powertap C1 chainrings...

[AngryScientist]

powertap needs to hire some people who have some forward thinking skills, no?

they've basically lost the power meter race once their hub based meter fell out of popularity in favor of crank based meters, and their response is to create a chainring system based ONLY on 110 bcd crank arms?

neither shimano or campy produce such a thing anymore, and the whole world is going in the direction of the 4-arm crank. what a brilliant idea, an immediately obsolete product!

anyway, anyone using one of these? i havent seen them discussed here yet?

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/images/2015/03/PowerTap-C1-Chainring-Crankset_thumb.jpg

[berserk87]

Is that their own crank arm in the pic, or is that an old Shimano crank that has been painted?

That is an odd response to the market, to go with the 5 bolt standard. Maybe a 4 bolt option will be forthcoming?

[sitzmark]

Most likely because these things don't develop overnight. 4-arm relatively new.

With a company like Saris that tends toward the conservative side of things - test, retest, verify... they get hung out to dry. Has happened repeatedly with their Indoor Cycle line, which has consistently been behind the curve because of their proprietary leanings, and because the software side of the industry is moving very rapidly. $4,000 IC bikes that can't take full advantage of Zwift. Wanna guess if these customers are happy??

Not easy to move quickly with power meter stuff because of the huge amount of data needed to verify precision and accuracy.

Don't have the rings. Have the pedals (and a couple of IC bikes). Pedals have been terrific. I use them on the IC bikes and outdoor bikes, which means consistent numbers across them all.

[.RJ]

Is that their own crank arm in the pic, or is that an old Shimano crank that has been painted?

That is an odd response to the market, to go with the 5 bolt standard. Maybe a 4 bolt option will be forthcoming?

The 5-bolt was likely in development long before the 4-bolt was announced.

[MattTuck]

I thought you were doing your FTP test this weekend. A little late to still be deciding on power meters ;) :banana::beer::D:hello::p

[earlfoss]

I have been on a C1 for the past 1.5 years. I have raced and trained on it a ton.

My first C1 was a pre-production unit, and I was a product tester. It worked flawlessly for me. I got maybe 7mo. of use out of it before they released a redesign on the little area that holds the battery in place. The current unit performs equally flawlessly. I had been on a Power2Max Classic before that and the transition was seamless.

I think that PowerTap has a very good product in the C1 and I recommend it to anyone considering a chainring based power meter.

The one that I have is currently for sale... :)

Comments about 5 vs. 4 bolt are valid. They did choose to be conservative in their offering to begin with. If they determine a need for a 4 bolt version you can bet they will release it. You can be 100% confident that any PM they release will have been tested and optimized beyond the norm. The PM market is too competitive these days not to.

[Neil]

I would suggest that the biggest issue with these is that they are fiercely ugly.

I have the hubs (3), I'd have the pedals, the chain rings will never make it into one of my bikes for that reason alone.