IBIKE

[Riccardo]

IS THIS PRODUCT ANY GOOD?

[Little-Ben]

wat is it

[Windbreaker]

Nope, not from people I know that tried it. Vibration screws it up and I still have doubts that it can accurately deal with all the other variables that it is faced with. Would go for the Polar before this.

[Pilks]

Isnt it the power meter without any sensors ? In theory it uses Newtons 3rd law to work out force then converts that to power !

 

In practice it is very hard to configure and get right but when it does work it works well !

[Windbreaker]

 

In practice it is very hard to configure and get right but when it does work it works well !

not from what I've heard. Couple of people I know have sent them back

 

[Pilks]

ok you caught me the last bit about it working well i made up! But was i really ?

 

You never can configure it right therefore it never works well !

[Windbreaker]

somewhere i read something that puts it into perspective - iBike and the polar are "power estimators" because they do not measure torque directly

[Pilks]

Well if you think about it the opposite force it going to be different to the real one you exert ! But the question is by how much 1 -3 % or 5%<?

 

 

[Christie]

IS THIS PRODUCT ANY GOOD?

Dilbert says NO!

It was designed for America, where all roads have smooth surfaces & the wind always blows from the same direction Christie2007-11-15 21:52:48

[Breeze]

There was an article in the PRocycling of earlier this year.  I left he issue in Europe unfortunately.  In there they have gone and compared all the power meters - in short:

 

SRM was about 1% more accurate than the Powertap in most of the test.  One of the cons is that you can not put the powertap onto a TT bike with a disc, but they say they are working on it.  However, according to the article, the Powertap gave more accurate measures on climbs of 5% and more. 

The ergimo was a bit more "out" and the Ibike as you say only give an indication and is very dependable on other outside factors and I propose for the not so serious rider - who wanna have an idea only to maybe chat to some more serious friends about.

 

I came to the conclusion that buying a Powertap for training and racing, the best one is less than half the price of the cheaper SRM,and you will get the same out of each of it more or less

 

 

[bruce]

In my experience, the SRM and Powertap are euqivalent in terms of accuracy.  The decision depends on whether you prefer the PM to be on the bike and hence have a choice of wheels, or on the wheel and be able to move it between bikes (or alternatively have a race set and training set of wheel) and of course price.  Differences in accuracy are negligable in terms of training information.

 

The first Ergomo that I tested was quite inconsistent, and was recalled to Germany due to a faulty batch of resistors.  I have just had a new one installed which is a lot more consistent, but still appears to exhibit some non-linearity - I'm running a long term test on it (over a few months) to get a good understanding of how the unit behaves.

 

The iBike that I tested was very sensitive to calibration and could give some really way out numbers if the calibration was not correct, or I changed position significantly etc.  They have introduced a number of improvements at Interbike this year - vibration damping mounts and error correcting software - I am waiting for the new mounts from Paul to test them out.  The problem with having way out numbers sometimes is that it really skews your training data.

 

I had the previous version of the Polar, which worked okay but was not reliable in certain gear combinations and had a 5sec sampling rate which is not acceptable.  THe new one has a better sampling rate but I understand that memory is somewhat limited.  The new one is also a wireless system.  Can't comment on the accuracy of the new one.

 

The Quarq looks like it is going to set the world alight.  10 strain gauges configured for good accuracy and temperature compensation (2 more than the scientific SRM).  Head unit incorporating GPS and Ant+ compatible.  Also compatible with the new Garmins (as is the new wireless SRM).  Who knows when it will become available though.

[JasonW]

 

The Quarq looks like it is going to set the world alight.  10 strain gauges configured for good accuracy and temperature compensation (2 more than the scientific SRM).  Head unit incorporating GPS and Ant+ compatible.  Also compatible with the new Garmins (as is the new wireless SRM).  Who knows when it will become available though.

 

First quater of 2008 if there website is to be believed. About $ 1100 excluding the computer

[bruce]

 

The Quarq looks like it is going to set the world alight.  10 strain gauges configured for good accuracy and temperature compensation (2 more than the scientific SRM).  Head unit incorporating GPS and Ant+ compatible.  Also compatible with the new Garmins (as is the new wireless SRM).  Who knows when it will become available though.

 

First quater of 2008 if there website is to be believed. About $ 1100 excluding the computer

 

Yes, that could be Jan 1 or April 1, then the trick will be getting hold of one - I suspect there may be quite a long manufacturing backlog.  Added to that I'm not so sure I want one of the first batch off the production line (every one of the other manufacturers have had niggles to iron out with their first units.)