I have recently come to the app after using the old school videos from years back. I ride a lot when home but never trained effectively, just get out and beast myself.
I work at sea month on month off. I work across multiple vessels and fly there. We always have a spin bike of varying quality. I have tried the app with the spin bike but just having my cadence and HR on the screen didn’t really make the experience worth it. You need power or virtual power to make things Come together
My recent ship had a stages bike with a Bluetooth power meter. Joy. I still had the app on my laptop. Everything synced in straight away and I loved it.
Now to make this worthwhile ongoing I need an power meter / pedal set up, so I can transport it around the fleet, use it on any bike any place anywhere.
And it can’t cost an arm and a leg.
Any recommendations for such a device that is compatible with the Sufferfest.
Any details on the specifications such a device would need to conform to to make it liable to work - ie is there a universal standard for power devices (VHS v betamax) other than connection bearer (Bluetooth / Ant+)
The great thing with sufferfest is I can download and use without a large data overhead.
Hello Madderdog.
I am like your self new to Sufferfest and at 56 years old and have to say never been as motivated regarding exercise as I am now! I read hundreds of articles on the web about power meters, eventually going for the precision pro left crank arm power meter. Its an absolute cnych to set up on bluetooth and never has any drop outs, wether its to my head unit or The Sufferferst App.
Whatever you do don’t get into the single vs dual sided debate, it has fried my brain. Suffice to say I have almost broken the bank and bought the dual sided (mrs would have killed me lol). I think for an amateur rider, doubling the data from one side does suffice, although Sufferlandrians on here will have their own opinions on that which actually be good to read, because if I did break the bank it would mean, because of stock levels changing to a 52-36 from 50-34, which also would be good to get opinions on.
Like I say there will be a lot more knowledgeable Sufferlandrians on here than me but im addicted to the App and the Forum so thought I would add my Two Penneth.
Onwards and Upwards
Cheers
Simon
Answering mainly as a Sufferlandrian rather than a Minion…
Power pedals are a fairly straightforward way to go - you just need to know that the pedal threads on the spin bikes on all the ships are standard 9/16"
Your main choices are Favero Assioma (Uno or duo), Garmin Vector (single or double) or Powertap P2 currently - the are probably other smaller brands as well.
Single sided is cheaper and you don’t lose much really - unless you have a large right-left leg power imbalance.
Vectors and Assiomas work well with the app. Powertap not so much (the app doesn’t support the single-sided version). The Assiomas are cheaper and we’ve probably seen fewer issues with them working with the app (my Vectors work really well, @anon8787683 had a nightmare with numerous sets!)
Plus one for Assioma. I’ve gone from Vector 2 to Assioma and I’m glad I did. Just so easy to install and always work with reliable numbers.
I’m a data geek plus my balance changes a bit depending on effort level so I got the Duo. But the Uno would be a great option to save a few quid. Plus you can always upgrade to dual later if you wanted.
I’ve used the single-sided Vector 2 for a long time without too many issues. Maybe @Madderdog can find the older version of the Vectors for cheaper than new Assiomas. Worth looking around.
I recently got vector 3s dual sided (was on a good price during Black Friday) It work fine with the App. No issues so far. Easy to install on the bike. Connectivity on bluetooth and ANT+
Another vote for the Assiomas. I have the dual sided for 2 years now and switch between bikes all the time. Easy to setup and use, very accurate against numerous sources and great battery life with a good app for updates and control.
I have PowerTap P2s and they have been excellent for me. Turns out I had a very large imbalance between left and right legs.
Over the course of the last 8 months I have been able to change up my pedal stroke and get to close to 50:50 balance. Correcting this imbalance has helped my overall cycling enormously as I believe I was unconsciously leaning to the right.
I have a mixture of Stage crank arm and some Garmin Vectors, all pretty much the same so will come down to ease of use to install and remove. Personally I would get a set of Garmin vectors off ebay, the second generation are coming up regularly pretty cheap now and the single sided (power meter in one pedal) will give you everything you need with the Sufferfest application. Couple of things to consider, if you are only going to fit one pedal you will need to work out what you are going to do with the other foot i.e. clip in or just use a trainer on the other side. Other considerations is Garmin are ANT+ so you will need a laptop to run it on.
They’ve been excellent for me, only thing to watch out for is that Bluetooth is transmitted by each pedal separately, not a combine signal, and that you have to send them off for bearing replacements, although that is UK based now so turnaround is quick.
I bought the Favero Assioma Duo during a good sale and absolutely love them. I find them to be the most responsive with my connected devices and with the trainer. I’ve got my KICKR set to use the pedals as the power meter input instead of the trainer - just a bit more accurate I think.
They do give cadence. When connecting to the app for a workout, I connect my pedals to the app for cadence. The trainer uses the pedals for power so I leave it but you can also connect the app directly for power too.
so will probably pull the trigger on pay day.