Hey Dev, you're welcome :-)

What percent do you use PC's vs conventional cranks....how many hours on each in a typical hawaii build per week
100% on powercranks - about 10h a week

Is your wattage the same on both types of cranks
Hard to tell - no powermeter when biking on powercranks :-) (except when biking indoor but that is not comparable with race situation)

Is your cadence the same on both (I think your Kona cadence was averaging around 80 from the article)
Yes, my 'natural cadence is around 80 - both with and without powercranks. It used to be around 94 before I biked on powercranks. I am much more happy with low cadence because of lower metabolic cost

Do you use PC's to also supplement your run training and reduce overall run volume
On average I run 4-5h a week. But I almost didn't run in 2012 from june till the end of august and still did a 3h04 marathon in Kona...

What crank length are you on?
Usually 175 but I have experimented with lengths ranging from 130 to 182.5. It does not make a lot of difference in power output - I am mostly concerned about my position on the bike which I like best with 165-175 range.

Do you use PC"s outdoors or on trainer or both?
Both. But since I usually train after dark, mostly indoors.

Anyway, my opinion might be respected as much as everybody else's. However, if you have never trained for a reasonable amount of time consistently on powercranks, I think it is not fair to issue a strong (negative or positive) opinion.
Try them for yourself first and if you hammered them for 90 days and are dissatisfied, return them to powercranks and you will get your money back and you will be in a position to write something that makes sense here.

Kind regards,
Sam
samgyde.com

They appeal intuitively to people because part of the mythos of cycling is that a smooth, round pedal stroke is efficient. Thus it seems plausible that power cranks could force your body to adopt a more smooth, round pedal stroke where power is applied more evenly around the pedal circle.

Unfortunately, reality is that this idea has been thoroughly investigated and there is no evidence that evenly applying the power around the pedal stroke is more efficient, nor do the worlds best cyclist have round pedal stroke even if they think they do. ( lab and real world in agreement in other words)

It is an aerobic sport and pushing down, not pulling back or up, is actually the most efficient way to use your oxygen.

So anyway of course people suggest all kinds of indirect benefits because it is hard to cognitively accept something you have bought into is completely pointless. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/...oice-supportive_bias )

They appeal intuitively to people because part of the mythos of cycling is that a smooth, round pedal stroke is efficient. Thus it seems plausible that power cranks could force your body to adopt a more smooth, round pedal stroke where power is applied more evenly around the pedal circle.

There is just one thing that bugs me; the angle of "if you haven't used them, then you can't comment (properly)".

There are many things in this world that one can form an opinion on without actually doing it, and in many cases happily so. The validity of something can be assessed on the basis of (scientific) data, and (sometimes) that's even better, because the way we experience things isn't always the way it actually is. Too much cognitive dissonance and confirmation bias going on.

I can echo Sam's comments about Powercranks. I wouldn't ride without them. Love them. I think the key is to use them when tired. Everyone can use them when they are fresh, the key is when you are dead tired do you opt for a bike without PCs because you are dreading the use of Powercranks? That is IMO when you really get strong and break thru performance barriers. At some point, PCs just become normal.

LOL....yesterday I did a 40 min PC ride + 30 min hard CT ride and then a 20 min treadmill run. In the afternoon I ran a total of around 100 minutes with the teenagers I coach spread between jogging, and hard 200-400m run intervals and A's and B's. Then I got home and decided to try riding the powercranks again on the rollers for 30 minutes. I barely lasted 15 minutes as my hip flexors were fried from the earlier workout and hard run intervals but this was. This was over 3 hours into my day, so yes, I see where you are coming from.

Ok - I am relatively new around here but is the consensus that people don't like PowerCranks? Curious as I just bought them too! Did I miss something?

This made me chuckle. We need a GIF now. On my phone so I'm too lazy!

Ok - I am relatively new around here but is the consensus that people don't like PowerCranks? Curious as I just bought them too! Did I miss something?

[Yes, an opportunity to use your money on something effective.

As for consensus, well plenty don't like training hard but it's very effective. Whether something is liked or not isn't a sound basis for judging effectiveness. Actual effectiveness is best for that and there is no evidence of such, only here-say, anecdote, personal bias and believed based thinking. Nevertheless, these emotive forms of appraisal have an undue influence for many people. It's the same reason why the supplement industry makes billions of dollars. Actual effectiveness is largely irrelevant for many, only the belief.

Good luck with your training.

Unfortunatelly both sides of the argument tend to be based on dogma.

Is there unequivocal evidence for the superiority of conventional training methods? Unconventional methods such as PC's may or may not be better, but it's very hard to design studies to prove it one way or the other.

Sometimes anecdotal evidence is the best we can do. I say try it and see if it works for you.

As far as I am concerned, I will never ever bike without powercranks.

For A-races, I usually switch to fixed cranks 3-4 days before the race.

specificity, progressive increase in workload, and recovery as needed

They are a training tool. Just like you have paddles for swimming for example. They make you work harder with the purpose of benefiting of the hard work during a race.

For A-races, I usually switch to fixed cranks 3-4 days before the race.