Well more that no one has quite worked out what to do with the data! Wattbike’s been making good money off of that for years 🙂

Sort of. They’ve been displaying the information for years, but it’s still not a metric they specifically say you should train for (in terms of the stroke analysis), more a by-product of getting stronger.

Does anyone know of anywhere with stock of the Powertap P1’s?

From looking around so far I can only find powermeter24.com with any stock.

Beyond Mountain Bikes in Surrey have a couple of pairs – 01483 267676, talk to Jackie and say Nick mentioned it if you ring them.

A 4iiii review over at dcrainmaker.

bumpy – Member
both of which have different BB’s so a crank based unit is a non-starter.

What are the BB’s?

The 4iiii looked like such a great option, just that bit less exciting now you have to send your cranks away and its LH only (even if just for now).

2 months on my Stages now and it’s doing the will it/won’t it thing. Takes a few re-seats to get it up and running, bit of a pain when you’re kitted up and trying to get out in the morning.

The hard reset thing works but each time I do it I have to go through the firmware update. Or at least the iOS app launches it anyway.

Will soldier on for a bit and see how it goes.

Torn between Power2Max and INPower for the summer bike…

Haze, have you checked the battery contact (the gold circular tab in the centre) isn’t pressed flat down? Stages HQ suggested to me this might need tweaking up slightly with a thin blade, so that battery contact is more reliable. Or am I missing something in your description?

Yeah I read that somewhere, something like lift them to 2 to 3mm?

They’re not flat but nothing like 3mm either, I’ve opened a support ticket with Stages to see what they say.

Happy to give them a lift but thought I’d better wait for their instruction first (in case of warranty etc).

barrykellett – Member
bumpy – Member
both of which have different BB’s so a crank based unit is a non-starter.
What are the BB’s?

One bike is a BB90 and the other is GXP.
In the end I decided on a set of Powertap P1’s and I’m pretty happy with them so far.

If anyone else is considering P1’s then they might be interested to know that they do work with Keo cleats but they feel a little loose, even fairly new cleats.
The Powertap cleats that are about £15 a set are actually Wellgo RC7 cleats that can be found for about £7 a set.

Do those cleats work with Keos, out of interest?

Infocrank……….

Left/right so doesnt have to guess what one leg is doing
Waterproof
No recalibrating
An instrument, not a power meter. Designed from the strain gauges up into their own crank design
0.2% error – most others are 2%+
Just about to go magnetless on January firmware update
Just got BC approval too……

Too expensive for my money, even with the latest price drops.

Do those cleats work with Keos, out of interest?

Yes, the Wellgo/Powertap cleats seem to work perfectly well with the Keo pedals.

Just got BC approval too……

Think all that means is they’ve done a deal to supply BC with units. Looks like they are doing ~20% off for BC members too. Still 960 quid.

An instrument, not a power meter

How’s that Kool-Aid?

An instrument, not a power meter

Easy to get confused…

😆

I just ignored the bollocks, that is a gem!

mtbtomo – Member
have you checked the battery contact (the gold circular tab in the centre) isn’t pressed flat down? Stages HQ suggested to me this might need tweaking up slightly with a thin blade, so that battery contact is more reliable

They’ve just been in touch to suggest exactly that, lift one side so the whole thing is at about 30° – I previously thought each of the 3 small tabs would need tweaking rather than the whole disc.

It makes sense since it’s an intermittent problem and affects both Ant+ and Bluetooth connections.

Have given it a go anyway…

Just a thought – anyone interested in a new, unused Powertap GS built on Pacenti SL23 rim with Sapim CX-RAY spokes? I built it up then broke my spine, so won’t be needing such a thing for a while. I got the hub for a bargain £399, rim and spokes were about another 135. If anyone wants it for 400 then let me know. I hadn’t quite done a final true so should probably budget for that.

Gray. Firstly sorry to hear about your accident, I hope you make a swift recovery.
Secondly I’m interested in your PowerTap wheel. Could you send me pictures?
Best
Ackie

Hi Ackie, I will be able to in a few days (should have thought of that before posting I guess!). Am currently rather immobile in hospital. One other thing I should mention – it’s currently got a Campagnolo freehub, not sure how much a Shimano one would be if you need it.

No worries. Yes I’ll need shimano. What is the spoke count BTW. I hope you get back on your feet soon 🙂

I’ll email you on the address in your profile – feels like I’ve hijacked this one a bit. But 24 spokes.

As this seems to have become the general pm discussion thread…

I have a power2max on the road bike and I use it a lot during the winter for turbo work on TrainerRoad. I like it a lot and being in Canada almost all of my riding in winter (bar some social fat biking) is turbo based.

I’m mulling over getting a 4i for the mountain bike for the summer (Sweamrs coach who lives in the same town as 4i has a deal with them) I’m just curious what people who have a power meter on the mountain bike actually use them for?

If I’m just riding the bike and not doing specific workouts then is the main benefit that TSS calculated from power is “better” then TSS calculated from HR? If that’s the case how much “better” is it?

Thoughts and comments appreciated.

Stages is going back, it’s gotten steadily worse since the fix recommended by Stages. It now requires a reseat every time to wake it up and for the first time tonight it lost connection during a session.

So assuming I’m offered a replacement and before I accept one, is this a common issue…and is it fixed on the second gen models (mine’s a first gen from 2015)?

My son’s stages has to go back as well. It had been draining batteries for a past time (after initially having no problems with it) and finally gave up the ghost over Christmas, I suspect water ingress led to the decline.

If I’m just riding the bike and not doing specific workouts then is the main benefit that TSS calculated from power is “better” then TSS calculated from HR? If that’s the case how much “better” is it?

That’s an unanswerable question and dependent entirely on the merit you place on TSS. WKO wouldn’t calculate TSS on anything but power. I’d suggest if all you want is some better TSS numbers that a PowerCal would be a more sensible choice.

My stages is asking for a new battery, not entirely sure how many hours with out looking back but does seem quicker than I expected at less than 4 months on the Sunday bike, also now seems to be reading less than the kickr whereas back in November they tracked within a few watts of each other. I’ll try a new battery and see how I get on. The other stages on the winter bike is a couple of months newer but I would have thought had more hours and definitely more wet rides.

If I’m just riding the bike and not doing specific workouts then is the main benefit that TSS calculated from power is “better” then TSS calculated from HR? If that’s the case how much “better” is it?

I’ve not gone one on an mtb but probably would if I trained and raced on it more. Accurate TSS is one thing. TSShr usually comes out a bit low for a hard mtb ride. Think it’s also useful post ride/race for analysis in understanding the demands of the activity, e.g. max power for various durations and the frequency of those efforts. Probably quite handy to know to help with training (e.g. coming up with turbo intervals.)

Haven’t seen any battery drain as yet (just under 3 months old).

Problem seems to be with the negative terminal squashing flat, but I shouldn’t need to have to tweak it up to get the thing to work. Have tried to live with it but if it’s going to start powering off mid-ride then I’m not interested.

Not to mention it’s a pita when I’m running late for a ride on a morning.

I use a PM on the MTB for specific off-road interval sessions, tracking power on races (for analysis rather than in race) and find it useful for that. If I only had one I would put it on the road bike though.

I had to tweak the negative terminal on one of the Stages I had, but it only needed doing once.

I’ve justed returned the 4th replacement I’ve had. It had the latest firmware on it. The first battery out of the box lasted about 3 months (about 100 hours riding) and then the next battery only a week. And so on and so on. Now the batery is only lasting 24 hours, goes dead from one session to the next. I occasionally get two sessions out of it.

It is powering down/stops transmitting after a period of inactivity and comes to life again with motion. But leave it for 24 hours and it won’t reawaken unless I put a fresh battery in. Then its fine again….for 24hours or so…. I’ve tried Duracell, Panasonic, Maxell, cheapo pound shop batteries and no difference.

If someone could just tell me what I’m doing wrong I’d be chuffed but who knows….

mtbtomo – Member

I had to tweak the negative terminal on one of the Stages I had, but it only needed doing once.

I’ve justed returned the 4th replacement I’ve had. It had the latest firmware on it. The first battery out of the box lasted about 3 months (about 100 hours riding) and then the next battery only a week. And so on and so on. Now the batery is only lasting 24 hours, goes dead from one session to the next. I occasionally get two sessions out of it.

It is powering down/stops transmitting after a period of inactivity and comes to life again with motion. But leave it for 24 hours and it won’t reawaken unless I put a fresh battery in. Then its fine again….for 24hours or so…. I’ve tried Duracell, Panasonic, Maxell, cheapo pound shop batteries and no difference.

If someone could just tell me what I’m doing wrong I’d be chuffed but who knows….

Exactly the same symptons as mine. I suspect it is water ingress.

I removed the battery cover just before sending it back and there was a drop of water on the battery. I had checked for ingress when it started playing up but none was evident.

Apparently the Mk2 is identical (pcbs, strain gauges, software etc) apart from the plastic housing – that tells me something!

Ive just put my first new battery in (about 3 months of inside ‘turbo’ use) so no water

I have been out in some pretty wet weather, but suspecting water ingress, I’ve taken the crank off, battery and cover off and had it in a warm room each time to ensure it was dried out. Have to say, it didn’t look like there was any moisture inide the unit anyway even after a wet session.

Oh and I went out in the wet on the first battery and that didn’t affect it then.

I was wondering if the mk2 was improved but sounds like it isn’t eskay.

Has anyone at all had more than one battery that has lasted anywhere close to the stated 200hrs. And been out in the wet weather? Or at least not changing one battery every week?

This is pretty disappointing to read since I believed the propaganda that the G2 Stages would fix the associated problems with the ingress of water. Is the consensus that you should steer clear of the Stages for your mountain bike?

I was just about to buy one too.

Matt

Yep, I was debating a second one for the mtb. Must be mad!

Bugger, I was going to get one. I’ve heard of people covering them with electrical tape to get a seal before hitting the trails but that is a bit rubbish since they’re still a fair amount of dosh.

Matt