Coming from someone who has Quarq PMs on both my road bikes, I’ve been SUPER happy with them. I had the Riken on both, and last year upgraded to the Dzero on the race bike because I’d been running 53/39 standard chainrings and wanted to go down to mid-compact, therefore needed the smaller BCD. It was worth it. I’ve never had issues with my Quarqs. We put a Power2Max on my SO’s bike and he sees a lot of spikes… I think the one we got is a bit of a lemon, but it’s a royal pain if we want to get it fixed because we’d have to take it off and send it back to them. But he’s not that into bike training and for him it’s just “interesting data”. So it’s not worth the hassle. But, I don’t really recommend the Power2Max unless there’s no other choice, although my experience is N=1 and I suppose others haven’t had the same experience. All that said, I also happen to have a pair of Garmin pedals, and I really like being able to move them from bike to bike, so I can put them on my track or TT bike or any other bike that doesn’t have a PM. The flexibility is SUPER.
Hey Everyone,
This may be a little after the fact, but I appreciate all of the feedback and recommendations on power meters. After weighing cost against my fit requirements (e.g., shorter cranks, not increasing Q-factor, sticking with Shimano cleats, etc.) I settled on the Power2Max NGeco with ROTOR ALDHU cranks. They’ve been reliable, look good, and helped with some of the fit issues. In case it’s helpful for anyone else, here’s some of the rationale:
- Garmin pedals were considered because they don’t lead to a significant deviation in Q-factor, but are more expensive than the new crank and power meter setup. Additionally, it felt like a waste to just throw perfectly good Ultegra pedals in a box.
- Favero Assioma Duo-shi’s were considered because a corresponding change in cranks would’ve come out to the same cost as the above purchase (e.g., 165mm Ultegra crank), but Q-factor would’ve been an issue for me. As for switching to a Look cleat, this would’ve presented challenges with Shimano pedals on other bikes and I didn’t want to rotate pedals throughout the week.
- Quarq was the original plan, but that was scrapped when they got rid of the GXP standard. If I went this route, then I would have to go through a bottom bracket conversion.
- Single arm versions like 4iiii, stages, etc. we’re considered, but ruled out. If I just got a single crank, this wouldn’t solve the issue around crank length and I’d feel disappointed not getting dual-side measurements. Further, in order to switch crank lengths, this would’ve been just about the same cost as the setup I purchased. Since I’m not locked into Shimano components (though not a fan of SRAM…just preference) the benefit of sticking with Ultegra was somewhat voided.
Overall, I find Power2max NGeco with ROTOR ALDHU cranks to be reliable, provide all of the desired functions, and look good with my bike. Once again, thanks for the help and, hopefully, this thread is useful to anyone else looking at power meter options.
Your bike is Trek BB90? Make sure you didn’t put the spacers in there like the spacer chart says. I think that’s a typo. Just the o-rings. You should have any room to even move the preload with just the o-rings (and bearing covers) in there.
Tighten that thing down to spec with a tq wrench. I was having my crankarm come loose and eating bearings with the setup as Rotor had it listed.
@jfranci3 
Yep, I took it to my LBS/fitter (fortunately, I can do both at one) and he noted that as well. All good on the install!