I’m geeky enough I’d like power measurement on my mtn bike too. Currently ride 2017 Juliana Furtado (5010 Santa Cruz basically) with 11 speed 1x with an aluminum raceface crank. SRAM stuff. So would a stages work or have to go quarq with a bigger financial investment? Thank for any suggestions
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A Stages is totally okay! I know @Jonathan has used many Stages power meters on his mountain bikes in the past and as far as I know they have worked out great for him.
I have personally used a Stages a couple of times and had no issues either.
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Take a look at the Race Face / Easton power meter spindle. I’ve not looked up your crank but it may fit. I have one on my Scott Spark with a Race Face Next G4. I measures left only as well but I much prefer it to the SRAM offerings or the stages.
SRAM you’re stuck running a spider with 4 chainring bolts and the stages I’ve had a ton of problems with water intrusion and batteries failing. The Race face is completely enclosed in the spindle and has a much bigger rechargable battery. They are running about $509 on back country and you can always upgrade your crank arms to a lighter set at some point if you want.
Check them out.
I’ve been looking at the Race Face for a while but I have not seen any reviews on it. How long have yo been using it? Any problems?
I have a Power2Max powermeter that has been working flawless for me. Running SRAM Eagle cranks. It’s a spindle based powermeter.
The GECO series is cheaper than Quarq, in Europe.
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Zero issues running two different Stages on two different mountain bikes. Scalpel SI stages power meter and a SRAM compatible stages on a Santa Cruz tallboy which is now on an Intense Sniper.
The Gen 3 may be better, but if you descend with your left foot forward, you will probably get power spikes. I would regularly get 2Kw spikes going through rock gardens. Doesn’t make a difference in the moment, but it basically ruined my short power PR graph until I went through and excluded all of the rides. Additionally my Stages was consistent, but not precise and as a result read 25w too high.
I’ve been on a Powe2Max NGEco that I picked up before they raised the prices and I’ve been very happy with it.
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I never had the left foot forward descending issues on either of mine but I did have a riding partner that did have that happen to occasionally. Sometimes as high as 3k
Just this season but it has been flawless
Invest in the Quarq, reliable and solid power measurements. I’ve seen too many issues with Stages.
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I have a raceface on mine. It is enclosed in the spindle so protected from the elements. I do occasionally get 1 sec power spikes but i think that is more to do with my riding than the power meter. I don’t get spikes when riding to and from my local trail.
Power on your mtb might be a bit demoralizing at first… but show how riding off road is almost entirely full gas then no/light pedaling unless toy are doing fire road or double track climbs.
I used one all of last season and am very happy with it. Calibrated easily and nice and protected as others have mentioned. I do frequently get one high spike early in the ride, but after that it seems to always do well. I would recommend it.
I can only share my experience, I’ve been racing and training with powermeters on my MTBs for quite a few years. For me one of the reasons why I can still keep up despite my age.
Stages: have owned two, each was replaced several times under warranty. They all simply died. No, the water ingress theory would not apply. They even died after indoor use only. I know several riders in the “real” world with the same story.
Quarq: have a Dzero on my Enduro. Weak spot is the battery compartment, internals are a little bit susceptible. A slight rock contact and internals can come lose (check “trouble shoot guide” document as a first rescue). The battery compartment is quite exposed, so contact with the environment is not unlikely. Mine just fell to the side. Fairly soft, minimal scratch on battery compartment, howerver, internals came off. Once again, I know of one “real” rider with the same experience.
P2M: had a Type S and now a NG on my race HT. Flawless. Absolute flawless. And no need for calibration before each ride. The new NGeco are not too expensive and work with most SRAM cranks.
And just one personal recommendation: it’s almost 2019 and I really don’t see why we should still ride around with left-only powermeters. I started with a left only and I would say my entire first year’s data is useless. My legs are/were equally strong in the first hour but would fatigue differently. E.g. left only reported nonsense after 1 hour. For me the major adavantage of riding with a pm is only visible when you have a database on you. Start off with a proper pm.
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Power2Max NgEco here, never a hint of problems and price is great.
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I use Quarq on my road bikes and have used both Quarq and Stages on MTB bikes.
Bottom line is both have worked great. The two Stages I have are on XC bikes. One is a HT with XTR and the FS with Sram XO1. The Stages have proved to be reliable and I haven’t had any issues with them being left leg only.
@Peter and @sryke
What head units do you use, or do you use a watch? I’m considering purchasing the P2M NG Eco and currently have a Garmin Fenix 3. The Fenix 3 gave me trouble with Stage gen 2 a few years back, so I want to know if I need to budget for a head unit or watch upgrade.
Former Edge 820 user, will never go back to Garmin, still frustrated from spending so much money on such a piece of crap. Happy Wahoo Bolt user.
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I’ve used a Garmin 820 and now use a Garmin 1030… never had an issue with compatibility between Garmin headunits and the NGeco.
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I’m using a Garmin 1030 at the moment with my Stages. No issues with connectivity and, importantly, it will alert when battery is getting low.
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I came in search of reviews on the Race Face power meter - you don’t see a lot of reviews out there so thanks to those who chimed it.
My experience is on a gen 1 Stages on my XX1 crank (the stages arm is aluminum). It worked fairly well for one year with the occasional spike, but now has completely died. Not going that route again.
Going to have to decide on 4iiii (I have good experience with their road power meter), P2Max, or Race Face, but it will probably be dictated by what is on my next bike when I build it up this year (or wait until next year). It’s great to see that there are options these days.