Stages Dura-Ace G3 L-R Power Meter, Shimano RS770 Wheels, Bontrager XXX WaveCel Road helmet, Specialized Roval SLX24 Disc, Rapha Core jersey and Cargo bib short.
£1199 › Reliable and accurate cycling tool
LESS EASILY SWAPPED THAN POWER pedals, crank- or spider-based power meters are more accurate, reliable and less prone to damage. For most riders, the left crank option provides sufficient data with enough accuracy and can be bought for considerably less, but if every data metric matters, then a left-right chainset model is the answer. This is Team Ineos’s chosen power meter and, as such, has recorded the last three Tour de France wins. Two crankbased meters add £700 to the standard chainset’s cost, but it’s on a par with most of the equivalent competition and cheaper than Shimano’s own meter. SRAM’s Red AXS meter costs less, but is more specific and the Ultegra LR Stages is cheaper still.
Stages’s polycarbonate measuring pods fit on the inside of the left crank and alongside the drive side crank within the spider. Each pod is powered by a CR2032 battery, which should last for 150-200 hours of use and includes a start-up LED indication of current level.
Connection is via ANT+ or Bluetooth Smart and firmware updates can be done wirelessly. Once paired with your handlebar head unit, Stages recommend performing a zero reset, or calibration, before each ride to compensate for ambient temperature changes and variations in the attachment torque of the chainset to the bike. Thankfully, it’s a simple operation, which takes around 30 seconds. The left side unit is the primary meter, receiving and processing signals from the right. If one side’s battery dies, the other can continue as a single-sided meter.
Start up is immediate as soon as the bike is moved, and even when our Garmin was left outside the garage it acknowledged the Stages’s signal from 5m away. Cadence is measured by an accelerometer and a gyroscope over a 20-220rpm range and power is measured up to 2500 watts, with a claimed accuracy of ±1.5 per cent. Stages’s Active Temperature Compensation system is designed to ensure data consistency however the temperature fluctuates. The ANT+ values transmitted are total power, left/right balance, cadence, pedal smoothness and torque effectiveness, plus via Bluetooth, smart power, smart power balance and smart cadence. If using Stages’ Dash head unit, several more maintenance-related details are recorded. There’s also a Stages app with some useful functionality. During our test, we compared this meter’s data to our familiar Quarq, and used three different head units to measure connectivity. After two months of riding, we’re satisfied that the Stages LR unit produces reliably stable and accurate data, perfectly tracking our other system during static and mostly outdoor tests, and we didn’t suffer from any transmission dropouts. Data display is prompt with close to real-time figures flicking up and down on our screens.
WE SAY The left/right power meter provides simple, reliable measurements