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Complete $180 alloy Magene P325 CS power meter crankset cuts out the middleman

Magene P325 CS low-cost power meter crankset, affordable alloy road bike powermeter cranks, Kickstarter direct from China, 
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The new Magene P325 CS power meter might just be the cheapest way to get real single or dual-sided power measurement on your road bike. The $299 aluminum crankset delivers dual-sided power data, complete with chainrings. Single-sided power is even cheaper, as low as $179 for a complete setup.

Magene Fitness is a Chinese company that has been producing affordable smart trainers and power metering devices since 2017, with the aim of saving you money by cutting out the middlemen. Now with their first alloy crankarms and rings, they’re slashing prices lower than ever…

Magene P325 CS ultra-affordable power meter cranksets

Magene P325 CS low-cost power meter crankset, affordable alloy road bike powermeter cranks, Kickstarter direct from China, on bike details
c. Magene

Magene Fitness – or as it is known in long form Qingdao Magene Intelligence Technology Co., Ltd – is a five-year-old fitness tech company that designs and produces its own cycling trainers, tracking sensors, and power meters in Qingdao, China. As the manufacturer, their business model is to cut out the middlemen – those responsible for a recognizable brand name, international warehousing, distributor networks, and brick & mortar retailers – passing the savings on to the end user without extra markup at each level.

Magene P325 CS low-cost power meter crankset, affordable alloy road bike powermeter cranks, Kickstarter direct from China, prototypes

The result is fast R& D, and you get crazy low pricing. That is if you are willing to take a risk on the unknown, and if you can deal with product descriptions & instructions in a bit of broken English.

Ultra-affordable power meter tech, Kickstarted to your door

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/magene1-campaign/magene-p325-cs-worlds-leading-dual-sided-power-meter

Important to know here is probably that even though this is a Kickstarter campaign from a Chinese company you probably have not heard of, it is by no means the first power meter from Magene. Up to now their latest power meter, the third generation P325 still relied on attaching their strain gauges to standard Shimano crank arms, much like the Stages solution. But Magene realized they could cut out one more middleman, and lower prices even more if they made their own crank.

Affordable power metering – Tech details

P325 CS

The electronics of the Magene P325 power meter uses strain gauges directly fixed to one or both crank arms, reporting a claimed accuracy rate of +/-1.5%. They communicate via ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart 4.2 to work with most cycling computers, transmitting power, power balance, cadence, torque effectiveness & pedal smoothness.

Magene P325 CS low-cost power meter crankset, affordable alloy road bike powermeter cranks, Kickstarter direct from China, sensor detail

The IPX7 weatherproof power meter features internal batteries in each arm, rechargeable with a proprietary magnetic, external-contact charging cable. Runtime is claimed at 200h, with a 3.5h charge time.

Magene P325 CS low-cost power meter crankset, affordable alloy road bike powermeter cranks, Kickstarter direct from China, pair

What’s all-new in the Magene P325 power meter crankset are the machined aluminum arms with a drilled hollow arm structure, much like Rotor Trinity powermeter cranks. Arms are available in five lengths: 165, 167.5, 170, 172.5 & 175mm. They spin on a 24mm spindle designed to work with BB86 bottom brackets, and pretty much any bike that is set up for a Shimano crankset.

Magene P325 CS low-cost power meter crankset, affordable alloy road bike powermeter cranks, Kickstarter direct from China, backside

The cranks come with direct-mount one-piece pairs of road chainrings in 50/34, 52/36, or 53/39 gearing combos – for 10 or 11 speed drivetrains. But they use the same 8-bolt direct-mount interface as the latest SRAM Red/Force AXS cranks, allowing you to replace worn rings with some standardly available options of even a more conventional spider.

Total crankset weight is claimed at 760g.

Magene P325 CS power meter – Kickstarter Pricing & Availability

Magene P325 CS low-cost power meter crankset, affordable alloy road bike powermeter cranks, Kickstarter direct from China, complete

This Magene P325 power meter crankset is cheap. An early bird sale single-sided power meter crank with chainrings sells for just HK$1387 (~$179 / 152€). Early bird pricing is gone already on the dual-side power meter crank with rings, but it is still just HK$2317 (~$299 / 254€). But here’s where you get into the Kickstarter risk factor…

Magene P325 CS low-cost power meter crankset, affordable alloy road bike powermeter cranks, Kickstarter direct from China, details

While Magene has built & sold plenty of power meters, this is their first crankset. And some pre-production crank reviews have suggested they were quite flexy, and may not have quite delivered on Magene’s “world’s leading” claim just yet. Magene says they’ve addressed the early concerns. But with just three weeks to go on the crowdfunding that is 2/3 funder and estimated so close as December 2020, it’s hard to say what might change between now and then.

Magene P325 CS low-cost power meter crankset, affordable alloy road bike powermeter cranks, Kickstarter direct from China, on bike

In any case, the P325 CS looks like a great power meter price. You just have to decide if it is worth the risk.

Kickstarter.com & MageneFitness.com

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Chris
Chris
3 years ago

Love the price but how does it shift and how stiff it is? Not very excited after seeing the picture above of the prototype crank arm where the pedal spindle broke the crank arm. Hopefully this was due to extreme lab testing and not real world use.

Jim E
Jim E
3 years ago

Love how they copy Rotor for the arm design and SRAM for the chainring.

Eugene C.
Eugene C.
3 years ago
Reply to  Jim E

And Shimano for the spindle/NDS spline interface. A true mash-up.

JEREMY MOORE
JEREMY MOORE
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim E

Rotor isn’t the first to drill out cranks. Also, are all undrilled cranks therefore copying the first crank ever made?

Crash Bandicoot
Crash Bandicoot
3 years ago

Interesting idea, can’t see myself not just going stages for an extra 70 pesos. Wish them luck though.

Francisco Alvarez
Francisco Alvarez
3 years ago

More like 1440 pesos but ya…

Alex
Alex
3 years ago

I would chance their power rmeter on Shimano cranks. Shimano cranks are a proven commodity. Who knows how bad their cranks will be. According to their web page the Shimano cranks are only a few dollars more. I would pass on these, but try their Shimano based unit.

Collin S
3 years ago
Reply to  Alex

However, shimano cranks are known to give inaccurate power numbers when measured on the drive side crank arm due to the way they are constructed. Look it up via GPlama or DCrainmaker.

JEREMY MOORE
JEREMY MOORE
1 year ago
Reply to  Alex

Yes, proven to crack in half

nooner
nooner
3 years ago

My SRM power meter cost me a kidney back in the day.
I wish them well. Power to the people!

ice29
ice29
3 years ago

They haven’t copied Sram Red AXS chainrings at all… 😀
Would be interesting if you can really mount AXS rings with powermeter on the friveside arm… These Chinese ones have a cutout in the big ring, but the Sram ones do not…

WorkOnSunday
WorkOnSunday
3 years ago

rumor on the street in the far east is that Wahoo actually sub-contract out some of their Kickr line to Magene’s factory. and Magene trainer has been around for some years and most are generally reliable. may actually worth a shot this one.

Hugo
Hugo
4 months ago

Does this chainring works with 12 speed (sram axs)?

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