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NEW to Cycling Power Meters - Any/All Advice Welcome!
I'm training for my first 140.6 and I know I need to step up my cycling game...
From what I'm reading, I need to get a power meter and start measuring more than just my cadence, speed and heart hate.
BUT, I don't know a damn thing about Power Meters and I'm asking for your (the EN communities) advice!
- What is the best Power Meter for someone new to measuring power? I'm leaning towards pedals to switch between bikes.
- What is the best bang for the buck? Open to used equip too...
- What device best captures this data? I'm currently using the Wahoo app on my phone to capture HR, cadence speed and runs.
Thanks, EN!
Matthew
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I have two Powertap wheels. One for my roadie and one for my triathlons TT bike. Great power meters and at a reasonable price.
If I was to start again, I would get pedals, probably Powertap ones based on how good I have found the Powertap hubs to be - basically unbreakable and reasonably accurate.
I use a Garmin Edge 820 (and before that a Garmin 510), and Garmin Swim, and Garmin 935 for running with power.
I use WKO4 to store and analyse my bike and run data. You may wish to use Training Peaks or Golden Cheater (free) to store and analyse your bike power data.
BTW, if I was starting again I would have got power on my roadie before even thinking about sexy race wheels and a dedicated TT bike. Best bang for your buck is bike power. Full stop!
+2 on the PT pedals!
that said, the starting point for all of this is THE expert, DC Rainmaker, his 2018 powermeter article is here https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2018/11/power-meter-buyers-2018.html
he did a pedal article a little bit ago and it would seem that as an owner of 2 sets of PTs I am now looking at others with envy as Garmin may have gotten thiers right, they used to be very finicky about install and other things. the PTs are essentially "set it and forget it."
I have one of the two sided ones that i use on my winter training & Tri bike outdoors and I also have a one sided set. Usually that one lives at Jill's house with the 2 sided at my house.
happy reading!
+ 3 on the peddles. Now I use Garmin and that is because I use that product for all my electronics. Also, with other vendors, you have to look at what cleat they use. Some may use their specific cleat and I have found that most places carry Look products. $.02
It looks like there is a Vector 3 sale. If Inside-Out has them on sale (single side $549/ dual $899), I'd expect other stores to follow shortly since Garmin kinda controls the sales.
I have PowerTap P1S pedals. I like the fact that I can swap them between bikes. It takes under a minute. I also like that the battery lasts a really long time (4-6 months).
If I were to buy now, I'd also consider the Vector 3s and the Faveros as well. The PowerTap and Favero pedals use the same cleats (sorta like Look Keo but not exactly). The Vector 3 uses Look Keo cleats.
+1 on the DCR article @scott dinhofer posted! Great resources (both DCR and Scott!)
+4 on the pedals. I was in the same boat as you 6 months ago and went with the P1S pedals. No regrets. I went with the Wahoo Element Bolt for my bike computer and again no complaints.
I would highlight this from the DCR guide: "If there’s anything I want to change in the industry it’s the mindset that there is a single perfect power meter for every consumer. Thus, if you ask someone for 'the best power meter', and they give you any answer other than 'it depends', don’t trust that person. That person should be asking you your specific use case, bike placement limitations, and how much you want to spend."
That said, if you are looking for portability and ease of installation, pedals are a great option, and they have been getting much cheaper. For a while PowerTap had the best combination of ease of use and value, and more recently Favero seems to have taken that mantle. While Garmin had a series of reliability problems, they have apparently solved those and now may have the best top-end option.
Just beware that the pedals do still come with some tradeoffs (as do all power meter options), including locking you into a cleat/pedal system, a small aerodynamic penalty, and slightly smaller ground clearance.
Having had hub based on both my Road and Tri bikes, I would say +5 on the pedal based system, and it is what I am looking at as I start to look to build out a new bike. There is nothing wrong with the crank based, and Quarq has been rock solid, but if you want to be able to swap it, there is just more work involved plus you have to watch your bottom brackets, e.g. BB30 vs GXP, etc.
For power I have traditionally used the 920/935, but decided I would rather have the dedicated head unit in front of me since I find I sometimes zone out/let power spike when it isn't in front of my nose. I have used my phone in the past for this, but I try to replicate what I can use out in an IM / HIM and since you cant really use a phone here you need another solution.
Like most others, I use WKO4 / Training peaks to analyze my data, but have used Golden Cheetah with good results as well.
Over the past decade +, I've had FOUR PowerTap systems - two hubs and two sets of pedals. They have ALL been rock solid, never a hint of trouble. For a low budget, I suggest getting the "Left-only" PT pedal system - I have it on my indoor trainer, and see little difference when I switch out to the L/R pedals I have. Sub-$400, I think.
I also have a Stages left-only crank-based power meter on one of my bikes (again, < $400), and it also has functioned well over the past four years in a "get on and ride" mode once set up with my head unit.
Any head unit or watch which has ANT+ capability (almost all the good ones do) will work just fine; also Bluetooth, which makes iOS app-based systems for the iPhone another option. While Garmin is the most common product here, I prefer the PowerTap Joule GPS, as it has the specific metric display which I want (specifically, "Lap % FTP") that (at least a few years back) did not exist on any other unit.
Like Al, and several others here, over the last 10+ years, I've had bottom bracket-based PMs (Ergomo, anyone remember them?) on both road and tri bikes, then moved to a single crank-based quarq (which I'm trying to sell!) that I swapped between my road and tri bikes. When I started going to Mallorca annually a decade ago, I took my own bike, but then when I started renting bikes, I found it infinitely easier to have pedals, so I bought 2-sided P1s from PowerTap. I've never looked back.
Now I have one pair of P1s, that I swap between my road bike, rental road bike while in Mallorca, new tri bike, and my MTB and Gravel bikes when I ride them on the road.
I've also got a crank arm-based Stages PM on my Pivot MTB, and will hopefully get one for my new Epic too, in preparation for Leadville 2020.
So I've had just about every flavor/variation out there. But like @Mike Westover quoted DCR above, it's completely situational, what you're willing to pay, what your needs and functionality are, etc. Don't let anyone drive you to a decision that you haven't made for yourself!
Happy hunting!
Lots of good advice here.
After the decision has been made, it's time to get educated! Hang out in the forms of course, but also ride around and collect data without much thought of what it's all about.
Then start looking at files in TrainingPeaks or wherever you collect data.
Then, the best book on the subject https://www.amazon.com/Training-Racing-Power-Meter-Hunter/dp/1937715930/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0
Follow the TrainingPeaks blog too. Over the summer they follow the Tour de France guys, publish and analyze their power files. You can learn a lot form the pros!
Tom