Quarq

mrpbennett

Has anyone got any experience with these power meters? I have been introduced into watts / FTP / Power recently. I am totally fasniated by it. Being a numbers man, I love all the data and see how I can improved etc.

I have recently just upgraded to a Ultegra R8000 groupset, I was looking at this power meter as it's not too bad on price:

https://www.quarq.com/product/quarq-dfo ... 2rq1i2o371

As I would imagine this just sits in front of the big ring. But this wouldnt give you left or right power...is that the case? Will the spider give me what I am looking for.

Just Power and Watt reading through out my ride on my Garmin 820

joey54321

I don't think it will be compatible with your Ultegra crankset btw. You'd need some SRAM 8 bolt cranks. As far as I have read, no one really knows what to do with L/R power balance anyway, so I don't think you are missing much there.

Mine have been pretty good, I've got two and run them for a few years. Have recently had one go out by 6% but nothing a static torque test and recalibrate won't fix. I'd say Quarq on the second tier of powermeters in terms of reliability. For me, on tier one is SRM and a Powertap wheel, tier two is Quarq and Power2Max, tier 3 is the pedal based powermeters and tier 'wouldn't even bother' is all the one-sided PMs.

mrpbennett

hmm.. this is on the description:

Designed especially for Shimano®’s Dura-Ace® R9100 series chain rings, the Quarq DFour91 Power Meter brings Quarq’s next-generation DZero platform to Shimano’s latest groupset. Compatible with Ultegra® R8000 chainrings.

DFour91 embodies 10 years of Quarq advances in power meter technology, plus new features such as dual Bluetooth Low Energy and ANT+ wireless data transfer, revised circuitry, a new strain gauge design and the Qalvin BLE app.

The DFour91 power meter is a bolt-on upgrade, pairing with the 11-speed Dura-Ace R9100 or Ultegra® R8000 chainrings.

But then again, this is my first bit of research. Good to know you have enjoyed using yours though, I watch a lot of GCN and Quarq seems to be popular amongst the likes of SRM which is ££££.

Have you found using a powermeter has allowed you to train in a more clever way, at the moment I just use cadence and HR

cgfw201

I've got a DFour which I've been running with Ultegra 6800, sounds like the new DFour works with new Ultegra.

Was absolutely brilliant for 18 months. No power spikes/dropouts, 3 new coin cell batteries and totally worry free power readings for around 1000h of use.

A couple of weeks ago it lost it's marbles, but was replaced under warranty by Zyrofisher within a week.

I'd still recommend it despite that issue, particularly with the seemingly endless list of issues people have with Powertap P3 and Stages which were the other options I was looking at when I bought the Quarq.

mrpbennett

also another power meter newb question..the spiders just sit infront of the big ring and dont require new quarq cranks?

If i want looking at the spider, I could keep my ultegra cranks?

mamil314

-edit

joey54321

Getting good use out of a powermeter completely depends on if you ride Vs train on your bike.

If all you do is head out for a ride or tag on a group ride then it'll likely be pointless for you.

If you frequently go out with a specific session in mind, then they can be great. They are also good for analysing race files (seeing why you got dropped, what were the power requirements in the last 5 km, etc...) which is good if you either have the time to learn or the money for a coach.

step83

Id agree on a PM if you are training to a target, yeah its cool to say you pushed X watts on a Sunday club ride but its not designed for that. its a training/analytical tool. The Dfour91 should fit you just need to remove the spider from your old spindle which isn't too hard. Just be aware when you reassemble if its hidden or non hidden bolt. Some only work one way others allow you to change (non hidden is far far easier)

mrpbennett

joey54321 wrote:

Getting good use out of a powermeter completely depends on if you ride Vs train on your bike.

I do both really, I dont have access to a turbo trainer. But we have Watt bikes in our gym so i use those to train, and I hope to take that training on to the road also. I just want to get faster and better at climbing (dont we all)

joey54321

No, some people just enjoy riding to get out with mates and in to the countryside. Both are fine, and individual.

It's just I know people (some of whom have a PM) who only ever do club runs, or rides with mates, and for them it is just ane expensive number generator on a head unit and nothing more. It sounds like you do at least some training, and have a fitness target/goal and it will definitely help with that if:
a) You don't let the numbers get to your head (some people hate training with power, every day is a 'performance' which you can 'fail').
b) You have a good idea of training ideas or a coach

mrpbennett

joey54321 wrote:

a) You don't let the numbers get to your head (some people hate training with power, every day is a 'performance' which you can 'fail').
b) You have a good idea of training ideas or a coach

I can understand the downfall for sure, but sometimes you just have a bad day on the bike. I done my first FTP test this week after doing squats and deadlifts the day before I was super disappointed (FTP : 189) however I now had a benchmark to increase.

The wattbike app has some great tests / workouts so ill use that. It would be awesome to see the power output on rides to see if im improving outside of the gym.

Do you think a coach is a good idea?

-- edit updated quote

joey54321

That depends a lot on your situation, knowledge, attitude, finances, enthusiasm, basically too many things for a random guy on an internet forum to answer.

You could always try doing a plan first (no affiliation but I know RST coaching and Fascat both have reasonably priced 4-8 week off the shelf plans).

Personally, I have always found when I have a coach I offload too much responsibility on to them and stop doing the hard work that only I can do, I end up going slower. I hope you don't take too much offense, but to me, the idea of doing an FTP test after a day of squats and deadlifts implies you may benefit from some guidance. An FTP test for me does two things:
a) determines the effectiveness of recent training
b) sets target zones for the next block of training

Obviously, by fatiguing your muscles the day before test you have large negated point B, you zones will likely not be accurate going forward. But unless you do every test the day after doing squats and deadlifts you also ruin the consistency required for point A. Just my opinion of course, and it may be that the squats and deadlifts were sufficiently easy as to not impact the test (though, of course, then I would question how they are helping your cycling, but I don't know enough about your life/training to weigh in on this).

imafatman

I just swapped out an Ultegra crankset for a Quark.... https://i.imgur.com/Rt3U1jD.jpg

Bits needed:

* SRAM GXP Bottom Bracket - 68/73 BSA
* Quarq DZERO with Aluminium Crank
* Praxxis 50/34 ChainRings

Total was about £680.

This seems the cheapest way to get an existing Ultegra bike setup with a Quarq.

Otherwise you can buy a Quark DFOUR which is designed to use Shimano ChainRings but that unit is more expensive, also needs a BB but can use your existing Ultegra rings.

If you look at pictures of the DFOUR with Ultegra Rings - they dont look as nice :
https://media.karousell.com/media/photo ... 1af7e7.jpg

savethemamil

I had a Dfour and put it onto my Ultegra 6800 cranks. You need a specific torx head to get the bolts out btw.

I found it was loose in the ultegra BB, the instructions didn't say I needed to change the BB, so I sent it back.

I got a 4iii PM instead, about half the price and works great.

timothyw

OP, buy one of these:
https://www.power2max.com/en/product/ng ... crank-set/

It's fully compatible with your existing Shimano bottom bracket. The 110 4-S spider option is compatible with your existing shimano chainrings. You'll struggle to find a bad review.

Quarq don't do an option that doesn't involve replacing your shimano bottom brackets for the (in my experience) worse and more expensive Sram GXP type or some kind of bb30 headache.