I was finally able to complete my winter/commuter bike with the addition of a Stages Power meter. I picked it up through Upper Echelon Fitness through a team deal and so far, for the price, it's a great little power meter.
It was super easy to set up ... basically just pull the left side crank arm off, put the ANT+ numbers in your computer and you are ready to go. To zero the power meter out, just put the Garmin to Calibrate with the left crank arm pointing to the 6 o'clock position and that's all there is too it.
When comparing it to my Powertap, the numbers match up pretty well overall ... within 1% or so. With that in mind, other measuring areas match up pretty well ... TSS, FTP, IF, etc. Overall consistency has been good day to day as well.
The big question will be durability ... There are reports out there of the actual power meter falling off due to adhesive failure as well as a few reports of water getting in and causing electronic failure. The winters can be pretty harsh in the Pacific NW, so it will be interesting to see how well it holds up.
With that said, all reports point to good warranty service by Stages ... so if it does fail, getting it fixed should be easy.
I also wanted to post a follow up on my TRP Spyre brakes.
So far the brakes are great. There is no disc rubbing on the pads, they have good power, good modulation and great lever feel. In the wet, they continue to have good braking, though there is a noticeable drop off in power compared to the dry, but it's still way above rim brake power in the wet.
The one issue I've noticed is brake pad wear. The pads are almost worn down after about 600 miles of riding. Granted, I have a long downhill on my way to work that's pretty steep and requires hard braking down most of it, but the pads shouldn't wear out this quickly.
I ordered a new set today that should be here by the weekend and hopefully as the brakes get more use by more riders, they will address the pad wear issue. Either that or other pad manufactures (Kool Stop, etc.) will make better pads for the Spyres.
For reference, my Avid BB7 pads lasted approximately 2000 miles before wearing out.
Other than the pad wear issue ... the TRP Spyre brakes are a great alternative to BB7's and are actually a better brake overall in my opinion.
Udate FYI ... For those considering the TRP Spyre brakes, it appears that Shimano Deore disc brake pads will work with the Spyre brakes since they use the same backing, so Kool Stop D620 and D620S (if you want Sintered pads) will work as an alternative to the stock pads.
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