Look on facebook marketplace, join some cycling buy and sell groups, scour ebay. I just upgraded to a quarq for 350, and planning to sell my 4IIII ultegra 6800 170mm crank for 200… there’s deals out there, buying new bike stuff is a mug’s game anyway.
From Michigan?
I feel your pain. Remember they are just expensive gadgets that remind you at 3 second intervals how much power you don’t and wont ever have.
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Funny you posed that when on the same screen the link to the article that Stages new is now $299. Only the Shimano 105 I think though.
That absolute black oval 32 is probably the only 32 in the world that fits a 110 bcd crank. To use rings smaller than 34 tooth you need to use a crank arm with a smaller bcd like a mtb crank. If you went to a 34 tooth, there are a few options out there for 110 shimano, like wolf tooth round. You can match an xt or other hollowtech right crank arm to your ultegra on the left. The q-factor will be a little off, but you might be able to correct it somewhat with the BB spacers depending on the BB you have. Shouldn’t be too expensive to sell the full r7000 crankset and pick up a used xt and a chainring. Again, the cheapest would be to get a 34 tooth ring.
Much less than $100. A power meter is nothing more than a load cell (a force/weight scale) with added electronics.
I’d guess somewhere in the $10-20 range: strain gauge, accelerometer, BT/ANT+ transmitter, and misc electronics to tie it all together.
Just a matter of time before these things come standard on all cranksets 105 level (or equivalent) and above, IMO.
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That sounds like the famous last words of so many power meter companies currently occupying the real and digital graveyards over the last 5 years.
What you say is true in essence, but the challenge is taking that equipment and getting good quality, accurate, and repeatable data… and then pushing that to a scale of production that actually provides enough profit for them to maintain the related company.
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This.
Even Giant couldn’t get a PM to market without issues
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cough, Shimano…, cough 
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Brimm, IQ^2 are some recent ones that way overestimated the technical and logistical challenge of bringing a PM to market. One is dead, one is of indeterminate status.
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Limits and many more. I can’t find it, but someone did a thorough video listing the long history of failed power meters and related companies. There were some I remembered and many I never even knew about. The list is far longer than many of us might realize. And it’s a list that seems to continue to grow, despite the gains we have seen in this space.
ANY shimano based dual sided PM is going to have potential issues
That being said, accuracy is just about willy waving. What you really need to train effectively with power is consistency.
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Yeah I think I’ve seen that list. Conceptually, @QuittingBikes isn’t wrong. The math and electronics are fairly well known, force, acceleration, angular velocity etc to calculate power. The Devil is in the packaging to make them accurate, precise and reliable under a wide variety of conditions, then try to mass produce them repeatedly and cost effectively. In a one off, controlled environment it should be relatively straightforward, real world not so much as both Brimm and IQ^2 found out, or even Garmin or Assioma.
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If you don’t see the VALUE of a power meter and simply look at the price, it’s expensive. However a used stages PM or something similar can be had for a very reasonable price, and is a game changer training tool. Even the Favero Assioma UNO was on sale recently for just over $300 new. There are definitely less productive ways to spend the money, and I’ve done em.
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I picked up an older rim brake wheel with Powertap hub and it’s been super reliable trainer bike power meter for a year now. Ant+ only but I got a Samsung phone that supports it natively (could get a dongle with Ant+ radio too). $130 for the wheel, $40 for the phone, $50 for and old Cycleops trainer. $250 for a pretty nice steel frame Jamis with a 3x9 Shimano 105. Nothing fancy but it all works great, no complaints. Craigslist and offerup are your friends if you’re on a budget.
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A gym membership around here (London) can range £50-100 per month. I see a PM as just a training cost that spread over time is relatively low, compared with said gym membership. I’ve also been riding with power for 6 years and it’s been relatively in-expensive (and I’ve always bought new).
Powertap SL+ Road hub, £250 back in 2014, died after 10k miles.
Powertap SL+ track hub for £180, back in 2014, still going.
Stages GXP Gen2 for £205, back in 2016ish, still going, has probably covered 30k miles + trainer hours.
I’ve spent much more on recent units but the point remains, when you rack up the hours vs cost, I think they are great value.
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Not sure if someone has suggested it yet, but try searching eBay for a PowerTap wheel/hub. I bought one for £300 ($400) about six years ago and got five full years of use from it, indoors and outdoors. I used it so much I eventually wore through the axle. It was the single best purchase I made for getting faster.
Glancing on there now there are cheap options (sub $200) as the tech is superseded by more attractive or fashionable designs.
They aren’t glam or new tech, but are tough, reliable, and really accurate. Oh, and they measure complete power rather than one side.
I bought a secondhand powertap wheelset with decent Mavic rims for £100 on eBay a few months ago. The PM seems to work fine (I’ve not tried a DCR analyser session against my P1 pedals, but the numbers look ballpark OK). It’s not super light, and it’s ANT+ only, but that’s not much more than what you would pay for a similar quality wheelset without a power meter. Eventually powertap hubs need servicing to be accurate, but even so, it’s not much of a gamble.
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If only someone would invent a device to weigh you on your bike, you could also see how bad your watts/kg are on a real-time basis and really get depressed.
Stages has decent prices on refurbs right now.
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They do - but Canada shipments suck. I’d need to wait for my next US stay, and get it shipped a bit before to our office there (or to one of my colleagues).
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