Given the relationship Stages Cycling has with Team Sky and Chris Froome, the popularity of their Stages single (left) arm Power meter's, and the tremendous technical and training capabilities of dual-side power meter's, the cycling public has been left scratching their heads as to why Stages hadn't developed their own dual-sided power meter. Suffice to say that Stages has been working on this with the goals of creating a lightweight, highly flexible system for the end-user that could fit ideally within the Stages ecosystem of products like the Stages Dash or any other third-party, power enabled, ANT+ or Bluetooth Smart compatible cycling computer. With the release of the dual-sided, integrated Stages Power LR Meters, you have your answer, and possibly the ideal solution for a unified approach to cycling power with this Stages Power LR Dura-Ace R9100 Meter.

Fitted to the Shimano road crankset, the familiar left-side power pod has gone on a diet, to a scant 15 grams. The new drive-side spider mounted pod weighs in at just 20 grams, adding a grand total of 35(!) grams to the crankset. Chainring replacement is no problem, the pod itself is compact, and the system is still powered by CR2032 coin cell style batteries that are not only easy to replace, but deliver about 175 hours of use. With this visually and technically clean system you get the highly desired individual measurement of both left and right pedaling inputs, including metrics for Pedaling Smoothness and Torque Efficiency. Stages applies their Active Temp Compensation (ATC) system to ensure consistent measurement regardless of conditions, coming in at +/-1.5% accuracy of total measurement at 100w/90rpm. Internal sensors measure cadence, omitting need for a magnet or pick-up, and keeping your firmware up to date is simple and quick through your smartphone via the Stages App.

So how exactly is Stages measuring power with the LR system? As you'd expect, strain gauges measure the force, while accelerometers know where the crank is relation to the pedal stroke, and the position and force measurements are taken 64 times per second. The data output for the power and cadence information is transmitted 4 times per second (per the ANT+ standard). The data is then received by your computer/GPS display unit and updated at a rate determined by the manufacturer, or by you if they provide options. Typically that data log takes place once per second. So the granular data is essentially averaged by your head unit in those one second increments. However, depending on the software system you prefer to use for collecting and examining data, deeper detail may be visible in those programs.... Read More