Powermeter deal?

I've got a Quarq. I would buy it again. Well, I actually came close as I got a Power2Max for my road bike.

The spider powermeter will tell you actual power used all the way around. The stages is only reading the left leg and estimating the right leg.

To me, the Quarq is worth it.

I have been reading up on power meters and find it quite confusing. I thought the new Quarq Red 22 is able to read both right and left power, and the other model Quarq's only read one leg and estimated the other?
Do all of the newer Quarq models now read power from both sides?

Do all of the newer Quarq models now read power from both sides?= Yes. My Cannondale does this.

You can have a Quarq on almost any sized crank arm. You could/should be able to (some cranks won't work) send in your crank and have Quarq put on the power meter.

As far as I remember, Quarq is pretty expensive, so that's a pretty good price, which would hopefully mean better resale value. I don't get the whole left/right thing. I have a P2M and it estimates left/right and I went from 50/50 to 55/45 over the past few months. I have no idea if it's truly that far off since it guesses. I do pedal work on a fixed gear at the gym but I should do this at home to test it (1 min one leg doing the pedaling with other leg along for the ride x 10). I know Stages plans to have a right arm version in the near future but that's going to be a costly option just to find out left/right when there's not much data yet on it. That and people have been pretty happy with Powertaps, which has no idea about left/right.

It's up to you. Is the $400 extra really worth it? It should be higher resale but don't think I'd put money down that you'll get $400 more for a used Quarq than a used Stages. I wanted Stages since it was way cheaper than everything else but it would not fit my bike (be sure you measure you bike to check clearance with any back brakes).

Question 2 - Don't know. This is something you should ask a fitter. I know I should have probably did this before I ordered a 175 again. I'm 5'10 and have longer legs, so I'm thinking my 175 is good fit for me (what I got) but I'm not gun-ho to see a fitter for them to tell me otherwise I wouldn't get a 172.5 or 170 just because it's the craze right now. Stick with what you have or find out for sure if you should switch.

The older cinqo (the one I have) and the newer riken do not do left/right.
the other three quarqs do left/right but it's not an estimate, it's "if the watts are created from 1-180, it's considered from right leg, if it's from 181-360, it's considered left leg"

The stages only measures wattage on the left crank arm and assumes the wattage on the right crank is the same, no measuring.

I've also found that I'm about 53/47 L/R so anything that would only measure one leg would be wrong. Perhaps only 1 watt or so but wrong.

For $1100, I would get it. Riken used is usually $1000 or there about, so $1100 new is a steal.

The Elsa and the Red (Red and Red22) all measures left/right, but as pointed out, it measures 0-180 as right and 181-360 degrees and left. It's measured, but not to 100% as you can generate force on the upstroke as well, skewing the data. None the less, it's worthwhile is you really want to get into the details.

If this was an isolated case, I'd say that is awesome, but you're the third case I've heard of quarqs magically being offered by dealers at this price, leading me to believe they are about to drop their prices across the board, having lost some ground to powertap and stages price level. I am totally guessing here, but I think dealers were given a heads up to clean out so they weren't stuck with unsellable inventory at a loss, in preparation for a new inventory to arrive say April.

Maybe, but $1100 for a Quarq is still a good price and a VERY good product. I bet the dealer gets the Riken for just under $800, so a very slim margin sale, you can get it out the door for $1100. If think about it, the Quarq trade-up program gives a good idea of the margin. $699 for the Riken and $899 for the Elsa/Red. You know that Quarq wouldn't offer the program if they lost money on it, so guessing that they make about $150-200 per sale. The math from that point is pretty simple… markup in each step by at least 50% (which is fair… the only way for a company to stay in business is to operate with a margin to cover operating expenses and show a small profit).

Quarq just came out with a new series. His price isn't out of line for one of the cinqo versions. Dealers would be wanting to get them gone to pick up new versions.

http://www.quarq.com/upgradeprogram

The Riken and Elsa cranks are not that new... They've been out over a year..

Thanks for the answers!

I am not that concerned though about the L/R power readings (I am not sure how will I use this info); however my main question is whether is worth it or not to pay $400 extra for a Quarq powermeter vs. Stages. Is Quarq that much better than Stages?

If you are balanced L/R, the Stages is as good as the Quarq. If you are not balanced, which several people are not, the Quarq will be more precise

Use Dan's example. If he is 53/47 and his PM is saying 200 watts, 106 are coming from the left, 94 from the right. Because the Stages doubles the left, it will tell him he is doing 212, when in fact he is doing 200. One problem is that the unbalance sometimes occurs at different power levels or when fatigue sets in.

Big deal ? If all you use the PM for is setting your training zones, training within the zones and pacing during a race, no, not a big deal.

But there are many cool things you can do with a PM, such as aero testing. If you are L/R imbalanced it will be harder to use some of the tools out there. This is one example of an application of a PM.

You probably don't know if you are L/R balanced or no. Only way to find out is to measure on a unit that supports it.

If it were my decision, I would spend $400 to have peace of mind I am getting the most accurate numbers I can.

Make sure it's not a Cinqo at that price. While a good PM, it's pretty well obsolete now.

Edited by marcag 2014-02-17 10:12 AM

I think PowerTap has a weakness... You're "stuck" with a single wheel.

The only limitation of the PT is not being able to swap wheels.
I don't train with my race wheels and I have a trainer wheel, so that's 3 sets of wheels. But if this isn't a problem the PT is a great option.

A PT wheel with a disc cover is a great solution and very cost effective. Simple, accurate and proven.

You do have to factor in the cost of the wheel and the PT hub.

There are a couple benefits to racing with a power meter, I think most people understand the advantage of pacing for long course but at the short course distances your race performances often make excellent field tests. I know that my best ever 1 hr effort came during an Olympic race (and I managed to run okay afterwards too) and I've established PR's in the 20-30 min range a couple different times during sprint distance races. The Golden Cheetah CP Curve is an excellent tool for visualizing this. This is consistent with several others I train and race with who use power meters as well.

As for the Quarq at $1100, that's a good deal. I paid $1k for a used S975 a couple years back then $800 for another one a year later. Both are 170's, my TT bike had a 172.5 and my 'cross bike had a 175, neither required a transition period to get used to the slightly shorter crank. I have another 172.5mm crank that is compatible with the Quarq spider (SRAM S900) that I could have swapped out but never felt the need to. 2.5mm or 5mm is not that significant of a change.

Just to be clear, the older quarqs do not measure just one leg and estimate the other. They measure total power from the spider. The newer quarqs still measure from the spider, but can break down that power into left and right distribution as others mentioned.