POWER

[Mr Haematocrit]

Stages cost about the same as a proper power meter (more if you want a high end crank arm). My Power2max cost about £800 including a carbon SRAM S900 crankset. It reliably measures power from both my legs.

Reliably yes, accurately no.. If you pedal with one foot on Power2max and remove the other foot completely from the pedal they still only report 80 - 90% power to the leg in use, the foot which is not attached to the pedal is still contributed power.

 

[amaferanga]

Reliably yes, accurately no.. If you pedal with one foot on Power2max and remove the other foot completely from the pedal they still only report 80 - 90% power to the leg in use, the foot which is not attached to the pedal is still contributed power.

What's your point? The P2M is accurate when used in the way intended - why the hell would you pedal with only one leg? I know some folk do this and they think it's some clever training method, but it's just stupid.

What are you comparing the P2M to - another power meter? Let's see the data for both power meters.

Stages is inaccurate when used as intended due to a fundamental shortcoming.

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

What's your point? The P2M is accurate when used in the way intended - why the hell would you pedal with only one leg? I know some folk do this and they think it's some clever training method, but it's just stupid.

What are you comparing the P2M to - another power meter? Let's see the data for both power meters.

My point is yes the stages pm is has fudemental shortcomings and you suggested that one of the advantages of power2max was the ability to reliability measure power independently from both legs as such I felt it was valid to point out that although it has this functionality, it is not providing accurate data even when used as intended. Power2max themselves state that L/R balance is nothing more than estimated data.
http://www.power2max.de/europe/en/support/power2max-explained/
It has also been replicated and confirmed by the highly respected dcrainmaker in his review of power2max and is common knowledge.
http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/01/power2max-power-meter-in-depth-review.html

So the question has to be asked, how useful is estimated data or information from power2max? - Estimates can be wrong as such the data must be suspect. Suspect data is the very thing you suggest is a concern with the stages product.

Most power meters are flawed in one way or another, however the most important thing remains being able to interpret the data no matter if its true or estimated and ensuring the device delivers consistent data.

 

[Rob3rt]

Aero testing using virtual elevation method: Anyone done it? Anyone adept at it?

I have done a few runs and am finding on the day repeatability relatively good and can detect obvious changes to CdA (tops, hoods, drops) etc but am finding that one day to the next, repeatability is low. Of course this can be circumvented by always starting the session with a few runs using the original set up, make some changes and test them, then at the end revert back to the original set up to sanity check the session and simply use the difference from the original set up, on the day, to decide if something is more aero or not, but it would be interesting to be able to compare across days.

Maybe it has just been too windy when I have tested.

I am about to switch out the cockpit on my TT bike for a nice carbon integrated jobbie with low basebar and arm rests on stackers and modified extensions. I will also be changing my position quite a lot with the help of a club mate, it would be good to see how the changes stack up.

On an unrelated note, my power is on the rise, had a few power PB's on the turbo in the last week

 

[VamP]

This the Aerolab portion within GC? I have not played with it yet, although I probably will once I start my prep for next season. This summer season is going to be all about testing, I am not going to do very much road at all.

Good to see your power going up already! I am just reaching the end of my season, so will take rest of January off from training, and start focused sweetspot and threshold work in Feabruary.

Upgrades for this season include skinsuit, rear wheel covers for my Powertap and Selector.

 

[Rob3rt]

This the Aerolab portion within GC? I have not played with it yet, although I probably will once I start my prep for next season. This summer season is going to be all about testing, I am not going to do very much road at all.

Good to see your power going up already! I am just reaching the end of my season, so will take rest of January off from training, and start focused sweetspot and threshold work in Feabruary.

Upgrades for this season include skinsuit, rear wheel covers for my Powertap and Selector.

Yeah it is implemented in aerolab. I may try adjusting Crr for temp and see if this improves day to day repeatability. As I said, on the day, I am getting good repeatability so I can work relatively but not extract much in absolute terms.

If you buy wheel covers, I would say go with Raltech

I am going to get a nice speedsuit in a couple of months when the new Castelli Bodypaint 3.0 comes out. Will also buy some new overshoes. But my main focus this year will be on my position. Had a few hints from those in the know

 

[VamP]

Yeah it is implemented in aerolab. I may try adjusting Crr for temp and see if this improves day to day repeatability. As I said, on the day, I am getting good repeatability so I can work relatively but not extract much in absolute terms.

If you buy wheel covers, I would say go with Raltech

I am going to get a nice speedsuit in a couple of months when the new Castelli Bodypaint 3.0 comes out. Will also buy some new overshoes. But my main focus this year will be on my position. Had a few hints from those in the know

Yep. Raltech covers being made as we speak.

However, my main focus will be on power. I am not too concerned about TT times, though there's a few clubmates I want to beat, but my main objective for this summer season is POWER. I want a significant FTP growth, and figured that getting singleminded about TT would be the best way to see improvements there. As well as hopefully get to like this discipline a bit more

 

[Rob3rt]

Yep. Raltech covers being made as we speak.

However, my main focus will be on power. I am not too concerned about TT times, though there's a few clubmates I want to beat, but my main objective for this summer season is POWER. I want a significant FTP growth, and figured that getting singleminded about TT would be the best way to see improvements there. As well as hopefully get to like this discipline a bit more

That is essentially what I did last year (I trained and raced hard, but neglected my position), however I was concerned with times I realise this season I won't make the same power gains, so whilst I will still be aiming to build power (do you ever stop with this? lol) I will be paying more attention to my position, there must be 20-40W worth of savings to be found. Changing the bars from Profile clip-ons and a round tube base bar to some aero profile carbon integrated bars with raised arm pads must be worth 8-12W alone!

 

[VamP]

I imagine I will also start to get interested in maximising aero gains once I get the basic position resolved, but I am making a statement of intent to not get distracted from the main objective of FTP building, as I know what I'm like

 

[Andrew_P]

A bit of a coup for Stages http://www.teamsky.com/article/0,27290,17545_9115530,00.html

 

[jowwy]

After extensive testing and validation Team Sky has chosen to exclusively use the Stages Power meter during the 2014 racing season.


This new sponsorship deal adds serious cache to Stages Cycling’s product design philosophy, and will serve to accelerate further development of the Stages Power meter.



“We are so pleased to announce that Team Sky will race with Stages Power this season; this sponsorship, and what it means for Stages Power, is very exciting for our company,” said Pat Warner, Stages Cycling’s Senior Vice President. “We are humbled and honoured to be collecting data for one of the best teams in the sport. It’s a huge responsibility and we both have great confidence that Stages Power can help Team Sky be successful this season.”


Read more at http://www.teamsky.com/article/0,27290,17545_9115530,00.html#o84DtV4Us3wbeswP.99

 

[Pedrosanchezo]

Yep. Raltech covers being made as we speak.

However, my main focus will be on power. I am not too concerned about TT times, though there's a few clubmates I want to beat, but my main objective for this summer season is POWER. I want a significant FTP growth, and figured that getting singleminded about TT would be the best way to see improvements there. As well as hopefully get to like this discipline a bit more

I got the Raltech covers and they look the part but thought they were quite noisy in action, a bit flimsy IMO. I'm sure they perform reasonably well.
I got them fitted to 50mm Planet X tubs. Took about 3 weeks from order to delivery.
2 weeks after getting them a club mate sold me his disc wheel for seriously cheap just because he gave up TT'ing - a true gent! I couldn't refuse!! I kind of don't have a use for the Raltech cover now but these things happen.

The low rumble of the disc wheel is weird at first. Had me looking for low flying aeroplanes above, lol. Doesn't rattle like the cover either but i was just very lucky to get a proper disc for the same price as the cover. A shame i didn't get it before the cover though. Might have saved me some cash.

Keen to know how you get on with fitting and how you think it performs.

 

[Fasta Asloth]

I got the Raltech covers and they look the part but thought they were quite noisy in action, a bit flimsy IMO. I'm sure they perform reasonably well.
I got them fitted to 50mm Planet X tubs. Took about 3 weeks from order to delivery.
2 weeks after getting them a club mate sold me his disc wheel for seriously cheap just because he gave up TT'ing - a true gent! I couldn't refuse!! I kind of don't have a use for the Raltech cover now but these things happen.

The low rumble of the disc wheel is weird at first. Had me looking for low flying aeroplanes above, lol. Doesn't rattle like the cover either but i was just very lucky to get a proper disc for the same price as the cover. A shame i didn't get it before the cover though. Might have saved me some cash.

Keen to know how you get on with fitting and how you think it performs.

How have you found the disc wheel performance to be? Have read values of 40sec saved over a 25miler flat course but useful to hear your experiences..cheers.

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

Movistar using P2max

http://bikeradar.com/road/news/article/movistar-opt-for-power2max-power-meters-in-2014-39638

 

[VamP]

I got the Raltech covers and they look the part but thought they were quite noisy in action, a bit flimsy IMO. I'm sure they perform reasonably well.
I got them fitted to 50mm Planet X tubs. Took about 3 weeks from order to delivery.
2 weeks after getting them a club mate sold me his disc wheel for seriously cheap just because he gave up TT'ing - a true gent! I couldn't refuse!! I kind of don't have a use for the Raltech cover now but these things happen.

The low rumble of the disc wheel is weird at first. Had me looking for low flying aeroplanes above, lol. Doesn't rattle like the cover either but i was just very lucky to get a proper disc for the same price as the cover. A shame i didn't get it before the cover though. Might have saved me some cash.

Keen to know how you get on with fitting and how you think it performs.

The main purpose of the covers is to work with my power meter hub. They should do that without probs. But yes funny rattles will be annoying. I'll post up once they're here.