Newbie thread for Powertap?

jsull14 said:

...My questions would be. Do I need a new wheel for this? (I just bought a brand new wheelset.) Do I take the hub out of my new wheel and put in the Powertap. I have never even fixed a spoke in my life. Do I take this to the LBS? Is the Powertap hub something people use all of the time even if they are not looking to measure power on that day?...

You definitely need to either have a new wheel built onto your PT hub or have your existing wheel rebuilt onto the PT hub (assuming it has the correct spoke count). If you haven't built wheels before you should take it to your LBS or find a custom wheelbuilder who will do it for you. Wheel building isn't rocket science, but it is an art form and requires good techniques if you want the wheel to come out true and stay that way over time. Based on your statement that you've never replaced a spoke I wouldn't even consider doing the rebuild yourself. No sense in putting a thousand dollar hub into a poorly built wheel.

Once you have the wheel built the rest of the installation is really simple. It's as easy as installing any other cycling computer so the only difficulties are keeping the cable runs clean (unless you bought the PT SL 2.4 in which case the install is a no brainer). Measuring your wheel rollout and adjusting the PT computer settings takes about half an hour the first time and gets faster with practice. I installed 2 PT Pros last week and had both finished in much less than an hour including all the custom menu settings like recording intervals, display averaging, wheel size, clocks, etc.

It takes a bit longer and several rereads of the manual to figure out how to use the thing, especially stuff like entering and leaving interval mode, triggering new intervals, displaying your interval results while your still riding, zeroing the torque, etc. It's not too tough, but it takes a while to get used to the button press combos to get from one function to the next(things like a short double button press starts a new interval, a longer double button press clears the computer an even longer double button press gets you into the setup menu). But again, it's not rocket science and you'll figure it out pretty quick if you just read the manual and play with it.

Most folks ride with power all the time. It's all data, even rest days (it helps keep you honest on days you were only supposed to stay in L1) and definitely during any hard training, group rides or racing. Buy a copy of CyclingPeaks WKO+ to really get the most out of your PT. Start tracking all your rides and set up the Performance Manager to track training loads and you'll never want to ride without power data.

Good luck,
Dave

jsull14 said:

It's time for me to step up from heart rate to power. I like the Powertap from reading reviews and the Saris website literature.

Problem is, the installation frightens me. Is there a Powertap 101 thread around here?

My questions would be. Do I need a new wheel for this? (I just bought a brand new wheelset.) Do I take the hub out of my new wheel and put in the Powertap. I have never even fixed a spoke in my life. Do I take this to the LBS? Is the Powertap hub something people use all of the time even if they are not looking to measure power on that day?

Thanks for any info.:o

The installation is pretty simple but you will need a wheel with a PT hub. Once you start collecting data (it's addictive) - you'll want to be able to train and race on it, so pick a good quality rim/spoke combo that suits your type of riding.

Depending on your existing rear wheel, you may or may not be able to re-use that. Otherwise, maybe consider selling the rear or keeping it as a spare. Any decent wheelbuilder at an LBS should be able to lace up a good wheel for you with the PT hub. Ask about and find out which LBS has a good wheelbuilder. Quality of wheel building is paramount (no matter what hub you use).

You can also buy PTs already as complete wheel systems from many suppliers, including places like wheelbuilder.com.

You have the choice of PTs with a wired harness (the Pro or SL - no harder to install than most bike computers) or a completely wireless system (SL 2.4) which is the simplest of all power meters to install. Simply put the CPU mount on the bars/stem, put the wheel in the bike, press the button turn the CPU on and go! That's it.

The other power meters of note (Polar, SRM, ergomo) have varying degrees of complexity in their installation. They are not super complex but do require a bit more time, mechanical nouse and/or special tools to install (to fit and correctly position and/or torque cranks/bottom brackets/sensors etc).

The SL 2.4 is by far the simplest power meter to set up.

You should also consider some specialist power meter analysis software (Cycling Peaks WKO+) and the book "Training & Racing with a Power Meter" as these will help you get a lot more out of your investment.

Thanks Dave and Alex. This helps a lot!