Hi everyone. I have been riding more and more gravel roads as of late and want to continue my trainer road workouts on the gravel. I know I can use RPE, but my ultimate goal is to do long bikepacking days along with some 200+ mile gravel races and think power can help me pace properly. I was wondering if other people are using power meters on their gravel bikes? How accurate is the data? What meters are you using and why? Downfalls or issues you have?
Thanks in advance.
I have a quarq dzero with a 50/34 chain ring on my gravel bike, no issues with it, data seems good.
Left side Stages on my Boone (that will transfer to my Warbird soon). I like it for general training tracking and use it to a limited degree in races.
get something crank-based, with a rep for being well-sealed and robust
pedal and hub meters would be non-starters for gravel, for me.
I use a stages for grx. works great. The only issue with left side cranks is to ensure compatibility and clearance with the chainstay. Sometimes the pods won’t clear the stays. Stages and 4iiii are good at giving clearance minimums and/or compatible bikes. Power2Max and Easton have spider and spindle based cranks, among others. They are more spendy and less transferable bike to bike, but don’t have the clearance issue (but have their own compatibility requirements).
I am using a Power2Max NGeco and have been happy with it so far. It is the first power meter that I have used so cannot provide much insight.
Another Quarq Dzero user here. I use the Dzero on my road and tt bikes as well. Reliable and consistent data across the bikes is the goal.
Quarq DFour91 user and very happy.
I’ve had a 4iiii on my ultegra cranks for a little more than a year. My gravel bike sees more miles than any other bike and I’ve had no issues with the meter at all. The input side of the meter, however, leaves a little to be desired. 
What are you starting with?
Don’t be afriad of a used Power2Max or Quarq. Buy the ugliest one. Note, the older ones don’t work with chainrings with the round inside, they need the star/clover shape.
Are you going to use really small chainrings? If so a used SRAM/Stages/ledals might make sense.
My advice is to look for used PMs on Facebook by searching for pictures in the last month or so. Better prices are found on thing described poorly “quarq” rather than “quarq 172.5 110 gxp”
Quarq on my CX bike which is mostly used for gravel
20,000kms strong 
quarq dzero on my CX bike (which I use for gravel). I would definitely recommend it.
I believe the data is as accurate on the road and gravel.
I have not identified any downfalls. I think it’s a great application for a power meter.
Yet another Quarq DZero user here. My road bike has a Stages left-only power meter, and it has been dead-nuts reliable and accurate. The Quarq is within 1% of both the Stages and my Kickr, and has also given me no maintenance or reliability problems. I’d happily buy either again as long as I got a good price on them.
In case you all didn’t see this… MTB Dual Set – iQsquare
Rotor 2inPower on my gravel bike. Never had an issue…data is 100% fine and just as accurate as on the road.
No downfalls
Scroll through this topic.
It might suit your needs.
I have a GRX groupo on my Specialized Diverge and am running a Power2Max with a 48/31 chainring set.
That’s what I’m upgrading to later this year from my Stages LH…waiting for the new carbon Rotor cranks to be on offer from Power2Max.
I have the same Diverge Comp Carbon. Looks great on there!
PM Pedals (assiomas) are generally frowned upon for gravel just out of fear of getting them gunked-up, no? Or am I missing something else?
have them for my tri and road bike… hoping that unbound is in my future post ironman …
Yet to hear any stories about people screwing them up offroad.
