Is there such thing as a “cheap” power meter for road bikes? I’ve got the number £1000 approx in my head and can’t justify that really, but I’d like to know what I’m putting ride-by-ride out as I’m going through a training phase.

Could always hire one? A few years ago when i was training a bit i got one for £11 a week from cyclepowermeters

The new g3 is around £700 for the hub, JRA are quoting wheels from £746: http://www.justridingalong.com/powertap-g3-hub.html

but you’ll need a garmin to record is too.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/de/en/cycleops-powertap-pro-wheel-ex-display/rp-prod109224

Powertaps have just reduced their US pricing. UK pricing should hopefully follow soon.

Stages is cheapest decent one (as long as your left:right balance is ok), but no UK sellers at the mo.

PowerTap have already reduced their prices – as above the G3 is now £700. The Pro, which was the cheaper hub, has been dropped.

MSP – does that measure the power or is it just the front of a set? I thought the meter was in the rear hub…?

Oh god thats the reduced price, they are pricey these days. I picked up a new elite+ for around £400 a couple of years ago. THe G3 does seem a better design though. My powertap has performed well and gives very similar numbers to my Quarg.

Quite a few people seem to like the newest version of the power2max but I have never used them.

Power2max is probably what I’d get now. Not that my PowerTap has ever let me down.

I think it is a wrongly described powertap rear wheel, way too expensive to be the front wheel.

Can always return it if it’s the wrong thing.

There are places that hire them out if you just want to get an idea of power for a few weeks.

I keep looking at the Rotor3D Power2Max, not much out there on the net but it’s all positive since they added the temp sender. Very tempted but put off a little by the bank transfer purchasing as I’d prefer the extra security of CC purchase and getting to the bank is a nightmare/I’m lazy.

Stages is also interesting but ultimately I think it would **** with my chi as it’s only estimating the right side power.

Yes I totally agree with all of that MF.

Quite like the idea of a Stages on the MTB too.

That said… Also tempted to sell the PowerTap and buy some nice carbon wheels instead. I’m slow and fat now, may as well make the bike lighter to compensate!

It is a shame that those garmin vector meters still haven’t made it to market. They are about 2 years late now, I really liked the idea, and thought the prices would start to drop after about 12 months.

Haha I keep flitting between power meter and deep section wheels, can’t make a decision. The road bike was only supposed to be a fitness thing….

Vectors are apparently out next month MSP, price around £1000 I think.

I imagine the Vectors will just be the same as the Polar/Look pedals just not tied into their Polar computer?

monkeyfudger – Member
The road bike was only supposed to be a fitness thing….

Hmm, sounds familiar…

Vectors are apparently out next month MSP, price around £1000 I think.

£1350 according to the tri shop in brizzle and in very limited supply.

Blimey, pricey, though imagine they’ll sell well.

I went for the PowerTap a couple of years ago now and it’s been money well spent (think i paid around 750 and that got me a wheelset.) Sends most of it’s time on the turbo bike so don’t really worry too much about the weight or it being part of a wheel. It’s been brilliant for power tests and power based intervals. Don’t find it as useful on the road as power varies so much with terrain/wind that trying to ride to a power can become an annoying distraction. Tend to go more by HR and PE. Do sometimes stick it on the TT bike with an aerojacket cover but the whole thing weighs about 2kg which it quite noticeable, not so bad when up to speed on a flat course though.

I think it is a good idea to leave any new power meter for a couple of years so I personally would not even look at the vector- let someone else be the beta testers. It can be very annoying if the numbers are suspect. As a training wheel the powertap is hard to beat IMO. But then retrospectively looking at race data is the best thing about the power thing for me so the Quarq is right for me on the race bike.

You can get a powertab hub built up in a wheel for about £650 if you look at the Cyclepowermeters site.

The Garmin Vector pedals have just been released and there’s a review here:- http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/08/hands-on-garmin-vector.html

£1300 – is that all?

Jeez.

It’s quite interesting he’s actually bought a Stages unit.

Selling my powertap too, an sl+ just back from a service

Buy njee’s though – he’s much quicker than me and clearly it’s down to his better powertap…

I have a Stages Ultegra crank on the best bike. Raced with it this evening in the Masters E1234. It’s light, elegant and works. It was £600 and bought it in the US as Stages won’t have a UK distributor this year. Powertap/Cyclops are clearly worried as they’ve reduced the price of their hub to remain competitive. I like it, but can’t really be bothered to swap it to the other bike.

So… I use a powercal. Only £80. Uses an algorithm to predict power from changes in heart rate. And it’s not bad at recording summary efforts. I also use it to turbo train and set effort levels.

I’m not a fan of pedal based systems. All that money and what do pedals end up looking like? I’ve had weatherproof issues with the Stages, but my clubmate’s SRM looks just as unreliable. The Powertap is pretty bombproof, but there is a weight penalty and was a price penalty.

There’s no right answer. The budget Powercal is better than most people think, particularly on 30sec averaging, but it’s not as good as a real PM.

Askw what you want it for? I used mine to pace my Ride 100 ride, I also use it in races, and for training rides. It provides great data, but you still have to do the work 😉

I bought a Quarq 2nd hand for about £800. When I was looking at PowerTaps I was then thinking about whether I wanted to build the bub into a training wheel or a race wheel (for triathlon pacing). Once you build 2 of them they aren’t so cheap!

If I was going to buy new, I’d probably go for Stages, but also going to buy a PowerCal for when I’m training but not on the Quarq equipped bike. Having said that it’s a 5 minute job to swap the crankset from my tri bike to my road bike as they’re both SRAM Red with GPX BB’s.

Cheers, Rich

I do like how the DCRainMaker bloke tests new devices in parallel with others he already has data about. Anyone who decides to use four power meters (with four associated Garmins) is clearly taking it very seriously 😉

DCRainMaker’s review, (which he stated wasn’t), of the Garmin Vectors is still more detailed and informative than any “real” review will be. Interested to read his long term test on them.

Personally I went for a PowerTap and use it mostly on the rollers for controlled interval sessions, this winter I’ll be adding TrainerRoad to the mix which will hopefully up the game again.

For the inexperienced racing oriented cyclist looking to optimize their training then power meters are very very useful. I’ve used mine for a couple of seasons and now “know” how my body should feel at different levels, which maybe an experienced racing cyclist would already know.

Yeah, his “non review” of the Vectors is more in depth and detailed than 90% of the other power meter reviews I’ve read. The other 10% are reviews he’s done….

For the inexperienced racing oriented cyclist looking to optimize their training then power meters are very very useful. I’ve used mine for a couple of seasons and now “know” how my body should feel at different levels, which maybe an experienced racing cyclist would already know.

This is very true. Biggest plus with the optimisation for me though is due to being very time limited. Training to power helps me make the most of the little training time I have, and allows me to accurately measure progress too. When racing I don’t actually use it that much as I know how I’m going (though interesting to check out data post race.) It really is training where I get the benefit.

Edit: though for 600 quid that stages is very tempting indeed. Oh and second the comment on the powertap being bomb proof, one of the best bits of training kit I’ve ever brought.

The vectors do look expensive at 1300, but if you swap wheels then start to look cheaper by comparison, and giving readings for each leg could also be useful.

However, still too steep for what I would get out of it, I think I will be looking for a second hand powertap for winter turbo training.

Wonder what the take up of the Vectors will be like amongst the pro’s who I’m guessing would not be wanting to change pedal systems? Does seem a bit of a fail to tie it in to a contact point, though I guess there is nothing to stop Garmin partnering with other pedal manufacturers in future (or indeed just releasing compatible spindles.)

Six Pro teams are listed as using Look pedals, ironically Garmin use Shimano, so expect a new spindle out soon.

However with the UCI weight limit many riders use an SRM as it adds weight, so if the Vectors are lighter then it may mean adding more lead to the BB.

They were developed originally for Speedplay before Garmin bought the rights/company.

However with the UCI weight limit many riders use an SRM as it adds weight, so if the Vectors are lighter then it may mean adding more lead to the BB.

Non structural weight’s been banned, they use cheep cassetts, chains etc. I think the SRM usage is purly down them being the best tool for the job rather than heavy.

Wonder what the take up of the Vectors will be like amongst the pro’s

The question they (won’t) ask is “am I sponsored by Garmin?” If yes, get given Vecros, if no, continue using your sponsors products.

The question they (won’t) ask is “am I sponsored by Garmin?” If yes, get given Vecros, if no, continue using your sponsors products.

It’s an interesting one that as I think in the pro ranks things like pedals is a very personal choice and riders can often be seen using ones that are not their sponsors ones (usually de-branded.)

Non structural weight’s been banned

That, I did not know, thanks

I can recommend power2max iirc the cheapest one is around £750 which is close to a powertap. However the wheel with the powertap is not ideal for weight etc and swapping from bike to bike would involve a lot of changing tyres and cassettes and adding disc covers which more than outweighed the convenience of swapping just swapping a crank. I have 3 bikes that have either been converted to or normally take hollow tech cranks which means I can have my road race wheels, my tt wheels and my commuting wheels on all the bikes and easily swap the cranks over. If you have just the one road bike then a powertap might be a more attractive option but for multiple it’s worth getting a crank based system or otherwise IMO. As an aside even swapping the cranks is enough of a pain to tempt me to get a 2nd power meter.

Iain

I’ve had a Powertap for a couple of years and it’s transformed my training – really comes in to its own on intervals. The issue I’ve always had is being able to use power across turbo/training bike, race bike, TT bike. Do I go for a couple of PT wheels and suck up the weight or a crank-based system that I move between bikes (tricky with different BB standards)? From that perspective, the Vectors look ideal – I’ll even be able to stick them on the fixie…