preferdownhill

I'm curious about getting a better profile of my workouts. the power meters seem to be getting rather cost competitive too. I'd like to hear opinions of them. If you have a rwgps account with recorded output I'd really like to look at it too.

ericy

You will find lots of opinions on this one. Personally I don't see the need, but I am not racing either. For me the only advantage might be that the count of calories burned might actually be somewhat realistic, but that's not enough for me to go out any buy anything.

I have one built into the indoor trainer that I use with Zwift. But I didn't buy the thing because it happened to have one.

adamrice 

I don't have a powermeter myself, but I am interested in them. The go-to place to read up on them is DC Rainmaker's exhaustive guide

DrIsotope

Tough to beat the features-for-the-price of the Power2Max Type S and NG offerings. I have two Type S meters, one on a Rotor 3D crankset, and one on an FSA Gossamer, and am extremely pleased with both.

caloso

Even though it is an electronic gadget, you might get more answers in Training and Nutrition.

For me, I have a Quarq. It's been very reliable and I like the ability to switch wheelsets.

Seattle Forrest

I have Garmin's recently outdated Vector 2. I like it very much. It's not idea in the mud but it's a compromise I'll live with.

I think a power meter has been the most valuable upgrade I've ever made. But how much you'll like it depends on a lot of things, are you a numbers person, are you willing to use software to see the big picture of what the numbers mean, will you put in the work?

Pug

Agree 100%. It's actually changed the way I ride as I now choose my routes based on estimated TSS and IF so I can properly manage my CTL/ATL/TSB. It took me some time and a lot of reading to get acclimated to training with a power meter, including an understanding of the acronyms in my prior sentence. Now that I've drunk the power meter Kool Aid, however, I'm totally hooked.

If you're analytical, you'll love it. If you're not, spend your money on something else.

gauvins

I have a Stages PM (left only, for XT). Pleased with. Allows me to track "performance" over the duration of the season (performance is quoted because I am touring/commmuting at the speed of a tortoise). For now I've not bothered analyzing the data stream or meticulously compute Functional Threshold and whatnot. Eventually. Maybe

WheresWaldo

Power2Max Type S on a Cannondale Hollowgram crank. I use it more as a another data point to keep track of overall fitness rather than a specific training tool.

chong67

I been thinking about getting a power meter, but ... You need to wear this special shoes for it right? Cannot wear normal shoes?

And DC man says the Garmin Vector he dont like.

caloso

Power meters are crank based, hub based, and pedal based. For crank and hub based pms, it doesn't matter what pedal and shoe you use.

Metaluna

I don't have a power meter yet, but I broke down and ordered a set of Favero Assioma pedals. I'm not a particular fan of single-sided Look-style pedals (been riding SPDs for years), but it seemed like the solution that was the least limiting for me.

Also, I don't know what DC Rainmaker said about the Garmin Vector 1/2, but his review of the upcoming Vector 3 sounded pretty favorable to me.

Riveting

I've had the PowerTap G3 hub for 2 years (about 8,000 miles). I couldn't be happier with the overall performance of it (except for the $150 to have the bearings replaced after ~7,000 miles, which had to be done at the factory, but was a fast turn around of no more than 7 days). The easily replaceable coin cell battery lasts a good long time, maybe 1,500 miles. It links to my Garmin 520 every single time via Bluetooth. Linking to my old Garmin 810 was sometimes spotty, which I realize in hindsight was the fault of the Garmin, not the PowerTap. The downside to hub based power meters is the inability to swap between all the steeds in the corral, especially the mtb, where a pedal based meter has the greatest swapping advantage (at the time SPD-SL power meter pedals didn't exist, otherwise I may have gone in that direction). Even swapping the PowerTap wheel between the other 700c steeds, sometimes requires a 10-speed/11-speed cassette swap, but that's easy enough to do.

Once you start training with power, it becomes the only piece of data that you really pay attention to both during and after the ride. All other data (speed, cadence, distance) becomes irrelevant, because it is. Power is everything. Riding without power, is like weight lifting without knowing the weight that you're lifting; it's possible, but gains will be harder to achieve, because your exertion level is unknown.

My Strava power meter data can be found by searching for Rich Rivet in CO, and look at my activities in Aug/Sept of 2016, when I was peaking and able to achieve 1,000 watts (just for a couple seconds, and which hurts like hell).

cccorlew

I have a Powertap I got used, installed on a pleasant set of wheels, for not-so-crazy money.
I used it when I was training for double centuries. It helped more than the heart rate strap.

I was going t sell it, but I kind of like checking the power. It also reports how many calories you burn much better than the guesses other methods use.

Here's a Strava ride you can see the power on. You may need a paid membership to see it, I'm not sure. Check "analyze ride"

https://www.strava.com/activities/87405901/overview

Metaluna

I just installed a Quarq DZero compact crankset on my road bike. I posted a while back that I had ordered some Favero Assioma pedals, but while I was waiting for the backorder to be filled, I decided to try out my old Look Keos to see if I could get used to the one-sided pedals again. After a few weeks of shaky starts in heavy traffic and other frustrating and/or dangerous missed clip-ins, I remembered why I switched to SPDs in the first place, which is that I despise one-sided pedals. So I canceled my backorder (apparently Favero is having production issues anyway, so Clever Training keeps slipping the ship date), and went with the Quarq so that I could keep my SPDs. I haven't ridden it yet but I'm hoping for good things.

The only thing that worries me about using a crank-based meter like the Quarq is that there are several delicate looking components on the front side of the crank spider (e.g. the battery cover and LED indicator). This is normally a good thing, but I've never owned a crankset where I have not managed, sooner or later, to throw the chain off the big ring and scratch up the DS crank arm and spider. Hopefully when this inevitably happens on the Quarq it won't cause fatal damage to anything critical.

noglider 

@cccorlew, how tall are you, and how much do you weigh, if you don't mind? I'd like to know how big you have to be to put out that level of power.

cccorlew

I'm 5'7" and weigh 147. I think I was under that for the ride I posted, maybe 140.

Here's my blog post for the ride.
Curtis Corlew in Bicycle Land: Diablo Challenge 2013

Here's my post about weight/power ratio that I think might be interesting for you as it addresses power. I couldn't have gone this geeky without the power meter.
https://ccorlew.blogspot.com/2013/10/...-comments.html

noglider 

Damn. Maybe I do produce that amount of power. Or maybe not. I've just been guessing I max out at 150 watts. I'm 5'9" and 155 lbs.

ericy

It wasn't until I got the Kickr that I had any form of a power meter that wasn't a total guess. I can do 100W for quite a while - that's a relaxing leisurely ride. 200W is a bit more - keep that up for a while and that's a real workout.

In a short burst I have exceeded 600W, but I couldn't hold that for very long - it helps to have a motivating factor for me to push that hard. The time I did that, I was on a downhill and chasing a personal speed record in Zwift, and I ran out of hill at the end . And I am far from being a professional rider.

noglider 

Well, sure. The breadth of ability levels is astonishing. I'm probably stronger than 80 or 90% of the many folks on my normal route, so some people can think I'm an amazing monster, but I look up to those who are better than I am, and they are well ahead of me.

gauvins

I have a meter on my touring (and only) bike. I average 125-150W, able to sustain 175+ when climbing and saw peaks in the 400W range. As I weigh 75kg, that puts me at the bottom of the table of average Watt per Kilo published in Allen & Cogan's Power Meter book. According to them, an average (category III) rider produces twice as many Watts. World class riders have Functional Threshold Power of about 6W/kg....

zacster

Either a power meter of some sort or a smart trainer are next on my list. Now that I've been training with virtual power on Zwift and The Sufferfest, I know that power is everything. The power feels different between the two so I don't put much credence in the actual number, but at least I can feel relative power within each app. Also, my new Wahoo Bolt shows even higher numbers, at least combined with RidewithGPS. Again, I don't know which to believe. A calibrated power meter will tell me. It would also establish some equivalence between indoor and outdoor riding.

All that said, I'm still leaning towards a smart trainer, which would give me indoor power, but not outdoor.

Seattle Forrest

@zacster I'd go with a meter and a dumb trainer. But there's no right answer, it's just which best aligns with your goals. I feel like you don't "need" power data as much indoors as outdoors where the wind and gradient and surface quality change constantly. I also feel like there's a lot of value in having it measured consistently across all your workouts, so your TSB is correct if that matters to you, and so you know what you're capable of outdoors based on your indoor workouts.

caloso

Cat 3 is an average rider?

DrIsotope

Good lord, I hope not. That would mean I'm so far below average I can't even see the line that denotes average. My best recorded efforts (based on that power chart we've all seen so many times) put me solidly in the middle of Cat4 for FTP and 5min power (3.49 and 4.19W/kg, respectively) while my 1min (6.0W/kg) and 15sec (11.0W/kg) outputs are-- get this-- "untrained."

Oh, but to weigh like... 40lbs less, but get to make the same power I do now. I just don't see me waking up to a 350W FTP, especially as every time I get out of bed I'm one day older. Good thing I don't have a solid idea of what average is, or who even constitutes that average.