squatchy

I thought it might be a good idea to ask you guys about them.
I'm planning to get a power meter and had not much considered getting a Quarg. Are there advantages one way or another. What are your likes and dislikes???


Thanks

Ryan

Carcinogent

For me the biggest advantage of having a crank based powermeter is that you are free to you use ANY wheelset, even a borrowed one. With a powertap you are 'stuck' with one wheel for both training and racing. At some point it might be a disadvatage (ie when you want a lighter and/or more aero wheel)

For TTs a crank based PM is almost a must orherwise you are losing minutes because you can't use an aerodynamic rear wheel. You can have a deep section carbon wheel with a powertap, however, carbon rims are not for training imo.

Having had both a PTap and a Srm, i am more partial to the Srm. Not as easy to switch between bikes, though. Both options are accurate and high quality units.

One more thing, Quarq doesn't have a true Shimano/Campagnolo option, so you might have to 'break' your groupset.

clemsongirl 

Both are good choices. I've had Quarg for a couple of years now with no problems. I like having different sets of wheels so it made more sense to me. If I knew I would only be using one set of wheels then I'd have given Powertap more thought. I would think there has been lots of discussions on this in the road cycling forum. A search there would probably give you lots of opinions in addition to what you might get here.

ks1g

IMO the big advantage of the powertap is initial cost, after that it just works reliably and I have not had too many issues with being stuck with one rear wheel. You can move it from bike to bike as long as the wheel/tire size and rear cluster are compatible across bikes, or know how to change your rear cassette to one that fits (say 10 speed vs 9 speed in Shimano/SRAM). I picked up mine used from a racing friend who was switching to crank-based power (he does have a variety of wheels so it made sense for him). You may be able to get one used from someone doing the same thing my friend did. I've had mine for almost 3 years now and am pleased with it. I have had to have the hub bearings rebuilt once so far (3-4,000 mile/year rider, much of it on the powertap wheel, so this is not unexpected).

I think a powertap is a good way to go to see if power based training makes sense for you. If it does, then you can think about going to crank-based in the future. If not, you still have a good wheel and you can resell it to get most of your purchase back.

You might search the roadracing forum for discussions on power systems. DCRainmaker has reviewed a bunch of power systems recently; these include the pedal-based systems and an interesting one that is left-crank only. If they can resolve some things dcrainmaker mentioned in his review, this could be a very promising technology. For indoor training only, another option is to get a trainer with a well-calibrated power-speed curve. Kurt Kinetic seems to be the leader here. Then add either their virtual power sensor, or use the approach TrainerRoad takes and you get some of the benefits (eliminate lag time and variability in heart rate response) at a lower cost. Doesn't work outdoors, of course.