Pioneer announced their power meter for the new Shimano Dura-Ace 9100 series last fall and are set to deliver by March 2017, which would be long before Shimano’s expected summer release. And Pioneer’s system carries the same $1,500 price point (including cranks and dual leg power), but provides their trademark force vector measurement. Pioneer originally planned for a November release, but supply issues with the crankset have delayed availability.
In other news, they’s also updated the data set available through the mobile version of Cyclo-Sphere, now giving you a glimpse of your power-of-time output with a comparison to prior 90 days, letting you see at a glance if you’re improving. That, and they designed a better clamp that lets you mount their cycling computer to any standard 1/4 turn Garmin mount…
Pioneer’s DA 9100 power meter is a bit larger than Shimano’s new one, but it houses all electronics and power for the right side in that transmitter unit, with no wire running to the left side. They had to redesign the shell slightly to fit on the new cranks, but the internals are unchanged.
The SGX-CA500 cycling computer comes with a plastic mount to clamp around your handlebar. The upside is it holds it close to the bar, but it’s not the best looking mount and the clamp section is slightly wider than most high end aftermarket mounts, so it’s a tight fit on some stem/aero bar combinations (like ENVE, for example, which ends up bending the mount slightly) or won’t fit well in front of stems with thick faceplates. The solution is this 1/4 turn adapter, which Pioneer designed and provided to Speedfil to produce and sell.
Basically, it lets you go from this (left) to this (right).
The mount is fixed to the computer via a small bolt, so removal is then all twist and no slide.
Admittedly, it looks a little far out with the K-Edge Garmin XL mount, but there are a number of short reach out-front mounts available that’ll hold it a little closer to the bar. Either way, it’s still a nice upgrade from the stock mount. The part retails for $25.95.
On the Cyclo-Sphere mobile screens (which you can create a “button” for to save it to your phone/tablet home screen and it’ll automatically save your login info with it for quick, one-tap access), you can now see your power over time. The bottom of the right side screenshot shows your power output maxes by duration. Set the time with a drop down or by sliding your finger, and you’ll see what your max average output was for anything from 1 second to two hours. Above the graph it shows the output for your last saved ride and your three month average, so you can see if you’re improving.
