How Did You Justify the Cost of a Power Meter?

[lutonloony]

Not sure if a high jack is acceptable here? I had always thought that bhp was a fair indication of effort. Looking at @bhp400 graph the bhp seems to follow power, albeit as an intergral? (Reminds me of square wave charging a capacitor). So I guess max power can only be maintained for a specific time, but doesn't that equate to heart about to burst? Not sh*t stirring merely curious, hope I have explained myself well enough TIA

 

[lutonloony]

God, no

You're correct, my HR track would likely be different (given the same power output), due to a) fatigue, b) room temperature, c)wellness, d)other stuff.

The shape of it would be similar, I would likely see a shift up or down of the curve.

And all this doesn't take into account cardio drift.

Anyway, someone a lot more knowledgeable than us lot said power is the engine and heart rate is the rev counter.

Surely that gets confusing if you compare Harley to kwaka?

 

[S-Express]

Not sure if a high jack is acceptable here? I had always thought that bhp was a fair indication of effort. Looking at @bhp400 graph the bhp seems to follow power, albeit as an intergral? (Reminds me of square wave charging a capacitor). So I guess max power can only be maintained for a specific time, but doesn't that equate to heart about to burst? Not sh*t stirring merely curious, hope I have explained myself well enough TIA

Not sure what you mean by 'bhp' - do you mean HR? If so, then HR is an indication of HR - nothing more. HR and power are not linear. All this has just been discussed over the previous pages.

A maximal anaerobic effort can only be sustained for a few seconds at the most - probably around 20 seconds or so. Your HR might not even reach its maximum output (ie MHR) before you need to back off. If you were doing maximal effort interval session (like a tabata or something), then your HR curve would be way behind your power curve (assume you were tracking both simultaneously).

 

[HLaB]

I could only justify the cost of the LIMITS power meter. Its not the best; its claimed year battery life is nowhere near (1.5 months is more accurate) and speaking of accuracy it fluctuates quite a bit (quite a lot if your pedalling is unsteady) but if you work in zones its not too bad. I've only used it indoors so far though and I wouldn't be surprised if it struggles to cope with temperature changes, however (apparently lot of power meters sub £1k do) and suffers from interference too. For me though its a step in the right direction of a more affordable and transferable power meter.
I thought about others but they all have their flaws which I can't justify at the moment.
I thought about stages but apparently whilst some of them are stable other can also have power fluxes and poor battery and crucially its not easily transferable (especially as one bike is campagnolo the other shimano).
4iii's is a more affordable Stages type unit but I'm not sure if they do carbon campagnolo cranks yet, they are not easily transferable either.
Being pedal based I quite like Favero Beone Pro but they are Look Keo based and I'd have to change all my bikes and I'm quite happy with SPD-SL and have seen a couple of Keo's fail (one quite dangerously).
Powertap Pedals are noted for being reliable but they are also the most expensive and also Keo based.
I then thought about the Vectors S2's which can be converted to SPD-SL but according to bike radar they are wildly unstable.
Team Zwatt looks interesting but its only a shimano crank or axle based system and its still not on the market.
Powerpods are claimed to be reliable but they are only a calculated power rather than actual power and involve putting something aesthetically poor on the bike to catch and record drag (with a TT bike I wanting to reduce drag).
I've looked at other calculated power units but they are poorly reviewed and don't capture that drag element which is required to more accurately calculate power.
So I'm quite happy for now with my LIMITS which I can (and have) justified.

 

[bikeman66]

Hi Guys,

Got a massive ride planned for May that's going to take a really large volume of training and want to use power to support me with this especially for the interval sessions I have planned.

I have settled on the power tap P1 pedals as it means I can transfer them between multiple bikes so I can train with power on the turbo as well as on the road.

I had it all ready to go in my shopping basket yesterday, but just couldn't bring myself to hit 'buy' on a £900 purchase!

So my questions are:

• If you have a power meter, how did you justify the cost of it?
• Has it been worthwhile?
• Have you seen the training benefits from it

It's not going to bankrupt me, I can afford it but it's just the principle of paying this much money when I could get a replacement bike for the cost.

Thanks,

Ben

There's someone on a local Facebook bike selling group down here on the Isle of Wight selling a Powertap (with new cleats) for £500. Looks in good condition from the pictures!

 

[Ben Reeve]

There's someone on a local Facebook bike selling group down here on the Isle of Wight selling a Powertap (with new cleats) for £500. Looks in good condition from the pictures!

Ooo, could you send me a link?

 

[mjr]

And a watt is always a watt, not effected by fatigue, sleep level, drug intake, stress, caffeine etc etc

I find "what?"s vary quite a lot when affected by those factors

 

[Dogtrousers]

Watt?

 

[al3xsh]

How about hiring one for a few weeks? I've seen:

http://www.cyclohire.co.uk/powermet...wCosRNzMxZrwTL1w4jiqES8Jif4A46q2loaAkMN8P8HAQ

And

https://panaguabikes.com/pages/stag...m-sky-hire-or-try-before-you-buy#.WHZzpnOnzqA

Cheers,

A

 

[Ben Reeve]

May have come up with my solution.

Didn't realise power tap have released a single sided pedal system now which takes the price down massively, from just under £1k to £650.

Seems like a good solution, interest free credit means £50 a month for 10 months after deposit.

 

[S-Express]

So you just wanted one anyway, despite most people saying that training with power is not critical for your objectives. Why not just say so in the first place?

 

[Hacienda71]

You can get a decent single sided system for just over £400 new with warranty. Reviewed by DC Rainmaker and liked. They have been out for a year or so with no major issues reported.

https://www.powermeter24.com/uk/bep...QuQ4ToECNbORyUOPdjRCvqvnd19nGT4mHVhoCfPjw_wcB

 

[Ben Reeve]

So you just wanted one anyway, despite most people saying that training with power is not critical for your objectives. Why not just say so in the first place?

• Because my current objectives won't always be the same.
• Because my turbo trainer sessions feel a bit pointless at the moment as it's hard to judge the power
• Because I can ask for advice and still make my own decision
• Because the debate was really interesting regardless of the reason I started the topic
• Because you guys made me think about the decision for another 5 days to so and really think about what I wanted to do

Oh and because I can! Don't be offended S Express!

 

[Ben Reeve]

You can get a decent single sided system for just over £400 new with warranty. Reviewed by DC Rainmaker and liked. They have been out for a year or so with no major issues reported.

https://www.powermeter24.com/uk/bep...QuQ4ToECNbORyUOPdjRCvqvnd19nGT4mHVhoCfPjw_wcB

Yes I did look at this and decided against them because the set up look alot more complex and he thought the pod part was vulnerable and may not last.

Definitely a good option for a turbo though I think if you are just going to leave them on there as they are not going to be outside where they can get damaged and less swapping between bikes.

 

[S-Express]

Oh and because I can! Don't be offended S Express!

Not offended mate, just baffled. Seems I was right in the first place about the existential reasoning.

Heart rate monitor it is then!