Cheap Power Meters, that’s an oxymoron. I spent a loooooong time convincing myself that I was worthy of one.
The reality is that I still probably have the lowest FTP of any PowerTap owner alive, but I digress.
A few years after I had kids, I was able to convince myself that the only way I was going to get faster with limited hours per week to train was to get a Power Meter. I needed to get every morsel of training benefit from each second that I was on the bike, or so the theory went.
After $700 and a couple of years, I can honestly say that it has helped. I mostly train now in my Man Cave (aka. Garage) and watching my power output during my workouts is interesting for an engineer like me.
The most surprising thing about using the power meter was it’s honesty. There were days when it was a chore just swinging my leg over the saddle but as soon as I fired up the PowerTap, BOOM, big watts. Then there way days where I felt great, but just couldn’t get the power down.
But here’s the thing. You don’t need one.
Last year, my trusty Cycleops Fluid trainer died so I had to find a new one. I new that I wanted a fluid to keep the noise down but I also knew that the faster I went on my Cycleops, the less resistance it put up.
In my research, I came across this article from Kurt Kinetic which says that the Kinetic’s fluid is ‘tuned’ to closely mimic a user’s Power Profile. On a Kurt Kinetic, you can use your rear wheel mounted speed sensor and a speedometer on your bike computer to realistically measure your effort. The harder you rode, the faster you went.
This was different than how my Cycleops worked. The faster I went on my Cycleops, the LESS effort it would take because the fluid would heat up and lose it’s resistance.
I actually think the Kinetic’s ability to maintain a consistent Power Profile is a very undersold benefit of the Kinetic trainers.
I’ve had both my Cycleops Power Tap and my Garmin 305 Speedometer on my bike for a while and I can honestly say that it works. You can track your effort by speed instead of watts and you’ll be fine.
You won’t get the satisfaction of seeing 800 watts (or 200 watts for me) on your Power Meter but for the money you save, buy a few light bulbs and get some extra watts.
So your cheap power meter setup looks like:
– Kurt Kinetic Green Machine Trainer ($340)
– Garmin Rear Speed/Cadence Sensor ($40)
– Garmin 500 Bike Computer ($250) or any Ant + compatible computer
You could even get a rear mounted bike computer like I had for years and be fine.
– Cateye ($30)
If you think about it, you probably already have a trainer and a bike computer so you are already there. I just hope its a Kinetic.