This is my experience with using powercranks for more than 4 years. I am a medical doctor. I am 53 years old; 5'8"; lifted heavy weights for 20 years and my weight often was around 220. I stopped lifting heavy about 5 years ago. I still weight train a little and run and swim. My goal is to do a 1/2 ironman this summer and possibly a full ironman in the fall. I intend to get my weight down to 175 or less but I am getting fairly lean at 193.

I am usually riding 6 hours a week or less but for several months I might put in more time and mileage. I am usually "hammering" when I get on the road. A lot of my rides are 15-30 miles and I may put in several 50+ mile rides in a month. Some winters, I stop cycling for 1-3 months.

I went to power cranks in about May, five years ago. I did most of my training on them until about three months ago. Before using powercranks, I did one leg drills and thought I was "spinning" for 25 years. However, read a lot of reviews and was ready for some torture. My first day on powercranks, I almost didn't venture outside of the parking lot but road about 6 miles in 30+ minutes. After the first minute or two, I was limited to coasting between several strokes or alternating 5-10 slow strokes, one leg at a time. I felt muscles in the legs and pelvis and back that I never used before. I had muscles pain that I never had before. I was hooked!!! I committed to doing all of my training on power cranks. Unfortunately, training on these cranks were so difficult that I lost my cardio fitness that year. I could not physically or mentally train at the previous volume. I could not stand up on the pedals well. I lost strength in my quads. I could not maintain a decent cadence for more than a few seconds. I did a lot of riding alternating legs But, I'm stubborn.

I stopped cycling for most of the winter and in the spring I needed to relearn using the cranks. I built up my mileage pretty well the second year but still had extra muscles pain after a ride and became almost as fast as I was on regular cranks. The third spring after "resting" through the winter, the cranks felt natural after about the first day or two. I concentrated on standing on the pedals. I became strong again but did not make any breakthroughs in my speed. That Labor Day weekend, I had a heart attack -- while on the bike; lost a chunk of my heart and damaged a third of the heart muscle. I continued to ride powercranks and the fourth summer I was as strong as ever on a bike, but I as loosing my coordination on regular cranks. The same was true of the fifth summer and I started going back to regular cranks intermittently. I could finally ride at a cadence of 80-90 for an extended period.

The last few months, I am going back to regular cranks about 3/4 of my training (mostly inside through the winter). I believe that I will be faster this year.



Other issues: 1) The end caps can get stuck and I have one stuck and will send it back to powercranks to see if they can get it off. 2) The caps can loosen and fall off during a ride and leave the crank hanging from your foot (I carry a large hex wrench and an extra cap with me most of the time but you can ride carefully without the cap and get home). 3) The crank arms seem a little more likely to loosen from the bottome bracket than regular cranks. 4) The washers and mechanism that attach the pedals to the arms bend and get loose and I have had two sets chip where the pedals attach.

These aggravations can ruin days of training or potential training.


My opinion, as one who has read extensively about powercranks for 5 years and road them regularly: Don't expect a miracle. I think that working the extra muscles will help balance your pushing muscles and help with core strength. I expect they are especially beneficial for improving running and grinding out the hills in a higher gear. I had calf strains while running the year before I started using power cranks and have not had any since. I broke my back in 1993 and although I had some back pain with power cranks, I thought they helped with it.

Advice: Give them a try but keep a regular bike ready to ride if there is a mechanical issue or you do not have the will to ride them that day. Use them for maybe 1/4 to 1/2 of your training time until your body is adapting to them and you understand how they work with your body and style. Otherwise, you will likely loose strength in your quads and your training time will decrease and cardio will worsen. You might loose your coordination with regular cranks.

Disclaimer: This is the experience of an under-trained, over-muscled, overweight, old guy who is trying to go from a power athlete to an endurance athlete.

I think my heavy legs and thighs made powercranks particularly difficult, especially in regard to keeping a high cadence. This year, I plan to do most of my training on conventional cranks. However, I am buying a new set of entry level powercranks with several pedal positions and intend to experiment with shorter crank lengths to get in a better time trial position. The entry level cranks do not have the problematic adjustment system of most of the powercranks.