The Wattage Thread

[okgo]

matt-ITR said:

I had heard there were improvements since the initial product was launched.
I'm stuck on DA cranks, so Power2max isn't an option.

The alternative would be Garmin Vector.

Heard many bad things about those too. But if stages have refined the product then might be a good way to go now (due to cranks).

[BMWBen]

At least twice the price of the stages, although it does have some advantages. I ruled it out as I use speedplay pedals and I don't want to switch to anything else.

[anonymous-user]

A few riders in the club have switched to Stages and they all like them. I am still skeptical myself and they did have issues with battery life and water ingress on the early ones. The main issue for me is that I cannot get my head around a single sided measuring system. Check out the reviews on DC Rainmaker, he makes a good case for them tbh. I'm stuck with PT but have a P2M on the way.

[Sandersports]

Im about 2 months into Stages ownership and now about 4-5 riders i ride with are riding on them .... 1 of them had a problem with the software draining the battery after each ride. He had to send it back under warranty, under just under 2 weeks later had a brand new one. Not one person i know using Stages has a bad word for them, it does seem the only rider that talk them down are the ones not using them . If i was Garmin/Powertap and especially SRM as a company i would be very worried ... they are going to loose a very large part of the market here , especially with the heavy weight marketing of being used by Team Sky, (oh and me of course) .

[fromage]

My girlfriend has a Stages crank and battery has lasted about 3 months now and has been pretty reliable. One thing to note though is I find the power reading seems to variate a little more when trying to hold a specific power compared to my power2max.

[okgo]

Seems like a lot more people are buying powermeters now, I think Stages have helped make them a more mainstream product? Not sure if that is correct, but certainly more people seem to have them now.

Interestingly since I switched to the new powermeter and round rings I think the figures are a little different now, but hard to know whether its that or just that my TT position has got more aggressive and I'm less able to produce the power in it just yet, I have constantly been trying to get a smaller profile of myself, which is working as I'm going faster for less watts. 355w for a 25 yesterday was actually a best on the TT bike, so quite confident I can keep dragging that up with adaption and with a small taper I could hope to see another 10-15w perhaps. The reason I don't think its too different is that I've done similar road bike numbers to when I had the last powermeter, so its not miles out if at all, just a little hunch.

How is anyone else getting on?

[anonymous-user]

okgo said:

Seems like a lot more people are buying powermeters now, I think Stages have helped make them a more mainstream product? Not sure if that is correct, but certainly more people seem to have them now.

Interestingly since I switched to the new powermeter and round rings I think the figures are a little different now, but hard to know whether its that or just that my TT position has got more aggressive and I'm less able to produce the power in it just yet, I have constantly been trying to get a smaller profile of myself, which is working as I'm going faster for less watts. 355w for a 25 yesterday was actually a best on the TT bike, so quite confident I can keep dragging that up with adaption and with a small taper I could hope to see another 10-15w perhaps. The reason I don't think its too different is that I've done similar road bike numbers to when I had the last powermeter, so its not miles out if at all, just a little hunch.

How is anyone else getting on?

Saw that TT effort, nice.

It seems that I am finally seeing some real gains in what I can generate. I need to get back into a TT soonish as I think I'll beat my PB's if the conditions are similar. Sprint power has risen which is great for me but more importantly I am able to hold a burst of effort for much longer and recover. The next MAP test will be the acid test to what is going on then we can shift the zones around. I would hope that my FTP is 30w higher than it was than when I last tested in Jan. Just need to enter 'something'

[Fourmotion]

I've been making good progress since I got my powertap.

I've realised my FTP was balls from my turbo test, but as I did a lot of the earlier training on the turbo it should have meant my training zones were comparative.

Now on the road I'm looking at different numbers altogether. I got a PB of 3.9w/kg on a 10 mile TT at the weekend, up from about 3.3w/kg for early season road efforts. My time wasn't great, but I was on a road bike and the course wasn't pan flat (G10/45).

I'm doing the Richmond Park TT on Sunday, and I think with some fresher legs I can achieve 4w/kg. But who knows, I'm not overly familiar with the course.

The biggest problem with owning a power meter for my road bike is I don't have one on my commuter MTB. My OCD is telling me I can't have that field on my Garmin blank for ever...

[okgo]

For time trials, the w/kg is not really all that important, w/CdA is the main thing.

What number are you off on Sunday at Richmond, I'm last off, so probably will see you there!

My tip - ride the uphills hard, and recover slightly on the downhills

Thanks Yonex!

[Fourmotion]

okgo said:

For time trials, the w/kg is not really all that important, w/CdA is the main thing.

What number are you off on Sunday at Richmond, I'm last off, so probably will see you there!

My tip - ride the uphills hard, and recover slightly on the downhills

Thanks Yonex!

I had seen your name on the stating sheet - I'm number 31, so I'll be vomiting back at my car by the time you start! Thanks for the tip.

I have been experimenting with position, trying to tuck my elbows in, and even briefly resting pro style on my elbows, but for obvious reasons that's not safe/practical on a Surrey road!

My average power was 343 watts for 26 minutes. I've no idea how that translates to the RP TT, but if I can hold the same av power for the longer duration I'll be happy.

[okgo]

Fourmotion said:

I had seen your name on the stating sheet - I'm number 31, so I'll be vomiting back at my car by the time you start! Thanks for the tip.

I have been experimenting with position, trying to tuck my elbows in, and even briefly resting pro style on my elbows, but for obvious reasons that's not safe/practical on a Surrey road!

My average power was 343 watts for 26 minutes. I've no idea how that translates to the RP TT, but if I can hold the same av power for the longer duration I'll be happy.

Yes, difficult to know, if you have a skinsuit, I would wear it, and I think they allowed me to tape over the vents on my helmet the year I did it on a roadbike too. Those two things will help a fair bit.

That power is very good, I doubt it will take you much longer than 26 minutes to be honest. Good luck, its a fun event, careful of those corners, I fell off at the Richmond one last year

[RGambo]

I've been using stages all year. Very happy with them. I've structured my training the best I can and I have been able to measure some real improvements. My specific goal is alpine challenge in September so I've been loosing weight. Being able to ride/climb local hills at a fixed power has really kept me motivated to keep loosing the weight. Seeing the times come down for same effort is pleasing .
They appear consistent which is the important thing.
20 min power is up from 300 to 357w and my 5 min power is up from 360 to 408w, the best bit is that I'm down from 104kgs to 87.5kgs.

[Dowks]

RGambo said:

I've been using stages all year. Very happy with them. I've structured my training the best I can and I have been able to measure some real improvements. My specific goal is alpine challenge in September so I've been loosing weight. Being able to ride/climb local hills at a fixed power has really kept me motivated to keep loosing the weight. Seeing the times come down for same effort is pleasing .
They appear consistent which is the important thing.
20 min power is up from 300 to 357w and my 5 min power is up from 360 to 408w, the best bit is that I'm down from 104kgs to 87.5kgs.

Nice one, I also got some great benefit from structuring training with my Power 2 Max, down from 105kg to 92 and hoping for 300W+ on my next test

[Sandersports]

New record in last nights Chippa mid week race ... 342w avg for 1.17hrs with a max 1256w sprint at the end ........ My legs hurt this morning

Edited by Sandersports on Wednesday 18th June 09:50

[okgo]

Sounds like we have some strong riders in our midst. That is a lot for a crit, must have been a hard one, or you were making it hard

[upsidedownmark]

Not half.. my threshold (1hr) has gone from 220 to 260 since feb, and I'm pretty much flying by my standards (75kg). Can't imagine how quick I'd be with another 40 watts, nor how I'm ever going to get it north of 300

Still, got me to 1:05.something on H25/4 which I was pretty happy with for my second ever TT

P.S. gone to vectors from a powertap, and very pleased. Only thing I do notice is it's not as responsive as the powertap to efforts < about 3 sec.

Edited by upsidedownmark on Wednesday 18th June 11:13

[matt-ITR]

Nice to get some Stages feedback. Sounding like a pretty safe bet now, although I can't afford one for a while.

[RGambo]

matt-ITR said:

Nice to get some Stages feedback. Sounding like a pretty safe bet now, although I can't afford one for a while.

If you are looking for a 175mm shimano, i have one for sale. Bought one for the MTB, next to useless for training on that. It's a 175mm XTR, but it will fit perfectly onto any durace, ultegra, 105 road crank. I have ridden it on two occasions both on crosscountry trails not at trail centres.

[Fourmotion]

RGambo said:

If you are looking for a 175mm shimano, i have one for sale. Bought one for the MTB, next to useless for training on that. It's a 175mm XTR, but it will fit perfectly onto any durace, ultegra, 105 road crank. I have ridden it on two occasions both on crosscountry trails not at trail centres.

Will it fit an older generation XT crank?

[RGambo]

Fourmotion said:

RGambo said:

If you are looking for a 175mm shimano, i have one for sale. Bought one for the MTB, next to useless for training on that. It's a 175mm XTR, but it will fit perfectly onto any durace, ultegra, 105 road crank. I have ridden it on two occasions both on crosscountry trails not at trail centres.

Will it fit an older generation XT crank?

It should do, as long as it's hollow tech 2. Can you give me model and I'll find out for you.