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Power Meter on MTB
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I am sure there is an old topic on this, (I did search!) but wanted to get thoughts of people who have or had a powermeter on their mountain bike. My thought is this would be 99% for collection rather than pacing. I currently race road tri, and some long distance MTB. If you had power on your mountain bike did you find value in it? Or was in just junk data you did not do anything with?
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Re: Power Meter on MTB [Eroc43] [ In reply to ]
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When you're ripping the gnar there's no time to look. And either you're fucken badass and cleaning the trail or you're hiking your bike. Watts not relevant
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Re: Power Meter on MTB [Eroc43] [ In reply to ]
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I have a Powertap laced to a MTB/Cyclocross disc brake wheel. It wasn't useful during Xterra or Cyclocross races but it had some utility afterwards if you are good at analyzing power files. I think it would be useful during MTB races like Wilmington/Whiteface, Leadville, etc.
Last edited by: Monsieur Trois: Apr 4, 19 15:07
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Re: Power Meter on MTB [Eroc43] [ In reply to ]
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collection when doing MTB; more like a road PM when riding on gravel/tow-paths, etc.
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Re: Power Meter on MTB [Eroc43] [ In reply to ]
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It depends on how you use your powermeter on other bikes, where you live, the terrain you ride, and how you ride.
If you are shredding single track and hucking- It is not needed.
If you are doing long rides and long climbs "training style" like you do on a road or gravel bike, a powermeter can be helpful.
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Re: Power Meter on MTB [Sim] [ In reply to ]
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Sim wrote:
When you're ripping the gnar there's no time to look. And either you're fucken badass and cleaning the trail or you're hiking your bike. Watts not relevant

There are a few MTB climbs around here where pacing is relevant...
https://www.strava.com/segments/7970153
https://www.strava.com/segments/1582867
https://www.strava.com/segments/18074557

and if you're doing an all day enduro then having a PM can give you some guide as to how your overall pacing and nutrition are going to work out.

Less is more.
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Re: Power Meter on MTB [Big Endian] [ In reply to ]
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If Loic Bruni doesn't need a power meter, neither do the rest of us
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Re: Power Meter on MTB [Eroc43] [ In reply to ]
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I have a power meter on my xc mtb and get a lot of value from it. That said, I'm a big numbers/tracking guy. When I'm seriously training for something, I'm tracking my training load and stress balance and having numbers from every ride on every bike makes it easy. I'm not looking at the numbers much while riding, but I do look at them. If it's a long training ride (road or trail), I keep an eye on normalized power to manage overall effort. I also have a screen that tracks TSS and total time in Z3/4/5/6 that I'll look at from time to time. When climbing, I'm also keeping an eye on power just to make sure I'm not going to hard early on a long ride (and not too easy late). I don't have a PM on my trail bike and I'd probably never use it when riding, but It would still be useful to capture training load. I just don't ride my trail bike much when I'm training and it's usually short 1-2 hour rides rides without much stress.
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Re: Power Meter on MTB [Eroc43] [ In reply to ]
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If you train on your MTB, you can find a use for it. Do you need it, of course not.

I have one on my XC bike. I don't look at it while i'm riding--I ride based on feel--but it's useful for tracking load and keeping the power duration curve built out, although of course sometimes power will understate the demands of an MTB ride. Even though i pace basd on feel, every ride has a purpose and power is a good objective measure to tell you how well you hit it.

even if you like to shred or do enduro or downhill or something like that, if you race, you're probably also training, and probably therefor doing intervals (on your shred bike), although they'd have a very different focus than the type of intervals triathletes do. In my view, it'd still be useful.
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Re: Power Meter on MTB [Eroc43] [ In reply to ]
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Eroc43 wrote:
If you had power on your mountain bike did you find value in it? Or was in just junk data you did not do anything with?

I race a lot MTB. From 2h to 12h in duration. I find the powermeter highly valuable. For just the same reasons as on the road.

Over the years it has helped tremendously in understanding race demands. 2h hour races are almost exclusively Zone 1/2 and Zone 6, for example. You have to train accordingly. My longer races have often long, steady climbs on dirt roads. Training and pacing, just as on the road. Especially in those very long races pacing these long climbs is vital. Sure, could be done w/o a pm but the same would be true for the road.

It also helps to sync efforts when training on the road and on a MTB. However, I don't use nonsense like TSS & Co.

Furthermore, I use the reported work in my daily energy balance to get the food intake right. Especially in high training load periods.

Of course, if I was into downhill MTB I would probably not see that much value in a pm.
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Re: Power Meter on MTB [Eroc43] [ In reply to ]
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I used to race XC/Enduro MTB and never really saw the need for a PM on my MTB as all the workouts I did that were based on power were done on my road bike. If I had the extra money, I would have probably put on on the MTB just for the hell of it but likely would have never really analyzed the data outside of a race.
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Re: Power Meter on MTB [Eroc43] [ In reply to ]
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I have one on my mtb. I have several trails within riding distance on the road though, so I use it to do a workout on the way there and back. If I was 100% just driving to the trails, I'm not sure I'd have one. I will say I look at it on the trails on pretty much every seated climb.
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Re: Power Meter on MTB [ttusomeone] [ In reply to ]
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This is the case for me. A lot of time I ride 1-2 hours to or from a trail and then do 2 hours on the trail (catching a ride with a friend one of the directions) I dont plan to ride the trails looking at my power, but I would like to while on the road or fireroads to/ from the trails
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Re: Power Meter on MTB [ In reply to ]
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I'd be afraid to see how much over threshold I'd be at during an xterra race.
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Re: Power Meter on MTB [Eroc43] [ In reply to ]
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The value in the data is in the analysis afterwards, unless you are in a race with steady climbs, which isn't very common. I have a Quarq and have had zero issues.
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Re: Power Meter on MTB [Eroc43] [ In reply to ]
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I have an Eagle XX1 Quarq for BB30 in the classifieds if anyone wants an mtb powermeter-

https://forum.slowtwitch.com/...xx1%20quarq#p6858275
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Re: Power Meter on MTB [Monsieur Trois] [ In reply to ]
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Monsieur Trois wrote:
I have a Powertap laced to a MTB/Cyclocross disc brake wheel. It wasn't useful during Xterra or Cyclocross races but it had some utility afterwards if you are good at analyzing power files. I think it would be useful during MTB races like Wilmington/Whiteface, Leadville, etc.


I'm glad to see you post that you use a powertap laced to a Mtn bike wheel. Now that I've been using either crank arm based, or power pedals, I've not had much use for my two wheels with a powertap built in. So, my thought was to see if my local shop could take the PT from my road bike wheel and lace it on to my Mtn bike wheel. I didn't know if it was possible so you've now confirmed it for me.

I don't want the info to use during a race but it would be fun to use afterwards. I swear, some of the climbs I do on my Mtn bike, have to be some of my highest power output. But, right now, I have no way of knowing, so I'm hoping my PT (in my Mtn bike wheel) will change that.
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Re: Power Meter on MTB [EyeRunMD] [ In reply to ]
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Does your MTB have disc brakes?
Is your PT hub made for disc brakes?
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Re: Power Meter on MTB [EyeRunMD] [ In reply to ]
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you also have to consider the hub spacing and QR vs thru axle.
Newer mountain bikes likely have boost spacing and a thru axle.
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Re: Power Meter on MTB [EyeRunMD] [ In reply to ]
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As Jaret and Justice said you'd need the MTB PT hub...not sure you could take the road PT and convert it...especially if your MTB has disc brakes.
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Re: Power Meter on MTB [jaretj] [ In reply to ]
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jaretj wrote:
Does your MTB have disc brakes?
Is your PT hub made for disc brakes?


Well, right after I typed my post, I went and counted the spokes on my mtn bike wheel (32) vs the spoke count on my road wheel with powertap (24). So there's the first problem......in addition to what you guys mentioned. So disappointing.

Next question.....can you use a Stages PM left crank arm, from a road bike, on the mtn bike??? Thanks.
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Re: Power Meter on MTB [EyeRunMD] [ In reply to ]
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you can find used stages for <$200 and new aren't that far off. i use the stage for mtb and switch it between 2 mtb and a CX bike. the PT solution doesn't make sense
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Re: Power Meter on MTB [EyeRunMD] [ In reply to ]
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EyeRunMD wrote:
jaretj wrote:
Does your MTB have disc brakes?
Is your PT hub made for disc brakes?



Well, right after I typed my post, I went and counted the spokes on my mtn bike wheel (32) vs the spoke count on my road wheel with powertap (24). So there's the first problem......in addition to what you guys mentioned. So disappointing.

Next question.....can you use a Stages PM left crank arm, from a road bike, on the mtn bike??? Thanks.

It depends. My Shimano 105 left crank arm fits on my mountain bike (Shimano XT crankset) with a couple mm to spare, but it's a case by case basis. You have to try it to see. That's assuming you have the same brand crankset on both bikes AND they both use the same left arm attachment pattern. Shimano Hollowtech 2 cranks do. SRAM GXP cranks do too, I share a left mountain bike crank PM between my road bike equipped with a GXP crankset and my fat bike that has a GXP crankset.
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Re: Power Meter on MTB [Eroc43] [ In reply to ]
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I use it for tracking TSS after the ride, primarily. I do find it extremely vital in pacing long distance mtb races, like leadville and the lutsen 99er. Those races I am actually looking at my NP during the ride, like a time trial.

I use trainingpeaks and have a coach, so the TSS across skiing, running, and cycling is important to me. For the odd 1 hour weekday romps in the woods I don't pay attention to power during the ride.
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