THIS IS AMAZING NEWS! I'm SOLD. Done. I now know what power meter I want

It's already up on the Quarq website!
https://www.quarq.com/store/item/1740/

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Make Inside Out Sports your next online tri shop! http://www.insideoutsports.com/

Going to start saving pennies.

I got a Stages because I have a Dura Ace crank. Now I'm going to have to decide if I want to sell my Stages and go back to Quarq (which I had before going to DA).

Read the article, but not clear to me if $1600 included the crank and chainrings or if it's just for the spider and crank arms. Any idea? I'm waitiing for some more reviews but the pioneer gen2 system looks pretty nice as well if you want to go shimano.

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When I channel my hate to productive, I don't find it hard to impress

Chainrings are extra.

Correct, chainrings are extra. And if you haven't priced Shimano DA 9000 chainrings, prepare yourself...Shimano sure likes them

$1600 includes the power meter and carbon crank arms.

Many folks buying the Elsa RS will already have the Shimano DA11 rings on their bike.

Also, funny enough, Quarq is not a distributor of Shimano chainrings. ;-)

Jim

This is without chainrings, new DA chainrings run roughly 200-250 for a set depending on the source/discount/type. That will bring the total new package to approximately 1800-1900 depending on BB type and what you paid for the chainrings. This to me is not a super attractive price since i can get a factory refurbished DA SRM for 1800-1900 with a warranty from SRM USA. I think Quarq needs to reduce the price of their spider only PM's by 150-200 dollars and they could really dominate the PM market.


Edit: It's always easy to say they should lower the price when its not your own money :)

Looks clean

I see. Yeah, this puts it at almost the exact same price point as the pioneer system as well. So you have SRM ~ Quarq ~ Pioneer, technologies with descending levels of maturity and ascending levels of features, it seems. Interesting, and I'm tempted by all three -- I'm one of those who really like the look of the new DA crank.

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When I channel my hate to productive, I don't find it hard to impress

Hey Mike,

Just want to clarify that the Elsa RS for Shimano is only available for the road side. There is not a Quarq Power Meter designed to be used with the Shimano mountain drive trains.

The Elsa RS for Shimano will be sold as a power meter and crank, rings not included. The power meter spider is mounted to an Exo-Gram Hollow Carbon crank arm in GXP or BB30. It is designed to be used with the DA-9000 4-bolt 110 BCD rings. The Ultegra 6800 rings will also fit the ELSA RS, there will just be some slight color difference between the rings and the cover plate of the meter. Other than that they will work perfectly.

For the mountain side however we have also just released the XX1 Quarq Power Meter. This power meter is specifically designed for use with the SRAM XX1, X01, and X1 groupsets.

Both power meters are available now and ready to ship!!!

-Alex

Buh-bye Stages.

Ordered!

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

Alex,

Any upgrade program for existing Quarq owners like the one Quarq ran this Spring?

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Matthew
Twitter: @AlphaDogCycling
Instagram: @AlphaDogCycling

What about incentives for people currently using Stages to switch back to Quarq? :)

We have had continued interest in another upgrade program and with the advent of AxCad and the 10k temp comp on the new units we feel there is justification to run something similar again. This is definitely something that we are looking to do, but no idea when it might happen.

Keep your eyes peeled for announcements. Best thing to do is to sign up for announcements through our contact form through the Quarq website. If/when we run another upgrade program we will send an email out through that contact channel with all the dirty details.


-Alex

I'm not sure I understand your thinking here. You bought stages because you couldn't get a Dura Ace crank with a Quarq PM. You're still not getting a Dura Ace crank with a Quarq PM, you're getting a SRAM crank that is compatible with Shimano chainrings. So the only difference now is the chainrings. I know Shimano rings are great and all, but they're not so much better than Praxis rings that I would switch to a demonstrably less accurate power meter.

If Quarq gave you a discount, it's be like saying. "Yes the difference between our power meter and a Stages is less than the difference between Shimano and Praxis chainrings. We're sorry, and we understand you had no other reasonable choice"

My statement was meant as tongue and cheek joking...

I guess it comes down to whether you feel the benefits of the Dura Ace crank comes from the crank arms, rings, or both. Right or wrong I'm in the ring camp.

Alex,
Are there any plans for crank arms that are shorter than 170? 165 or 162.5?

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ishi no ue ni san nen | Perseverance will win in the end. | Blog | @nebmot | Strava | Instagram |

What's so special about quarks vs stages?

I'm a PM noob.

Very short answer is Stages only measures your left leg power while Quarq measures both legs.

Alex,

Thanks for the quick response, and I will sign up for announcements. Pass along that another upgrade program for the Elsa RS will be a greatly appreciated, plus a good way for Quarq to retain existing customers.

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Matthew
Twitter: @AlphaDogCycling
Instagram: @AlphaDogCycling

You're also forgetting the 10-speed vs 11-speed issue. When I got my new Trek Speed Concept a year ago I could not use my older Quarq S975 because it wasn't 11-speed compatible. There wasn't an 11-speed compatible Quarq easily compatible with Shimano 11-speed stuff until now. Stages was pretty much the only option. Power2Max wasn't the player a year ago that they are now... plus I wanted to keep my DA chainrings.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

Just going to interject with the 10sp vs 11sp and how this pertains to ANY of our road power meters. The thickness of the 5 ears, or the tabs, that you install the chain rings onto are all the same thickness regardless of the model power meter you have. This means that the rings installed, not the power meter itself, is what makes one of our power meters 10sp or 11sp compatible. This is the exact reason why we now sell our RIKEN, ELSA, and RED models with out rings as opposed to selling them complete with only specific chain rings installed. You can now pick the model that best suits your needs and budget, and either install rings that you may already have, or purchase new ones.

-Alex

I received my Elsa RS last Friday. I haven't fiddled with it yet though.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One