Discussion
A year ago I thought I needed an electric mountain bike when in-fact I needed a heart bypass!!! So here I am 6 months after having my plumbing fixed and I am out riding again.
Before I ventured back out on the bike I bought a Garmin Edge 500 to monitor my heart rate which is very useful, I then managed to quite easily convince myself that I ought to invest in a power meter.
Now, being a typical bloke, I didn’t really think this through (don’t tell Mrs Ted) and bought the Garmin Vector 2S which is the single sided affair. Mind you if I thought things through there wouldn’t be a TVR Wedge on the drive, actually when I say drive I mean my mates garage where it is getting it’s own hydraulics overhauled!
The Vector is really useful in that I can see my effort changing long before my heart rate changes which enables me to drop down a gear sooner and avoid me hitting the rev limiter.
I can keep my heart rate nicely in the ‘cardio zone’ and avoid over revving.
Hopefully by the Autumn I will be fit enough to hit the trails and tracks in the woods, the problem is that, well basically I fall off a lot when riding off-road so I don’t use cleats which means I will have to take the Vectors off the bike.
With power readings being so useful to me I was thinking of investing in a Powertap G3 hub so would appreciate any comments from users, especially if anyone is using one off road.
My mountain bike is an old Marin Pine Mountain with Shimano Deore XT 9 speed cassette, I think the current rear hub is FH-M570 with 32 spokes, as far as I can tell the G3 should be a straight swap unless anyone can tell me otherwise!!
Thanks in advance! Mr Ted
Before I ventured back out on the bike I bought a Garmin Edge 500 to monitor my heart rate which is very useful, I then managed to quite easily convince myself that I ought to invest in a power meter.
Now, being a typical bloke, I didn’t really think this through (don’t tell Mrs Ted) and bought the Garmin Vector 2S which is the single sided affair. Mind you if I thought things through there wouldn’t be a TVR Wedge on the drive, actually when I say drive I mean my mates garage where it is getting it’s own hydraulics overhauled!
The Vector is really useful in that I can see my effort changing long before my heart rate changes which enables me to drop down a gear sooner and avoid me hitting the rev limiter.
I can keep my heart rate nicely in the ‘cardio zone’ and avoid over revving.
Hopefully by the Autumn I will be fit enough to hit the trails and tracks in the woods, the problem is that, well basically I fall off a lot when riding off-road so I don’t use cleats which means I will have to take the Vectors off the bike.
With power readings being so useful to me I was thinking of investing in a Powertap G3 hub so would appreciate any comments from users, especially if anyone is using one off road.
My mountain bike is an old Marin Pine Mountain with Shimano Deore XT 9 speed cassette, I think the current rear hub is FH-M570 with 32 spokes, as far as I can tell the G3 should be a straight swap unless anyone can tell me otherwise!!
Thanks in advance! Mr Ted
Kinda depends.
You'll almost certainly need different length spokes (and of course a wheel rebuild to go with).
I believe they do powertaps in mountainbike axle sizes, but be careful - a road hub has a different 'length' (overlocknut distance I think!) to a MTB one - you'll need a powertap that fits in between the dropouts correctly / they are not interchangeable.
Otherwise I think you're pretty much set, yes.
You'll almost certainly need different length spokes (and of course a wheel rebuild to go with).
I believe they do powertaps in mountainbike axle sizes, but be careful - a road hub has a different 'length' (overlocknut distance I think!) to a MTB one - you'll need a powertap that fits in between the dropouts correctly / they are not interchangeable.
Otherwise I think you're pretty much set, yes.
I have been using a PowerTap on my MTB for a number of years (got through 2 of them, the last one amusingly showing 29k miles on the odometer). A good bit of kit but be prepared to stump up £350 for a new torque tube on a fairly regular basis, unless they have done something spectacular to the newer ones in terms of reliability.
Have moved on to a Stages as it can be moved from bike to bike more easily (2x10, 1x11) and the PowerTap I had could not accommodate a X1 casette so the gearing becomes too low. That probably does not bother you right now.
Have moved on to a Stages as it can be moved from bike to bike more easily (2x10, 1x11) and the PowerTap I had could not accommodate a X1 casette so the gearing becomes too low. That probably does not bother you right now.
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