I like the idea of saving some money and buying one set of power meter pedals and swapping them between bikes but am wondering if anybody does that regularly and find it annoying. I have considered getting the Favero pro-mx pedals and swapping them between road, gravel, and mountain bikes.
I just thinking I might get annoyed after awhile
It all depends on how often you swap them. If this is a once-a-month situation, I’d consider it. If this were every-other-ride, I’d bite the bullet and get several power meters, starting with the bike(s) I ride the most.
yeah. I just have to really think through it. I typically ride indoors during the week and then weekends is outdoors typically just on saturday unless I’m training for a longer race and then might ride both days. So I’d guess swapping pedals would be 2-3 times a month so not that much. Likely the “biggest” annoyance would be if one of my riding friends changes their mind last minute on type of ride and I have to change my pedals last minute. Very 1st world problem to have.
If you are on the fence, you could try it. But I would bet good money on you being relieved once you purchase that second or third power meter 
PS It is very easy to spend someone else’s money. 
I tried this with my Assiomas. They live on my road bike, but I’d swap them a few times per month to my gravel bike (rode less frequently) or trainer bike to check against my Kickr. It’s a pain but no big deal a few times per month or maybe even to swap for the weekend. If this was daily I’d go nuts 
Another consideration is if your bikes have different crank lengths because that’s one more setting that’s easy to forget and would mess up your power numbers.
only mtb is different crank length and least ridden bike so means I’d forget that. Especially for mtb, I just want to collect the power numbers for TR and just analysis afterwards since I’m not often following workouts outside.
If I swapped daily I would drive myself crazy.
I love spending other people’s money. I’m going down this rabbit hole because I do have the left crank arm PMs (apex and rival) on my gravel and road bikes and am currently not at all trusting the power numbers but have no way to verify the numbers are low without another trustworthy power meter.
So you know just add another PM is the solution
I’m waiting for July 4th sales to see if I can save a few bucks but Faveros don’t typically show up in the discount list.
I did it for a season, swapping between road and gravel bikes. To me this is really a financial issue….2 minutes swapping them over isn’t a big deal. But it is mildly annoying. If money was tight, that annoyance isn’t enough that I would spend the dollars….when I was younger and poorer I would have just dealt with it.
But now I could much more easily justify the cost of another set, and got a pair of pro-MX’s when they came out so now I don’t need to switch between road and gravel, and I rarely bother putting power on the mountain bike.
I swap pedals all the time. It takes 2minutes, including calibration. PRO-MX2 for MTB/Gravel, and Duo for Road/Light-Gravel.
Not very annoying if you have a descent pedal wrench.
I was swapping pedals between road and gravel bikes but decided to quit swapping, bikes not pedals. I was also swapping the pedal bodies between SPD and road so even more of a PITA. Now I just ride the gravel bike in all situations. If I were to start regularly riding the road bike again, I’d likely get a spider PM for it, a Sigeyi or Magene. I have a Sigeyi on my mtb and it works well.
I’ve done it the last few years with my powertap p2 pedals. They live mostly on my road bike, but whenever I take out the gravel rig, I toss them on. I race gravel with road pedals. No concerns on ripping single track either with them.
However, this slight inconvenience had me spend $400 on some used Garmin Rally XC pedals to toss on the gravel bike. Also because I may sell my Rotor power crank on the mtb and stick with the pedals, which would then have me going back to swapping between two, alas. Though, after it took 30 minutes to set those pedals up and get them connected, I’m not sold on them.
I’ve considered the Sigeyi for my MTB for sure. I’ve considered the pro-mx and swap those between gravel and MTB and then swap the spindle to the rs-pro body when I want to ride road. But feel like that would get old quick. So maybe I’d just end up going pro-mx spd on all bikes
It’s crossed my mind to use road pedals on my gravel bike. It’s so rare I need to hike a bike any distance. Only when I’ve done Unbound would it be more of any issue if it’s a mud year.
I do exactly what Frank has mentioned here and havent found it to be an issue. The actual benefit to this is that i know my power numbers are consistent across bikes and i dont have to think or worry about one meter being a few watts higher.
I swap favero assioma pedals between my trainer bike (Weekdays) and my outdoor bike (weekends).
It’s a 5-min job and no trouble, really. I think its worth saving the ~$500 on a second PM.
I don’t find it that annoying, i am used to it and can switch them in a few minutes. I have gotten a few extra hex keys to stash as I can’t seem to always put them back in the same place. One is at the trainer bike, another in the garage, one where I store the bike., and a couple extra for my bike tool bag as I am bound to carry one somewhere around the house/garage as I am trying to get out for a ride.
Having just the one source of power outweighs the annoyance. I used to have a Powertap chain ring (trainer bike), Powertap wheel (road and tri) that were always different, and moved to the pedals to replace them on all my bikes.
Edit: Gravel bike I do switch the pedal bodies over if I need to, using the Favero hack on the older pedals, which only takes a few minutes as well.
I have separate Assioma pedals for my road bike, and have one pair of Assioma MX pedals that I swap between different MTBs weekly and it doesn’t both me at all. Takes 2 minutes.
Yeah. That’s definitely a benefit I’ve thought about. And with pedals, as opposed to crank arm or spider PMs), I could at least test them on my kicker bike and do a comparison.
I do it with my Assioma Duo’s between by outside road bike and my training bike (permanently on the trainer). Its like… 2 out of 10 annoying but completely worth it in my opinion, becuase:
But hey… I’m cheap… I’d rather focus on wheels
I’ve done it with my PowerTap P2 for years (although less frequently since I bought smart trainer). It’s not a big deal, although it is easier and quicker if you have a nice wrench for it. I used a small hex wrench for a couple years and wound up stripping the crank arms on my road bike (although maybe that just reveals how mechanically dis-inclined I am). Got better when I got a wrench with a longer arm for it.