News: On the right road
Procycling magazine
The issue that’s mentioned a number of times in the list of pros and cons is whether a meter can be transferred between bikes. Other issues listed are lack of wheel choice (Powertap), incompatibility with Shimano or Campagnolo cranks (Quarq), difficulty in setting up (Polar), and can’t be used indoors (iBike). Our design will address all of these, which gives us great confidence that our power meter will be what cyclists really want.
You’re probably thinking that a bit more hard information about what we’re doing would be good. Well, I think at this stage we can let you just a little further into the secrets of the Brim Brothers workshop, as long as you promise to keep it to yourself…
What we’re doing is putting force sensors under the cyclist’s shoes, to measure the force being applied to the pedals. Without getting too specific, the sensors will not be attached to the pedals so nothing will be replaced on the bike or attached to it. This is what will make our power meter a major step forward from the existing systems. It means that there won’t be any issues of compatibility with wheels or cranks, and it will work just as well on rollers or a turbo as it does on the road.
While measuring the force being applied to the pedals is not itself a new idea, it presents many many design challenges so it hasn’t been implemented successfully yet. Some have tried and failed (see Microsport Technologies), but we’re confident that our approach and the innovative solutions we’ve developed will bring success.
The system will also be Ant+Sport compatible, which means it will work with Ant compatible power meter displays from other manufacturers. Ant+Sport is fast becoming the standard for bike and cyclist instrumentation, and we expect the number of compatible devices and displays to increase rapidly in the next year or so.
By the way, starting in a few weeks we’ll be running the online survey we mentioned before. That will be your chance to tell us what you think of power meters and what you’d like to see in them. We’ll let you know when the survey is open, so keep in touch.
And finally, please feel free to leave a comment. Just use the box below. We love to hear from you, whatever you want to say – it lets us know we’re not alone in here!
Brim Brothers, If you need candidates for field testing I would be up for it. I’m located across the pond in Canada and train for ultra distance events, something where steady state power output is needed.
Paul, thanks for the offer. It’s likely to be at least 6 months before we have something ready for serious road testing, but at that stage we will be looking for volunteers to do tests in different climates and conditions so we may take you up on the offer.
Stay in touch,
Barry
Barry,
I also would like to offer my services as a field tester. However, my interest in your product is not typical. I would like to use your technology for diagnostic purposes. Please contact me by email if you are interested in a creative use of your technology that could appeal beyond the racing community.
Best of luck with the project.
John
I use my iBike inside all the time with the trainer firmware. This is a unique idea you guys have here, I wish you all the best.
I use my iBike in doors too. I’ve had a tremendous amount of trouble with the meter in general though (through no fault of the company’s, just keep getting one with intermittent problems – something I’ve experienced with more than just this one item).
I hope you guys can pull it off because it sounds great. A few questions: Will it work with all pedal systems? What kind of weight do you anticipate? Will it affect stack height?
I would also volunteer as a tester as a road racer in the warm climate of Georgia and could give you comparisons to a powertap.
Not sure you want to share this, but is your concept also an in-sole device similar to what Microsport had (pressure sensor embedded in some kind of flex/plastic substrate)?
For quite a while I’ve been wanting and thinking about a pedal-based power sensor myself (for road and mtb). But I think to succeed it has to be very accurate (I’m thinking powertap grade), in particular it shouldn’t fudge during hard, irregular out-of-the-saddle type efforts… there are already enough affordable, cheap alternatives of the ‘non-accurate’ type.
I personally would be happier with something built into a pedal than something into the shoe or cleat, if it improves accuracy. Pedals are pretty portable.
Anyways, if you need more testers I’d be more than eager to volunteer…
Question: 1-sometimes we move our feet to relax them, does it will be read as power or not? 2- it will resist water and mud? Think about Paris-Roubaix. 3- when at a rough surface like cobblestones, how will be the readings? because ther’s bumps of the surface acting against the feet when pedaling.
It will be very good to see a powermetter like this working as good as the others in the market, I want to see them
Great idea guys. I wish you the best of lucks, and success. Keep us posted.
Thanks for the encouragement. I understand everyone’s curiosity about our power meter, but I hope you’ll understand why we can’t give away too much detail at this stage. It’s going to be a while before we have a product, and we need to make sure that we will be able to make the most of our opportunity when we eventually get there. Also, we don’t want to promise detailed performance or specifications until we’re certain we will be able to meet them.
I can give you some general responses to some of your questions: Weight will be minimal. Extra stack height will be tiny or zero. It will measure forces doing real work, not affected by other foot movements. It will put up with immersion in water and mud.
I’d love to be able to tell you more – we’re genuinely very excited about what we’re doing. It’s very difficult to keep quiet about it, but we would be stupid to give away the details when we’re still so far from a product.
Hey!
The idea sounds brilliant.
I am just hoping that your system might be able to measure the WASTED force being applied to stretch / compress the crank. And by the sound of your method, this shouldnt be too hard to add – although the software presentation of this could be done in a number of more or less useful ways.
I think this would be a considerable advantage over the other systems allowing measuring of / training to improve efficiency.
Second idea – How difficult would it be to add a sensor to measure the HORIZONTAL forces being wastefully applied?
Few people apply force vertically.
Many people ride a far from biomechanically ideal stance width (or q-factor) applying force at a considerable angle away from vertical.
Looking at the growing popularity of cleat wedges / orthotics and bike fit – an objective measure of how these things effect lateral forces/increase ‘% useful force’ if readily available would be a huge tool that almost no serious bike fitter / biomechanist / physio lab would be without.
I would really love the opportunity to contribute ideas in any way that might help you.
I’ve been using power to train for over 10 years now.
Excited to see what will come out – and hoping you can get it out fast enough not to lose out to a quarq boom in the next year.
David McCann
With the force sensors under the cyclist’s shoes – will that be an issue for triathletes – if we are running through transition with shoes on over a variety of surfaces?
My Ergomo crapped out – need something good – hope this will be it!
Im looking at getting a power meter for 2010. If you want somone to test it in the inhopsitable environment that is Wales then let me know!
I rely on the HAC4 power readout at the moment and would be very keen to take part in field testing of this new innovation. I’m based in the mid-West of Ireland so there is varied terrain within day rides to get some feedback.