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Polar Power experience
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Who is willing to share their experience on the polar power output set?

I am specially intrested in values fo which I should aim for regarding pedalling efficiency.

thanks
tri2b
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Re: Polar Power experience [tri2b] [ In reply to ]
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Do a search for "polar" in the archives of the "Wattage" list over at Topica (www.topica.com), and you will find tons of reviews, experience, and commentary about the polar power setup, including posts by the co-inventor of the system.

Brent
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Re: Polar Power experience [Brent] [ In reply to ]
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thanks indeed a lot of information

Marcel

thanks
tri2b
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Re: Polar Power experience [tri2b] LONG [ In reply to ]
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Funny you brought this up, because I was just going to post about my power unit...

I bought it over a year ago, and was thrilled to be the first person I knew who had one. Working in a bike shop helped this. I put it on for the first time and got some very erratic readings, especially on the road when a car would pass within 10ft of me. I took it off and sent it back to polar. I explained to them what the problem was, and they wanted me to make sure everything was installed correctly. I led them to believe that it was for a customer, and informed them that I was not a retarded ape and could figure out how to properly install was was basically a rear wheel computer. When they sent it back to me, it didn't even look like they had touched it, but I put it back on and gave it another whirl.

After many rides with erratic readings, I decided that it was f'ed up and going back again. I called them up and told them that they needed to send a new one, not fixthe one they were already dicking with. They oblidged and the new one arrived within two or three weeks. I put it on at the beginning of the training year while during my downtime. I have had no problems thus far, it actually works perfectly now.

One big problem I had, and the first thing I noticed that was wrong with it originally was that the speed sensor didn't work at very high speeds. I test my bike fitness with a 5mile TT on rollers, where I am reaching average speeds of over 50 mph. I knew what my speeds should look like, but the sensor would read something like 200 mph for a while, then go to zero. I don't have that problem anymore. This is great because one of the original goals of mine was to test my average power over the TT.

Polar told me the first time I sent the sensor back that they were having some problems with the chain tension sensor. I think this was a microsoft thing, where they let the first few custimers get the bugs out, then fixed it and started selling the updated version. I am happy to report that the bugs seem to have been worked out of the system.

You have to be pretty precise when installing the sensor, especially with the cadence sensor, which is needed by the computer to calculate power. Also, the chain speed sensor must be carefully installed to prevent the wire from getting caught in the rear derr.

The thing isn't cheap, even at cost, and it really wasn't worth all of the hastle, but now that I have it and it works, I'm extremely pleased with it. 30% is pretty stinking efficient, and I think you'll find that you pedal more with your right leg. My left leg is alot stronger than my right, and I still have a tendency to let my right leg do slightly more of the work. 30-40% is obviously some of the most efficient riding you can do and still be riding.

Hope this helps, email me personally for any other questions.
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Re: Polar Power experience [tri2b] LONG [Tommy Nelson] [ In reply to ]
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"average speed of 50mph..." are you a MTB downhiller?

I guess you meant max speed (or your bike has a 250cc engine :-)
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Re: Polar Power experience [Francois] [ In reply to ]
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no...with at 56-11 and rpms .abouve 120 for 6-7 min, i mean 50mph. This is on kreitler rollers.
Last edited by: Tommy Nelson: Feb 4, 03 9:23
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Re: Polar Power experience [Tommy Nelson] [ In reply to ]
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now, that makes sense. I understood rollers as rolling hills...sorry.
rollers are nice (no wind resistance).
else 50mph for 6', dude, jump on the track and destroy all
the WR.
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