I’m looking at investing in some PC’s.
For anyone who has used them I have a couple of questions.
Do you primarily train on them and use your regular crank to race with or do you continue to use the PC’s as your only crank?
Do you have the dual locking mode or do you agree with the PC site and NOT recommend getting this option?
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
i have used them for 5-6 yrs now - i dig them the most.
i use them on a dedicated training/POS/rain/winter bike only. well, actually it is a pretty sweet bike, but point is it’s just for training with the PC’s. as much as i dig them i have no idea why anybody would race with them, unless it was just to be goofy or whatever - like say racing on a fixie or similar.
i see little point in the lock-out. i have plenty of bikes with normal cranks to ride if that’s what i wanna do.
enjoy.
I train on them and then put regular cranks on to race.
Do not get the locking ones because as you punish yourself learning to pedal with them in aero, the PUSSY in you will tempt you to hit that switch so you can go ride with your queer party friends like you use to or so you can get your milage in without suffering.
I have them on my road bike and although I bought the lockout version (because I’m a pussy) I’ve only used the lockout twice in the year I’ve had them. I now wish I had gone with the less expensive non-lockable version. They’re amazing, torturous and hideously painful… Mongo like pain!
I ride them 100% of the time for outdoor training (60-100 miles/week now, more in better weather) and have a dedicated race bike with Rotor Cranks. I also teach spin and ride indoors when time is short, so I’m riding 7-8 hours a week on stationary bikes with conventional cranks. I wish we had PCs on the spin bikes at my club, but no one else does.
I’m looking at investing in some PC’s.
For anyone who has used them I have a couple of questions.
Do you primarily train on them and use your regular crank to race with or do you continue to use the PC’s as your only crank?
Do you have the dual locking mode or do you agree with the PC site and NOT recommend getting this option?
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Similar to ttn… I dig them too but only as a tool for off-season and/or a general prep period. I don’t have the dual-lock feature. I don’t see the value in racing on them and I believe your race-specific prep period should be dedicated to a bike that is reflective of your race configuration.
Wrt the locking mode, I don’t think it matters either way but it just depends on your plan and if you don’t mind swapping cranks. For example, maybe you only have one bike and your plan has you riding 4+hrs during general prep at times. You either swap cranks, learn to ride them for 4+hrs or you purchase the dual-lock feature and not worry about it. I’ve had days where I was 3+hrs into my ride and then started to really suffer. If I had dual-lock mode then I probably would have switched it over to lock the crank but I continue to suffer for the remainder of the ride instead. Makes you mentally strong!! 
Since I rarely ride 4+hrs during general prep it doesn’t matter so much with me. I can ride them no problem for about 4hrs. I’ve never tried to ride them for longer but don’t really have an interest in doing so either. If I do go out for 5hrs then I use regular cranks. Although, I might do things a little differently this year though and take them out for some 5hr rides.
Thanks, Chris
I wish we had PCs on the spin bikes at my club, but no one else does.
Actually, that is not quite the case. There are a few clubs with them for spinning. There is one club in tulsa who has them on all the bikes and uses them for spinning classes. Apparently, once they got the groups through the adaption period everyone has fallen in love with them (even the non-cyclists) and the classes are very popular. I can put you in touch with the owner if you wish.
Frank, the challenge is that despite my talking about PCs to my spin classes, no one seems interested in urging managment to add them to our bikes. Add that to the fact that a set of PCs costs about twice what a single spin bike costs, and that to get a spin bike with PCs would be still more expensive because I don’t think you can add them to the Star Trac units that we have and the proposition gets expensive. So it’s a cost/benefit challenge with high cost and a negligible perceived benefit (by those whose opinion matters, i.e, them what signs da checks).
Frank, the challenge is that despite my talking about PCs to my spin classes, no one seems interested in urging managment to add them to our bikes. Add that to the fact that a set of PCs costs about twice what a single spin bike costs, and that to get a spin bike with PCs would be still more expensive because I don’t think you can add them to the Star Trac units that we have and the proposition gets expensive. So it’s a cost/benefit challenge with high cost and a negligible perceived benefit (by those whose opinion matters, i.e, them what signs da checks).
I understand. that has always been our “problem”, that of the “perceived” benefit. No one actually believes the benefits we talk about are real. Just hype.
Boy you must have the cheapest Startrac bikes ever made if they cost half the cost of PowerCranks. Anyhow, PC’s will go on the Startrac, if you can ever talk them into it. Anyhow, if those who signed the checks could understand that they could use them to extend their reach into the running community they might start to see some perceived benefits, since all they really care about is how will these things help them to make more money, not necessarily how can we make our present clients better athletes.
“if those who signed the checks could understand that they could use them to extend their reach into the running community…”
“all they really care about is how will these things help them to make more money, not necessarily how can we make our present clients better athletes.”
In the final analysis, our members are happy campers, which is everyone’s goal. We have a lot of folks intersted in general fitness, and only a handful of athletes who share my fascination with optimal racing performance. So the key would be to convince them to put PCs on four or five bikes, and see if a demand is created for additional units. I’m guessing that some or all of them would need to be lockable, because people would need the option of not using them. We had a similar discussion several years ago (which I lost) about getting pedals that would be SPD on one side and Look on the other, as opposed to the standard SPD + clip cages. I argued that we should have at least five bikes that dedicated riders could use with better pedals and it came down to how many would be the right number and what if we had a whole room full of folks with running shoes and four or five bikes that wouldn’t accomodate them? And what of the folks with Time and Speedplay (and now Shimano SL)? There’s just no way to make it work for everyone, so the most ecenomical option becomes the default.
I’ll admit that I’ve not made the suggestion for PCs, because I figured it was a non-starter, but maybe it would make an interesting exercise. Could you fit a pair of lockables to a Star Trac at the price I paid? If we put them on one unit, it might fascinate enough people to start something…
And could you get me some info on the club you mentioned that has them, like perhaps a testimonial?
Dennis, how is the foot doing? Ready for the Bearathlon in 5 weeks?
I was using my PCs 100% of the time but then the inside of my left knee started to have issues.
So, I now have gone back to riding them as my commute bike. But on my long hilly rides, I use my tri bike.
I also have the locks, which I do not use often, but I am glad to have them if I feel I need them. For the small extra
cost, you can not add them after the fact. Man, when I pick up my steel road bike with the PCs and my panniers now,
boy it is HEAVY!!! I then pick up my tri bike and think it weighs nothing.
Ready for the big storm coming in tonight? Darn weather has sure taken my riding mileage down. Oh well,
moved the PC’s onto the CT trainer bike and will do my hour after work. Can not handle more than that, just too
boring.
Dave
“if those who signed the checks could understand that they could use them to extend their reach into the running community…”
“all they really care about is how will these things help them to make more money, not necessarily how can we make our present clients better athletes.”
In the final analysis, our members are happy campers, which is everyone’s goal. We have a lot of folks intersted in general fitness, and only a handful of athletes who share my fascination with optimal racing performance. So the key would be to convince them to put PCs on four or five bikes, and see if a demand is created for additional units. I’m guessing that some or all of them would need to be lockable, because people would need the option of not using them. We had a similar discussion several years ago (which I lost) about getting pedals that would be SPD on one side and Look on the other, as opposed to the standard SPD + clip cages. I argued that we should have at least five bikes that dedicated riders could use with better pedals and it came down to how many would be the right number and what if we had a whole room full of folks with running shoes and four or five bikes that wouldn’t accomodate them? And what of the folks with Time and Speedplay (and now Shimano SL)? There’s just no way to make it work for everyone, so the most ecenomical option becomes the default.
I’ll admit that I’ve not made the suggestion for PCs, because I figured it was a non-starter, but maybe it would make an interesting exercise. Could you fit a pair of lockables to a Star Trac at the price I paid? If we put them on one unit, it might fascinate enough people to start something…
And could you get me some info on the club you mentioned that has them, like perhaps a testimonial?
If you ever do talk them into getting a trial PC bike it will be important that someone like yourself walk some of the “leaders” of the athlete community (and some of the other staff) through how to use the bike and transition. If it is just sitting out there most will come up to the bike and think it is broken. Only if they see some of the better athletes actually using it will others be motivated to try it. They also need to be reassured that “everyone” looks like a doofus in the beginning on them. It takes an effort on the part of the staff to get them off the ground. Once they are being used by a core group I think they will take on a life of their own and many will fall in love with them. That is when it will become easier lobby for a bunch of bikes with them for spin class, etc.
The Star trac has a standard TS bb, as I remember. It is an easy change except you do have to buy a chainring and some bolts as the right crank and chainring are one piece on the star trac. So, it costs slightly more than just a set of PC’s to make the conversion.
Another thing I think the club can do is let people bring their own pedals (or the club can have an assortment of the more popular types - you can’t have every type) and let them change out the pedals before the class (and they change back afterwards). Just need a pedal wrench then but the more serious people can do their thing. Only takes a couple of minutes.
Frank, could someone with the lock type PC’s do the following simple test. Using one legged pedaling for a period between 30 and 60 secs. the cranks need to be used in these three different situations and what you are seeking is, which of them gives max speed or power. 1 Use the PC’s in the locked mode with the idling leg clear of turning crank but not resting on any solid object. 2 Use the PC’s in the normal unlocked mode with the idling leg in the same position as above. 3 Use the PC’s in the normal unlocked mode but this time with the idling leg resting on stationary idle crank.
Frank, could someone with the lock type PC’s do the following simple test. Using one legged pedaling for a period between 30 and 60 secs. the cranks need to be used in these three different situations and what you are seeking is, which of them gives max speed or power. 1 Use the PC’s in the locked mode with the idling leg clear of turning crank but not resting on any solid object. 2 Use the PC’s in the normal unlocked mode with the idling leg in the same position as above. 3 Use the PC’s in the normal unlocked mode but this time with the idling leg resting on stationary idle crank.
Yes, such a test could be done. I suspect everyone would do better in the last situation because they are more balanced on the bicycle.
I put them on my Tri bike during the winter and ride them on my trainer since I only ride my road bike and mtb bike outside during winter. Come spring when the weather is better I will put them on my cross bike and alternate my work commutes between my fixed gear and my cross bike.
Hello everybody. I’m new on this forum and I’d like to thanks all of those who 'll take time to answer my questions.
Another thing is that I’m french so please be kind if my english is not that good.
I’ve been using PC’s for about 2 months and I start to really enjoy them. I still use my normal crankset bike once a week just to be able to spin more (95/100 tpm) than I can do with the PC’s (so far average is around 75 tpm).
My question is : when you switch to normal bike for racing, do you do a couple of rides before in order to get your legs back into “normal” pedaling again or do you switch from one bike to the other with no problem?
I have been doing about 50/50 between pc’s and regular cranks when I can ride outside.
I feel no difference in pedaling so not sure what this “normal” means. I think some make
too much of an issue that somehow the PC pedaling is so much different than regular cranks.
Yes on the PCs at the beginning you use muscles one does not seem to touch with any other exercises,
but once I have gotten past this, all cranks feel the same to me now.
Dave
“not sure what this “normal” means” . It’s just that so far I cannot spin very fast with the PC’s, so when I go back to the regular crankset (with QRings I must say), I’ve the feeling that my muscles must readapt to fast spinning.
But as you said it might just be a matter of time.
Yes, it is just time. I know I had been on and off them for years, and had never fully got the muscles in decent shape.
I also was scared to death to ride them outside. Well, now that I have been on them for 4 months, as I said, I really
cannot tell the difference between either. Now, since I like to be a musher, the cadence thing for me is no big deal.
I still cannot spin the PC’s fast for long, or stay in the aero position for long. (I cannot spin regular cranks
fast for long either.) But, I do feel they are one piece of many I use
in my training that help me. So, just stay with it. But, I see nothing wrong with riding both type of cranks.
I just got back from a 30 mile ride on my road bike with PC’s, but I locked them since I was doing tons of hills, and had
just used the PCs on my trainer the last two nights.
Dave
I have been doing about 50/50 between pc’s and regular cranks when I can ride outside.
I feel no difference in pedaling so not sure what this “normal” means. I think some make
too much of an issue that somehow the PC pedaling is so much different than regular cranks.
Yes on the PCs at the beginning you use muscles one does not seem to touch with any other exercises,
but once I have gotten past this, all cranks feel the same to me now.
Dave
The important question is, how many of these additional PC muscles do you continue to use when you return to normal cranks and for what purpose are you using them.
I dont have the locking model and would not use it anyway.
HTFU!