a crash or just accidentally while leaning against something, pedals are one of the parts that will hit hardest. A pedal-based system absolutely needs some degree of impact-resistance. Full-on crash protection, no, but dropping your bike should not be enough to destroy your powermeter.

Oh, unlike all those reasonably price power meters.

I don't know about the price point... The pedals are (rumored to be) nearly half the cost of the SRM--$2000 vs. $3700-- though if I had the choice I'd go the latter as well.

It's all vaporware. But sooner or later, hopefully in the next two years, somebody may get this to market. Then we can find out if it works in the real world. Then we can start thinking about whether this is worthy enough to replace all our Powertaps and SRMs.

In other words, don't hold your breath on this.

+1

At $2000 though, they're $300-400 over a Quarq, not Ant+ compatible, heavier, located in an area more prone to damage, and no track record. With the exception of the very limited tandem market, I'm not seeing a compelling case.

And if you can't sell new stuff to me (owner of a Betamax, Laser Disc, and Divx player, not to mention multiple power meters) you've got a problem in getting your new technology adopted.

I'll go back to my previous statement: I predict when they're popular in the pro peleton, everyone will sing their praises. If they make it there. IF they survive there.

What's compelling is the ease of which you could move this PM from one bicycle to another without pulling a crankset or using heavier wheels. But the potential downsides are considerable.

They need to get this into the pro peloton for a season or two. Good luck with that. It's a long way from market in my view.

It's actually a neat thing about spedplays, particualry with 4 bolt shoes. They've got great lean angle so you've got to be getting after it to scrape your shoe, and you'll scrape your shoe before the pedal, which is good because it doesn' end to lift the rear wheel when you rub your shoe as opposed to striking apedal.

Which is another reason to bemoan the death of sppedplay based metrigear system.

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...cket7-tops.jpg

I'd agree with that. However as it currently stands, the only reason a Pro team would use the Look/Polar system would be 1) independent power measurement for each leg. 2) sponsorship.

Time will tell whether 1 is a big deal, and awhether Polar is willing to throw down the cash for 2.

Why doesn't the future include price declines, like you see in other consumer tech markets?

Silly cycling.