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Review Powertap P1s

wexford

Maximum Pace
Jul 3, 2012
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i dropped a small fortune on these this weekend. Picked them up Saturday. I'm still testing them out but pretty sweet so far.

Very easy to put on. Just like any other pedal. Initial calibration didn't work for me. I have a garmin 500. Kept getting errors. A powertap head unit sorted that out though and ever since them calibration is quick and easy with the 500.

Previous pedals were Look so I'm still using KEO cleats. They seem to work but I haven't done any hard sprints or climbs on them. They do feel a little loose though so I'll probably change to the proper cleats shortly.

Did a long trainer session with them on Sunday at low power and high cadence. Was using the garmin to watch power etc but using Lemond revolution with virtual power on trainer road. At 170w on TR they were tracking around 5W lower at around 105rpm. I did a few quick power builds and the power builds quick on the pedals but slow trainer lags. I'll try some steadier higher power tomorrow to see how that maps and get a more accurate idea of how my FTP translates over. Then I'll just use pedal power going forward and do that horrible test again :)

One of the interesting things was balance. I was watching left/right balance on the garmin. At high cadence and lower power, my left pedal was doing 51%, at easier cadence and medium power, I was 50/50 and at higher power and as the workout dragged on and I got tired my right leg was doing 52%.

The pedals support Bluetooth and ANT+ so that is pretty slick. I can easily transfer them to another bike when I'm on holidays or something if I'm bothered and just use my iPhone.

Looking forward to playing with them a bit more and getting outside with them (had to say that to keep @leicaman happy).

Now. If only strava let me dive into the data some more.
 
You'd love them. They are really easy to put on :eek:)

Yeah. Interested in the battery life myself. Batteries are cheap and easy to find but its yet another piece of maintenance and expense.
 
Download golden cheetah and you'll be able to examine your rides data for hours!,,
 
i dropped a small fortune on these this weekend. Picked them up Saturday. I'm still testing them out but pretty sweet so far.

Very easy to put on. Just like any other pedal. Initial calibration didn't work for me. I have a garmin 500. Kept getting errors. A powertap head unit sorted that out though and ever since them calibration is quick and easy with the 500.

Previous pedals were Look so I'm still using KEO cleats. They seem to work but I haven't done any hard sprints or climbs on them. They do feel a little loose though so I'll probably change to the proper cleats shortly.

Did a long trainer session with them on Sunday at low power and high cadence. Was using the garmin to watch power etc but using Lemond revolution with virtual power on trainer road. At 170w on TR they were tracking around 5W lower at around 105rpm. I did a few quick power builds and the power builds quick on the pedals but slow trainer lags. I'll try some steadier higher power tomorrow to see how that maps and get a more accurate idea of how my FTP translates over. Then I'll just use pedal power going forward and do that horrible test again :)

One of the interesting things was balance. I was watching left/right balance on the garmin. At high cadence and lower power, my left pedal was doing 51%, at easier cadence and medium power, I was 50/50 and at higher power and as the workout dragged on and I got tired my right leg was doing 52%.

The pedals support Bluetooth and ANT+ so that is pretty slick. I can easily transfer them to another bike when I'm on holidays or something if I'm bothered and just use my iPhone.

Looking forward to playing with them a bit more and getting outside with them (had to say that to keep @leicaman happy).

Now. If only strava let me dive into the data some more.

Those differences in watts are to be expected.

I used powertap (hub), stages and 4iiii this year and there are significant differences.

Consistency is more important.

If you are going to use the powertap on the road and trainer you should use it as your sole data source.

So yeah! FTP test again! Haha!

Andy

www.jyonnobitime.com/time
 
Thanks Andy. Yep. Well aware that it is consistency that counts. I was actually more curious how well trainerroads vpower map for the Lemond tracks real power. Seems pretty good though. I'm gonna have to lower my FTP by 5W short term though I think until I do the test again.
 
Did another hour this morning in the man cave. Felt pretty bad at the start leg wise. They were still sore and I was wondering why I was doing this. 15 mins in though I felt at home again and all was good. Today my right leg was doing 52% of the work most of the time unless I explicitly concentrated on getting the left to help out more. I think that is a real nice function of the dual power readings that you can see and fix stuff like that.

Thighs were hurting more than usual today during the work out and I was thinking about it when it dawned on me that the stack heights might be different between pedals. Finally tonight I had time to measure and I reckon about 4mm different. Put up the saddle tonight so looking forward to seeing how that feels tomorrow. Didn't think it could be so different but looked on the powertap site and they said between 3-5 mm depending on the pedals. So I guess my measurement looks good.
 
Ah... size does matter. 4mm gave me back some power this morning and all felt right again. If you do invest in P1s (or indeed change to any other pedal), don't forget to recalculate your saddle height!
 
With regard to left right balance, I found that the reason for a lower left power rating is due to failing to lift my right. So it was stealing power from the left. Work on consistency of the upstroke and the discrepancy will be lowered. In my experience anyway.
 
Thanks @D'Pioneer ... I usually change nappies with my right hand while holding the little bugger down with my left so I think that is where my imbalance comes from also. I might risk looking at that video later when no one is watching.
 
Batteries are fine but only because I'm not. Have been suffering through a cold again for the last two fecking weeks. That and New Years drinking and travel. I did a festive "0". Due to hop on the velo again tomorrow but I've a 2 week biz trip to the states starting this weekend also which is further extending my battery life. Going to bring the pedals and try to rent a bike if I can find some free time though. Let's see. Not selling just yet! haha.
 
Horrible Jan. Feb has not been much better. I'm only getting a few spins in on the trainer. Still haven't ridden outside with these things. Batteries are still going. Strava has me at 133km for the year so far. lol. Maybe it is the pedals that is destroying my training? Bad feedback that though. I like the pedals. Easy to calibrate when I do hop on the bike. Can't give you much more than that yet. Hopefully, I'll get my act together soon.
 
Still on the originals.

Edit… As an after thought, I have only done about 1200k's not 1600, as I had forgotten that not every ride I do is only on that bike.
 
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One of the HFC guys was showing me his new set last weekend. Looked very impressive. I'll keep asking him how they go over the coming months. Initial view from him was that they tracked extremely closely to his Powertap G3 hub (which was on the same bike last weekend) - just a tiny bit higher, as expected.
 
@D'Pioneer, The bearings are good, and I expect them to be fine. I've used Xpedo, Wellgo, and Exustar pedals exclusively because of the weight savings, and have never found them to be a problem. Keo cleats work Ok, but they have a bit more float then I'm used to. I hope this helps.
 
interesting how this recent jump in the yen may have put the advantage back into ordering from overseas, my main benchmark on this is a set of DA C24 wheels. cheapest on japan amazon is 90k, price in yen on wiggle is 81k now, even allowing for some consumption tax this maybe the cheaper option albeit by a few thousand yen yen only.
 
Right, thanks to Boris Johnson blabbing his mouth off about Brexit, the GBP decked it this week, meaning I have just managed to get a pair of PowerTap P1s from Evans Cycles for 129,000yen, including delivery. The best price I could find in Japan was 168,000yen. That is a fair discount, eh.

So that is me in the power meter club then. Fuck sake.

Every single ride I have ever been on, the fastest guy has not had a power meter, while some other members of the ride have. The other members of the ride were fast, for sure, but the fastest guy has always been without a power meter. Completely anecdotal, but I am happy with this state of affairs at the moment. When I start to get regularly, and properly thrashed by a variety of people who are riding with power meters and part of the reason they beat me, and everyone else, is from accurate power readings, I will get one. Until then, I just look at how long the climb is in kms, look at the elevation profile, and telepathy-vibe my way up like I am doing lightsabre training with a Marksman-H.

So I guess you are getting regularly and properly thrashed now by people with power meters?? ;)
 
Welcome to the "oh, look. That's my stem" club.

Not really true. More staring at the screen once you get home, no stranger to that though, are you? More data for you to get your teeth into.
 
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