Interesting technology. Could change the whole power game price wise in the future, if it works.

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My Strava | My Instagram | Summerville, SC | 35-39 AG | 4:41 (70.3), 10:05 (140.6) | 3x70.3, 1x140.6 | Cat 2 Cyclist

Very interesting. Would like to see some more comparative analysis in varying conditions, but looks promising. The inclusion of the ambient temperature sensor/compensation is smart.

As long as you dont mind having to use an aluminum crank arm. For shimano users that wont be a big deal, but anyone on SRAM might balk. I use SRAM but wouldnt mind running a single aluminum crank arm for power at that price point.

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"One Line Robert"

Nice! I like this and the price. A simple solution that would be easy to swap around.

One sided power measurement...the "achilles heel" of the Ergomo. Doh!

edit: The good news though, is unlike the Ergomo, it may be possible to statically calibrate the slope of the device...assuming they included that functionality (I guess BikeRadar forgot to ask about that.)

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http://bikeblather.blogspot.com/

I always though durability and software were the issues with ergomo, when it worked it was fine, just wasn't as reliable as you want. Also aren't SRM and quark one sided?

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Styrrell

BTW, a "comparison" using 30s averaged data and with no y-axis units on the plot doesn't quite cut it. Definitely need to see more data over varying load cases. After all, as Mr. Chung likes to point out, it's not so much about where the PMs "agree" that's important, it's understanding the conditions that cause "disagreement" ;-)

However, in regards to overall accuracy, I'm not very heartened by them giving the caveat of:

"Stages Cycling readily admits that it's not necessarily trying to go head-to-head with established players such as SRM, Powertap, and Quarq in terms of outright technology, instead preferring to go after so-called 'blue collar' riders who merely want a consistent means of tracking progress for training purposes."

Those sorts of words have tended to have been used by folks defending "not so accurate" devices in the past...

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http://bikeblather.blogspot.com/

"Stages Cycling will launch the StageONE power meter on a wide range of crankarms, including road, mountain, and even heavier duty applications like BMX and downhill"

I know nothing about downhill but I am curious what is the benefit of a PM on a downhill bike?

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http://www.frostyjunction.com/
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I think anyone who buys something like this as an early adopter is a bit nuts. But the angryasian is pretty good at product testing and he thought the correlation between it and a PT was good on a actual ride, so thats at least encouraging.

With any luck the slightly lower reading isn't due to him having one leg weaker its due to powerloss through the drivetrain. If its sensitive enough to pick up that it should be pretty useful for training.

At the very least they get points for underpromising at this point compared to some other PMs that seem to be permanent vaporware.

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Styrrell

So if they are using the language of "ready" that all the other power meter companies are using, we can expect first shipments to leave the door Q3 of 2015?

I doubt their is much but a lot of mtb cranks get used for dh and "all mtn" riding. Its good to see that they have enough confidence in its durability to offer it.

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Styrrell

Not in my experience...the biggest problems I found where that the power could vary off of "reality" quite a bit depending on whether or not I was going hard or not (my leg L/R balance changes depending on the load), the setup was a real PITA, and the offset tended to move quite a bit (especially with temp changes...more due to seal drag changes than anything else IMO).



No. On both of those the power measuring element is "downstream" of both legs. In other words, you can clip out your left leg and pedal with only your right and you'll still get a power reading...which was not the case with the Ergomo, or with this new PM (I assume).

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http://bikeblather.blogspot.com/

FWIW, I worked with Doug Crawford (VP of Product) years ago..... Doug has been in the bike and fitness biz for many, many years and knows new product development. based on his involvement, I would be more inclined to believe the hype than most new products

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Chicago Cubs - 2016 WORLD SERIES Champions!!!!

"If ever the time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." - Samuel Adams

Although we refer to the SRM and Quarq as "crank-based" they're more accurately described as "spider-based." That is, they're measuring the forces just before they reach the chain, so they pick up the combined force from both legs.

The Ergomo couldn't be checked in the field ("it's missing a 9 key") so maybe it worked fine when it worked but you couldn't tell when it wasn't.

We must have different standards for product testing.

Rather than comparing to a PT, just throw that crankarm onto a crankset that has a Quarq or SRM spider on the opposite side. That would be a better "apples to apples" comparison IMHO.

They should send me one of the Rival arms and I'd be happy to do a comparison :-)

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http://bikeblather.blogspot.com/

I have a buddy that uses ergomos, has tons of 'em and considers them good enough. I make him throw ergomo watts o when he quotes his power numbers cuz they are only correct when zero. Seem to be about 16% off as power goes up from zero, by my estimation of what power numbers he ought to have.

I believe quarq, srm both measure at the spider, so that no matter which crank is supplying the power the strain guages are "strained", so not a one side device

That's exactly the second thing I thought of.

Actually...there's a bit of that in Ray Maker's review I just saw that he posted the link to on Twitter:

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/...oth-smart-crank.html

To my eye (comparing the raw to the 30s averaged data) there appears to be some "spikiness" to the Stages data (as compared to the crank-based PM)...

If I go to Vegas this week (still up in the air for me) I'll have to swing by those guys :-)

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http://bikeblather.blogspot.com/

Aaah...that reminds me of the OTHER main issue I had with the Ergomo...the torque slope as installed could be wildly off as compared to the factory slope, and there was NO way of knowing that without comparing to a "known good" power meter.

edit: BUT, at least you could change it if you figured out how far off it was...and after that, I found it to actually be fairly reasonable (within the caveats above).

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http://bikeblather.blogspot.com/

What was the first? :-)

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http://bikeblather.blogspot.com/

They are saying jan 2013. Given that one would assume that means the engineering is done and they are producing product. They certainly have a bunch of them pictured. Apparently they have been building units for years for the indoor cycling market, which is encouraging.

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Styrrell

either he is unaware of that ergomo adjustment option, or just doesnt care. his road bike ones read lower than his TT bike ones and he has some sort of convoluted explanation as to why that is so. He knows plenty on training with power, just uses bad data as good enough

"Here we go again."

They mention that it uses an algorithm to determine the total power. Maybe the algorithm is 2 x Left Side Power = Total Power, but they are probably doing something else. Maybe they are using the the speed of the crank through the rotation to compare the left and right side power. If the crank is moving slower when the right leg should be powering compared to what is seen on the left, it could use this data to see that right side power is lower than the left side power. It would then output 1.9 x Left Side Power = Total Power or what ever factor it determines. This could work well during steady state power, but would have issues when power is changing. It would explain why they have an accelerometer, or they have one because it makes installation easier and they are probably getting so cheap due to smart phones.

I think we have also found the first solid use of the Garmin Vector L/R balance, to come up with a map of the riders L/R power to more accurately use this power meter.