SRM power meter advice

ollaay
ollaay Posts: 166
edited February 2018 in Road buying advice
Looking to find a power meter for my Cannondale SL hollogram crankset, and found the SRM one it it just a case of buying and bolting to it and that's it?

Exactly this one below.

https://contenderbicycles.com/product/s ... sl-spider/

Or is there any alternative brands that'll fit for the crankset?

Cheers

Comments

  • sungod
    sungod Posts: 17,430
    looks ok

    torque specs are here... http://www.srm.de/fileadmin/user_upload ... s_2014.pdf

    there're many pm options these days, not sure what else would fit, this site is probably best for reviews... https://www.dcrainmaker.com/product-rev ... wer-meters
    my bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny
  • ollaay
    ollaay Posts: 166
    sungod wrote:
    looks ok

    torque specs are here... http://www.srm.de/fileadmin/user_upload ... s_2014.pdf

    there're many pm options these days, not sure what else would fit, this site is probably best for reviews... https://www.dcrainmaker.com/product-rev ... wer-meters
    Cheers will have a read :)
  • stueys
    stueys Posts: 1,332
    Power2max also do a Cannondale crank based PM, at about 1/3 of the SRM price......
  • ollaay
    ollaay Posts: 166
    Stueys wrote:
    Power2max also do a Cannondale crank based PM, at about 1/3 of the SRM price......
    Is it compatible with the SL hollogram? What's the difference between that and the SRM is it just the name?
  • Can’t comment on compatibility but a very happy user of p2m and having read around couldn’t see a justification for the extra cost of an srm for the use I wanted.

    If you email p2m they are fairly prompt and can make sure you are looking at a compatible model.
  • sungod
    sungod Posts: 17,430
    ollaay wrote:
    Stueys wrote:
    Power2max also do a Cannondale crank based PM, at about 1/3 of the SRM price......
    Is it compatible with the SL hollogram? What's the difference between that and the SRM is it just the name?

    the main difference is that the p2m battery can be swapped easily, whereas the srm uses long life cells that are soldered in place (i've changed them in mine, but not everyone will be able to do this, in which case it has to be returned for servicing)

    srm were the first to make a good reliable pm, but with german manufacturing the price is high compared to lower cost countries, flip side is they tend to last a long time and are proven able to survive harsh conditions - my srm is about 10 years old, still going strong

    these days there's far more choice, if i were buying now i'd look long and hard at what's around and what reports are on reliability/accuracy - there've been a few products with poor seals over the years

    from the reviews on dcr the p2m is a good option
    my bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny
  • cgfw201
    cgfw201 Posts: 680
    Find it hard to believe SRM is ever the best option these days given the price. P2M or maybe even something pedal based like Powertap P1 or Garmin Vectors would seem much better value for money.
  • stueys
    stueys Posts: 1,332
    SRM were the original PM as sungod said, they are still regarded as the gold standard in terms of accuracy (I think I read somewhere they sample at a very high rate) but there are now multiple accurate power meters at a lower price point that are just as reliable and give more metrics back. There's absolutely no reason to pay an SRM premium now.

    I've got both a P2M (type S) and Garmin Vector. P2M is absolutely rock solid as a power meter, it just works, Vector gives more metrics and locks you into a pedal system. If I was buying a brand new power meter now I would look at the P2M NGeco (you would want this one https://www.power2max.de/europe/en/Prod ... annondale/ ) or the new Vector 3.

    In theory pedal based PM's represent the best place to measure power as they are (a) closest to the source, (b) able to capture interesting metrics directly without interpreting anything by crank position (power phase, L/R balance, etc, etc)and (c) are very portable between bikes. In practice my experience of Vector 1 and 2 demonstrated that a crank based power meter was more reliable than pedals. It's likely that Garmin have improved that with the new iteration though.

    (I guess another point is that I've only ever really used the Vector to tell me my power, Vector captures lots of interesting metrics but I've no idea what to actually to with any of them......)
  • ollaay
    ollaay Posts: 166
    Stueys wrote:
    SRM were the original PM as sungod said, they are still regarded as the gold standard in terms of accuracy (I think I read somewhere they sample at a very high rate) but there are now multiple accurate power meters at a lower price point that are just as reliable and give more metrics back. There's absolutely no reason to pay an SRM premium now.

    I've got both a P2M (type S) and Garmin Vector. P2M is absolutely rock solid as a power meter, it just works, Vector gives more metrics and locks you into a pedal system. If I was buying a brand new power meter now I would look at the P2M NGeco (you would want this one https://www.power2max.de/europe/en/Prod ... annondale/ ) or the new Vector 3.

    In theory pedal based PM's represent the best place to measure power as they are (a) closest to the source, (b) able to capture interesting metrics directly without interpreting anything by crank position (power phase, L/R balance, etc, etc)and (c) are very portable between bikes. In practice my experience of Vector 1 and 2 demonstrated that a crank based power meter was more reliable than pedals. It's likely that Garmin have improved that with the new iteration though.

    (I guess another point is that I've only ever really used the Vector to tell me my power, Vector captures lots of interesting metrics but I've no idea what to actually to with any of them......)
    Many thanks for this, seems there is no reason to spend more on SRM.
    As I have cannonade chainrings would I need to swap these for something like praxis ones? Or would it work with my current ones ie the same as this one.
    https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycling ... am-sl.html
  • stueys
    stueys Posts: 1,332
    I’ve never worked on the dale si crank set so can’t definitely say. I’d expect you could reuse but ping the power2max guys an email and they will tell you for sure. They know all the cranksets in detail and are pretty good at advice.

    Meant to attach this to my last post, a useful round up of options
    https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2017/11/pow ... ition.html
  • I wouldn’t buy an SRM power meter as there are cheaper options available that are just as reliable and accurate but I would encourage anyone that trains to power to get an SRM PC8. It really is streets ahead of anything else in terms of the recording options, data presentation, screen quality and build quality. Once you have used one, you won’t go back to anything else