^nobody uses one any more because there are infinitely more versatile and useful options out there?

Huh. Weird that I own two.

Someone uses them, because I am getting ready to go for a bike ride. A g3 hub will be spinning and giving data.... But, I know what you mean.

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2017 Cervelo P2
2017 Cervelo S2
itraininla.com
#itraininla

I guess it is included in "Other" category, as it is only "another power meter". Not saying it is not good, but there is so many...

There is less competitors in the strongly growing "Pedal" area... not saying it is not competitive...

if you read what i write in the articles on slowtwitch, i'm a big fan of the PT hub. but whenever we poll this, or when we look at other polls, or the kona bike survey, anything that shows user preferences, the PT hub is nowheresville. i think that's demonstrated by the size of the "other" category.

i would like to see the PT hub stage a comeback. but, really, for most people, the PT hub as currently made is not of great utility. when quarq/SRAM gets done with it, assuming they keep it and update it, it'll have the capacity to accept standard, XD and XDR drivers. the disc brake version will be made to shimano's centerlock standard, which means you can easily put in there any rotor of any size, rather than the 1 rotor in the 1 size that powertap offers.

what i always write about power pedals goes for power hubs: it's a non-starter when the thing inside of which the PM is housed ceases to offer the functionality of the thing itself - the functionality of the component. the PT hub, for me, today, for my riding, has ceased to perform adequate hub function. but when i can put any driver on it, and any rotor on it, then i'm back to preferring it to most other PMs.

but it's not specifically unlisted because of what i think if it. there's a lot of PMs on that list i would never buy. it's unlisted because it's almost certainly not going to be the next PM purchase, which is the poll's question, and the poll's results bear that out.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I ride a PowerTap hub and voted “other”. Been using hub based PowerTaps for 15 years and just trust the reliability and durability. A few years back I tried a crank based power meter and found that it drastically reported much higher watts. I guess that it’s further “upstream” and didn’t factor drivetrain losses. Either way I found that I just liked my PowerTap better and didn’t want to transition to totally different watt norms based on meter. The ease of swapping from bike to bike with consistent watt readings makes me still really like the PowerTap hub!

I haven't looked, but isn't the powertap a standard 6-bolt rotor? if so, why can't you put whatever size rotor you want on it?

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

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

No, it doesn't accept a standard 6 bolt rotor.

You can only use Powertap's 160mm rotor on it.

OK. that seems odd to me but I'm sure there was a reason...

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

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

you can only use powertap's rotor, and that rotor is only made in 160mm. also, i will no longer patronize the 6-bolt rotor of any type. it's too easy to strip a bolt head, it's hard to take rotors on/off for travel.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I've never had issue, but then I don't travel with my mountain bike. It doesn't get a ton of use, so I've only had to replace rotors once.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

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

i've traveled, with my bike, on a plane, several times already this year. it's always a question for me whether it's better to take off the rotors for travel. lots of folks think so. i've already had a problem with one of the SRAM bolt heads stripping out when those bolts are frequently installed/uninstalled. and remember, when you travel, there's 12 of them and only 1 has to give you trouble. this isn't just theory in my case.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Rookie!

says the owner of 4 PT hub wheels.

The weird thing out of that list PT hubs are at or near the very top of that list for accuracy, consistency, reliability, & dependability.

For every 10 athletes using quarq, shimaNO, garmin pedals, 4iii, stages or pioneer 5 of those PM's are going back for some reason and at least 2 are going back a second time that season.

If I have 10 using PT hub 1 goes back every 3 years and mostly to replace the rim.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

same boat, 4 PT hub wheels and no issues with any of them ever. Race wheel is a HED Stinger 9 that I bought with a PT hub new in ~2007 along with a set of training wheels with a PT hub. Over the years have built up two more rear wheels (HED Aredennes) with PT hubs.
My experience with clients is similar to Brian's, most of them are using either Garmin Vectors or Quarq and typically half of them are or have had issues requiring sending them back for one reason or another.

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Mike Plumb, TriPower MultiSports
Professional Running, Cycling and Multisport Coaching, F.I.S.T. Certified
http://www.tripower.org

I have 2 also. And no need for a new power meter yet...so, there's that...

But if I did get a new bike, I'd probably get another PT hub.

=Other

yea! I'm in the 3% group.

I don't have a PM (yet) but you guys have convinced me of what I'll get when I do.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

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

I also have two wheelsets with G3 powertap hubs. They are pretty damn versatile. I also own Powertap Pedals. Between the three which do you think gives me the most trouble - yep, those damn pedals.

Eehh, the hatred for the Shimano PM is largely overhyped. My R/L split & power from all 3 of my 9100P match (within 1.5% of each other) my SRM, which matches my P2M which matches my Specialized Power Cranks (whatever the hell it is based on).

I may have gotten lucky. I may not. Most cost effective? Definitely not, and I wouldn't even try to argue that it is.

The point I was really making was that virtually nobody is going out and buying a new PT hub right now.

What you said, originally, was: "infinitely more versatile and useful options"

Those two comments are not the same thing.

Do I get any credit for one of those PT Hubs being a wired PT hub that I bought NEW from Wheelbuilder, back when I lived in Colorado and Gordoworld was a brand new thing? I bought it about the same time as this post.

I relaced a new rim (R460) onto it two years ago, after I pulled an eyelet through the original Mavic rim.

I finally broke down and added a used SL+ to the stable last year, so I could stop uploading the CSV files to Trainingpeaks every damn ride. The Wired hub still works great...and the bearings have never needed any service. I've replaced all the o-rings with aftermarket parts to keep it water tight. I have a standing Amazon order of N-sized batteries.

I have 7 Powertap wheels at home, at least 5 see frequent use.

I've had Stages, still have a Quarq too. But by FAR the most reliable and easiest to use had been the powertap hubs. As long as the battery is good (and it lasts long compared to the Stages that was depleted most times I would get to use it) it is set and forget; Calibrate, hop on and ride. ALWAYS connects and transmits.

Only issue i've had is some interference in the county in a couple of specific spots (cellular antenna?) where the signal drops for a couple of seconds.

One of them I bought used in 2009, must have over 45k miles on it and still rocks on all winter (became my trainer wheel).

Also surprised their numbers reduced so much.

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T. Guertin / Spocket

PT Hub and a wheel cover. I make my own wheel cover using MonoKote film...which is very easy to do. The stuff is surprisingly durable...and easy to patch, if necessary. I ended up leaving it on my wheel year round.

Besides, if you are going to do any aero field testing, its the only PM that eliminates the drivetrain drag variable.

There are multiple reasons why demand is shifting away from PT hubs, but the long delay in the G4 launch (product was initially shown to the public in July 2018) hasn't helped. The road bike market is shifting to disc, and, as discussed above, the G3 disc hub is lacking. Even some rim brake PT hub intenders may have delayed their purchase or gone with another solution, not wanting to own "obsolete" tech.

I wonder what impact the increasing proliferation of direct drive smart trainers has had, as well. If you want to use "power matching," you need some sort of upstream power meter. I currently have a G2 PT hub on my road bike, (which is still working like a champ, by the way), but would consider going crank based next time for that reason. In fact, that's why I answered "Power2Max" in the survey. I would also consider power pedals (I have Assiomas on my TT bike), but I prefer SPD's on the road bike, and there aren't any proven options in that standard, yet.

On the flip side, if aero sensors ever become truly viable, hub-based power meters may come back into favor. "Power at the wheel" is a far better input into the equation than the power before the (unknown and variable) drivetrain losses.

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"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"

Totally agree. Powertap is the only PM type I would buy as long as they stay available. It is intuive that the best place to measure power is at the rear hub. I've never had a problem with my G3. The other power meter systems are more complicated in terms of their mechanical implementation. Given the choice, no way I wouldn't go powertap.