Friday File, December 11, 2015
Watt kind of cycling data do you need?
Today we bring you a review link, and a perspective about choosing a single side crank-based power meter.
DCrainmaker’s in-depth PRECISION review is live. In true DC style it is as extensive, detailed and informative as ever, gives an account of everything from PRECISION set up to performance. The last line of the summary ends with: “….it (PRECISION) takes the KOM for the least expensive direct force power meter on the market – and one that’s just as accurate and easy to use as ones that cost significantly more.”
Investing in a power meter is an important decision – one that’s bound to transform your riding experience and advance your cycling performance. It can also be a pricey venture with many power meter units running close to $1000 and others well over $2,000.
Through our commitment to high quality data for all cyclists, we’ve focused our early developments on a left-leg device and kept the price under $400 USD.
Here is some background in choosing direct force, single sided crank-based power meters.
A direct force power meter can be theoretically located in any part of a bike’s drive chain. A bike’s drive train can include any component that transfers energy from a rider to the point of contact on a bike. As such, any one of the following components can be considered a part of the drive train: pedal, crank arm, crank spindle, crank spider, chain, wheel hub, wheel spokes, wheel rim, and tire. The farther the meter is located from the rider, the more losses are absorbed by the bike before getting to the power meter and the less detail about the rider’s cycling style can be discerned.
The 4iiii PRECISION power meter is a crank based left side power meter. It is unique amongst other crank arm power meters in that it combines a proprietary strain gauge design with sophisticated software algorithms to provide superior accuracy and deep stride analysis. (Left leg pedal smoothness and torque effectiveness are included as a permanent features until January 15th)
The PRECISION power meter doubles the very accurate power measurement from your left leg to give you a single, very close estimate of your total wattage output.
While we all have cycling leg imbalances, the single-leg power meter methodology has proven to deliver highly accurate data to empower cyclists with the information needed to advance their performance. To this effect, PRECISION delivers a left leg accuracy range of 0 to 4,000 watts at +/- 1% error, and records a cadence range from 10 to 170 RPM. And, if you know of existing leg imbalances, our latest upgrades allow you to manually adjust your scale factor for an even closer estimate of your combined power output.
So what does this mean to you and your investment in a PRECISION single-leg power meter?
With left-leg only data, PRECISION is an accurate and dependable tool you can count on to gain new insights into your relative power. Even our own resident elite triathlete chooses to train and race with left only power. In her words “because it’s reliable”.
By adding this new dimension to your cycling, you can gain relevant information to guide your day to day training, as well as valuable information to compare your performance from event to event – all of this at the most competitive price in the market.
And for those who want the highest level of data sophistication, rest assured! 4iiii engineers are already hard at work on implementing the same level of accuracy already offered as part of the left-side solution to a future dual leg system. And yes, we’ll remain committed to delivering future solutions at leading prices.
That’s it for us this Friday. Remember to ride hard and smile often. If you are somewhere warm, take it in!
