SRAM Rival Stages Cycling Powermeter Review

Part way through this past cyclocross season I purchased a SRAM rival stages powermeter that I can use on both my Ridley X-fire CX bike and my old aluminum Cervelo P3 TT bike.  So far I've been pretty pleased, that is to say, I've had no issues and it works the way they advertise.

First of all it's super easy to install, just like installing the left crank arm.  Second it's easy to communicate with.  My Iphone talks to it in Bluetooth mode, and allows me to update its firmware.  The Garmin edge talks to it using the ANT+ protocols.  Just zero out the powermeter by leaving the crank pointing down and then hitting the calibrate button.

I raced with it during CX season and had no issues and now it's on the TT bike.  No big deal.  Below are some pictures of my rival cranks.  I moved it from my compact 110 rival CX chain rings to the standard 130 TT chain rings with no recalibration or anything.  Just moved it.... easy.

I ran some tests to compare the readings of the stages powermeter with that from my G3 Powertap.  I put them both on my TT bike and did an easy endurance ride and the two powermeters read within 10 watts of each other.  They're not exactly the same but they're close.  The difference isn't enough to be in different power zones or anything.  The one draw back is the stages only reads the left leg and I know my left leg is stronger/more efficient than my right.  I don't know if it's 10 watts better, but maybe.

Either way, with the low cost of the stages powermeter and the simplicity of its operation.  I'm happy with it and would think it would make an outstanding powermeter for just about anyone.  You're not locked to a wheel nor is it expensive like a full crankset (quarq or SRM).  I see Sky cycling is even using them.  It will be interesting to see if the Tour champ(s) have an issue with only getting data from his left leg.

I just moved the stages powermeter to the old Cervelo P3 TT bike

I had the stages powermeter on the Ridely CX bike for half the 2013 CX season

This is a WKO+ comparison between the PT and Stages powermeters on the same ride, on the trainer.  The top graph shows the power.  It looks like there's a little offset in time (my fault for not cropping the data correctly).  As you can see the power numbers on the yellow/Stages line appears to be slightly higher than the red/PT line.  The heart rate data in the second graph should line up perfectly as I was only wearing on HR strap, the offset is do the slight difference in data crop.  The average difference between the Stages and PT powermeters was about 10 watts.