[Closed] Novice power meter question

Any Bluetooth enabled PM will work with Strava on an iPhone. Battery life may not be great, but it will collect the data. 4iiii are the goto single sided crank solution. Buy with confidence. And use spds.

Strava have dropped support for sensors but still plenty of cycle apps about that can record the power numbers. Head unit is a better option for power but not essential but battery life might be an issue for rides over 60 minutes.

If cost is an issue have you thought about training to HR instead?

You don't really sound like you actually know why you want/need a Power Meter, so by that token I'd suggest you spend your money on something else.

As tonyf1 says above, unless you're really pushing the boundaries of training with HR as part of a well planned out and pretty comprehensive training plan, then you might as well strap an alarm clock to your bike as a power meter.

If you want to invest in your riding to push yourself on, spend £10 on a Joe Friel book, or chuck a coach £50 for a consultation call 😉

I’d second what vdubber said.  If you want to get seriously into training a power meter is invaluable.  Or if you can afford to be curious why not.

But you can get to obsessive with it and yes it can suck the joy from your riding.  I looked long and hard into getting one for my MTB but decided that was the only place I really didn’t need one for two reasons - I get the headspace and freedom on that bike and it allows me to understand My body and how to ride my races/measure myself in race situations without a PM.

For me, a Smart trainer and a 4iiii on a road bike is all I need tbh.

As above really. I bought a power meter and it's nice to see an extra box of data. But what are you going to do with the data when you have it. For me it hasn't helped me in any way

Acquiring the data is only half the equation, you need to be able to analyse it as well. The various programs (Training Peaks, Golden Cheetah, Intervals.icu come to mind) have got better at presenting it but you still need the ability to look past the noise - even "steady state" on a turbo your power will fluctuate by a couple of percent every second.

Virtual power on a dumb trainer is fine so long as you are consistent in your setup - same tyre pressure, roller and resistance settings, etc. You are comparing like with like, doesn't really matter if it reports 250W when the correct value is 220W or 280W so long as it's consistent.

Outdoors, RPE and a HRM are close enough for me.

For most a power meter is the icing on the cake but you need to have made the cake first.

Go on, i got a power meter last year and started using it. It's a very useful thing and initially I just got used to it...correlating things like what does x watts feel like in each gear and correlating power to HR etc. Eventually worked out my power zones (already had my HR zones so a starter for 10) and then started using power mainly for pacing for long endurance rides. Pacing is really hard as we're often not used to riding with such little effort...we're more programmed to push and 'make progress'. But setting out to stay in the endurance zone it feels so slow and without a power meter you can easily creep up in your effort and pay the price later on.

I don't bother wit post ride analysis too much - it's main use and benefit for me is pacing rides and efforts.

Just get one and suss it all out once you're there. There are so many different approaches and you'll just confuse yourself doing too much research up front. It helps if you have a specific goal in mind- a specific event, increasing FTP for example....but if not a useful tool for just pacing - if you pace a ride well you enjoy it a lot more...always best to finish strong on a ride rather than push too hard too soon and spend the last 10miles of the ride clinging on for dear life just to get home. Many a long ride I've ended up nursing cramp, not any more with the powermeter.

I've got a 4iiii...cheap enough so and works flawlessly. Been 100% reliable for me. Just go for it and suss it all out once you have it. The most useful think I've ever bought for my road bike.

I’ve been training and riding to power for years. I’d disagree with the comments above. I find it really useful knowing my power zones, my 1 min power, 5 min power, 20 min etc. Heart rate is also very useful, but no so much RPE for me.
I’ll quite often be in a fast group ride, if we hit a long climb at x watts I know I can maintain it or if I need to ease back a bit.
Even simple things like riding into a headwind, I’ll just keep an eye on the power as it’s easy to go a bit over threshold early on. I’ve also done a good number of long distance rides on gravel where I wanted to stay in low zone 2 all ride, was so easy to go out of that zone without really thinking about it.
Power meters are great when also used as part of a training plan, so worth also looking into that aspect as well.
I wouldn’t bother swapping cranks, if that’s you’re intention you probably want pedal based, the Assioma Uno is worth a look.

Do I buy a 4iiii and play with it, or will I need a new headunit as well

Depends if you currently have a head unit that will connect to a power meter.

It's v worthwhile for TTing so a pedal one, or new BB on the bike that can take a crank PM, sounds like a good idea.

Don't know how experienced you are with testing, perhaps you have your position completely sorted out, but relating how fast you went to your power is v useful for developing an effective position. Everyone who tests with power will be familiar with doing a strong ride in terms of Watts that was nevertheless slow because the position wasn't right, and vice versa.

For general riding around I'd not worry about it, although as said it could be useful to stop you doing too much if you're prone to that. I know a few guys who seem to just borderline leather it around all the time - they're really strong but this isn't the way to ride if you want to get faster.

I've got a 4iii precision on one of my road bikes. It connects to my phone (it's bluetooth and Ant+) but I only use that for calibration. For rides it connects to my Edge 810 and Fenix, and they can both display current power etc.

It's a 2 minute job switching it between bikes, although only onto the road & TT bikes as Shimano mountain bike cranks are different.

Thanks all,
I am aware more data risks sucking the joy out of rides, but I reckon I could happily ignore the numbers when I want to.
I've used HR training/pacing on and off for years for riding/running etc -from 10mile TT to 60+ mile run...
I have been using an old Tacx Flow turbo with its own power estimate, and am happy with HR zones and the power zones for the turbo, but was just wondering how those numbers relate to real life numbers on the road. Playing with sweetspot, 2x20 etc sessions through lockdown has been way more effective than just boring z2 on the turbo, and a powermeter may open up Zwift/sufferfest etc

I guess the main reasons are power may help me pace better than HR, especially for TT riding, and I am also limited on time to ride so it may make sessions more focused? It will also reduce my tendency to try to hammer every ride.
And mainly, it's another bit of shiny kit when I am building up a new road bike... I hadn't got as far as working on my CdA as I've always needed more fitness but i'd say I'm fairly aero on th eTT bike (no, I am not posting pics).

4iiii is in budget, but sounds like I need a new garmin (or similar), and to switch the BB on the TT bike as well.

Do you have a head unit already? There's a good chance if you have something that works with an ant+ HR strap it can read from a power meter as well.

From what you've said about fitting good training into short time, I think that this is where a power meter comes into its own. Being able to do focused interval training indoors and out is a good way yo get fitter and to learn a bit more about your body.