I will keep that in mind. I have a Kickr for comparison
My thinking was that left only was fine for me, because (as others have said) I donāt really care to analyze my l/r balanceā¦it is what it is.
But then it occurred to me that if a 45/55 split (or around there) is quite common, then the total reading for a ādouble the left legā approach could easily be off by 10%. Also that inaccuracy from l/r balance likely changes depending on where you are with respect to ftp.
So, I donāt care what the balance is, but I think I do care about my power reading being an accurate sum of both legs.
Just curious, so if folk have an a 45/55 imbalance, what are you going to do about it?
Walk and cycle on one leg to get the weak leg up to strength 
Joking aside, when I had troubles with my knee, my PT tested the power of the three big muscles in my left and right upper leg.
There was a big difference between the left and right leg overall and the ratio between the three muscles in the upper leg per leg.
I did a number of strength exercises to get a more balanced left and right in terms of power and to get a better ratio in my right upper leg.
The numbers were a lot closer to eachother but the left remained stronger, but I think getting that to be perfect is extremely difficult.
I read somewhere that because of how our muscles and brain work, that when you would train one sided in front of a mirror that the other other side will have gains as well
UAE Emerates using L only Campagnolo this yearā¦isnt stopping them from winning races.
Stuff like this makes zero difference to your training and performance for the typical amateur.
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I canāt remember where I read it, but someone from Team Sky was saying that when they switched to dual sided meters it actually reduced some of their riders power outputs as they were trying to correct their imbalance.
I use left only but Iāve also used dual-sided on a Wattbike in the gym so I know my split is about 48/52. Iād still quite like a dual-sided meter, but realistically itās not going to make me a faster rider so until the price comes way down for dual-sided Iāll stick with what I have.
Why?
What will change in your training if you had one value (left x2) vs another (true)?
I ask as this is a bit like Virtual Power, in that it needs to be consistent, but accuracy is secondary from a training perspective.
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4iiii you can set the LR percentage in the app
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The difference in L/R is interesting. I am considering a L only and I have a kicker at home with a different bike than I use outside. My plan was to use my L only on the trails and have an idea of my power use compared to what I understand my FTP etc. to be from my Kickr. During a race, I was hoping to monitor power and help control my pace. If Iām using a L only and it can be off and under or over estimate, wouldnt that be a negative? Or are typical differences in L/R not significant enough?
I got a quote from Quarq yesterday, their solution costs about $1200, which I canāt justify. However, $320-ish for a Stages L is a good deal, and fine enough for me to train for and pace tougher gran fondos.
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If your crank will support it, Powertap has their C1 down to $350 right now. Iāve never owned one before (PM of any kind) and Iām toying with the idea as itās about the lowest entry Iāve seen. I have a SRAM GPX 110bcd.
Yowch. I canāt imagine any situation that would justify 4x the price for dual-sided power.
Indeed. I would much rather have a single-sided powermeter on ALL my bikes than a dual-sided powermeter on only one.
But I guess some folks have more $ than me :).
Things get a bit more complicated if you already have a PM measuring both sides in one bike. Then getting a single leg PM to your other bike may give you figures that are totally different.
Two things:
- Itās not consistentā¦l/r balance changes with intensityā¦in a unique way per person.
- I do most of my indoor riding on a gravel bike with an ngecoā¦which measures total powerā¦my road bike just has a left arm stages. So potentially pretty big difference.
Having said that, clearly it doesnāt matter. Zones arenāt discrete, riding more would bring bigger gains than anything else, etcā¦but if Iām going to go down the rabbit holeā¦
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Just ordered the Stages L yesterday. I was going to do interval training outdoors, but what happens when I try to go back and forth between my Kickr (which measures total power) and my Stages (which doubles L-only).
I guess I wouldnāt be able to do a direct comparison between Stages data and Kickr data, so there canāt be a seamless switch, that is, do one workout outdoors and the next day, do indoors.
I use MTB-style pedals, so pedal-based meters like Favero Assioma are out of question for me.
Maybe Iām overthinking this in my usual fashion. What do you think? (FYI, I donāt race)
Edit: Looking at the price of Power2Max is whatās causing these second thoughts.
Any time you have 2 or more power measurement devices, things get more complicated. Nature of the beast.
Try not to get too hung up on the differences. Maybe you can setup on the trainer with both to get a general idea of how they compare. Then take that knowledge and apply it as needed.
But look at the bigger picture and try not to get lost in the tiny details.
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Interesting discussion with SVP from Stages P. Warner.
He mentioned that it is ānot a big secretā that team sky won many of the tours and couple of TT world champions using left only power meter.
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Hopefully a better LR than the DuraAce 9100 you reviewed recently
Iāll keep that in mind. Do you use something like GoldenCheetah to post-process results? That seems like a lot of work for a non-racer like me. I want the power meter to be a tool, not something that takes the joy out of cycling. I am currently using Strava Premium to make sense of my power\HR zones.