Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

by **pcandyhk** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 7:16 pm

[Topic approved by Christopher Jones, BNA]

Dear all cyclists,

I am a student of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London. We are currently doing a Design Making and Testing project for a low-cost Power Meter for bikes.

Here is a short survey of 10 questions for the initial design stage. Can you please take the survey at the link below?
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YWQ6LLR

Your input is very important and would be much appreciated.

Many Thanks,
Andy

**This survey is to facilitate the DMT project of Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London. Information collected will be kept confidential and will not be used for other purpose.

by **BNA** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 8:57 am

by **lump_a_charcoal** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 8:57 am

Done.

by **chucknitro** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 5:56 pm

by **Ozkaban** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 6:20 pm

Done. Interested in the outcome of the design effort....

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by **the_big_fella** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 9:43 pm

Done.

by **jamesn184** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 6:01 am

Done as well

by **slipsam** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 6:54 am

Done - something I'd love to have but just cant justify the cost!

by **Ross** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 8:13 am

It needs to sell for <$1000 ,tranferable between bikes easily, ANT+ compatible, reliable and accurate and then it will be a best seller

by **warthog1** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 8:21 am

I'd love a power meter, can't justify the cost.

by **Marty Moose** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 8:25 am

warthog1 wrote:I'd love a power meter, can't justify the cost.

Look up break away innovations !

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by **pcandyhk** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 4:43 am

Ross wrote:It needs to sell for <$1000 ,tranferable between bikes easily, ANT+ compatible, reliable and accurate and then it will be a best seller

Thats our aim indeed. However the transferable bit is difficult and limit our options of what we can do.
All these different standards of BB also make it difficult.. (why so many?!!!), otherwise it would be good to measure the torque there...

by **Ross** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 8:11 am

A crank or hub based PM seems to be the industry standard. There are at least 3 manufacturers with pedal based PMs that are still in the development stage and have been for about a year and we still seem no closer to seeing them on the shelves or on a bike.

by **Alex Simmons/RST** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 8:51 am

Ross wrote:A crank or hub based PM seems to be the industry standard. There are at least 3 manufacturers with pedal based PMs that are still in the development stage and have been for about a year and we still seem no closer to seeing them on the shelves or on a bike.

About 5 years.

Add in sales and marketing, distribution channels, warranty service and support, technical assistance, etc etc and getting the costs down and being commercially viable isn't an easy task.
Making these things robust, accurate, reliable, easy to use is not an easy task either but then hardware is rarely the biggest cost. Then working out how to get them mass produced so that they don't have problems.

Then there is the issue of working with the head units, and resolving the limitation of ANT+ when dealing with power data.

Then demonstrating that the business is viable and will be here in a few years to back it up. Plenty of people got burned when a previous power meter manufacturers went under or did not end up supplying any product despite taking people's money for pre-order.

Pithy Power Proverb:
"The most important consideration when choosing a power meter is the quality of the data it provides. Everything else is a feature."