Hey everyone…
So I’m finally investing in a power meter…
I’ve been eyeing the SRM’s… no not the Dura Ace… I’m a damn student and unless someone here is looking to rent my body, I can’t afford that.
However… I’m digging the Ergomo based on price… is there any Pro’s or Con’s in compairing it to and SRM Pro or Amature?
So… power users…teach me something!
There are some cons to the Ergomo, but I am too afraid of the Ergomo police to tell you.
Well, I can’t compare it to anything, but I have the Ergomo and I think it works wonderfully. The display is nice and it gives you real-time info on norm power and TSS, which is pretty nice. Also seems to be a pretty sturdy unit, I’ve ridden with it in the pouring rain more times than I can count, and it’s never missed a beat. The fact that it never needed to be calibrated and just worked out of the box is also a plus.
-C
Here are a few that I have heard BUT I think there are also a lot of great things about the system and it sure is a lot less expensive than the srm
Huge CPU - display screen
Installation is a pain in the ass - calibration is sometimes very difficult
Downloading issues on some
.
You might want to look at the Allen and Coggan book, they have a detailed table describing the pros and cons of most units currently available. The most important con for the ergomo IMHO is the fact that it measures power on 1 leg and then shows you this value multiplied by 2, assuming the other leg produces an equal amount of power.
The pro is normalized power reading and I’ll let someone else cover the cons.
As for price, it does surprise me this comes up as used SRM reliability has been known to be very good. Thus, SRM sell for around $1500-$1800 on ebay, amatuer for less than $1000. DA will run around $2200. Of course…you need to know what you’re buying.
Now…if there was only someone selling an SI SRM as I need another one!!!
The table isn’t critical enough of some powermeters on the market. I guess they didn’t want to burn too many bridges. Also, Allen has a business relationship promoting Ergomos and this is not a field where people take conflicts of interest seriously.
-left leg only measurement, which according to some can be a problem
-left leg only measurement, which to a friend of mine as when he tires his dominant leg (right leg) seems to take over more and his wattage goes down on the Ergomo even when in real life it is staying the same (he has a powertap on teh bike sometimes as well)
-can’t use external bottom bracket type cranks
I love my Ergomo, got it mounted well now and it works great! Do a forum search, there is a ton of stuff on here on the units.
Blake, search Ergomo and UKGearMuncher. There is a massinve thread on this in the last 10 days with most of the major PM people contributing, it can’t be that many pages back from the front.
…and I got the answers I needed. My order is going in. I can afford to cast a stone on this one so if the Ergomo does prove to be poor in practise believe me everybody will be told and I’ll go over to SRM after next season…
In summary: get someone who knows what they are doing to install it as this dictates the performance heavily and secondly, this is not bike jewellery so do some reading on power training.
bryce.
I will definately be interested in what you have to say as it seems you really did your research before choosing.
I’ll keep you posted ! I’ll have it on within a week.
The table isn’t critical enough of some powermeters on the market. I guess they didn’t want to burn too many bridges.
Nah, that’s just Hunter “Mr. Positive” Allen’s communication style, which is one of his real strengths as a coach. Obviously if I’d written that section it would read quite differently. 
Allen has a business relationship promoting Ergomos
Had.
this is not a field where people take conflicts of interest seriously.
Since when do the stanards of, say, government or science apply to the private sector?
Does their book actually cover the Ergomo Pro or just the original Ergomo? Honestly, I’m not up to date with the difference between the 2 units, but I do believe that the Pro is newer than the book.