Hmm I have 3 power meters already and will probably get a two sided 4iiii if the reviews are positive!

So I spoke too soon, my PowerTap died today. Two new sets of batteries and no, bugger. Giving erratic readings constantly (generally very low) and drops out regularly. Torque tube?

looks like your cadence is dropping out at the same time as the power reading, so looks like a signal issue, HRM is stable so i guess you can rule out the Garmin, – don’t know the ins and outs of the hubs, but assume this part is different to the torque tube?

That is a bugger. They are still doing their discounted G3 as replacements for broken old ones! Though must surely be cheaper to fix the PT P. Is it the old one (12mm) or the newer one (15mm) with the replaceable electronics pod thing?

Didn’t really want to hear about broken powertap’s right now seeing as I have a new one ready to build up. Oh well, if it lasts me a couple of winters I’ll be happy with that.

looks like your cadence is dropping out at the same time as the power reading, so looks like a signal issue, HRM is stable so i guess you can rule out the Garmin, – don’t know the ins and outs of the hubs, but assume this part is different to the torque tube?

Another use for Strava – diagnostics haha! Yep, HR fine. I don’t know enough about them to be honest, but the default failure mechanism seems to be the torque tube, which from photos looks to just be all the internals! I’ll have a bit more of a play, strikes me as odd that it’s correct sometimes (albeit rarely).

Mrblobby I’d not worry – mines 5 years old, done thousands of miles with nothing more than bearings. I can’t really complain if it’s dead, just frustrating as i was so close to replacing it, now the dilemma of fix or bin!

low battery warning for stages again today

340km, about 20 hours of riding,

however its consistent with the last battery dying, i guess id get another couple of rides, never dies mid
ride, just doesn’t connect on the next one,

numbers seem consistent since purchase,

Are you using cheap eBay batteries or anything?

nah duracell from tesco

Does it have the newer ‘o’ ring seal on the battery cover? As I understand it, the older ones were thinner and let water in either pre or post first battery change, leading to the power drain and warranty replacement. AFAIK the new seals are red not black.

My Stages battery went y’day after 20hrs from new. Calibrated, worked ok for 20mins then died.

Replaced battery, seal is red and all was dry. Updated firmware and crossing fingers.

Connecting via bluetooth to my bike made me laugh – whoever would have thought it.

red seal, muddy ride today, flashed up about 40km in, although ride from a couple of weeks ago in the peaks was wetter 92km mam tor/drs gate/cut gate – don’t jet wash, and remove crank arm when washing bike – bone dry in the battery compartment

[URL=http://s1272.photobucket.com/user/dansipods2/media/IMG_2385_zpsdb9f5f6b.jpg.html][/URL]

If I tell you my new battery went you will see from ^^ that it lasted 16 hours.

Merlin will replace but say they have had a spate of battery issues since the latest firmware release (coincides with wet weather?)

Merlin 10% discount code till Monday (MERLIN10) which brings the 105 Stages down to 540 quid. Pretty good price.

I’ve been lurking on this thread for a while, so it’s time to join in!

Has anyone on here had a go with a Rotor LT yet? Just looking for a real world review of how easy it is to calibrate, change batteries (if needed) etc.

I have the opportunity to get one at a good price, and having tried out the Vectors (dual sided) and previously ridden watt bikes I know I don’t have a huge imbalance so left only doesn’t bother me.

Battery replacement is just a threaded cover, CR2032s I think.

It’s a good price, when you consider it includes a chainset. Won’t work on a current carbon Trek though, if that’s an issue.

I don’t have a trek- but out of interest why won’t it work??

I am eyeing up a groupset change anyway so it works out pretty cost effective if I don’t buy a chainset.

I was tempted to buy the Rotor LT but it would have needed a new BB (to go from BSA to a 30mm axle) and they are quite pricey. I’d also want rings that matched the chainset (not entirely necessary expense but any of my current rings would look silly on it.) So the cost did mount up pretty quickly.

Interested to know why it wouldn’t fit on a Trek too?

Good point on the rings, but for now I can just throw the current rings on there and ride them until they die or I win the lottery!

I need a new BB anyway, so not too worried about that- assuming I won’t go for a ceramic one.

Interested to know why it wouldn’t fit on a Trek too?

The 3D+ has a 30mm BB spindle, and you can’t get bearings that fit in the Trek BB90 shell – not enough room.

Same for the RF Next SL, THM M3, Lightning etc.

Njee20 knows his stuff…

I’ll step in with my praise for the power2max.

Installed it mid August.

Connected immediately with my Garmin and does so every ride without me having to do anything (it also auto-zeros)

Have used it 5-6 days week since then in all weathers and on the turbo including one ridiculously wet ride for 5 hours where even my Hope light went mental due to water ingress!

Still working just fine, so very pleased with it.

Yeah, Trek BB90 has a 37mm inner diameter. Impossible to make a bearing which will take a 30mm axle. 24mm axle only for BB90.

Silly bottom brackets eh!

Slightly annoying it must be said, particularly as more and more frames are going to 30mm axles. Would’ve gone for Next SLs on my Superfly had it not been for that!

I must admit that until I started looking at power meters I hadn’t appreciated what a minefield bottom bracket “standards” were.

A quick glance at that Rotor chart shows 13 BB standards but I think there may even be more around these days! I’m glad I had the luck/ foresight to stick with BSA frames!

Update on the 4iiii over at dcrainmaker. Still not shipped. Getting there though.

Got the bill to repair my PowerTap today, £340… Boooo. Can’t decide whether to tell them just to junk it 😕

That sucks! Any goodwill discount on a new one?

Crikey, you could replace it for not much more than that. What’s broken? I’d junk it.

Torque tube, will talk to them tomorrow. Goodwill offer is £490 for a new G3 rear wheel, but I can get stuff trade, so zero advantage.

Just an update to balance the Stages negativity…. my battery has lasted 115 hours riding time, all outdoors. More than happy with that.

Road.cc now has a bit on the 4iiii from Core Bike. Claims £349 which would be super. Doesn’t mention an UK distributor. Still not shipping either.

@mrblobby, reading DCRainmakers blog update on the 4iii, (after reading the Road.cc report earlier), it looks like it can be had via one of his partners sites at 10% discount with low shipping to the UK.

Certainly looks really interesting, £300-£350 for a one sided PM is a real shift in pricing!

I wonder if they’ll do a “buy one, get one free” offer? 8)

Other than the carbon crank compatibility (which doesn’t affect me) they look a definite competitor to Stages. The pictures of what I assume is a production model on the road.cc looks like it has lugs to take Garmin style straps possibly as a backup to the contact adhesive.

I understand why they have to be bonded to the crank but I’d like to see a similar sized device that you could easily move between cranksets/bikes in the same way that the newer Garmin cadence sensors can be. It’s one area where pretty well all the current devices fall short, I can see why the manufacturers might not want to do it as with the current systems you need to buy a new unit for each bike you want to use it on.

he pictures of what I assume is a production model on the road.cc looks like it has lugs to take Garmin style straps possibly as a backup to the contact adhesive.

LOL. I asked that exact question on the DC site, see comments in the link below. But no, it seems that they are to be epoxied on and not meant to be removed. Period.

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2015/01/update-4iiii-precision.html

Other than the carbon crank compatibility (which doesn’t affect me) they look a definite competitor to Stages. The pictures of what I assume is a production model on the road.cc looks like it has lugs to take Garmin style straps possibly as a backup to the contact adhesive.

The lugs are there to secure it to the crank while the adhesive sets.

I’d like to see a similar sized device that you could easily move between cranksets/bikes in the same way that the newer Garmin cadence sensors can be.

Just the way the stain gauges work they need to be permanently fixed to something that is under strain when you pedal. Think a more realistic hope is that they’ll fall in price enough that you can sensibly have one on each bike and not have to worry about swapping them around (much like you just buy a new cadence sensor for each bike as they aren’t worth swapping about.)

I think the parts actually pretty cheap and that it’s the R&D required to get something reliable and accurate that’s the expensive bit. That seems to be coming down in price all the time.

They physically can’t be removed without destroying them infact.

Seems the slight downside to me. I’ve never trashed a crank, or had one fail but if (for example) the threads come out of your SRAM crank or something. You’ll get a new crank, but still be out of pocket for your power meter.

Pricing isn’t brilliant – it’s $349 (or $399 with the fitting kit) and they’ll ship to the UK. The UK distributor seems to be a consumer electronics firm, with a crap website. Massive opportunity missed considering this is potentially of mass appeal to cyclists, but not remotely interesting to anyone else. Should have partnered with an established UK distributor without a current power meter, I’d have thought there would be demand from someone like Extra or Zyro.

Still very likely to get at least one I reckon!

I understand why they have to be bonded to the crank but I’d like to see a similar sized device that you could easily move between cranksets/bikes in the same way that the newer Garmin cadence sensors can be.

But if you understand how it works surely you get why that’s impossible, and it’s not because the manufacturers want you to buy multiple units!

The UK distributor seems to be a consumer electronics firm, with a crap website. Massive opportunity missed considering this is potentially of mass appeal to cyclists, but not remotely interesting to anyone else. Should have partnered with an established UK distributor without a current power meter, I’d have thought there would be demand from someone like Extra or Zyro.

Oh dear, I’d assumed that was some sort of mistake by road.cc. They really the UK distributor? 😕

Great minds and all that 😆

I think I’d like some form of backup too. I’d be a bit worried about stone strike on a mountain bike since the unit sits proud of the crank, not so much for it being knocked off but impact damage.