How long have you been racing? I’ve ditched my power meter this year because I’ve been racing for long enough that I trust my perceived effort just as much as a power meter and I only look at the pm on longer climbs. If you’re new, or plan on racing hilly courses, the pm would b a good choice

Race wheels with power tap hubs;-)

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I was gonna say the same thing too. Like that taco commercial for soft shell vs hard shell..why not both?

I saw in the classifieds somebody is selling a set of HED Jet 9's with a Powertap Hub rear.

I’ve been racing for 5 years, I’m leaning on the power meter for zone training and keeping tabs on my race effort because I tend to go out too hard. I’ve been using HR zone training, however, everything that I’ve read says that I’m at a serious training disadvantage without a power meter. It would be a huge investment either way.

I chose power meter before wheels. It sounds like you already have the discipline to structure your training around power, and then to race to it. By contract, merely knowing power is pretty much useless-- it only pays dividends when every minute of your training is targeting a particular power output.

power meter, assuming you use it for training and not just on a 'race' bike.

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Taylor Rogers

2024: IM Hamburg

Racing wheels saves about 40 sec. over an Ironman at most. Building your fitness up so you can hold 200-250 watts over a course of an Ironman or half Ironman will save even more time than that.

The wheelset you could buy for the price of an average PM is not going to be high-end, and if you already have some (cheap) deep rim carbon wheels then the improvement isn't going to be huge unless you spend some serious $

Get a Power Meter - you can use that year-round and on the trainer.

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29 years and counting

Do you want instant gratification or long term production? Answer that question and you have the answer to your decision.

But if it were me, I would go Powertap P1s (unless you think you have serious powe difference between each leg) and convince wife to let you spend another $100 on a wheel cover.

I think you're being a little hard on the power meter religion. They can be useful tools.

Umm yeah extremely useful. The instant gratification comment was directed toward race wheels not PM. Long term production will come from PM usage.

Captain Stubing says you missed the joke.....

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I’m not so sure, but, yes that tends to happen when a stranger types a sarcastic response without using pink font.

For a majority of motivated athletes, I would have a hard time recommending wheels over a power-meter. A good wheel upgrade could possible result in saving minutes over the course of a triathlon bike leg. A power meter could result in tens of minutes on the bike, AND improve your run, but that depends on the athlete of course. A power meter will not make your bike any faster, but it will make YOU faster if you use it properly.

What you should consider is what you are looking to get out of your proposed upgrade. Are you training towards a goal? The PM will help you with that, for me it was a game changer. Are you looking to go out and have fun riding with a group of MAMILs a couple times a week? If so, wheels may be a better option.

I firmly believe a power meter and proper training will make the vast majority of athletes faster, more so than any other equipment upgrade. The caveat there is that a power meter only works if you take the time to learn how to use it and put the work in. I have ridden with people that have power that will quote their max power on a given climb or their average power over the course of a ride, but if that is all you are using it for it is useless. My recommendation in general is get a power meter, but only if you plan to take the time to use it.

Yeah, I was being sarcastic. But if you gave me the choice to giving up my PMs or my race wheels (as a TTer), I'd give up my PMs in a heartbeat. I know I can use other tools to put my body through the necessary training stress to get the level of fitness I want. There's no other way to get that 40 seconds (or whatever) back from using slow wheels.

That said, I'm the guy with 4 power meters, a smart trainer, and licenses/subscriptions to like every known power-related analytical tool (WKO, BBS, Xert, TR, Zwift, Golden Cheetah, etc), so I'm deeply into the religion I'm mocking.

I'm a roadie, but just did this purchase scenario over the last year. I went meter, then wheels. About 2/3 of a year apart.

TBH, the meter with some tough training plans and weight loss has brought about some astonishing changes. Particularly when on hilly terrain. We're talking 3/4 to 1.5mph faster over a hilly route (hilly enough for a sub 18mph avg speed).

The wheels are lighter, feel nice, and make up a bit of speed. However, netting an entire 1.0w/kg improvement in a year feels a LOT faster than the wheels. That is if you can't get a hub based meter AND the wheels. Shhhh, she might not notice unless she's into the same sport.

The meter, it depends on how far down the rabbit hole you want to go. If you just want another 10 watts in a year or two, forget it. If you want 30+ watts per year. Get it.

I wouldn't recommend a meter for a B-group ride "finisher" type who never wants to move up to the A+ ride.

40 seconds. LOL. I still shake my head when I think of the cost for those 40 seconds many people find so freaking valuable. Whenever I think of dropping $2 grand (more or less) on race wheels my brain screams "utter waste of money". After all for most of us this sport is a hobby. Getting those 40 seconds as a result of better training is much more satisfying than dropping $2 grand. And BTW, I make really good money. I could afford it. I just don't want to feel like a total idiot when I spend my money. For most of us race wheel purchases are the purchase of a glitzy toy, nothing more. So unless you can find a screaming deal on your toy race wheels buy the power meter.

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http://dontletitdefeatyou.blogspot.com

There's some truth there. It's an individual decision. But speaking about myself, I'm a roadie TT specialist. I've been doing it for like 15 years. And I'm so dialled in that my "bad race" vs. "good race" covers a range of less than a minute (given equal conditions).

Absolutely a hobby, but I give myself a limit of about 15 hours per week to play at bikes, given my full-time job and marriage. And given that time, I've done about all I can do in terms of scraping more power out of myself. Particularly at age 44. There's no magical interval workout to help me, as far as I can tell My body composition is pretty good, and I don't want to subject myself to pro-grade dietary restrictions.

So the wheels are free speed for me (free in terms of time and effort).

And I can train my ass off just fine without a power meter (plenty of people do, at all levels).

So the choice would be no-brainer, for me, personally.

This..

I'm on the fence as to whether I want a PM. I already have race wheels though, I figure they've been a worthwhile investment. I've had them since the early 90's, and they're still one of the fastest options out there, if a bit of a handful in crosswinds.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

I would use the money for physiological testing (Lactate turn point, Threshold etc) and use the left over money for one of those kickstarter wind powered powermeters.

As long as we're throwing out other options for the money to be spent on, besides the two choices given, how about:

1. Regular massage
2. Coaching
3. Strength & mobility coaching
4. Wind tunnel testing (probably get more "free" speed than wheels alone)
5. Faster race clothing/helmet
6. Pre-season training camp somewhere warm and/or at altitude

Agreed which is why I (and many others) never had race wheels until Flo came along....but if you start from the premise that you need to spend some money on wheels, the idea of spending $800-$900 on something like a Flo set isn’t any or that much more than a regular set for the speed you gain.

I could also start a go-fund me to train for Triathlon full time at 38 years old, but I refrain.

Do you only plan on racing tris and TTs?

If so, I'd sell the Planet X wheels and cassette. Maybe you get $400. Use that to offset the cost of a solid training rim built up with a PT hub and a disc cover. Then look for a used front aluminum clincher race wheel that has a more modern shape (HED Jet 6, FLO 60, etc). Total cost to you would be well under $1k...maybe even a lot less if you look used for the PT wheel.