Is it mad to fit power meter & Di2 to cheap bike?
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Carbon wheels and rigid carbon forks would make a much bigger difference for the money.
Electronic gearing doesn't shift any faster than mechanical it is just a little bit nicer to use and much more difficult to fix when it goes wrong.Transition Patrol - viewtopic.php?f=10017&t=130702350 -
It's significantly easier to fix actually, just needs different tools.0
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I think most of the people commenting on this thread place extremely low value on power meters and electronic shifting.
BTW my £400 Halfords hardtail isn't 6 years old it's 7 months old - but I already wore out the original chainset over the winter.
Before i was cycling i was burning the weight off at the cardio suite, and in the "so-called" fat burning HR zone i noticed huge variability in my HR at the same power output - plus or minus ten in either direction at least.
Factors affecting -
heat - sweating = more blood flow to skin, more HR
food - digestion = more blood flow to stomach, more HR
time of day and pyschological arousal
The latter is a big one. Mid afternoon, bored and sleepy, my HR is very low for the power output i'm holding, but i find the exercise hard going, it actually feels like my muscles hurt more and are being starved of oxygen. In the evening energy spike, i feel much more pumped up and my HR is way higher, but subjectively the exercise feels easier - using the same settings on the same piece of exercise equipment.
On the bike around 15 hours a week atm, so inaccurate values make planning food intake difficult.0 -
BTW I think my usage of triathalon bars increases my irritation with sloppy shifting.
It's a necessity because if i put my upper body weight on my wrist joints then i get numb, tingling hands for days due to the nerve bundle getting pinched as it passes through my wrist bones. I spend most of my time on the tri bars, where i am resting on the forearm cups. I suspect that I'd have wrist problems on a road bike too, despite the different hand position, because i am also transmitting body weight through the wrist bones.
Anyway, on the tri-bars you can't reach your mechanical shifters. To shift, i either reach with one hand while the other arm still rests on a tri-bar (slightly increased drag, significantly poorer bike control) or go back to a flat bar riding position completely (greatly increased drag, good control but obviously still some loss during the transition). If I have to hunt for the desired ratio or the shift is greatly delayed, i'll get enough extra drag from sitting up playing with the shifters that i'll need to change again once i finally hit the ratio i was after, or my effort level/cadence sense gets messed up.
Electronic shifting also means you can wire up secondary buttons on the end of the tri-bars, which sounds nice.0 -
I think most of the people commenting on this thread place extremely low value on power meters and electronic shifting.
To be fair, I think you are probably over estimating the worth of Di2! It's very nice, but it's hardly game changing. As others have said it would be lunacy to go Di2 as a 'first' upgrade on a bike of that ilk.
So you have a flat bar hybrid, with tri bars, yes? So you'll need XTR shifters, with a 5-way junction box, and Dura Ace TT shifters. So you'll have to go 11 speed at the same time, you could potentially go for Ultegra, to keep the cost down, but then you'll need an 11 speed freehub, your wheel won't be convertible, so you need a whole new rear wheel, unless you get the XTR 11 speed cassette, but then you'll need the XTR rear mech, which is utterly hideously expensive. You'll be looking at £2,000, just to give you some buttons on your tri bars. Madness.
You'll get out of a power meter what you put in. If you just want something to tell you an intensity to ride at then a HRM will be just as effective. A power meter will be more help if you want to get faster, stronger etc, but won't really help with weight loss in the same way. Consider what you really want. Will you spend the time actually analysing what it's telling you, doing tests to validate the information - you've said before you don't want to do high intensity FTP tests, a power meter is utterly useless without.0 -
It's not a low value, it's several times the value of your bike. Seems disproportionate to most. I'd say most people just value the bike more than the toys. If I had £4k to blow on a bike then I might think about Di2. In your position I'd think about what's causing the tingling first. I still reckon a drop bar bike might be better for you, far more variety for hand positions, and you can brake from most of them. I sometimes get tingly fingers on flat bars, I don't if riding on the hoods or in the drops of my cross bike.RutlandGav wrote:I think most of the people commenting on this thread place extremely low value on power meters and electronic shifting.
But it's your money to do with as you see fit.0 -
Why not just put bar end shifters on, use a road bike front mech? Maybe cost £25-30 if picked up used off ebay.
Besides, given the bike and why you are riding, I don't think a bit of aero drag when you change gear is going to make a whole host of difference to anything at all is it?Currently riding a Whyte T130C, X0 drivetrain, Magura Trail brakes converted to mixed wheel size (homebuilt wheels) with 140mm Fox 34 Rhythm and RP23 suspension. 12.2Kg.0 -
Sorry for the hijack but has anyone any views on Campag Super Record and Zipp 303's as an upgrade to my Triban 3?...0
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You'll probably get by without these things if you're a bit more comfortable. I'd suggest a decent set of gloves before any other improvements, and then build up your strength so you're not putting your weight on your hands so much. And I'm very curious to see the extra-hybridized hybrid that you've got, can we see some pictures?Specialized Roubaix Elite 2015
XM-057 rigid 29er0
