If you’re in the middle of a big training block, or a keen amateur cyclist – numbers matter.
After a long ride, you want to know how far you’ve ridden and how long it took. But would you be happy if your equipment made an educated guess on your distance, or equally on the time taken?
Probably not. The same goes for your power output on the bike. If you were choosing between InfoCrank and other power meters, you can decide between one product which directly measures your performance and a suite of others which produce calculated estimations.
Power is a product of torque x cadence. Torque is a measurement of the amount of force acting on the pedal, causing the cranks to rotate. You may also know this as the tangential force throughout the pedal stroke.
Cadence is the speed that the crank rotates – when you multiply torque x cadence, you get a power measurement in watts.
If you want an accurate torque measurement – there’s only one way to do it. You need to take a measurement from the cranks of the bike.
Products placed in other positions, such as the pedals or spiders, can produce some force measurement, but the crank is the only place on the bike to take a reading of the tangential force, and even then only with a crank arm designed for the purpose.
InfoCrank, as the name suggests, is a crank based power measurement tool, and this is where we stand out from other power meters on the market.
Internal electronics and strain gauges placed at the accuracy of microns, all housed inside a crank arm designed by the best specifically for the purpose of channelling rider torque down one single pre-defined path which is then measured along with cadence at 256 times a second. The crank arm design and strain gauge placement fully isolate the tangential force, which is the only force propelling you forward.
By taking measurements from within the crank arms in this way, InfoCrank can provide true, accurate and comparable results in all conditions – regardless of the temperature, surface, gradient or any other variables.
By contrast, other power meters measure multiple forces and rely on mathematical calculations using algorithms to try to work out what the power output is. Because they cannot directly measure tangential force, you’ll typically see averages – which is good, but not necessarily good enough if you’re looking to make gains in your performance.
One of the other challenges you may face with other power meters is calibration. Other products need constant calibration, resetting the measurement function almost every time to ride.
That’s not a problem you will ever face with InfoCrank. Our power meter doesn’t need constant calibration, zeroing or resetting. We do the hard work at the factory for you, meaning the calibration is set for life. We recommend a simple zeroing after a battery change, because at that point a surge is introduced – but with battery life lasting at least two years, this shouldn’t be something you have to do very often.
If you want true data every time you ride, you probably don’t want to have to tell your power meter how to work every time you go on a bike. If a product needs resetting that frequently, how can you have confidence in its data on a day-long ride?
So it comes down to a simple choice. You can have completely accurate data, on a reliable, fuss-free product used by some of the world’s greatest teams and athletes or you can take an educated guess from a power meter that constantly needs resetting.
If you’re ready to ride with the game-changing InfoCrank, get in touch with our experts to see which product is right for you.
