Quarq DZero is their next generation power meter spider that gets an all-new strain measurement circuit and strain gauge design that provides better performance over a wider range of battery voltage and temperature. That means less software correction taking place due to temperature fluctuations thanks to better circuit board layout and construction.
They also ran more FEA on the body of the unit, letting them make it stiffer without adding any weight, improving accuracy across all chainring sizes. Lastly, it’s now simultaneously broadcasting in both Bluetooth LE and ANT+. Well, OK, there are a few more updates and new features…
Remember that Quarq Prime announcement about new “Quarq” and “Quarq ready” crank arms coming stock on bikes? This is the rest of that story. The new Quarq DZero chassis can be sold on its own to mount directly to those new Prime cranksets, meaning you won’t have to immediately replace the crankset in order to gain power measurement at the spider…which they say is the most accurate place to measure.
Or, if you already have a bike, they’ll sell it in several iterations (each of which is also available as just the standalone spider). At the top of the road range is a SRAM ExoGram level carbon crank with Quarq or Red branding. Below that is Rival/Riken-level alloy crank arms with a 110 or 130bcd, letting you use any aftermarket chainrings with those bolt circle measurements. Look for those on September 15.
For Shimano equipped bikes, the new Quarq DFour chassis packs all the new electronics into a spider that fits modern Shimano asymmetric four-arm chainrings. All of these are available in both available in GXP, BB30 and BB386EVO spindles on October 1.
Mountain bikes get a new SRAM XX1 Eagle chassis alone or with equivalent carbon crank arms, which will work with newly launched 104BCD Eagle X-Sync 2 chainrings, compatible with 11- and 12-speed chains. They’ll be available in standard and Boost spacing on November 1.
Another update is that the LED status indicators are now multicolored to match eTap LED color logic, which is red and green, but with distinct blink patterns for important info so that color blind folks can still tell what’s happening with their power meter.
Carry over features include their 10K temp compensation (10,000 points of calibration done from 0ºF to 145ºF at the factory for each individual power meter) so you don’t have to recalibrate when the mercury moves; OmniCal so you change chainrings without affecting accuracy, AxCad accelerometer based cadence measurement without magnets, and left/right power measurements from only the driveside spider.
A new Qalvin app for iOS and Android that lets you set up and update the power meter via Bluetooth and lets you pair the power meter with Strava (and other cycling apps on your phone that log power).
Mounting bolts are tapered, similar to your car’s lug nuts, which helps center the power meter and makes it so that bolt torque does not affect accuracy. Why they couldn’t just make it fit the existing SRAM crank direct-mount standard. Because on the 3-bolt design, the spider or chainring actually rotates into place slightly, which could change the zero offset setting in the power meter. The eight bolt design locks it into place so it remains accurate once you actually start putting pedaling pressure on it.
The DZero simplifies the lineup – it replaces the Elsa, Riken and Riken AL.
