Ive been searching for awhile for a power meter on the cheap with no luck. Whats the best option for getting a power meter on a tight budget?
What is your budget?
My suggestion and I think many will echo it is: Wireless PT on training wheel with disc cover.
I agree with Brad. I picked up an ANT+ powertap for $350 and it works great.
Wired PT. Most people want the convenience and portability of ANT+ PTs, so the older wired models are available cheap.
Disclaimer: I have a wired PT lying around.
The absolute cheapest way is with virtual power on a fluid trainer using a spreadsheet of estimated power at various “speeds” based on your trainer’s power curve and a speed sensor on the rear wheel. This takes a bit of understanding and work on your part, but the only cost is the trainer (assuming you already have a speed sensor and HR monitor).
The next least expensive is using a service like TrainerRoad.com to train with virtual power like above, only the site does all the math for you.
The limitation for both of these options is that they only help you train more effectively inside, and won’t help you with race day pacing or training outside the way an actual power meter will.
The next option is a used Power Tap for a couple hundred dollars. This will allow you to use it for both training and racing.
Trainerroad. <$80 initial outlay, for full-out legit training with power.
It’s obviously an indoor-only option, so won’t work for racing or riding outdoors.
BUT - if you use TR, you are actually training by %FTP. Most people get a powermeter, and then use it as a very expensive recording device. They just keep doing their same outdoor training routes just as pre-powermeter. In that case, you’re not training by power, you’re just recording power on your non-power driven training rides. With something like Trainerroad, you will learn what doing 2 x 20 @ FTP, or 3 hrs @ variable steady state, or 15 x 1’ at VO2 max really feels like as well as training by %FTP.
I consider my TR membership more valuable to my bike improvement than my powermeter (although having the PM improves TR by allowing you to use your indoor data to gauge outdoor rides/race efforts)
I also think you’ll learn more about training by power with TR than by a powermeter + book. I read the powermeter books before buying my powermeter, and it was marginally helpful. Whereas with Trainerroad, you actually DO the workouts like 5 x 10’ @ threshold, and you learn what various IF and TSS workouts really feel like. It’s one thing to talk the talk and another to walk the walk - you see it all the time here and on other forums when people say, ‘get your 3 hour ride compressed into 1.5 hours by riding harder on the trainer’ - either those folks are slacking so hard on that 6 hrs that they can ride with one leg, or they’ve never actually seen the TSS numbers for real between 3 and 1.5hr sessions - it’s not even close. In retrospect, I should have not bought the books, just read the Trainingpeaks free website info to learn about the power terms, and just used TR to FEEL those workouts of various intensities.
Virtual power is not real power. The cheapest real power meter is a wired Powertap.
Ive been searching for awhile for a power meter on the cheap with no luck. Whats the best option for getting a power meter on a tight budget?
If you consider that the powertap price includes a wheel, it is among the cheapest options, as well as measuring power from both legs, known good accuracy and reliability, and adds very little weight. The new G3 hub is as light as many normal hubs. It is also easy to switch between bikes. A used G2 hub is also excellent and you might be able to find some very cheap now.
The Stages may be cheaper in some cases, but only measures one leg.
Virtual power is not real power. The cheapest real power meter is a wired Powertap.
Agree, but if you’re using power for what it is best used for, which is guiding training , relative virtualpower (%FTP off a FTP test) is just as good as real power on Trainerroad. You don’t have to have absolute accurate power numbers; as long as your trainer is reproducible in the speed per effort, it’s good to go. KK and Fluid2 are definitely precise enough to do this well - my training on TR changed zero in terms of intensity when I went from virtualpower to powertap, because an all-out 2 x 20’ FTP test is all-out no matter if it’s virtualpower or powertap.
Power on trainers is hard to make reproducible. Differences in clamping force, tire pressure, tires used, and heat can all affect the power reported, both by changes in the resistance unit and the tire.
It can be done, by somehow controlling the clamping force, always using the same tire and pressure, and using some sort of warm up protocol and a big fan to keep heat controlled. But it is hard to verify you have managed it.
Good enough to do training zones? Sure, probably so with some care. But maybe not good enough to know if you have raised your FTP or other power/duration record by 5 watts, or even 10 watts, with much confidence.
Virtual power is not real power. The cheapest real power meter is a wired Powertap.
Agree, but if you’re using power for what it is best used for, which is guiding training , relative virtualpower (%FTP off a FTP test) is just as good as real power on Trainerroad. You don’t have to have absolute accurate power numbers; as long as your trainer is reproducible in the speed per effort, it’s good to go. KK and Fluid2 are definitely precise enough to do this well - my training on TR changed zero in terms of intensity when I went from virtualpower to powertap, because an all-out 2 x 20’ FTP test is all-out no matter if it’s virtualpower or powertap.
Power on trainers is hard to make reproducible. Differences in clamping force, tire pressure, tires used, and heat can all affect the power reported, both by changes in the resistance unit and the tire.
It can be done, by somehow controlling the clamping force, always using the same tire and pressure, and using some sort of warm up protocol and a big fan to keep heat controlled. But it is hard to verify you have managed it.
Good enough to do training zones? Sure, probably so with some care. But maybe not good enough to know if you have raised your FTP or other power/duration record by 5 watts, or even 10 watts, with much confidence.
Virtual power is not real power. The cheapest real power meter is a wired Powertap.
Agree, but if you’re using power for what it is best used for, which is guiding training , relative virtualpower (%FTP off a FTP test) is just as good as real power on Trainerroad. You don’t have to have absolute accurate power numbers; as long as your trainer is reproducible in the speed per effort, it’s good to go. KK and Fluid2 are definitely precise enough to do this well - my training on TR changed zero in terms of intensity when I went from virtualpower to powertap, because an all-out 2 x 20’ FTP test is all-out no matter if it’s virtualpower or powertap.
My Cycleops Fluid2 is accurate to the 0.2mph, reproducibly. It’s been shocking to see my wheel speed at a certain power (using powertap) and seeing how it matches down to the 0.1-0.2mph on my Fluid2. The KK is supposedly even better. I have 2 years of data with a powertap confirming how reproducible it is.
I’d use either of these trainers with absolute confidence that they’re precise enough for Trainerroad use.
The virtualpower issue is real reproducibility between units. I have a few friends with Fluid2s, and even though our own units reproduce our own speed/power extremely precisely, there’s definitely a big difference in the virtualpowers if you compared units. One guy’s virtualpower reads lower than his powertap, my virtualpower is much higher than my powertap, and another guy’s is allegedly pretty similar to virtualpower. So I wouldn’t use a 200watt virtualpower to assume you make 200 watts of real power, but I would say that you can train with 80% FTP based on your FTP test with virtualpower no problem.
I will add I use one consistent setup; I typically keep PSI @ 100, checked twice per week, and I use either a trainer tire or Gatorskin for the entire season, so minimal changes to setup. If you’re changing setups a lot, yes you’ll have more of a problem with reproducibility.
0.2mph could imply power variance of ~6 watts, depending on the curve of the trainer and where you are on it.
That isn’t a lot if you are just using it to set training zones and do long intervals in zones, but it is a lot for trying to track progress.
Not that this makes trainers a bad tool, it is a great tool. Might be better than a Stages…haha
My Cycleops Fluid2 is accurate to the 0.2mph, reproducibly. It’s been shocking to see my wheel speed at a certain power (using powertap) and seeing how it matches down to the 0.1-0.2mph on my Fluid2.
0.2mph could imply power variance of ~6 watts, depending on the curve of the trainer and where you are on it.
That isn’t a lot if you are just using it to set training zones and do long intervals in zones, but it is a lot for trying to track progress.
Not that this makes trainers a bad tool, it is a great tool. Might be better than a Stages…haha
My Cycleops Fluid2 is accurate to the 0.2mph, reproducibly. It’s been shocking to see my wheel speed at a certain power (using powertap) and seeing how it matches down to the 0.1-0.2mph on my Fluid2.
As said, I used TR for a year and a half with virtualpower and then 2 years with a powertap.
There has been NO difference in the quality of training, and NO difference in FTP testing quality. My virtualpower reads about 60 watts higher than my powertap, but the training by %FTP has been perfect.
I spend nearly 6 hrs per week on the trainer now, so I’m very experienced with it. It’s totally legit, and if anyone’s interested in training with power but are hesitant due to cost, you’ll get the full power experience with trainerroad.
Goddang I shill for TR so much they really need to pay me a commission. (I actually tried to quit the habit a year and a half ago, but I was not as happy with the alternatives - I really like TR’s online-offline interfacing and recordkeeping.)
Powertaps are a good and inexpensive alternatives, but keep in mind that the wired PTs are no longer being serviced by Saris. When it dies or the bearings wear out, getting it fixed will be iffy. If you only ride one bike or you already have both racing and training wheels, the Stages would also be a good option. I don’t see the single leg power as a major drawback. You are looking for changes in power and doing intervals at a given level. As long as it is consistent, the actual number is not really important.
I have a bunch of different bikes with different cranks and chainrings (compact, regular, oval, round), so the PT option works best for me.
Accuracy is underrated.
Accuracy is overrated. Repeatability is underrated.
If repeatability were that easy to achieve then you could re-calibrate and have accuracy, too.
Accuracy is overrated. Repeatability is underrated.
1st: If a power meter is repeatable, a simple calibration step would make it also accurate. So the scenario of a repeatable but inaccurate power meter almost never exists in the industry. Inaccuracy is always a result of lack of repeat-ability or lazyness to calibrate your meter should it go out of calibration.
Second, a repeatable but wrong power meter can have a variety of properties that will cause you problems in training or racing with power. Consider the 4 hypothetical repeatable but wrong power curves presented here, and think about problems they would cause (and RChung has actually seen 1 of these in real life)
Accuracy is important, for many reasons. Not just the ones that you can imagine from the image above, but also because one day you may get a new power meter, and not want to start all over with your data. You may want to compare power data with others to evaluate your aerodynamics relative to them, or you may want to be sure your training load measurements are accurate so you can base your training load on others, or compare it to others, and set reasonable targets.
Many reasons. But mostly, if a power meter was repeatable but inaccurate it, it would just be calibrated and be both. To not do so would just be insane.
Trainer road knows, approximately, how much power it takes to go a certain speed with each trainer. So it guesses at power. This guess can be very wrong, or very close to correct, depending on a variety of factors.
It can be repeatable, or not, to varying degree as well, for the same reasons. Temperature changes, clamping force changes, tire/tube/pressure changes, changes in the resistance unit over time, and so on.
Control all of that well and it can be decently repeatable.
I only have a sigma wireless bike computer and cyclops fluid trainer. I can only track speed and cadence right now . Can you explain in one paragraph how it works with trainer road? I’m confused about how I could train with power without a pm.
When you re-calibrate, your previous data points have less value, unless you know how to and are willing to correct the old data.
I very rarely have a need to publish my data for others to review, Only then do I pay more attention to accuracy.
I count on my wives reaction to my actions to be repeatable. It makes my life a lot less complicated. I don’t care if her reaction is accurate or not. Works with data as well.