Yes I searched...

I just have a quick question for anyone with knowledge of the topic. I'm ready to fire on a power meter and have looked at pretty much every option and narrowed down to two.

Stages or Quarq Riken.

I've been trained by marketing and commercialism to believe that more money = better product, but in this case I am not entirely sure. I currently have a Dura Ace 7900 crank on my Madone. I'm inclined to keep that there if I can, which the Stages will allow, so that's intriguing to me. I'm curious though, about the data every 3 seconds deal... quarq is several times per second, no?

Anyway, I could ramble all day... can anyone convince me why I should spend almost twice as much on a Quarq when I'm reading that Stages gets the job done reliably? Tell me what I'd be missing if I got the Stages...

thanks, John.

there is also the powertap option... I am happy with mine.

There's always one in the crowd who will choose bananas when given choices of apples or kiwis.

do you believe you will more effectively train with data which is closer spaced in time when speaking of seconds?

Technically Stages only measures left foot. for someone who is not worried about knowing if both feet have the same power... The powertap simply lets you keep your crank unmodified.

you're right.

I'm not buying a powertap though, as I don't want to buy one for every wheelset, but thank you for your candor.

It's worth looking at the reviews, granted there are not many for Stages yet but a google search on DCrainmaker is a very good one. His updated review had stages very positively ranked against the others. Many will say that the challenge is that Stages is not time tested yet, which is true but you gotta start somewhere.

I have the Stages and have been very happy with it, especially because like you I didn't want to change my crank and I didn't want a Power Tap since I swap wheels often. I really like that I can do any software updates via Bluetooth. As mentioned it does rate favorably against the others even given that it's only recording one side, I would say that the few times where I've done drills with one legged pedaling that I would have liked to see how my power compares from one leg to the other which obviously cannot be done with the Stages. A small thing but still...

The only other unit I would have considered was the SRM because keeping the appearance of my group was important to me but just couldn't justify the price as a recreational rider making a first foray into training with power.

correct me if I'm wrong but the Quarq only measures one side as well, and just calculates for the other leg?

I'm thinking for trying the Stages myself. Reviews have been good (that I've seen) and easy to install or move to another bike. I would love a powertap but can't imagine spending the $$$

You are wrong, afaik. The sensor is at the spider, which will intrinsically measure both legs.

I have two of the Stages meters since August and have been very pleased. The meters are very consistent with each other and across time and circumstances. Yes, there is the one-leg thing, but I don't see myself ever getting to the point where power balance across my legs is my main concern!

Full Disclosure: I did end up with an issue on one of the meters when riding in Boston. Boston roads make rock fields look like skating rinks! Either my own failure to correctly close the battery door, or the battlefield-like roads, broke one of the closing tabs on the door. The intermittent contact with the battery fried the meter. The good news: Stages had a new meter to me in two days. More good news: I have not had an issue with either meter since then.

You did explicitly say you had narrowed the filed down to two options. Fair enough. But considering the prominence of Powertap in the marketplace, it might have been appropriate to specifically mention that it had been eliminated and why.

EDIT: I belatedly see your comment about not wanting to have a meter on every set of wheels. Thanks.

That's wrong. It measures the power at the crank's spider, so it's picking up power from both legs.

What's confusing you is that it extrapolates power for each half of the pedal stroke, rather than measuring both legs independently.

There is something to be said for a more mature product. Every power meter that has come out has gone through some growing pains.

I don't expect stages to be any different.

I have the riken. I like the readings and the fact that I can switch wheels and still have power... However, hate the chainrings. My front shifting sucks ever since. I have Ultegra 6700 FD with Sram chain and powerglide rings. I'm changing them very soon to Praxis or Rotor Q, just a matter of deciding if going with the oval rings or not.

I have a Riken on one bike and a Powertap on the other. They have both been totally solid.

That said, I'm thinking of selling the Powertap and getting a Power2Max crank-based power meter. The $899 Gossamer option is pretty appealing and the email exchanges I've had with their reps have almost convinced me that it is worth giving it a shot.

Bob

why are these bastards so freaking expensive? Where are the Chinese when you need them?

riken …you can't calibrate stages

My friend is on her 5th Stages.
edit to add... because it keeps breaking, not because she has 5 of them.

Stages is a far simpler design than the other big three (I guess it's four now with Garmin's Vector) and they don't have to redesign any major bicycle components. I don't expect as many growing pains for them.

EDIT: or maybe I spoke too soon...

If you're considering Quarg you might want to look into Power2Max.

Just to add a bit more: All of the powermeters have pro's and con's. So just because quarq is double the price of stages doesn't prevent it from having inherent issues.

I had a quarq for a year before switching to a Stages (I switched because I changed groups on my bike). With the quarq, my left/right power distribution was close so I wasn't worried about the Stages measuring left only. I'm happy with the Stages. I also like the way you don't have to use a magnet with it. I probably tore the magnet off the mount with my quarq three or four times over the year (pretty much every time I dropped my chain it would knock off the glued magnet). From what I can tell, the power reading is close between the two (and that's backed up by some of the reviews I've seen). Besides, I'm more concerned with consistency and it does seem to be consistent.

Not sure what you mean? I calibrate my Stages before every ride (although according to the DCRainmaker review there may be less need to do it so regularly compared to some others).

I've certainly heard about growing pains with Stages, just like there are always stories about the other major meters out there that are not always positive. I do think that the easy updates with Stages is a nice feature. Ultimately though stuff happens and it's how the company deals with those problems that define them, sounds like Quark and Stages have stepped up to the plate as often as necessary from a customer service stand point.

I ordered the stges. I hope it works with my frame. The guys in the shop are divided, and stages thinks it will "probably" work.I'm

not used to a company not being able to give me a straight answer about their product.

^^^
That's likely because they don't have enough information about your frame to make a determination. Did you give them a measurement off your frame? If they can give you a maximum allowable width at a certain radius from the crank axis, you should be able to have a pretty good idea if the PM will fit or not.

yes, you can use zero offset but you have no way of independently verifing the calibration on stages. Not necessarily a con to some people just pointing it out as it was for me.



edit: think of a weight scale that consistently read 10 lbs heavier than it should, do to its calibration being off. you may always weigh 10lbs heavier on that scale compared to another even if you can zero out the scale to read 0lbs before you get on.