Power source - Trainer or Crank Power Meter

It feels to me like this discussion might be going down the wrong path when trying to compare the different power meters. My take is that boils down to using one power meter consistently for your training, and since you are training indoors, just use the trainer power. Don’t worry about how that compares to your other power meters, especially across different bikes. They will never match and there are many reasons why they won’t. All you should really care about is your “relative” power increase/decrease as you train, assuming you are using the same trainer power consistently, and it has decent accuracy. Trying to compare power across trainers, bikes, pedals, etc. is just taking you down a deep rathole…

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That’s cool, I was wondering if they did that. Makes sense to put E-racers on a level footing so to speak. Do you happen to know if the Elite Direto X does this too? I suspect not given my own results showing crank power consistently 3-5% higher.

I tend to agree with this.

But you would need to at least know how the trainer power differs to your bike PM if you are using your bike PM to pace while riding outdoors. I’m thinking of say climbing a long hill at threshold power. If your bike PM is 20W different to your trainer at threshold, then you just need to be aware of it.

No worries. Personally I think single-sided is just fine for general use, but it would swing me even more toward using Kickr power for both accuracy and consistency. Even with an average 50/50 L/R leg power output, you might find that it varies with both power level and fatigue.

Agreed, you want to be aware of the differences in power meters, but I would just recommend against using different power meters on different bikes to gauge your training. Even if you use the same power meter on different bikes, I would still expect to see some variance due to drivetrain differences. Instead I think you want to figure out your goal in terms of how much percentage increase in power you are shooting for (e.g. increase FTP +15%). Then, just use the trainer power and stick to it. That way you eliminate the other unnecessary variables, which are just adding more error into the mix.

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I do the same. Nearly all of my structured training is indoors so I use my trainer power exclusively for that. I often dual record my bike PM mainly as a consistency check to make sure both are reading as expected. I haven’t had any surprises there, but it gives me peace of mind that it’s not a moving target.

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I practically never use my trainer’s power calculation (its only a calculation in my Suito, not an actual meter). IIRC it calculates 5-10w less than my power meter and is a bit slower to get to peak and I use my power meter indoors and out for simple consistency. I always forget to do a spin down calibration at the end of a workout anyway :joy: If I had to use the Suito instead or transferred to a different bike I’d definitely do a new FTP test.