Hi, so I've been cycling my whole life (F29), but I've never had a power meter. As I'm training to go on longer cycling tours, I'm thinking about buying one. Right now, I'm only able to measure my performance by doing runs on the days when I'm not cycling and seeing if my fitness has improved (I'm using a Garmin 255 for that).
I did some research and it seems like this Garmin Rally Power Meter https://www.garmin.com/de-GB/p/658586 is my best option if I don't want to swap my crankset. However, I've never used clipless pedals before and I feel a bit sceptical about it. Years of cycling have made my reflexes aligned with flat pedals, and I think I might start falling quite often with clipless pedals. This is especially concerning since I mostly cycle off-road, plus the bicycle paths in our city are quite awful, requiring a lot of braking due to the abundance of deliverymen on mopeds. I would greatly appreciate any input=)
by SnooRevelations4661
7 Comments
Learning how to use clipless pedals will boost your endurance far more than the minor insight gained by power meters. Navigating urban environments with clipless pedals is a requirement of a long tour, and you probably need to build up confidence on roads if you’re only used to cycling on trails. These pedals seem like overkill given my perception of your current touring ability. I could be way off, and I apologise if this is the case.
Editing to add: you can measure performance in a lot of ways without going blind on a long route. Pick a local route with lots of hills and see if you can reduce your time while keeping HR to a reasonable average.
Pick up some cheap Shimano m520s and try them out for a few weeks before committing to the power meter pedals.
I found switching from flats to spds pretty seamless. Just set the retention to very low and practice clipping in and out a few times on the street. I’ve had the odd panic moment where I forgot to unclip, but I’ve always managed to release my feet before a proper fall.
I’ve taken my CX bike on MTB trails whilst clipped in without any issues, but I can understand that clipless isn’t for everyone, so definitely try them before committing to the PM.
There is also [Favero Assioma Pro Mx](https://cycling.favero.com/en/assiomapromx) now.
You’ll get used to riding clipped in.
4iiii sells non-drive side cranks with a powermeter but it’s Shimano only iirc. U can keep using flats and it’s easy to change. They even offer a discount when u send your crankarm in for a fitting .
Didn’t you look into spider power meters? Quarq or alike. You can have your current crank arms from what I understand
Check out Quarq power meters. Replaces part of your crankset (the spider, but you can get entire crankset unit bundles), so you can keep on rocking whatever the hell pedals you want. A lot cheaper than the pedal meters.
One disadvantage though to things like the Quarq or a crank-arm meter like someone else suggested is that those might not fit your next bike, while power meter pedals *will*. It’s also very easy to swap pedals between bikes if you have multiple bikes you want to get power data on.
Try the favero ones. My garmin rally pedals broke and it’s like 200 bucks to get a new platform for 1 side. Aka not worth it. I’d just get a crank based one