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TECH NEWS
Avio PowerSense Ultegra Left Crank Powermeter 1.jpgFive cool things coming soon from Feedback Sports, Hunt, Raleigh, Kitbrix and Avio
Welcome to our first five cool things round-up of 2019! We've filled ourselves with more turkey, booze and Christmas pud than any amount of cycling can undo, but we'll be taking advantage of the extra stability downhill while we're testing kit for the foreseeable...
£1059.00
This is the carbon version of Hunt's Superdura dynamo disc wheel, with a 27mm wide and 30mm deep rim. Hunt say they're created for 'ultra-distance heroes'/more normal cyclists who want the reliability of a dynamo but with all the performance benefits of carbon. They're tubeless-ready and also work just as well with tubes, and are adaptable to most thru-axle sizes (which Hunt will fit for you). Are they wheely good for the money? Dave's review is coming soon.
huntbikewheels.com
£160.00
This kid's bike from Raleigh has a 10" aluminium frame that's suitable for little ones aged 5 and up, and has been given some classic styling including a wicker basket, matching accessories and even a companion in the fluffy Molli dog that comes included for the price. It also comes with stabilisers and high-rise bars for extra stability, with v-brakes for an improved braking performance. The full chain guard is colour co-ordinated to match the design, and keeps little fingers away from sharp components. The 10" frame is suitable for an inside leg range of 43cm to 53cm (age 5+).
raleigh.co.uk
Avio PowerSense Ultegra Left Crank power meter
£319.00
Avio are a British company aiming to cut the price of power meters to make them more accessible... and this Ultegra-level left-sided version is certainly competitively priced. It fits onto the non-drive side of a Shimano Ultegra 6800 or 8000 crank arm, and is compatible with all frames that fit Shimano Hollowtech II cranks. It's ANT+ enabled and measures both power and cadence, and if certified IP67 waterproof. Do you get supreme accuracy for the supreme value? Dave Atkinson is testing it right now.
www.avio.mobi
£50.00
This simple and elegant little tool holds your chain in place when removing the rear wheel. It's supposed to prevent the chain from slackening off while changing a tyre or cleaning your bike, to give two examples. The compact size also makes it easy to store and toss in your kit bag if you want to take it on a trip. Does it do what it says on the tin? We'll be hearing from Mike Stead for a full review next week.
www.2pure.co.uk
£129.99
This is "the world's first backpack with an in-built gym locker", so say Kitbrix... which may be stretching the truth slightly, but it does have a separate section for all your wet kit to keep it from sullying your work stuff and laptop. There's space for training gear plus a 17 inch laptop, a phone charger, tablet, work equipment and much more say KitBrix, and it has an airflow-moulded cushioned back panel for comfort if you want to use it for cycle-commuting. Has it become Dave Arthur's bag of choice in the city and off the bike? His verdict will be on the site soon...
kitbrix.com
To see all of our latest test reports, head over to our reviews section. If you want some more advice before splashing the cash, check out our buyer's guides.
Arriving at road.cc in 2017 via 220 Triathlon Magazine, Jack dipped his toe in most jobs on the site and over at eBikeTips before being named the new editor of road.cc in 2020, much to his surprise. His cycling life began during his students days, when he cobbled together a few hundred quid off the back of a hard winter selling hats (long story) and bought his first road bike - a Trek 1.1 that was quickly relegated to winter steed, before it was sadly pinched a few years later. Creatively replacing it with a Trek 1.2, Jack mostly rides this bike around local cycle paths nowadays, but when he wants to get the racer out and be competitive his preferred events are time trials, sportives, triathlons and pogo sticking - the latter being another long story.
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So why don't you wear a helmet when you are a pedestrian? - about 1000 people a year in the UK are killed falling down stairs and some more when...
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It's happened in Le Tour also (I don't think that was Mr. Hembrow though).
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17 comments
Just tried to refit my now Avio-equipped crank arm.
It fouls the chainstay of both the bikes I tried it on (Cervelo R5 and S3), by a hair's breadth. Both have BBRight bottom bracket shells and associated wide chainstays.
I've emailed them to see what my options are in terms of getting the thing removed.
I'd caution against the PowerSense if your frame has a "fat" bottom bracket, i.e. wider than 68mm.
Well first test is not positive. Firstly I tried with just a zero offset, over ranges of 100 to 300 watts it was between 10 and 15% too low compared to my Neo. So I created a 10kg weight, did a reset and then a 10kg calibration. This at least brought the calibration figure to 78 which is within range, however the force figure jumps around from plus 10 to minus 15 with the crank at 6 o’clock and stationary. In use, against the Neo in ERG mode it still under reads but less severe, what is bad is that the 3 second power jumps around all over the place. I created some logs and will contact Avio to see what I am doing wrong in the morning.
Crank arrived back from Avio. No bad for the water, did you guys do a 10 KG calibration, if so how? For those of you with problems, did you install the Avio yourslef or go for a factory fit?
I'm still waiting for mine to arrive back from Avio, but planning to use 2x 5L bottles of water from the supermarket, rather than faffing around with a bag. They only cost a quid each.
If they fitted it to your crank, there is no need to calibrate it, you will only throw the figures out I guess? They fitted mine as I do not have an Android phone.
I've seen lower than expected figures in the cold, but higher outputs seem about right.
Have any of you tried pushing over 125rpm yet. Let me know how you get on.
For anyone experiencing issues, I did find using the Avio installer app helped when I was struggling to connect it to my laptop. Also, it's worth mentioning that the unit turns off completely, it doesn't just sleep, so it needs a good tap to turn it on, or clipping in. Just turning the cranks won't do it.
I would like to see streamers coming out of those handlebar ends.
And a cute little bell.
I've seen some ridiculously priced shit on this website over the years, but this is the first time I've ever felt compelled to comment. £50 for a chain keeper, that's got to be a typo hasnt it?
I know it's not CNC machined, but this is £5 FFS.
https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/morgan-blue-chain-keeper/rp-prod134598?mx=a
At £4.99, that's almost a fiver too much, I know it's anecdotal but I all my years of riding I've never lost a chain.
Woah there cycling cynics, let me write the review first eh?
Not to presuppose the outcome, and I've only had it sitting on my desk for five hours, but going off previous FBS reviews if functionality and quality are your drivers, and you want life-long smooth action, across multiple standards of axle interface, maybe £50 isn't outlandish?
(you're gonna LOVE the comments if I ever get to review an Abbey Tools HAG
)
Apparently the Feedback Sports offering is especially handy if your stable of bikes includes a thru axle jobby, so you should only need the one chain keeper, but is maybe limited by the fact you can’t shift your rear derailleur in-board during, say, transit. I know it’s primary purpose is just for use during cleaning, but for fifty notes I think I’d want a tad more usability from it.
I stash a couple of Morgan Blue chain keepers in my toolbox. They’re cheap and simple to use. Apart from not being able to change gear, say to get at nooks and crannies in a rear mech, the only other faff is remembering which gear to leave the bike in as the pulley-type-thing lines up with the third or fourth smallest sprocket.
After making a DIY chain keeper out of a spare QR spindle and fax roll inner cut to 130mm long I relented and asked Father Christmas for a PRO Chain Holder. It fits OLN gaps of 130 or 135mm, protects the rear triangle and allows you to change gear for cleaning or moving the derailleur towards the centre of the axle to protect a little more against being bashed about.
Link to more of the same:
https://cyclingtips.com/2018/01/best-chain-keepers-reviewed-chain-clean-...
Do please review the HAG, KiwiMike. I for one would like to see more reviews of high quality tools on road.cc
I'd rather see a review of the Team Issue Titanium Hammer: https://www.abbeybiketools.com/products/team-issue-hammer
Have an Avio which appears to have become bricked so looking at returning it after a month for them to see what they can do with it.
Not wishing to sound wholly negative but it rarely gave accurate power data and over the few weeks it was working the data got less reliable. Went to recalibrate using the phone app and appears to have bricked the power meter, something to do with using a Huawei phone and the device not resetting itself if calibration is interrupted/connection broken.
DCRainmaker referred to it as feeling as currently being at beta stage and unfortunately that has been my experience. Whilst they're working to overcome the risk of bricking the universal compatability with phones/tablets may be harder to achieve so they need to warn customers if this is going to be a persistant problem.
I get my crank back tomorrow with mine fitted. First test will be on my Tacx Neo to see how it performs. Fingers crossed.
My crank arm is currently packaged up for shipping to Avio. Billy's story makes me wonder if I really want their power meter permanently bonded to the inside of my shiny Chorus crank...
Mine is on the way back, it was reading 40w higher than my others which I know are fine, lets hope when I get it back it is OK
I've been having issues with mine too over multiple rides indoors and out. One day it'll be reading 5-10% higher than my Powertap P1 and Kickr and drift upwards, another day it'll be reading the same but drift 7w down over the course of an hour session. If I take it outside when it's nearly freezing I get almost no power reported but cadence seems fine.
I'm discussing this with Avio now to see if the problem is likely to be the unit itself or some issue related to my installation of it. I'll be updating this thread on the TrainerRoad forum as we progress: https://forum.trainerroad.com/t/avio-powersense-powermeter-owner-first-i...