Power meters come in all shapes and sizes nowadays, but they’re all attached to the bike. That makes transferring it from bike to bike a pain in the tookus. They crept their way from the rear hub, to the crankarms, and on to the pedals, but Brim Brother’s Zone DPMX power meter leapt right off of the pedal and onto the shoe!
Check out details and rather comfortable price points after the break…
We first saw Brim Brother’s Zone DPMX wearable power meter at Interbike a couple of years ago. Currently it is only compatible with Speedplay Zero pedals and comes as either a single ($440), or dual-sided system($881). The only real requirement past that is that you need to have a strap on the shoe to mount the pod to.
It’s been in development for six long years but now, finally, Brim Brother’s have launched a Kickstarter hoping to have product available as soon as May 2016.
The obvious benefit to the design is that it’ll go from bike to bike without having to move any hardware…assuming you’ve got Speedplay Zeros on all your bikes. That basically rules out mountain and cyclocross bikes for now, but we’re just happy the system is finally coming to market. Gotta start somewhere.
The Zone DPMX uses a thin piezo ceramic sensor plate that replaces the stock Speedplay cleat thus not increasing the stack height. The plate sends a signal to the pod on top of the shoe and measures the pressure applied 100 times a second. The pod also houses a motion sensor that measures cadence as well as sensing exactly what angles the pedals and cranks are and how much they are rocking back and forth. The data is transferred via ANT+ making it compatible with computers and smartphones with ANT+ receivers. The dual system sends data just like that of the Garmin Vector 2’s so you can see a side by side comparison of your power output on compatible devices. The single sided option just doubles the number to give you estimated total power, much like Stages.
Installation and setup is pretty straight forward. Assuming nothing’s changed since they showed us at Interbike, it installs just like a regular Speedplay cleat with the exception of putting a sticker on the bottom of your shoe to protect it from the Sugru (this stuff is worth looking up) you apply between the shoe and the cleat. Once you tighten things down, the Sugru sets to form a solid, even contact with the curvature of the shoe to prevent the plate from flexing. Hope you plan on keeping your shoes for a while.
We weighed the unit at Interbike and though it came in at 50 grams, since it’s replacing the 15g Speedplay plate, it should add only about 35 g per side.
The power meters runs for up to 15 hours per charge and easily detach from their mounts to recharge on the provided USB cradle.
Check out their already fully funded Kickstarter Page here and snag your own pair before anyone else.
