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tcj103
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Stages Cycling Stages Power Meter Shimano Ultegra review

  • Price Paid:$799.00
  • User rating:
    (5)
  • Would buy again from this company: No
  • Used product for: 6 months
  • # of logged workouts:

"I wanted power on a new road bike, didn't want to spend a lot, and the bike I was looking at was a scratch-and-dent model that was missing a crankset, so the shop had a Shimano 105 crank set sitting around. So it worked out for me to go with Stages. Having a Power Tap on a race wheel, I even set up a DC Rainmaker-esque comparison on the trainer; stages meter and powertap wheel, both recording to their own head-units. Overlayed the data plots, and they are indistinguishable, outside of differences in filtering between the two."tcj103

(5)

Ease of installation

Non drive crank arm installation. Swap from one bike to another in minutes

(5)

Ease of use

Pairs with ant+ head units, or Bluetooth smart/4.0 (iPhone 4s and newer, Android not sure). No issues with re-pairing,

(5)

Quality of Construction

No issues so far, the unit has been through wet conditions and not had any problems.

(5)

Durability

About 1500 miles, no issues so far

(5)

Value

Power meters aren't cheap, but this is and provides "real" power, i.e. measuring force and RPM

(5)

Performance

First, DC Rainmaker has as usual an exhaustive study on the accuracy and precision of this power meter. A lot has been said of the left-leg only thing. This power meter measures the force your leg puts on the non-drive crank arm, and "doubles" it to get power. Accelerometers inside the unit sense revolutions. For an age grouper, I think the cost of this power meter is well worth the limitation of not knowing left/right leg power differences.

Strengths

Price, simplicity in setting up on the bike, temperature compensation.

Weakness

Not having left/right balance. Also, the model line up is limited to metal-only cranks arms, carbon isn't practical for calibration. So if you have a carbon crankset, either look at another power meter, or get a new crank set.

Buyers clubStages Power Meter Shimano Ultegra
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  • workouts logged
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