There are several different ways to measure power output on a bicycle, but Spanish shoe manufacturer Luck has come up with the novel idea of housing the necessary strain gauges and electronics in the sole of a shoe.
– How to choose a cycling power meter — a buyer’s guide to your power training options
Power meters are extremely useful if you want to add accuracy and consistency to your riding and training but they are expensive and one of the drawbacks is that most systems can’t be easily swapped from one bike to another. Pedal-based power meters provide easier bike swapping but a power meter integrated into the sole of the shoe, as Luck has developed, could be the ultimate solution if you’re regularly switching bikes.
It’s called the Potentiometer and can be fitted to the sole of one of Luck’s own shoes, road or mountain bike – it’s not compatible with other shoes we hasten to add. It uses Bluetooth and ANT+ to sync with any compatible computer like a Garmin Edge or the company’s own smartphone app. It’s claimed to offer +/- 2% accuracy, adds just 35g to the shoe and the battery lasts 10-hours.
Depending on how much data you want or how much money you want to spend, you can either buy one in-sole power meter for single sided power measurement or fit both shoes for left and right leg power measuring.
“Connected through several chips in the shoe, the onboard computer which includes potentiometer with millimetric accuracy dictates records cadence, speed, heart rate … and measures the watts generated by each pedal stroke of each rider, from 0 to 4,200. All information is on the screen and allows you to adjust efforts route,’ says the company.
The Luck Potentiometer has been in development for the past couple of years but is now ready for production, and priced at €200 per shoe – we’ve contacted them for a UK price. You’ll also need to factor in the cost of new shoes, as it’s only compatible with Luck’s own shoes. We’re definitely keen to test this power meter and see how it compares to the other options on the market.
More at http://luck-bike.es/en/content/25-luck-potentiometer
11 thoughts on “Now you can measure power output from the sole of your shoe”
Heard you like bikes, so we
Heard you like bikes, so we’re going to put pictures of bikes on you while you bike.
This looks wearable:
Looking forward to some long term reviews on this. Could be good!
Can’t be any worse than the
Can’t be any worse than the Limits fiasco.
Did anyone on here take the risk with Limits?
Yorkshire wallet wrote:
I did…
…and I realy wish I hadn’t.
Their comunication is awful when things are going badly (so essentially 11 months now, which is also about 2/3 of a year later than scheduled) and their updates reik of insincerity.
A shame, but it has put me off of the whole crowd-sourcing piece altogether despite the concept being great.
I knew what I was getting into risk-wise and did expect significant delays – I just didn’t expect the 2 things I have mentioned already to be SO prevalent.
I like the concept, also much
I like the concept, also much easier to get my shoes to a charging point than my crank/pedals/wheel, although 10hours isn’t enough. Never thought I’d be plugging my shoes in to go for a ride though…
Sorry guys…running slightly
Sorry guys…running slightly late as I’m updating the firmware on my shoes.
mrchrispy wrote:
mrchrispy wrote:
Or even, “Sorry guys, i’m giving it a miss today, my shoes have crashed”
Hipshot wrote:
Tried rebooting?
(C’mon *someone* had to post that)
Is there any part of the
Is there any part of the system that has not had a power meter attached to it yet? I might put a Kickstarter up to develop a metacarpal-based power meter, measuring how hard your foot is pushing…
jollygoodvelo wrote:
The rationale is that the closer to your body the measurement is, the more accurate it is, as there are fewer losses taking the drivetrain. So assuming decent accuracy, shoes should measure higher and more accurately than cleats, then pedals, then cranks, then spiders, then hubs. In theory, anyway.
Limits Power Meter
Mine has arrived. I put it on, it worked, the numbers looked about right. I decided I didnt like it that much and I took it off again. I might be a bit heavy for it (>90kg) and first you had to use a torque wrench to put it on, then there was a post saying you dont need 40nM of torque, just make sure its tight. Its in its box and I’m wondering what to do with it.