Viewing 19 posts - 1 through 19 (of 19 total)
  • Stages v Powertap
  • scratch
    Free Member

    What you going for?

    Stages seem to have ironed out all the initial issues and are a good price £599 for a 105 arm

    Powertap have a few more years behind them ad the guys I know who’ve used them have never had a problem, Paligaps just down the road too. Bit more expensive at around £650 for a built wheel.

    50/50 at the moment. SRM/Quark and Garmin pedals are way out due to cost.

    iamconfusedagain
    Free Member

    Powertap. Paligap have been great time and time again.
    But the main reason for me is that I think it is worth waiting a couple of years for any design to make sure that it will perform well in the long run.
    Obviously this assumes that a wheel based power meter is not going to be a pain in the arse for you.

    molgrips
    Free Member

    Being able to change wheels can be useful. Also, if you run the same crank lengths, you could move it to your MTB pretty easily by the look of it.

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    scratch
    Free Member

    Running two road bikes and a CX on the turbo most of the time. Crank arm v wheel change cant be far off each other + the lower weight of the stages on the race bike.

    Good to know Paligap are decent customer service wise.

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    Power2max are in the same price bracket as well, kinda halfway between the stages and SRM (only measures in one place, but mounted in the spider like SRM/quark). And have apparently ironed out the early bugs like temperature causing the reading to drift.

    I’d be more tempted by stages if I had several bikes, although I’d be worried about wearing out splines and threads if I was doing it 3x a week in winter between training CX and race bikes.

    Is weight an issue? If you’re prepared to drop £600+ on a power meter then getting down to the UCI weight shouldn’t be a problem? My bikes probably worth £600 and is at the limit!

    Is there much to be gained from power measuremnt in CX?

    monkeyfudger
    Free Member

    Do Stages have a UK distributor yet? Last time I looked they didn’t. Stages left only measuremt would irritate my OCD too much I’m afraid.

    I don’t fancy a wheel based power meter but that just a personal thing, their prices and from what I’ve read customer service and reliability are spot on.

    Waiting for pay day to roll around and I’ll be ordering a Power2Max Rotor3D, P2M have just released an updated version with broader battery and crank arm compatibility, neater design and also a compatible spider for the new 4 bolt 110bcd Shimano rings. I reckon I’ll just be ordering the old version as it’s €200 cheaper and the sensor is actually the same apparently.

    molgrips
    Free Member

    Crank arm v wheel change cant be far off each other

    The point is that you can have your choice of wheel and bike and still have power readouts. With a powertap you have to choose which wheel you want it on – training wheel, race wheel, CX wheel etc. and you’re stuck with it.

    I’ve never been able to measure my power output on the MTB because my PT is on my road bike.

    TiRed
    Full Member

    Had a stages since February. Managed to break two in our bad weather. Stages FedExed a replacement by return email both times. They have been excellent to deal with. I have added weatherproofing to mine in the form of an section of innertube taped at each end – it’s very inconspicuous on Ultegra cranks. It has survived torrential rain at 60mph for an hour (On the roof of the car, of course).

    I’m satisfied. If they were £300, I’d put one on every bike I own.

    I don’t bother to change it between bikes. Instead I use a PowerCal for summary power. It’s pretty accurately calibrated for me, but my 16yo managed 320+ average Watts on Saturday, and there is no way he did that – his Max HR is of course much higher than mine,

    njee20
    Free Member

    Power2max are in the same price bracket as well, kinda halfway between the stages and SRM (only measures in one place, but mounted in the spider like SRM/quark). And have apparently ironed out the early bugs like temperature causing the reading to drift.

    Agreed, I’d look at P2M if buying now, the Rotor 3D version is reasonably priced. The fact it only measures one point is irrelevant when that point is the spider – it gets feedback from both sides. The Stages is just doubling your single leg power.

    Stages have announced a UK distributor, but don’t actually have stock yet, it’s a very neat solution, for pure simplicity I’d be tempted, but I’d probably always wonder about my L:R balance, which I must admit I don’t know.

    As an aside I’m thinking of selling my Powertap, just not doing any training any more, so it’s wasted! Silver Powertap Pro on black Open Pro rim with black DT Competition spokes.

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    Do Stages have a UK distributor yet? Last time I looked they didn’t. Stages left only measuremt would irritate my OCD too much I’m afraid.

    You’ll want a powertap then, even SRM, quark etc apply an alogrythm to the data, as everyone regardless of how perfect your pedal stroke is pushes down on the back pedal, so the actual power generated by your front foot is always more than the readout is telling you by arround 5%.

    Unless you’re injured then L/R ballance will be nigh on perfect, and there’s a lot of doubt that working on re-ballanceing yourself will actualy make you faster anyway as for every watt you gain on the left, you’ll probably lose on the right as there’s only so mych your cardiovascular system can do.

    The-Swedish-Chef
    Free Member

    I’ve never had an issue with my PowerTap and I’ve even raced it in CX once just to get the numbers.

    njee20
    Free Member

    Unless you’re injured then L/R ballance will be nigh on perfect, and there’s a lot of doubt that working on re-ballanceing yourself will actualy make you faster anyway as for every watt you gain on the left, you’ll probably lose on the right as there’s only so mych your cardiovascular system can do.

    Not true, plenty of people have a L:R bias (I seem to recall BikeRadar’s Jeff Jones is one of them), which can even change at different outputs – more equal at threshold then Z1 for example. If you don’t the Stages will be just as accurate as everything else, but if do then it won’t be. The issue is that most won’t know.

    Whether that’s actually an issue is another question altogether.

    TiRed
    Full Member

    I’d probably always wonder about my L:R balance, which I must admit I don’t know.

    I test my L_R balance on a Wattbike every year at the cycleshows. It’s very even. But I also ride fixed and have a very smooth pedal stroke. If you are a masher, L:R balance may be off. If you have a missing limb, (like one of the guys I race against sometimes) it will be miles off!

    scratch
    Free Member

    njee20, give me a mail if you have a price in mind.

    scratch
    Free Member

    Yeah Stages have announced a UK distributor and The Shed did have a few in stock last week.

    monkeyfudger
    Free Member

    Oooooh well then, might change things (again). [Goes off to look at pricing for Stages unit in the UK]

    Thisisnotaspoon,
    The left/right balance thing as a display while I’m riding isn’t all that important to me but I’d be interested in seeing it in post ride analysis, I believe mine may be off due to rubbish knees, with the Stages I’d just never know whereas even with a bit of guesswork on the other power meters it’s going to be a lot closer to real power output.

    monkeyfudger
    Free Member

    Hmmm looking like £600 – 105, £700 – Ultegra and £800 Dura Ace Vs €940 (~£790-£800) for a Rotor3D P2M. Tough call I reckon.

    njee20
    Free Member

    P2M require payment by bank transfer, which your bank will generally charge £20 for, if that has a bearing on things.

    mrblobby
    Free Member

    Stages on sale now. Anyone gone for one? Initial impressions?

Viewing 19 posts - 1 through 19 (of 19 total)

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