Power Meters / Powermeters (SRM, Powertap, Quarq, Ergomo, Vector, Stages, power2max, P2M, 4iii, InPower, Cinch)

Behold the ugliness of power.

1 Attachment

Haha that ring...so fugly

Sorry

Would have looked awesome with the planned 53t aero QXL Ring. Curiosity got the better of me.

Its not a pretty bike though. So all good.

The pm spider is pretty subtle though.

Pretty close to pulling the trigger on the standard P2M on Rotor 3d+

Unless I want special rings I don't need an s-type... I think

You can use non circular chainrings on a standard 130bcd P2M, just not with a 110bcd one (easily)

Xav

Does the hive mind have any views/experience on the pre-built Powertap wheels? I've decided the winter bike needs powah, given that I use it so much, and I'd rather have True Powah than use the Powercal all the time. I can't use my existing Powertap wheelset as the winter bike runs Campag.

^Mine was an absolute car crash; got a part refund off Wiggle when I complained to them and Paligap. They are machine built and my Pro/Velocity A23 from 2012 wasn't even dished correctly and spoke tension was completely random.

The G3 hubs build alot easier than the old Pro which was/is a nightmare.

I know what you mean about the Pro hubs - I've done two sets of them now, and they are a complete nightmare to build. They seem OK once they're done, but it's hard work.

The trouble is that 640 quid for a full Powertap wheelset just seems to good to pass by. I suppose I can always retension and true the wheels if it's just the build quality that's a problem - I've got all the gear, so it would just take more time that I don't have.

Tip for anyone who buys vectors, it's worth changing the batteries in the pedal pods early, mine have been giving some innaccurate readings as one of the batteries supplied was almost flat.

A low battery shouldn't give you inaccurate readings.

Maybe you angles were wrong. And by taking out the battery, you re-set the angles.

its possible, either way it now seems to work!

Does the hive mind have any views/experience on the pre-built Powertap wheels? I've decided the winter bike needs powah, given that I use it so much, and I'd rather have True Powah than use the Powercal all the time. I can't use my existing Powertap wheelset as the winter bike runs Campag.

Just buy the hub and get a good wheelbuilder to sort the rest.

Too late - I've ordered them. I priced up the component parts, and they came out much more expensive. Even if I have to retension them myself, it's cheaper and quicker than building them from scratch.

I think I've managed to confuse myself, or at least I'm not sure what some data is telling me.

Last year, doing some 1 minute intervals (in front of East Enders) I held 500 watts for 60 seconds.

I was, essentially, dicking around- I'd not done this particular workout before, didn't know what power I could hold, so did the first interval around 400, second started off at 600 then fell off, third was the 500 watt one, which was relatively tough to sustain, etc etc.

Anyway, on Friday night I did a MAP/ramp test.

Starting at 180 I went up in 20 watt steps each minute, and the final complete minute was 400 watts.

This was quite tough to deliver- I had to push to hold it above 400, and span down almost as soon as the timer ticked over to show I'd managed the minute.

Now I suspect that the interval session of last year probably had a strong anaerobic element- I was spinning at ~180 between "pulls", whereas on Friday I'd obviously been ramping up the power over the course of 15 minutes of so, therefore that final minute was aerobic (I believe).

What I'm struggling with a bit is to work out what this means, or rather what I should take from this.

It's a different kind of session so difficult to compare (when last year?). If you have a MAP of 400w then you could probably do a few 1min intervals at 500w, your MAP power closer relates to ~5min power

Xav

Mid-2013.

I guess I'm trying to work out where I am now vs. where I was then, by comparing two totally different tests.

I can see the folly in this.

MAP and 1min power are 2 different things.

Maximal aerobic power. V 1min ball out which is mostly anerobic.

Did you do the map test yourself, or use a computrainer? Not sure I could concentrate enough having to do the steps, when dying at the end.

As a note, you should use 25W per min. 20W is elite/pro. Not that it matters, but if you went somewhere to ahve it done, they'd use 25W and so results would be different.

Also MAP *.75 is in the region of threshold, depending on your characteristics. I'm .74 or there so.

Popped up to Cadence, used one of their watt bikes.

Oh. If it's a watt bike then it's not really accurate anyway.
So many reported differences on those.

Heh, the British Cycling guide I was following said to use one if available- we did set the zero offset, but of course the calibration could be anywhere.

Just got to hope that Cadence's coaches validate the calibration I guess.

Might be better to ask in the turbo thread, but got a USB ANT+ stick on the way, is trainerroad my best option or is there a free service that does similar?

There was some discussion about, yes there are other ways to achieve this.

www.veloreality.com

Another pedal based system launched, no details on price yet but expected to be cheaper than the Vectors;

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/exclusive-first-look-xpedo-thrust-e-power-meter-pedals

Might be better to ask in the turbo thread, but got a USB ANT+ stick on the way, is trainerroad my best option or is there a free service that does similar?

I'll admitt to being a fanboy. But the Trainerroad set-up is really nice to use, and contains thousands of free workouts (sans vids). Worth several times the sub price IMHO*.

(I jumped on 20% off offer, and paid for a full 12 months to save even more. Just because its worth it. Doesnt mean I will pay more than I need to)