Good source for used power meter?
Discussion
Hey,
Are there any recommendations for good placed to pickup used bike parts? Ebay is ok but I feel a bit like it's more of a community type think so probably a forum somewhere with lots of parts floating around.
Specifically, I'm looking for a Stages power meter, 105 or ultegra in silver. Working in the assumption it will still fit my tiagra crankset.
Cheers!
Are there any recommendations for good placed to pickup used bike parts? Ebay is ok but I feel a bit like it's more of a community type think so probably a forum somewhere with lots of parts floating around.
Specifically, I'm looking for a Stages power meter, 105 or ultegra in silver. Working in the assumption it will still fit my tiagra crankset.
Cheers!
www.timetriallingforum.co.uk probably a good option, there are always plenty of power meters in the classifieds there
addey said:
www.timetriallingforum.co.uk probably a good option, there are always plenty of power meters in the classifieds there
Thank Addey, I will keep an eye out on there.Something I notice a lot is that 170mm crank meters go on sale, which I have no problem with price wise or even in changing my crankset for but every crankset is 172.5mm! Seen a perfectly nice Stages Ultegra 170mm meter but can't find a reasonably priced crankset to match it.
Bobley said:
I wouldn't touch a second hand stages with a bargepole. Even the Mk2 version isn't completely reliable. You'd want a warranty which you wont get.
please feel free to make a recommendation, as far as I've been able to establish they are all junk, but the stages is the go to... much like the Garmin Edge I guess...
I have had a Edge 1000 for 3 years (or since they came out) it has apart from 1 wobble when being paired with Vectors 1 year ago been completely fine. Friends have had water damaged ones replaced and I know Gruffy hates the things.
This company often sell on 2nd hand powermeters from memory and are quite helpful.
http://www.cyclepowermeters.com/
If buying SRM I think its factory return to get the batteries replaced or it was for the earlier versions.
What is your budget?
This company often sell on 2nd hand powermeters from memory and are quite helpful.
http://www.cyclepowermeters.com/
If buying SRM I think its factory return to get the batteries replaced or it was for the earlier versions.
What is your budget?
citizenmtb said:
please feel free to make a recommendation, as far as I've been able to establish they are all junk, but the stages is the go to.
.. much like the Garmin Edge I guess...
Recommendations: power2max, quarq (crank based)... much like the Garmin Edge I guess...
Cheapest solid option, probably powertap c1 chainrings
I wonder why? I don't think I know anyone with a Stages which hasn't had an issue at some point. I wouldn't take the risk and buy used ... they're hardly what you'd call cheap even used. A mate has 3 x SRM's, all bought from ebay and sent away for servicing (older wired versions) has had zero issues and paid about the same as a used Stages for each.
citizenmtb said:
please feel free to make a recommendation, as far as I've been able to establish they are all junk, but the stages is the go to.
.. much like the Garmin Edge I guess...
Sorry, i didn't mean to sound too dismissive. We got into power training last year. Our coach wanted us to go SRM but I wasn't going to drop £2000 on a new bit of kit for my son just yet. .. much like the Garmin Edge I guess...
The SRM is certainly the most accurate by all accounts and has 8 strain gauges in the crank so you know where the money is spent. The other downside with SRM is that you cant replace the battery yourself.
We knew about the Stages issues long ago and the LBS has replaced every set they've sold (many twice) so that was right out.
Next was Garmin Vector but it's only single sided, not the accurate (torquing up the axles has a quite significant impact on reading IIRC) and you can knock the pods off easily.
I didn't want wheel based as we swap wheels so Powertap hub was out.
Rotor was a bit of an unknown at the time.
Meanwhile Quarq's Elsa R was competitively priced, reliable, light, battery swappable, gives side to side readings (by a cheeky cheat in effect but it works), self calibratable, reasonably accurate (5 internal strain gauges) and the service support is good (I asked them if you could swap the crank arms and they replied positively in less than a day) so thats the way we went. It's been rock solid and has consumed 2 CR2023 batteries in a year. The only downer just now is that the Garmin Edge comms rate is quite slow so were' not getting as much data out of the unit as quick as you could but I've not looked into better computers other than using an SRM Powercontrol8 for £600 (cough).
Elsa Rs have come down to £800 (carbon cranks) now and the Riken (ali cranks) is close to £500 so I'd look for a Riken.
citizenmtb said:
please feel free to make a recommendation, as far as I've been able to establish they are all junk, but the stages is the go to.
.. much like the Garmin Edge I guess...
Its the go to in junk yes... much like the Garmin Edge I guess...
I actually find it STAGGERING that you have reached that conclusion, all I ever read about them is how s
t they are. I too would not take one even if it was free.I've got two Qaurqs, would recommend for sure. SRM are a joke, cannot believe they have not dropped their prices, trading on this gold standard bulls
t, power2max have a great rep and are reasonable too, I wouldn't want pedal based given how fragile pedals are generally, but I know many who slate the vectors, apparently the bepro ones are good mind you.Edited by okgo on Tuesday 16th August 17:30
I *think* stages perhaps was the 'go to' because they brought something out at an 'affordable' price point, however compromised. HOWEVER times have moved on, and the competition has (mostly) dropped pricing to compete. Thus stages aren't terribly compelling on pricing anymore and too flawed IMHO, both for reliability and methodology.
Mixed on the vectors/pedals. They are double sided (there is a single sided version), they are I think best characterised as a little fragile as okgo says. They're not SO sensitive to torque, just to being insufficiently torqued (i.e. too tight isn't really an issue) and the pods aren't that bad. Bearings don't seem to last so well, and they've had a few screwups with firmware updates and the like. Bottom line though, they're still rather overpriced against the competition.
Go to has to be a quarq or a p2max.
Mixed on the vectors/pedals. They are double sided (there is a single sided version), they are I think best characterised as a little fragile as okgo says. They're not SO sensitive to torque, just to being insufficiently torqued (i.e. too tight isn't really an issue) and the pods aren't that bad. Bearings don't seem to last so well, and they've had a few screwups with firmware updates and the like. Bottom line though, they're still rather overpriced against the competition.
Go to has to be a quarq or a p2max.
That's really interesting stuff, thanks for the input.
Is the Power2max only available direct from the manufacturer?
The quark looking pretty reasonable: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/quarq-riken-al-power-meter...
This is the correct one, right?
They are more than I wanted to spend, but if the others are not worth having then it seems like an obvious decision.
Anyone care to weigh in on the Tacx Neo before I buy one of those too?
Is the Power2max only available direct from the manufacturer?
The quark looking pretty reasonable: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/quarq-riken-al-power-meter...
This is the correct one, right?
They are more than I wanted to spend, but if the others are not worth having then it seems like an obvious decision.
Anyone care to weigh in on the Tacx Neo before I buy one of those too?
Just to chip in - i have a gen 1 ultegra stages and it works fine, i broke a battery cover, but i was sent a few new ones and all good since.
With regards trainers - DC rainmaker is advising people to wait for smart trainers for a few weeks, eurobike is the end of August and new stuff will be released. Theres going to be a cheaper neo with a flywheel - about 600/700 instead of 1100 i think
http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/article/tacx-ne...
Theres a new kickr been seen too.
With regards trainers - DC rainmaker is advising people to wait for smart trainers for a few weeks, eurobike is the end of August and new stuff will be released. Theres going to be a cheaper neo with a flywheel - about 600/700 instead of 1100 i think
http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/article/tacx-ne...
Theres a new kickr been seen too.
Edited by esuuv on Tuesday 16th August 20:30
Edited by esuuv on Tuesday 16th August 20:32
p2max is direct only, yes. The Riken AL is a compelling price point, a little depends which bottom bracket you want it to fit - for some reason the gxp version of the AL has a slightly shorter spindle than the R or the BB30 version, so won't work with some bottom brackets (BBRight in my case), so I finished up up-speccing to the R.
As for trainers, Personally I'd take a dumb trainer and a decent powermeter over a 'smart' trainer with its built in powermeter. The smart stuff is 'nice', and the gamification aspects kinda cool, but the power readings are generally not accurate vs a proper power meter. Over the last 12 months I've slowly stopped using all the 'smart' features of my turbo (tacx - vortex maybe?), I just leave it in slope mode, change gears to vary the resistance, and pedal to get the appropriate number on the garmin for the workout I'm doing.
As for trainers, Personally I'd take a dumb trainer and a decent powermeter over a 'smart' trainer with its built in powermeter. The smart stuff is 'nice', and the gamification aspects kinda cool, but the power readings are generally not accurate vs a proper power meter. Over the last 12 months I've slowly stopped using all the 'smart' features of my turbo (tacx - vortex maybe?), I just leave it in slope mode, change gears to vary the resistance, and pedal to get the appropriate number on the garmin for the workout I'm doing.
upsidedownmark said:
p2max is direct only, yes. The Riken AL is a compelling price point, a little depends which bottom bracket you want it to fit - for some reason the gxp version of the AL has a slightly shorter spindle than the R or the BB30 version, so won't work with some bottom brackets (BBRight in my case), so I finished up up-speccing to the R.
As for trainers, Personally I'd take a dumb trainer and a decent powermeter over a 'smart' trainer with its built in powermeter. The smart stuff is 'nice', and the gamification aspects kinda cool, but the power readings are generally not accurate vs a proper power meter. Over the last 12 months I've slowly stopped using all the 'smart' features of my turbo (tacx - vortex maybe?), I just leave it in slope mode, change gears to vary the resistance, and pedal to get the appropriate number on the garmin for the workout I'm doing.
Its for a Giant Defy Composite, the spec on giant's site just says Shimano Pushfit, I think that's BB30?As for trainers, Personally I'd take a dumb trainer and a decent powermeter over a 'smart' trainer with its built in powermeter. The smart stuff is 'nice', and the gamification aspects kinda cool, but the power readings are generally not accurate vs a proper power meter. Over the last 12 months I've slowly stopped using all the 'smart' features of my turbo (tacx - vortex maybe?), I just leave it in slope mode, change gears to vary the resistance, and pedal to get the appropriate number on the garmin for the workout I'm doing.
Do you use Zwift? It's one of the most compelling reasons for me to get a smart trainer. I had rollers and got bored within 3 rides on them.
citizenmtb said:
Its for a Giant Defy Composite, the spec on giant's site just says Shimano Pushfit, I think that's BB30?
Do you use Zwift? It's one of the most compelling reasons for me to get a smart trainer. I had rollers and got bored within 3 rides on them.
Shimano pressfit bearings are designed to suit the same cranks as their screw-in counterparts all under neath the Hollowtech banner and they all have 24mm diameter shaft. Do you use Zwift? It's one of the most compelling reasons for me to get a smart trainer. I had rollers and got bored within 3 rides on them.
SRAM have a similar system of screw fit or press in bearings for their GXP system (also a 24mm shaft of similar length to Hollowtech) so I'd suggest you want a Riken 110BCD for a GXP/Pressfit system. I'm guessing you'll need a pressfit GXP bottom bracket too.
BB30 uses a narrower bottom bracket and a larger diameter shaft and their are derivatives of that too which we dont want to go into here...
My lad uses Zwift occasionally with his Elsa R.
It all gets a bit bloody complicated with the naming and standards, but if you can actually decode the crap, it's a lot less complicated than it first appears.. Drove me nuts figuring it all out.
I believe what you have is a 'bb86' shell (with a pressfit shimano bottom bracket in it).
http://wheelsmfg.com/bb86-92-tech
Simply put there are 24mm axles (shimano, sram gxp, fsa megaexo) and 30mm axles (bb30 etc). Generally you can stick a 24mm axle in a 30mm hole with some adapters (wheels mfg are fine purveyors of a bewildering array of them, should you buy a different bike in the future), but a 30mm axle in a 24mm hole doesn't work too well (with some exceptions, but lets not overcomplicate). That is a long winded way of saying, you can't use the BB30 version, you want the GXP version. You'll also need to change the bottom bracket to a pressfit gxp one for bb86 (about 20 quid or so).
The Riken AL should be fine as you're not dealing with a silly-wide BB shell (I earlier referenced BBRight which is a 'special case').
Of course, please don't take this as gospel and order hoping I've got it right. I highly recommend talking to cyclepowermeters.com - they're good folks, and know their stuff, they might well discuss the difference between wiggles price and the one they're advertising - can't promise that, but worth an ask.
ETA: Oh yes, and as bobley says above, I'd probably go for the 110mm bcd version (otherwise known as compact). You can stick 50/34 or 52/36 rings on it, and at a pinch can also get 53/39 rings in a 110bcd, though some would argue they're a bit flexi. Jury's out there. However if you get a 130mm bcd, you can ONLY stick 'standard' 53/39 or bigger on it. Unless you *know* you're so damn strong you're going to climb anything on a 'standard', get the compact. If you're okgo the above does not apply
Zwift - used it, stopped using it. Trainerroad - would still use it if I hadn't got a coach. These days I just do what trainingpeaks tells me like a good little robot and transcribing the workouts into zwift/tranerroad is a bit too much like hard work, hence the simple approach.
IMHO turbo riding isn't fun - it's not something I do casual rides, or for 3-4hrs in place of riding outside, it's typically focussed hour sessions. Zwift is a bit weak for true workout functionality, for example it doesn't (or didn't) support taking the power from the powermeter when using the trainer in erg mode. Given the power reported by the trainer (mine at least) is rather wonky, that compromises it considerably.
If I didn't have someone telling me what to do I'd use trainerroad. It's got a great depth of plans and workout library, plays quite well with the above scenario (called power match), and generally provides a good training tool. But it isn't pretty and gamified.
Your requirements of course may differ from mine
I believe what you have is a 'bb86' shell (with a pressfit shimano bottom bracket in it).
http://wheelsmfg.com/bb86-92-tech
Simply put there are 24mm axles (shimano, sram gxp, fsa megaexo) and 30mm axles (bb30 etc). Generally you can stick a 24mm axle in a 30mm hole with some adapters (wheels mfg are fine purveyors of a bewildering array of them, should you buy a different bike in the future), but a 30mm axle in a 24mm hole doesn't work too well (with some exceptions, but lets not overcomplicate). That is a long winded way of saying, you can't use the BB30 version, you want the GXP version. You'll also need to change the bottom bracket to a pressfit gxp one for bb86 (about 20 quid or so).
The Riken AL should be fine as you're not dealing with a silly-wide BB shell (I earlier referenced BBRight which is a 'special case').
Of course, please don't take this as gospel and order hoping I've got it right. I highly recommend talking to cyclepowermeters.com - they're good folks, and know their stuff, they might well discuss the difference between wiggles price and the one they're advertising - can't promise that, but worth an ask.
ETA: Oh yes, and as bobley says above, I'd probably go for the 110mm bcd version (otherwise known as compact). You can stick 50/34 or 52/36 rings on it, and at a pinch can also get 53/39 rings in a 110bcd, though some would argue they're a bit flexi. Jury's out there. However if you get a 130mm bcd, you can ONLY stick 'standard' 53/39 or bigger on it. Unless you *know* you're so damn strong you're going to climb anything on a 'standard', get the compact. If you're okgo the above does not apply
Zwift - used it, stopped using it. Trainerroad - would still use it if I hadn't got a coach. These days I just do what trainingpeaks tells me like a good little robot and transcribing the workouts into zwift/tranerroad is a bit too much like hard work, hence the simple approach.
IMHO turbo riding isn't fun - it's not something I do casual rides, or for 3-4hrs in place of riding outside, it's typically focussed hour sessions. Zwift is a bit weak for true workout functionality, for example it doesn't (or didn't) support taking the power from the powermeter when using the trainer in erg mode. Given the power reported by the trainer (mine at least) is rather wonky, that compromises it considerably.
If I didn't have someone telling me what to do I'd use trainerroad. It's got a great depth of plans and workout library, plays quite well with the above scenario (called power match), and generally provides a good training tool. But it isn't pretty and gamified.
Your requirements of course may differ from mine
Edited by upsidedownmark on Tuesday 16th August 23:59
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