Many everyday cyclists and triathletes can benefit from riding and training with a power meter. Just as the heart rate monitor became ubiquitous for endurance athletes, power meters are now accessible and even more useful to all riders. Have a road or triathlon bike with a Shimano Ultegra R8000 crankset? Want to explore riding with a power meter to improve your fitness and/or performance? While there are power meters on the market with price ranges well into thousands of dollars; generating, measuring and applying detailed, useful, and accurate power data can be achieved simply with a left arm replacement. This Gen3 unit features a 6x more powerful transmitter as well, with improved pairing processes.

Why measure power at all? Power gives you a clear representation of effort and output that is consistent. Knowledge of power data allows you to exploit your strengths, improve your weaknesses, and plan crucial recovery. It is true that there are cyclists, most at the highest levels of the sport, who can truly benefit from accurate individual leg and spin cycle measurement. Cyclists overcoming injuries may also find this highly useful, though physical therapists can assess such imbalances as well. The key for Stages is: power differential between legs has no significant influence on ride data and its value as a training tool. For example, the engineers found through thousands of miles of testing research that power differential between legs has no significant influence on ride data. This helps to significantly reduce complexity and cost while providing power measurement with ±2% accuracy. Active Temperature Compensation (ATC) takes place automatically and continuously while you pedal, allowing you to simply ride and use utilize your data without worrying about manual adjustments.

The Stages Power L Ultegra R8000 Meter is a left crank arm based system with a 20 gram power meter unit bonded to a left side crank arm. With the simplest installation, setup and pairing, Stages delivers accurate and consistent power measurement to power seeking cyclists and triathletes. Stages power meters are ANT+ and Bluetooth dual channel compatible to work with a host of head units and devices at the present and into the future. You can use your Stages Power Meter with almost any current smartphone via Bluetooth Smart with two-way interaction, and simultaneously be connected to your ANT+ compatible computer/GPS head unit for in-ride data and collection. The StagesPOWER App offers several key features and functions, is easy to use and is free for Stages Power Meter owners. Whether you are an advanced racing cyclist or just getting started, Stages offers tools that allow you to improve performance, and maintain balance in your training process.

Installation of the L Ultegra R8000 Meter is just a matter of replacing your existing left side crankarm with the Stages equipped version. Simply remove your left crank arm, and install the Stages arm. No magnets, zipties sensors or additional hardware required. Done. The head unit pairing and Zero calibration tasks are just as simple. The Stages unit is equipped with an accelerometer that tracks crank position during rotation to calculate cadence. It sends the cadence and power information to your connected devices. Truly simple. The Stages self-contained pod means that from installation of the power meter to riding generally takes about 10 minutes. Install, pair the power meter to a compatible head unit, Zero calibrate, go ride. Easy. Stages even provides excellent instructions and support through their website. Accessible.

It is crucial for accurate training and analysis that the meter be consistent to itself, that the rider can quickly and easily set Zero calibration at the start of every ride, and that temperature is always accounted for. As Stages constantly corrects for temperature, accuracy is much better over many of it's competitors (whose units don't auto correct, or do so with far less frequency) whenever there is a significant change in temperature during your ride. Temperature can seriously affect the strain gage systems used to measure power, to the point where a long climb in the mountains during which weather and temperatures can greatly fluctuate, uncorrected data is nearly worthless.

In this model, Stages bonds the actual power measurement pod onto a new Shimano Ultegra R8000 left side crank arm. The location on the arm is crucial, as the arm and pod then tested and calibrated together to ensure that the strain gages and sensors are working optimally with the specific crank arm. The pod itself is made of an incredibly strong polycarbonate blend that is similar material to that used in bulletproof glass. This material is perfect due to its light weight, superior durability and impact protection. Additionally, the Stages Power meter is highly sealed against environmental conditions, and carries an IPX7 water resistance rating, which means it can be submerged in water up to 1 meter for a maximum of 30 minutes.

It was crucial to Stages to make their power meter efficient, as well as keep their firmware updated. This version of the Stages Power Meter is their Gen3 pod, which is more streamlined than the original model (allowing for more crank arm and frame compatibility). The battery compartment and door were improved and strengthened. It is easy to change the battery, a coin-style, readily available CR2032 model. Each CR2032 delivers 200+ hours of power to the unit. The StagesPOWER App also keeps track of the battery level, so you can be prepared. Firmware is updated via this smartphone app as well. Stages regularly advances their firmware and app to reflect new features and updates. The app is user friendly and will become your best friend as you manage your power meter, allowing for direct updates to Training Peaks, Strava, Garmin Training Center and other cloud-based training systems. Now anyone can ride with power. Ready?