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Should I remove my Quarq magnet?

Brad MarcusBrad Marcus
in General Training Discussions
While riding yesterday, the magnet on my Quarq ended up attached to my chain. Unfortunately, most of my ride was done without power and cadence readings. On a positive note, I didn't end up on the pavement or wrecking my drivetrain image

This Quarq was swapped to a new bike this season by my LBS and I think I had a different magnet setup on my old bike that encircled the BB which wouldn't have allowed this to happen. Little did I know that on this setup, it appears that they used the epoxy to attach the magnet to the frame, which obviously became dislodged.

It looks like I'm able to do a firmware update which will engage an accelerometer in the Quarq, thus making the magnet useles. On the surface this sounds like a good solution. Has anyone done this with a newer Quarq (I have a Riken)? My biggest concern is the variability I may encounter with power readings when I switch from magnet to accelerometer. The positive is that if no longer have to worry about a magnet.

Thanks!

Comments

  • Mike RobertsMike Roberts
    My Riken is 2-3 years old, LBS noticed that magnet was missing last year and asked if I was getting power and cadence info. Yep. So I went to the Q site and learned that the firmware update I had previously installed rendered the magnet meaningless. Worked fine since then. Plus I shaved 0.0001 grams of weight. Take it for a few rides sans magnet and compare to old data.
  • tim cronktim cronk
    Absolutely Unequivocally YES ! I'm surprised nobody has been killed my them.... Or maybe they have?.... Mine stopped me dead in my tracks while climbing standing up and I almost went over.... As you know they come off , go to the chain, and then sometimes jam in the FD or RD.... Was riding with a friend the day before IMMT a few years ago and his hit the RD and jammed.... We actually had to remove a pulley to get it out... I also know several incidents of breaking the RD... Google it there are 100's of stories like this...
    https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/mabra-uscf/SC7VxOgM2Zk
  • Brad MarcusBrad Marcus
    Thank you Mike and Tim. I was thinking more about it this morning and my Cervelo that I used to have the Quarq installed on had a GXP bb and my new Felt has a BB30. I'm pretty sure the magnet couldn't be attached around the the BB opening the same on the Felt and the mechanic must have just attached it to the frame. I rode the Cervelo for 2-3 years w/o incident and maybe only 6 rides outside on the Felt and this happened!

    Along with your experiences and after reading a couple of stories in Tim's link, this has scared me enough to not want to put a magnet back on the frame. Not sure how or why Quarq would even have this option and surprised there aren't lawsuits. I have the Qalvin app installed and will try the firmware update and report back here with results.

    Thank you again.
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