Stages Cycling, the popular crank-based power meter favoured by Team Sky, has finally added a Campagnolo offering to its range after two years of development, joining an existing lineup of Shimano, SRAM, FSA and Race Face options.
The cause for the delay in rolling out a Campagnolo power meter was apparently down to the complex carbon fibre layup of the Italian manufacturers crank arm, which required Stages creating a completely new power meter to make it all work.
“Campagnolo’s carbon design is entirely different and it took more time than anticipated to meter. We ended up creating a new iteration of our Stages Cycling power meter for the iconic Italian brand’s crank sets,” says Pat Warner, Stages Cycling Senior Vice President.
The actual Stages power meter pod looks the same as a regular version, but it’s attached to the crank arm in a different way with two small wings wrapped around the arm. It’s not quite as elegant or simple a solution as Stages other power meters, but it’s a small price to pay.
Stages and Campagnolo worked closely together to bring the product to market, and the new power meter will definitely appeal to the many Campag fans out there. Campagnolo doesn’t (yet) make its own power meter so it’s SRM or other crank-based options only, which are expensive compared to Stages which only requires the left-hand crank arm to purchased.
Stages will be offering three versions, Chorus (£749), Record (£849) and Super Record (£949) with a choice of 170m, 172.5 and 175mm crank arm lengths. Available from www.saddleback.co.uk
– How to choose a cycling power meter — a buyer’s guide to your power training options
13 thoughts on “Stages Cycling adds Campagnolo power meter to 2017 range”
State of it. Only slightly
State of it. Only slightly less worse than duct taping a sensor to your posh cranks.
unconstituted wrote:
The wings actually contain strain gauges that are needed to make it work! No discreet though.
Very interested. As a campag
Very interested. As a campag user this is an attractive option – easy to install, adds only 20g, cheaper than SRM etc
They’ve been advertising these for a while but still just ‘coming soon’, not actually available to buy. Still on pre-order but they’ve at least committed to an actual shipping date, according to their site.
The question everyone should
The question everyone should be asking is whether this comes with all the issues seen on the Shimano & SRAM versions (poor water sealing, battery drain, cold weather performance,…)
Man of Lard wrote:
The only of those issues I’ve had was water ingress due to a known issue with early battery door tabs breaking. When I encountered a measurement/connection problem after a rainy ride, I went into a random shop while on vacation in Australia, and they had a bag full of replacement battery doors, O-rings, and batteries to quickly fix the issue for free.
pedalpowerDC wrote:
The only of those issues I’ve had was water ingress due to a known issue with early battery door tabs breaking. When I encountered a measurement/connection problem after a rainy ride, I went into a random shop while on vacation in Australia, and they had a bag full of replacement battery doors, O-rings, and batteries to quickly fix the issue for free.
— Man of Lard I had 3 G2 “improved” models – all failed within weeks (including one that drained the battery out of the box before I could fit it (brand new battery from a brand new blister (best before 2025) drained in under 5 hours sat on my workbench)
Returned it as unfit for the purpose (especially if you live somewhere wet (e.g. UK) and/or cold (e.g. Scotland))
I’m not alone – heaps of threads on this exact same behaviour on Bikeradar & Garmin forums (to name two)
Interesting that they say it
Interesting that they say it was the “layup” that cause them problems- as far as I know the Campagnolo cranks (and most other Campag carbon parts for that matter) are made from HexMC, rather than conventional unidirectional or woven carbon.
I got very excited until i
I got very excited until i realised they don’t do short crank versions. I recently upgraded to Overdrive 165mm. Gutted
Why would anyone consider
Why would anyone consider this? It’s not cheap and there’s much talk of poor reliability. Power pedals (single sided) are cheaper and don’t tie you to fixed crank length. Or make of transmission. True, they dictate cleat – Keo for Garmin or Wellgo for powertap but that’s not much of an issue for most.
me wrote:
it is an awful lot of money to find out just how uncompetitive you are
me wrote:
I think you’ve answered your own question there. Having looked at campag options for some time, if you’re committed to the crankset and drivetrain, (which many are), don’t want to change cleats and pedals (I’m on speedplay, was holding out for the Brim Bros. option till they folded) and don’t have unlimited funds, then this option is attractive – simple, light, integrated and easily swapped.
No need to buy a whole new 11s drivetrain either (I’m still on 10s!).
The talk of poor reliability is a concern – question is, how representative are those posting on forums?
Perhaps I’ll hold off till some early campag adopters have fed back their experiences.
Power2max Campag crank PM is
Power2max Campag crank PM is not that much more expensive when you cost it all up. And appears a lot more reliable.
700c wrote:
Indeed it’s a £750 (minimum stake) punt at odds of at least 3/1 in my Shimano/G2 experience (and I waited 12 months after release to jump…)