JUMP TO:

BUY NOW:

  • Amazon.com
  • The Pro's Closet

A few quick thoughts on the bePro Gen2…err…Favero Assioma

image

Earlier this week bePro announced their 2nd generation power meter.  Well, actually, they didn’t.  A company called Favero announced something called the Assioma, which is the successor to the bePro power meter pedals announced almost exactly two years ago.  See – while most folks know them as the bePro pedals, the company isn’t bePro at all – but rather Favero.  And these new pedals carry with it a new name – the Assioma.

That clarity providing moment aside, there’s actually some really good news in there.  Assuming things end up being accurate of course (which as always, is a big question).  The price – at 799EUR (or $900USD) is very competitive, just like it was before.  But more importantly is that now the previously laborious installation is gone, and the limitation to being just ANT+ is also gone.  Both were the primary limiters of the product.

But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.  I’ll note that I don’t yet have a unit in-hand, but a pile of you have been asking about this – so this will serve as a placeholder (thus, this is *not* a review).  I’m told I should have a test set shortly though.  So once I do I’ll start posting accuracy data from it. With that, let’s talk geeky.

The Tech Details:

image

In many ways, the pedal looks fairly similar to the first pedal.  It’s a relatively thin Look KEO-compatible pedal with a small pod at the end which acts as the battery and communications pod.  But looks can be deceiving.  The first item of note here is that the installation is no longer wonky-ass.

Yes, wonky-ass.

That’s what I’d describe the previous installation process as, which required special tools, stickers, and a bit of fairy dust.  Now though, the company is saying it’s just the same as any other pedal – simply screw it in and you’re good to go.  Or basically, the same as the PowerTap P1 is.

FaveroAssiomaInstall.gif

That, in and of itself, is great news for anyone looking at pedal based options.  Of course – do keep in mind that I still wouldn’t recommend doing this every day.  It’s a common question I get about other pedal based power meters like the PowerTap P1, Vector, etc… Ignoring any settling in period (sometimes upwards of a ride after moving between bikes), you’re just frankly bound to screw up one day and strip the threading.  If you’re swapping pedals every single day (people do ask), then you’re likely trying to use it bike commuting and it’d be really easy to accidentally get some sand or grit into the threads and then be up crap-creek.

Still – swapping each week for some reason?  That’s likely fine if done carefully.

In any case, back to the tech specs.  The exterior shell now includes status lights, which can be used for charging status as well as validation that all is well:

image

Speaking of charging, the new unit now gets 50 hours of battery life (compared to 25-30 previously).  Charging is also done via a new connector that should improve integrity of the pod.  Previously it was a micro-USB connector directly on the pod.  Whereas now they’ve got a small charging adapter that removes the risk-point of micro-USB in that region:

FaveroCharger

Next, we’ve got connectivity.  Previously the bePRO pedals were ANT+ only.  While in the grand scheme of things that wasn’t a big deal then, it’s more limiting now, especially with folks that may want to use it on apps like Zwift on an iPad or Apple TV.  The Assioma pedals are now dual ANT+/Bluetooth Smart.  And the company has confirmed that, unlike WatTeam, they’ll be able to transmit dual concurrently.  That way you can hook them up to your Garmin Edge via ANT+ while concurrently transmitting to Zwift on an iPad.  Or whatever floats your configuration boat.

Like before on the ANT+ side you’ll get power, power balance (left/right), cadence, torque efficiency, and pedal smoothness.  While on the Bluetooth Smart side you’ll get power, power balance (left/right), and cadence.  Of course, we’ll have to wait and see what adoption looks like from companies like Polar, Suunto and even now Garmin for support of these units over Bluetooth Smart.  Traditionally we see it taking a few months (or longer) until the quirks are worked out.

In addition to transmission of your training data over Bluetooth Smart, you’ll be able to use their new smartphone app to update the firmware of the unit as well as set the crank length.  The crank length is important for power meter head units that may not properly support it.

image

Lastly, moving onto some mechanical pieces.  The total weight per pedal is 149.5g.  To compare, a PowerTap P1 pedal with battery weighs about 206g.  Garmin Vector 2 per pedal weighs 179g.  So definitely the lightest out there.

The Favero pedals are designed to operate between –10°C and 60°C.  If for some reason you’re riding at 61°C (or anywhere near there), I suggest you consider medical assistance.  Meanwhile, –10°C just means you’re Canadian.

Assioma has a rider weight limit of 125KG or 275LBS.  Garmin Vector 2 has a rider weight limit of 90KG or 200LBS, while the PowerTap P1 has no rider weight limit.

Below is a large pile of other technical specs (click to zoom in), none of which are too much of a surprise.  They’re all pretty much in line with other power meters on the market:

image

Finally, I do want to note there are actually two new products here.  There’s the Assioma Uno and Duo pedals.  The Uno pedal is the single-sensor power meter option, offered in left pedal only (but it includes a blank right pedal).  While Duo includes the dual left/right pedals with power meter sensors in both of them.

Favero Assioma UNO € 499 (VAT inclusive)
Favero Assioma DUO € 799 (VAT inclusive)

Update: Favero is going to separate it’s pricing scheme here more than first noted – one price for EU inclusive of VAT.  And then another price for non-EU excluding VAT.  So in the US for example, the prices are effectively as follows:

Favero Assioma UNO € 409.20 ($459USD)
Favero Assioma DUO € 654.92 ($735USD)

As you can see – that makes it even before competitive price-wise.

Currently the availability plan is July, but that sounds fairly tentative.  They are more confident in ‘by end of summer’.

(Minor FYI on Favero pricing: The company actually doesn’t price any products in non-EU currencies.  Instead, everything is priced in Euros – given Italy is in the EU – and retailers around the world can convert accordingly from there based on exchange rates.)

(Secondary FWIW: Yes, I suspect most people will mispronounce Assioma.  It’ll likely just be shortened in bike shops to the Ass Pedals. Which has a very memorable ring to it. There’s no such thing as bad PR, or something like that, right?)

Going forward:

image

So, is this a PowerTap P1 killer that some people are suggesting?  Well, the answer is more complicated than it may seem.  First off, there’s the accuracy piece – the Assioma has to be accurate.  But I’ll give the benefit of the doubt to the Favero crew, so for the sake of discussion presume it will be accurate.  Most companies on their 2nd generation power meters tend to get it right (not always, but almost always).

The second piece is that some folks will prefer different aspects of shape/size.  For example, the PowerTap P1 is chubbier/heavier – but lacks the pod-thingy at the end.  Whereas the Assioma is thinner/light in the pedal, but has the pod in between the pedal and crank.  Same goes for battery differences.  Some people prefer AAA (PowerTap P1), while others prefer re-chargeable (Assioma).  I’m personally good with either of these two tradeoffs in this case – so not really an issue to me one way or the other.

The next piece is whether Favero can keep it (or get it) in stock.  It’s something that Favero struggled with for much of the first year of the bePro pedals the first time around – with lead times well into the many months for much of that time period.  Now, that was also true of the PowerTap P1 pedals.  And even to this day PowerTap is still struggling to make enough of them – with it floating out of stock every once in a while.

Last but not least we’ve got price.  Using simple exchange rate math – the Assioma is basically $900 – or a solid $300 below the PowerTap P1 units.  For almost everyone, that’s a big enough difference that they’ll overlook the pod thing and assuming accuracy is spot on – they’ll go Favero over PowerTap.  But that ignores whether or not PowerTap can simply lower their price.  My bet is they can quite easily.  After all – they haven’t had to lower their price at all since announcement two years ago.  They no doubt manufactured the product with thinner margins, and I suspect they could easily go to $999 or match at  $899.

(Update June 7th, 2017: For US customers, the price will actually be lower – effectively $735USD, as Favero will be pricing products there without VAT and since the US doesn’t have a VAT import fee – it’ll make the Assioma incredibly well priced.)

I would think $999 is probably a safe bet for now, since you’d be paying the extra $100 for a bigger company with more global distribution and support reach (Update: Favero says that starting with Assioma they’ll have a US service center as well).  But…you won’t see that price adjustment happen anytime soon.  Not until they see a reason to do so.  In the same way that nobody reacted to WatTeam initially upon announcement.  Instead, new entrants have to prove their product is accurate and manufacturable.  Until then – all competitors will wait in the wings before adjusting price.  Thus I think the earliest would be Eurobike 2017 (end of August) for any price adjustment by anybody.

Still – I’m definitely excited about Assioma – especially given the price point and the fact that the company made a very solid Gen1 product in the bePRO pedals.  Looking forward to it.

With that – go forth and enjoy your power meter decisions for the summer!  I’ve got a plate of previously announced new power meter entrants either on bikes or in the mail – so by the time we get to Eurobike/Interbike in the fall, I should be in a good spot to have my Annual Power Meter Recommendations guide posted.

Have a good weekend!

Update June 8th: You can now pre-order the pedals from Clever Training (US) here.  Don’t forget to tack on the DCR Reader 10% discount code of DCR10BTF, and you’ll also get free US shipping too.  And if you’re in Europe, here’s that link (also free shipping) – plus the same 10% discount code work there! 

Post a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked.
If you would like a profile picture, simply register at Gravatar, which works here on DCR and across the web.

Click here to Subscribe without commenting

Add a picture

*

181 Comments

  1. Bill

    Is there ever a chance of a shimano based power pedal coming to market?

  2. Sara

    Ray, any comments from the company is their first bePro would be upgradable to a similar firmware, and allowing a similar install without the extra nut?

    Not that is a deal breaker, but would be nice. I’ve been enjoying their Gen1 version for over a year and have switched them between bikes. I don’t use the stickers anymore and can do the alignment just fine without them, but it would be great to make them even simpler.

  3. John

    Still waiting for a walkable/SPD-style pedal based power meter. :-/

    • Karl

      Look / Keo with their city or touring shoes approximates this but due to the design the cleat angle isn’t adjustable.

  4. I’d really like these if they made them Speedplay compatible.
    Don’t know why any other pedal system even exists 😛 😉

    • Amen, brother. Someone, somewhere out there must be working on a Speedplay-based power meter…

    • theboxers

      Sorry replied to wrong comment

    • Brent Gustafson

      +3

    • yancey arrington

      Speedplay are notoriously litigant against 3rd party manufacturers of compatible bits. They would have to rely on speedplay for IP, licensing and manufacturing component support. Risky from business point of view.

      I doubt there is a sneaky way to manufacturer speedplay clone pedals and cleats without coming into a big lawsuit with speedplay.

    • Yancey is correct. It’s incredibly unlikely it’s going to happen until Speedplay does it itself. In fact, it’s similarly the very reason that other companies don’t actually do Look-Keo branded pedals/cleats, but rather 3rd party variants. For example Garmin with Exustar, and PowerTap/bePro with Wellgo cleats, etc…

      Garmin talked about it quite a bit back at the original Vector launch. And we saw Brim Brothers often talk about the Speedplay challenges as well.

    • Wayne

      I believe that it can be done but it would take deep pockets.
      Speedplay does like to sue but they don’t always win. They lost their suit against Bebop but did make Bebop spend itself out of business. Sad because Bebops were basically better Speedplays without the plastic parts and actually smaller & lighter and cleared sand better too.

      If Panasonic wanted to do it I think they could. They would have much deeper legal pockets than Speedplay.

    • Eric Johnson

      I can give one good reason why other pedal systems exist, which is that each system has its strengths and weaknesses. Speedplay’s weakness, for me,is that the outboard pedal bearings are not very far outboard and is a very small bearing (x2) and consequently bear an abnormally large load and fail early particularly in people who supinate like I do. Pedals that can only go a couple thousand kms between bearing and body replacements (for some) are not particularly well suited as power meter pedals in my opinion. I’m at ~19000kms on my bePro on the original bearings.

  5. Dave Lusty

    I have Aspergers and wine on board so the following is probably meant less negatively than you’ll read it…
    In Favero’s defense on the stock issue, your previous review which called into question their durability probably made it hard to plan (and we never really saw durability issues AFAIK).Your continued obsession with their “pod” too will probably hinder the company (smaller and less vulnerable than Garmin pods though?), although you seem fine with the MASSIVE battery compartment on the P1. The reasoning has been sound up until now – P1 allows easy pedal swaps and BePro was harder than 6 year olds could manage. The above though, reads as someone who loves the P1 and wants PowerTap to win so be very careful not to kill this one without good reason, it does seem like they’ve fixed everything and even the old one was accurate so no need to call that out quite so much. I’ve avoided both because the BePro had poor reviews (yours and others!) and the P1 had stupid cleat compatibility (yes, thats a HUGE issue to a lot of us) for no good reason as well as a stupid massive battery box. I’d rather swap mildly complicated pedals than cleats any day of the week!
    You’re a generally quite impartial reviewer Ray, but when you have a preference it does show through. That’s kind of a good thing; pure, cold science isn’t usually great but I’ve felt the BePro suffered unnecessarily from your review especially given the massive price gap. Maybe the BePro was rubbish but I’ve not seen huge complaints? I fully trust your instinct though, you spend a lot of time using this stuff and if it weren’t for the massive issues with P1s I’d have spent the extra money on your word. As it is I still have not bought a power meter. I bought 4 new bikes instead 🙂 Hopefully either the new Favero will be great or PowerTap will sort out their issues this year and start using standard cleats and smaller batteries. I won’t be dropping £1k on either until things improve – at the end of the day they are fancy pedals!

    • You’ve had too much wine Dave. 😉

      I literally only mention the pod size thing a single time – and it’s in the same sentence where I call out the PowerTap P1’s chunky size. I note it as a trade-off between those two.

      The reality is some people prefer one or the other, as I noted in that section. I personally prefer no pod and a single unit design. Just my preference as one who takes on and off pedals constantly and knows that more dangling parts are more things to break.

      I’m not sure which bePRO review you read. I gave it good marks, but questioned the durability at the time (after all, my unit did crack open). I’ve since noted in subsequent annual power meter summaries that people seem good with it over the long-haul. Would seem kinda odd for me to omit it cracking in a review, since that’s kinda a big thing, no? Still, I don’t think anyone would read my bePro review as saying I gave it bad marks. It did well in accuracy, and was priced well.

      So yes…too much wine. Have a good weekend!

    • gabor

      Dave,

      You missed some important issues from the reviews. (in the meantime I read Rays answer, so I mention just what is missing)

      Cleat compatibility:
      BePro/Assioma shares the SAME CLEAT as P1. Yes, they have the SAME compatibility issue. It was never mentioned, but I still assume that the P1 pedal body is made actually by Xpedo, as the BePro/Assioma body is definitely made by them. They can be used with Keo cleats, but not optimal. This is true for all of the three pedals! Actually I think that Xpedo cleats are far superior than Keo cleats.

      It was discussed earlier somewhere, that for US based people, the price difference is not so much between P1 and BePro. At least not enough to seriously think about buying BePro, if P1 is plug and play.

      As a happy P1 user, and I have the P1 for more than a year, and I love it, I would say, that if the specifications are true, you should wait for the Assioma. For much less money the same functionality, and a bit more. PowerTap never solved the Android issue completely. Yes, now P1 is upgradable via android phones, but crank length settings are still not solved.

    • SeanU

      Hi Gabor,
      the BePros are fully comaptible with Look Keo – P1 is not (which was the dealbreaker for the P1s for me – the dealbreaker for BePro was the lack of Bluetooth).
      The price difference in Germany is massive 1200€ (1350$) for P1 – 705€ (845$) for BePro (Source Powermeter24, one of the few sources where you can get the BePros).
      Reviews of both are excellent, even though P1 has much less.
      I personally don’t like the chunky size of the P1 at all (and I don’t like the pods of Garmins Vectors).
      Long story short – in Germany there is really nothing tipping the scale towards P1.
      p.s. I got a stages in the end because I don’t care about left/right balance (can’t change it anyway) and I refuse to change my Shimano Pressfit bottom bracket just because the PM-manufacturers ignore what 90% of the average riders have — Shimano Pressfit.

    • SeanU

      here the source for the cleat compability of BP:
      link to bepro-favero.com

    • gabor

      I know the compatibility claims from both manufacturer. Just common sense and experience tells me that something is not true. They share the same RC7 cleats. It is very unlikely that pedal release systems designed for the SAME cleat behave different. The design is not so complicated anyway…

      I used my P1 with Keo cleats this winter – no issues at all. However on my summer shoes I use RC7 cleats because the release is smoother, and the RC7 lasts longer (the rubber part disappears from Keo cleat in 2 weeks, while on RC7 it lasts forever)

      The cause of claim difference might be in law. In the US manufacturers should protect themselves from any possible issues, while is Europe people use more common sense.

      For me in Hungary the P1 was about 1100€, while BePro was 800€, and P1 could be bought immediately, while for BePro I had to wait for months. I went for the plug and play, the metal pedal body and the easy battery change. However PowerTap found the battery issue after that (no cheap alkalines allowed), so I switched to rechargeables. The recommended lithium batteries are way too expensive, and add a very high usage cost indeed.

    • Antti

      I used P1’s for a year and have since switched to BePro’s after the P1’s kept breaking down. I have hundreds of hours of training on both, so here are some initial thoughts:

      1. P1 and BePro use the EXACT same XPedo cleat, as other already pointed out.

      2. The BePro pod is not entirely problem-free design. It’s so big that it will hit the sole of some cheaper shoes. Shimano RP5 is one, and I personally switched to more expensive Shimanos with a slimmer carbon fiber sole. You can also add cleat spacers, but it’s a hassle. In any case, Favero has made the pod smaller in these new pedals, so the problem is solved.

      3. The installation of BePro is not difficult once you get the routine. However, I always wondered why the design couldn’t be such that the pod orientation just wouldn’t matter, like P1 and Vector2. Favero probably cut some corners and went for a simpler design with BePro, but this is now also solved in the new pedals.

      4. Other than the pod size and the somewhat tricky installation, BePro has been a solid product. My local dealer said that they have proved to be reliable as well. They’ve sold many and very few come back, unlike with P1’s which have had way too many failures. Favero essentially got it right on the first try, and with the obvious improvements in the design I’m personally excited.

    • SeanU

      AFAIK Powertap does not claim Look compatibility.

    • Graham

      For balance, Ray’s review was a strong factor that led to me buying the BePro pedals. They do have their downsides, but none of those were significant for me (I have a wonky ass myself, so don’t mind wonky-ass installs). So far they’ve been accurate (or at least consistent with a Powertap hub) and reliable. I like the look of the new ones – nice that they’ve slimmed the pod (very) slightly, and made the install simpler. The charging looks good too – I’ve not had any problems with the plastic flaps, but they do seem a bit crappy. By my reading, when Ray likes / dislikes a product then it does show (but, his opinion is part of why we read his stuff!), but he always explains why, so it’s easy to say “yeah, actually I don’t care about that aspect”, or “right – that one’s a dealbreaker for me”.

    • thomas

      Have you ever done static torque verification on bepro? I have two separate systems, Bepro S and a dual-sided Bepro. Both seem to work without any anomalies. Easy installation, fast static and dínamic calibration, good consistency. I’ ve been using my Bepro S for 4 months. I get used to my wattage numbers. A couple of days ago I decided to do this static verification stuff with calibrated weights. It has turned out all the pedals with sensors read at least 12% higher. Is that a tendency of every Bepro or only my two ones..? Crazy! So actually I can generate 12-14% less power than I thought. Great… On the other hand, everything seems to be fine except accuracy. Okay, the key factor is consistency, and I think that ‘s fine concerning my instruments, but… Favero claims 2-4 %, I guess… I ve tried to find similar cases on the internet, but bepro has relatively poor info compared to other powermeters.

  6. From the exploded view with the instructions it seems this is serviceable by the user? My P1’s are now back at PT for some play in the bearings for which I have mixed information about wether that’s covered by warranty – the importeur says it is, but PT says bearings are covered only 6 month and after that it’s upwards of USD150 for maintenance… on the plus side for PT, the engineer who responded to my emails was very friendly and knowledgeable. If I (or my LBS) can service these without having to send back, for me that would put these way above the P1 just considering the running cost after end of warranty.

    • gabor

      According to Favero, it is totally user serviceable

      “The independent pedal body: which can be easily detached from the pedal axle (where the sensor is) and replaced if needed.”

      My P1 also developed some play, but according to PowerTap, it is still in the normal range. (within 1 mm play in and out is considered normal, anything more should be serviced)

      Regarding P1 bearing replacement, I was also wondering if it is covered by warranty or not. The tech spec clearly tells that bearings are not covered. However it seems that if you destroy the electronics with the bearing play, that makes the bearing a warranty issue.

      I heard only good things about Favero’s user service as well.

    • Marek

      Although the spares are a little pricey, good to see that they’re available:
      link to bike-components.de

  7. Greg

    What does the weight limit on the pedals mean? Is it more on the structural support side of things or from the accuracy side of things? or both?

  8. Thomas

    Plus one on spd-compatible pedal-based power meter. What I really like about this announcement is the left-only option. At this moment, cheap (accurate) power meters are difficult to take from bike to bike. This would be cheap enough to consider and have interchangeability written on it. If only it came also as a spd version…

    • theboxers

      Thats what I’ve been waiting for. Unfortunately the cycling industry can be a bit conservative in their outlook. They can’t or don’t want to see the market that is touring/commuting. I think they view spd as off road and are reluctant to put a system out there that is more likely to be damaged in that environment.

      I am in the market for a second powermeter and these may be it.

    • Thomas

      And I’m not even a touring/commuting market member. I do races. But I also do long day trips in the mountains that include short walks, I need to get to walk over train stations to get to the mountains, and I want to be able to use the same pair of shoes also on my mountain bike in order not to have to spend twice.

  9. Klaus

    I really like this Pedal Powermeters without glueing anything. Swapable between Bikes. But my prefered shoes are MTB shoes (for walking at a Tour) and therefore SPD pedals.

    Isn’t there any version? With Ant+/Bluetooth?

    Thanks.

    • Jevgenijs Bacula

      +1 Same question from me. I understand it rather niche product but still making some market research I don’t see any MTB SPD pedal based power meters.

  10. Marko

    Another pro to this pedal over Powertap is that they also have an Android app. Powertap has had two years to come out with an Android app and still hasn’t delivered, which is inexplicable.

  11. Jonathan

    Found the Favero Assioma online for $700US and ordered a set. I’ve been watching bePro prices all winter and spring, but patiently waited for the next generation as promised. Thanks to DCR staying ahead of the market trends and sharing good advice with everyone, I think I got the deal I’ve been looking for. I’ll post back in July after a couple rides. Thanks again to DCR for helping me find the power meter I’ve wanted.
    Jonathan

    • Kyle

      Care to share where you’re able to order from?

    • Jonathan F Laatsch

      PM24 VAT free to the US. It suggests 10-20 days shipping time which apparently starts after the release date. Favero’s site has a buy now link, 650€ (excluding VAT/shipping), but it only reports the release date, “this summer”

    • Kyle

      Yeah, that’s what threw me when you said $700. That site is actually listing a price of 700 euros, which is 800+ US.

      Edit – Today it’s up to 789 euro!?!?

    • Kyle

      Found it – Apparently that PM24 site will change up the price not only with what currency you select, but also with the language/locale selection. Doesn’t engender a lot of faith or good feelings about that vendor.

      To get the lowest pre-order price, you must select English (USA), not English/International in the upper-right corner. Blame Brexit.

    • Jonathan

      Email from PM24 today suggested to pre-order now and to expect the Assioma by the end of this month, written 6 June. Price varies with location as Kyle said based on EU taxes.

    • In chatting with them (Favero) today, they put that ‘end of June’ tidbit into the category of “there are lots of rumors people are posting, but most of them aren’t true”. That would be one of those not true ones.

      They’re still in the July-August timeframe for shipping.

    • As for the pricing differences you’re seeing, I got a bit more clarification on that. Essentially Favero is doing an EU price inclusive of VAT, and then a non-EU Price without VAT.

      So for US folks without VAT you get the non-EU price which works out to about $735USD (for the Duo), which is really damn impressive. Not that prices are still converted in real-time from Euros though.

    • Jonathan

      Stills no ride, no pedals, and no contact from the vendor. Maybe next month?

  12. Karl

    Is there a summary anywhere of q-factor and stack height of the Vectors, P1s and these?

    • Antti

      The q-factor is essentially the same for all three, and the same as in Look Keos. Assioma, Bepro and Vector all have a stack height of 10.5 mm, which is also typical for road pedals. Essentially they feel the same as Look Keos, since the cleat and pedal dimensions are the same.

      P1 has a high stack height at about 14.5 mm due to the chunky pedal body. This is about the same stack height as Shimano MTB pedals. Having said that, I don’t personally believe it makes any real difference, but some people do think it’s a big deal.

    • Karl Billeter

      Thanks for the info Antti, I was curious. It’s definitely something I feel switching pedals, but that said, I’m not sure that there’s any positive or negative effect with the differences either :-). Maybe just a touch less fluid standing to pedal with higher stack and wider stance.

  13. Justin

    Ray, I was just looking for a new PM. I have been looking at the P1s and had them in my checkout basket with clever training. I came over here, see this write up and it got me thinking – any chance we will see a P1 v2 announced soon? I like you mention a possible price drop for the P1s by late summer. Thanks for your insights.

    • I don’t think so. I think at this point they’ve got no real reason to push forward a new product, since they can directly compete by just lowering price if required.

    • Graham

      Whilst I think that you’re probably right that there won’t be a v2 any time soon, I do think that there should be. I would have gone for the P1 pedals if it wasn’t for the fact that there are really quite a lot of reports out there of issues with battery caps, sensitivity to battery types, water ingress. Now, I know that there is always a high ‘internet noise:actual failure rate’ ratio with things like this, but it’s still hard to ignore. Combine that with the (stated, at least) slight Keo incompatibility and the heavy, chunky nature of them, and I think that there is real room for improvement.

    • I think you’ll see a new generation eventually, just not this year (per the question).

      Keep in mind that changes have occurred that people don’t realize. For example the battery cap design has changed, as have some early issues impacting play. The battery cap issue for some had the trickle-down (literally) impact of water ingress.

      Battery sensitivity is a tough one, and honestly affects every power meter company. It’s just that AAA batteries are so widespread and people really refuse to follow the directions, that it comes up. With something like a CR2032 battery, that’s less so. Inversely if you look at Verve with the Infocrank and the LR44’s, you start to see some issues there as well because of the options people have.

    • Howie

      My P1’s required replacement after water ingress (before the new caps) and after one of the pedals came *off* the spindle. This replacement set required servicing when one of the pedals completely stopped working. The new caps have prevented water ingress but the alloy is very soft and strips easily.

      Thus… I’m *very* curious about the Assioma Duo.

      And yes, I love that Ray’s preference shows through the immense amount of data and objectivity. …Ray, you know more about all this stuff than I can ever hope to so I trust and rely upon your judgments and recommendations, while also using the data you provide to align with my own preferences, desires, needs, and intuition.

  14. Nicos

    I have read some rumours on Vector3 Ray…any idea?

  15. Markus

    I’m also super excited about these. I used to have the P1s. Those died twice within my 1.5 years of ownership. Each time they got replaced under warranty which was always a lengthy, tedious process over here in Germany(*). I guess they ship them to the US first. Since warranty was about to run out I sold off the second replacement pair.

    Here I see a great new option.

    (*) Just a suggestion for addressing how warranty issues are handled. This may be important for readers.

    • Howie

      In Germany you should be able to use Cyclepowermeters Limited in the UK. I’ve found the product manager, Matt Clinton to be extremely helpful.

  16. Aaron S

    Ray,
    Quick question – haven’t found this on your site yet, but do you see any MTB pedal (SPD) power meters on the horizon or in development? Inquiries I’ve made with Powertap have been “it’s a long ways off” or “we can’t really say anything to that affect right now”.
    In pure speculation on your part – how many months or years before we see a MTB/Cross SPD pedal based power meter in your opinion?
    thanks

  17. Thomas

    Wondering if PowerTap really would lower the prices. Since they are about to launch the P1S (left-only), this gives them a budget option, turning the Favero into some sort of a middle-option decoy.

  18. Jens

    Can you elaborate on the “…and even now Garmin for support of these units over Bluetooth Smart”?
    Is there a garmin unit with dual Ant&BLE coming and I missed that?

  19. Karim

    hello
    I apologize in advance if this is the wrong thread for my question…with that…

    I have a pair of P1 pedals (the dual power L/R) and up until recently they worked perfectly. I recently took a bike trip to Boone NC and packed the pedals (FYI I removed the the batteries during the flight) and they worked flawlessly on the trip. When I got back home I experienced some really wacky power numbers which I know were not accurate-new FTP of 400+ watts etc and numbers bouncing everywhere…in other words they were very erratic. I checked the firmware and they were current and every time I ride I calibrate the pedals on my Garmin head unit.

    Fast forward to last weekend and when I went for a ride the power numbers seemed to normalize and make more sense. My question is as follows:
    1 has anyone experienced this erratic behavior that has self-corrected themselves?
    2 I have a Wahoo Kickr 2nd gen and wanted to ask if there is software or website to compare the power numbers/files so see if the pedals are relatively accurate compared to the Kickr in other words are the pedals preforming properly?

    Any suggestions on how to set up the test/experiment and software or websites (preferably free) that you would recommend would be appreciated.

    FYI I recently replaced the stock batteries with new energizer lithium batteries…prior to my trip so the pedals were working properly prior to my trip with the new batteries….

    Thanks for reading.

  20. Dan

    So I followed the link to Clever Training and the Duo model is $899. I thought you mentioned in your update the the US pricing would be $735?

    • Dan

      Just checked again today and now the price is updated to $735!!! Seems like a great deal, especially after another 10% DCR discount.

    • Indeed, sorry for the delay there!

      The information from Favero was a bit…slim…for them in determining pricing. They were waiting for official confirmation of pricing (their costs, etc…) before finalizing the lower prices. The back and forth across the pond added a bit more time too of course.

      But all’s well now! And as you noted, the $735USD and then with the 10% DCR code (DCR10BTF) is really very very very solid.

  21. Ola

    Dang it, I bought a pair of bePros about two months ago. Had I known these were coming out I would have waited. Sucks to be me, I guess.

  22. Pete

    Hi Ray, don’t suppose you’ve got a set of these yet ? I had an alloy powerbox on order, which aren’t shipping, and in the meantime I’ve both destroyed the frame it was going on in a crash and the Assiomas were announced. Put off pedals in past by garmins pods, P1’s clunkiness and the price of both. These look like a great option for me – more transferrable than the powerbox without BB compatibility issues, and would allow me to get a lighter crankset. Tempted to pre-order anyway and watch for your review with bated breath !

    • Fwiw – I just received the PowerBox a few days ago. Though, it won’t get bike time till July due to other power meters in the queue ahead of it.

      As for Assiomas, they’ve said I’m at the top of the list for units, though they’ve been a bit quiet on when exactly that means. My bet is July.

  23. Pete

    PS – one of the main attractions of the Powerbox, aside from price, was the auto zeroing so no faff getting out the door in a hurry commuting. Any idea if the Assiomas are likely to have similar function, or will i have to zero part of the way into a ride ?

  24. Peter Beatty

    Thanks Ray. I’ll await further news. You’re definitely the premier source of info on such matters ! Good work.

  25. Dan

    Hi Ray,

    If the price dif is not an issue which one would you choose:

    Watteam Powerbeat or bePro / Assioma duo? For road cycling. ( Ultegra 6800) .
    Time frame is also not an issue as currently have a Stages left only..

    Thanks!
    Dan

  26. Alberto

    Muy buenas, me gustaría me aconsejaras sobre q Potenciómetro comprar con medidor en los dos pies. Sería mi primer Potenciómetro.
    Gracias

  27. Michael

    Any news on when these will start shipping?

  28. Alberto

    Very good, where could I buy the Favero Assioma? Do you recommend it to me? Regards sorry for my bad english

  29. Daren Austin

    Any comment on eventual battery replacement? How many charging cycles are the batteries good for, and what happens when they need changing? Presumably it is return to base, but can the pods be disassembled? At the price they look like a P1 killer, I’ve only heard good thinks about the originals.

    I think two single-sided sets look like a great deal to swap between multiple bikes, and am deliberating over this option or a Quark Dzero (to compliement my two Powerpods, Powercal, and Stages).

  30. Alberto

    Muy buenas merece la pena pagar 100€ más por los pedales Favero Assioma Dúo o 4iii pro.
    Cual recomendáis o igual otro producto.
    Empiezo ahora con lo de los potenciómetros.
    Saludos
    Alberto

  31. Michael Swann

    I pre-ordered a pair of these pedals through Clever Training (yes, I used your discount code, thank you). If I want to compare my 4iiii to these on the same ride, what’s the best iOS app to use?

    I would have these pedals paired to my Garmin and the 4iiii paired to my phone and would need to be able to extract the data from the phone to do the comparison.

    I looked at the FSA Powerbox, but I figured changing cleats was easier than changing bottom brackets.

  32. Mark

    Ray, do you have any information regarding new Garmin Vector 3 pedals ?

    I am deciding to buy new power meter and have a choice:
    – new FSA PowerBox Aluminium ~ 600€ (+ additional options needs to be ordered from power2max)
    – used Vector 2 ~ 600-700€ (I think I know for one) ->I have Garmin 1000 on my bike.
    – Favero Assioma -> perhaps also this option but more expensive and waiting for end of summer :S

    Any other dual side option in that price range, I think not ? What do you think is a good price for used Vector 2 with ~ 8k km ?

    • Mark

      or anyone else 🙂 ?

    • Realistically I think you’re looking at September for Assioma (especially if just ordering now). The PowerBox can be interesting too, but keep in mind it’s not dual-sided. Maybe you don’t care on that point, but since you mentioned it in the last item – I figured I’d note that.

      I’d be hesitant on buying any pedal based power meter used (with 8K KM too), simply because you don’t know how they were handled.

    • Mark

      Hmm, I thought powerbox is both side and with software update you can get analyse for each side + bluetooth in september from power2max?

      PS: is there anything which can be problematical with vector 2 if they are used on road bike, of course with pre-testing on my bike, it’s cheapest option and most multifunctional with use of garmin 1000 ?

    • It’s just an estimate. No different than Power2Max today, Quarq, or others like it. It doesn’t actually even correctly do left/right, it’s more about up/down. But that’s just the way these companies market it. I believe I talk about how it works in more detail in my Power2Max Type-S review.

      The Bluetooth piece will come, but that doesn’t give you legit left/right power, just the usual estimate.

      No issues with Vector 2 from a design/etc standpoint, all good there.

    • Eugene

      Mark raised an interesting question… any rumors about Vector 3?

  33. Michael Swann

    Favero released the documentation for the Assioma pedals in the last 24 hours. Only mention of calibration is to do a zero offset and a dynamic calibration when installed activated for the first time.

    Seems like these pedals are pretty much set and forget with the user not having to so a zero offset very often (only as often as desired), unless the pedals are moved from bike to bike. It does recommend that a zero offset be done for the sake of accuracy.

  34. Henning

    Hi,
    I received Favero’s Newsletter a couple of days ago:

    “Favero Assioma: Available As From July 26
    Discover It First in the New Shop

    Thank you for your interest and appreciation for our work and professional cycling power meters.
    We would like to reward you for following us via newsletter by revealing you in advance that the new Favero Assioma will be available as from next Wednesday, July 26th at 11:00 am CET.
    In addition to this, we’d also like to give you the direct link to our new Online Shop: accessible as from now. In order to respond in the best way possible to the great excitement and demand, we will update the availability of the Assioma power meters every day; without opening any waiting lists.”

    Hope they will be able to meet the demand.
    I preordered the Uno version from a retailer in Germany.
    Will let you know how things develop.

    Best,
    Henning

    • Henning

      As of now 16:45, Wed. 07/26 both the Uno as well as the Duo are still “out ofstock” on Favero’s website…. Hmmmm. Doesn’t Sound promising.

      Henning

    • Alistair

      It was in stock on their website for about 45 minutes. I had it in my basket but was gone before I could pay for it!

  35. Lee Gilchrist

    Looking forward to the full review now the product is out

  36. Ed

    Ray

    Is there a timeframe when the link on clever training europe is up for these; I noticed it’s possible to buy in the US but not on European website ? …. thanks so much

    • Henning

      I just checked both clevertraining websites. The european Seite doesn’t even list the Assiomas whereas on the US site they can be preordered, which quite obviously means the Assiomas aren’t avaible anywhere.

      Henning

  37. Pete

    After much deliberation I’m glad I went for a Quarq DZero – easy to change crankset between bikes, and I can use it with SPD pedals for cyclocros etc. Seems both the Power box and Assiomas would have been quite a wait. Its working well.

  38. Josh

    Looks like these are starting to ship.

  39. Rainer

    Hello Ray,

    do you have already an idea when you will be able to post the In-Depth Review for the Assioma

  40. William

    You mentioned in this article that with the original bePRO pedals, using the “ANT+ side you’ll get power, power balance (left/right), cadence, torque efficiency, and pedal smoothness”. I read your review 9-2015 review of these pedals. Purchased them because of it (using your code when I purchased them). Can you tell me which ANT+ cycle computers give power balance (left/right), torque efficiency, and pedal smoothness. My Sigma does not, but I would love to have this information. Thank you.
    Regards,
    Jim

    • All Garmin, Wahoo, Stages, and I think even Lezyne do. Plus a pile of others I’m not forgetting.

      Essentially, just everyone but Sigma. 🙁

    • Mark

      Do they have now same “access” to Garmin devices (i.e. garmin 520, 1000 etc) to show on them left&right power, balance etc.? As far as I remember this was only possible from garmin vector to garmin devices, is it now “unlocked” also for other competition?

    • They’ve actually always had the same access for things like power balance (left/right power), pedal smoothness, and torque effectiveness.

      It was ‘Cycling Dynamics’, which is a bit more different (and probably more useless) that it’s Garmin private only.

    • iomk

      Yesterday i recived my assioma duo.

      Now I’m setting up my device and the power data field shown on garmin edge is half the power my indoor trainer reports…

      I set up Power 3s, and Pedal Smoothness, is there a way to show L and R power?

    • Josh

      I’ve got these on order. Have you figured out why your power was halved? What does it report in the Assioma app?

    • iomk

      Power report is Ok in assioma, it was just my dumb trainer (elite rampa) reporting bad power… about 100+ W

  41. David F

    If you buy the DUO, will you be able to move just the left pedal over to another bike and run it as an UNO? Additionally, and this would be really cool, can the right-side only pedal also work as an UNO? That would mean that with the DUO you can run left/right on one bike, or two bikes with one-side only.

  42. Erwin

    Has anyone tried them to pair with polar v800?

  43. Ricardo Araujo

    Received mine last Friday, had two rides already and must say that these pedals have been perfect so far, in my unqualified opinion.

    • James

      Interested to hear how people’s experience has been so far.
      How are the pods – have you had any rubbing on your shoes?
      Does the charging interface look pretty robust?
      Any impressions of battery life?

    • Ricardo Araujo

      It’s been great, as far as I can tell. Did a comparison against the power measured by my Kickr (using Rays’ analysis tool) and it’s been pretty spot on.The pods don’t rub on anything, I only acknowledge they’re there when I’m looking for the blinking lights mid-ride – just to make sure they’re working… The charging plugs look solid, and like a macbook’s mag safe plug, it’ll just connect when you get the plug close to the pod. Battery life has been outstanding so far – I’ve charged only once, the day it arrived, and had close to 8 hours of rides, and I’d say there’s about 75% power left on both pedals. Just one thing to note is that when you connect to the pedals using your iphone app it’ll remain connected – thus draining battery – unless you switch bluetooth off on your phone. That happened to me the day I first charged. Hope this helps. Cheers

    • James

      Great to hear, thanks for the report!

    • tfk

      specifically you must set them up to avoid rubbing on shoes – I would imagine it would affect power readings. there seems to be much more clearance than the earlier bePRO. If it rubs then you can either file down your shoe or buy a shim.

  44. Brian Slessor

    Hi Ray,
    Wondering whether the Assioma Duo could be split across 2 bikes. Left pedal on one and right in another and each giving single pedal power data.
    I know that the P1’s work as a left master, right slave configuration, but would this work on the Duo’s ..?

  45. Dustin Hoiten

    I was curious if you know wether the assioma uno could later be upgraded to a duo similar to how the vector pedals are?

  46. Sandra

    Hope to see a hands on review soon. In lack of a P1 v.2, this appear to be the most interesting thing this year. 🙂

    • Jesús

      Hi Ray,

      Should be nice if you can introduce in this Assioma Power meter hands on review a comparison between round and circular rings. I use Q-rings for 7 years. You could use your Power Tap hub as a master for this comparison and you change only the rings. This will be an advantage, because as far as I know any website has any “scientific” info regarding this issue.
      I’m tempted to purchase them but this issue makes me a bit reluctant. I don’t know if it is enough 12 times power info capture of this pedals compared with P1 that, if I’m not wrong, records 40 times.
      Also it seems that Vector3, will increase the compatibility with non-round rings increasing the times that record the power data for every pedal stroke.
      If you take into account my comment I will be thankfull.

      Thanks a lot.

      PD.- My view is that I prefer purchase this pedals instead Drivo or Flux. Assioma + Tacx Flux smart are a better choice to pass a nice winter and being in the same price with much more versatility.

    • tfk

      favero state a difference with oval chainrings (which I use) of 2-4% (add that onto the +-/2% general accuracy link to the5krunner.com). favero have also said that that will be a firmware release this year to address this. Ray might have a view on the number of readings taken per revolution – I used to think that was the reason why some cranks/pedals can give accurate power for ovals (from what ROTOR said)…now i’m less sure. that’s probably a factor but maybe also the algorithm used and other factors come into play

    • When a company states 2-4% with oval rings, they’re essentially saying they aren’t compatible/accurate with oval rings.

      They have enough underlying data to make the calculations, which are dependent on cadence as well. I’ve found that almost every power meter company says they’ll ‘soon add in oval ring support’, yet almost no company ever does.

  47. Sandra

    If this image is legit, the supposed Vector 3 is even sleeker looking than the Assioma. Garmin would also appear to gone down the route of using internal rechargeable li-ion batteries as well, judging by their size. Which, while hating the large AAA of the P1, I still have mixed feelings about. Rechargeable li-ion batteries eventually wears out, and if they’re not replaceable as with the Assioma (encased in resin) the pedals eventually becomes useless. Would be nice if manufactures were to specify expected battery lifetime for these pedals.

    • Lee Gilchrist

      Hi Sandra, I agree with this issue of rechargeable batteries. As part of UK Law a device should be of sufficient quality to last 6 years however Li-Ion batteries only last 2 years MAX. We pay premium money for a device with 12-24 months life. Most of the time the hardware is fine but the battery cannot provide the regarding performance. Also 12 month manufacturers warranty for device upto £500 is not adequate especially as Garmin company moto is “Built to Last” (as long as it is only 12 months!!

    • Some confusion here…

      Li-Ion batteries have no such ‘2 year max’. Rather, it’s based on re-charge cycles. Often, that’s about 1,000 charge cycles before a unit starts to degrade in battery. The degradation isn’t just death. Instead, it’s a slow reduction of overall capacity. Perhaps instead of 100%, you’ll only get 80% For a pedal with perhaps 100 hours of battery, that’s far more hours than you’ll ever put on the pedals before they die (at 1,000 recharge cycles).

      Next, UK law can easily allow a company to repair the device at no cost. So a company like bePro can handle it that way quite easily.

    • Howie

      This begs the question of what bePro has to say about expected recharge cycles, capacity reduction, and device repair (to exchange the batteries).

    • The manual doesn’t specify number of charging cycles, but I’ll ask.

      My guess is the usual 1,000. Capacity reduction is never known, as it’ll vary based on a boatload of environment conditions. Swappage of batteries would be pretty straight-forward based on warranty situation, I’d think. The only question would be out of warranty cost, which I’ll ask.

      (For reference, using their 50 hours per charge, but let’s put it at 40ish, since you’d likely charge when you hit the 20% low-battery warning – is 40,000 hours of riding. If you rode 24×7, that’d be 1,666 days (or 4.5 years of never-ending riding)…all before you saw gradual degradation. But let’s say you rode 10 hours a week, that’s 76 years.

      Of course, these are silly numbers – but that’s kinda my point. Out of all the ways people kill devices – non-phone devices – this virtually never comes up. People still have Garmin FR305’s from a decade ago that won’t die. When something does come up related to battery drain on sports tech devices – it’s almost always in the first few weeks…again, based on the 500,000+ comments that folks have left here on the site.

      Finally, as a side note – less people get the wrong idea I actually don’t like rechargeables in general, since i find it a pain in the butt if something happens mid-ride.)

    • Gray

      I wondered about this factor before buying bePRO pedals, and came to the same conclusion. Unless something runs out of spec it’s very likely that I’ll have moved onto something else before the battery dies.

      Favero cover this in their bePRO FAQ:

      link to bepro-favero.com

      Personally I like rechargeables. I’m unlikely to stop midride and swap out a battery, and fairly unlikely to set out without enough charge in the units in the first place. Horses for courses though.

    • Sandra

      Hi Le.
      There appear to be some variation. I have opened and replaced batteries on phones newer then two years old. I also have a HTC One, that is as good as new, and it’s approaching 4 (I think). Battery life for li-ion also depends on how we charge them, ideally between 50-70%, and never let them drain fully. I would be perfectly happy having li-ion in a power meter if they were replaceable. This does not appear to be the case with Assioma, as all of the electronics on the Bepro where encased in resin to prevent water ingress. That’s why I would like Favero to go on record on how long they expect the Assioma to be in good working condition, before spending my money on them.

    • Sandra

      Sorry.. Lee

    • Gray

      A modern phone is typically fully charged and discharged every day or two. There’s just no way that these pedals will see anything like as hard a time. Ray’s back-of-the-envelope calculations and Favero’s info (for the bePRO, but you could expect at least as good for the new ones) back up the notion that this just isn’t a big issue unless you’re using them ridiculous amounts.

    • Sandra

      Thanks Ray. While I have had some bad experiences in the past with batteries clearly not lasting 1000 recharge cycles. The difference between phone and sports slipped my mind and you cleared a lot thing up.

    • Sandra

      Shane Miller recently made a video on changing the battery on his Edge 810 after a “few hundred or more power cycles”.

      link to youtube.com

      It still bothers me that the batteries does not appear to be replaceable on the Assioma.

      It could be that there’s is not a lot of comments regarding battery life because people usually have moved on two newer stuff after 1-2 years…

      I research the hell out the stuff I buy, and usually end up buying expensive, expecting 3-4 years of service.

    • Howie

      Good points, DCR. Including the mid-ride oops.
      As Sandra points out, some statement by Favero would be a user-friendly thing to go on record with.

    • Gray

      Am I invisible? 🙂

      I posted a link above to Favero’s FAQ that covers exactly this for their bePRO pedals. You’d be pretty safe to assume that would be a worse-case scenario for the Assioma (given the longer time between charges). Otherwise just email them, or get P1s if you care that much!

    • Michael

      Ray,

      I agree that the battery shouldn’t be a problem in these, as cell phone batteries have proven to be quite reliable after years of charge cycles…

      However, there is one concern I have related to the batteries. The manual states:

      “If the product is not used for long periods, charge the battery at least every 3
      months, to avoid the risk of irretrievably damaging the product.”

      To me, this is an indication that it will discharge fairly rapidly without attention, and I’m worried that this will be a problem for people who may not be heavily active during certain times of the year. I run primarily, and sometimes go fairly long periods without riding, so this is a bit of a concern for me.

      As I see it, I would need to pull the pedals off the bike and have them sitting near the charger so I can top them off every 3 months to avoid battery issues. To me, this appears to be a burden and favors the removable battery approach of the Garmin and Powertap products.

      —M

  48. rockpaper

    When will someone bring out a simple pedal-based powermeter that works with SPD-SL natively, i.e. not like the garmin vector 2’s. I like my cleat setup and don’t want to change to a Look or similar…

    • BartosZ

      I got my Assioma last week. With a one week delay vs promise. Works just as expected. Truly plug and play solution. I was really mad I have to give a way shimano cleats and start to use another standard. But to my surprise keo/look suits me better. I find it more precise in locking and unlocking. Definitely would prefer this system on a race day. Only minor complaint, red cleats with 6 degrees float or similar are nonsense. I had to buy zero float to truly enjoy the experience. On the overall about Assioma I cannot find a reason to justify the lowest market price. They just give all I need, at the price I could d only dream a year or two years ago. A game changer, no doubts.

  49. Erdnah

    Hi Ray,
    could you please describe cornering abilities of the pedals? Or did I overread the topic? Afaik that is an issue with Powertap P1, for instance.
    Thanks a lot, Erdnah

    • I haven’t measured the specific cornering angle myself…yet, though I did for the PowerTap P1.

      Honestly, I think if you’ve found yourself at the angle to which you’d clip a P1 pedal, you’re probably a split second away from biting it anyway. Check out my PowerTap P1 review where I show what it would take to clip it (with 175mm cranks no less!). I’ve only ever heard of a single person saying they clipped a P1 pedal while cornering, and even they admitted they’d probably have clipped any pedal in that scenario.

    • gcyclist

      I have had P1 pedals for more than a year. I clipped them one time but don’t consider it an issue worth worrying about. If I was doing this repeatedly I would probably be on the ground. In a hard corner the pedal on the inside is normally up and if you can pedal through a corner you normally aren’t leaning so much that you would clip the pedal.

  50. graham howard

    I was just about to buy a set of Duo and realised just in time that they are not SPD! Whoops. Why Keo????

  51. Richie Close

    Hey Ray

    Based on your experience of the Assioma, does the position of the pods on the inside of the pedal impact where your feet are positioned in the pedal stroke? IE, those their positioning ‘push out’ the position of the pedal platform?

    Cheers

    Richie

  52. Fil

    Hi Ray,

    I’m looking to get my first power meter without spending too much money. Favero looks good for what I’m looking for. Just wondering if the uno assom ia is good enough than having a duo?

    Thanks

    • I’m generally not a huge fan of single-leg power meters, because they aren’t super representative of fluctuations in leg balance.

      But if you’re looking to get the Uno now, and perhaps upgrade to the Duo down the road – then that makes sense.

  53. Johannes

    Does anyone know if it is possible to connect an ANT+ and a Bluetooth device at the same time? So i.e. a Suunto watch and a Garmin Edge.

    • Yes, however do keep in mind if using them with a Suunto watch you’ll only connect to a single side of the pedal – not both pedals.

    • Antti

      So for a Suunto watch user (Ambit3 in my case) there is no reason to buy the DUO if they only connect to one side? Have you asked Suunto if this something they plan to sort out in future?

    • At present, that’s correct, it’d be of no value.

      Suunto says it’s on their to-do list. I suspect we’ll see it sorted this fall sometime, but I don’t have an official date for it yet.

    • Yannick

      Sorry to comment on this old thread. I searched the internet but could not find an answer to my question, which I also asked the support from favero and suunto. But both just said this question needs to be answered by the other party…

      So the question is, can the ambit3 connect to both pedals now? By connect I mean to get the data of both pedals. If only one side is displayed during the ride on the watch, that is ok for me.

  54. Bet

    Hi Ray,

    I’m torn between Assomia and Stages… seems like stages are cheaper than Favero Assomia.

    I have a sram red22 crankset so both are good option for a power meter…

    What are your thoughts on Stages vs Assomia?

    Thanks

    Bet

    • I’d say it depends on whether or not you want to upgrade from a single-sided down the road. If not, then Stages is pretty easy. If so, then I’d go Assioma.

      Heck, in most cases I’d probably still go Assioma. The data’s looking really solid. You’ll likely start to see some of my initial Assioma power meter review data tomorrow in a different review, and then the remainder next week in the Assioma review.

    • Bet

      Thanks I’ll wait for ur review…

    • Michael Swann

      I’m liking what I’ hearing about these pedals. Mine are in the same city as I am, somewhere between FedEx and Australia Post.

      I’ve never been completely happy with my 4iiii Precision. Cadence spikes every ride, spiky power data every time I stop and start pedalling and I don’t really know if it’s reading correctly as it probably has Dura Ace optimised software on a 105 crank.

      I guess when I start using my Assiomas I will see whether the 4iiii has been giving me valid readings.

    • David Chrisman

      Sorry to hear the 4iiii is still having issues. Will look forward to hearing how these go. Still all good with Edge 520?

    • Michael Swann

      The Edge 520 is still good but there were a couple of firmware updates that caused erroneous altitude readings. This appears to be sorted now.

      I toy with the idea of running the two power meters simultaneously, but I’ll see what my data looks like after the first couple of rides on the Assiomas.

  55. Brent

    Maybe I’m a little impatient and this will be addressed in your review to come, but shouldn’t the Assioma pedals be able to connect to a Garmin 520 and provide both power and cadence concurrently? Or do you need a cycling computer that uses both Bluetooth & ANT+ to get both units of measurement?

    • Michael Swann

      All power meters provide power and cadence readings to the head unit over the same communication protocol (Bluetooth Smart or ANT+). You do not need both.

  56. Erwin

    Has anyone paired them to a Polar V800?

  57. Alistair Cochrane

    I apologize if this question has been asked and answered elsewhere, but I can’t find an answer. I am really interested in these petals for the multi-bike capability. But, I run 172.5 mm cranks on my road bikes, but 165 mm cranks on my triathlon bike. ( yes… I bought into that fad… )

    Would that make my readings wonky? I see that you can set crank length via the app, and I’d be happy to do that every time I swap, but I don’t know if I’d have to recalibrate or anything… with that be the same for any pedal based system?

    Thanks!

    • The app isn’t so much the issue as your head unit. Most head units these days pair sensors into a pool concept, so your sensor is saved once – regardless of which bike/bike profile you may use it on. In general that works out great…but in this case it works against you since you can’t basically just fake two bike profiles with different crank lengths.

      About the only option you’ll have is to change the crank length on the head unit each time you swap bikes. One tip would be to set the head unit to remind you to calibrate when you power it on, which in turn might remind you to validate you’ve got the right crank length setting.

  58. Michael Swann

    I finally got my Assiomas, They took longer to get to me from FedEx to Australia Post than they did to get from the US to Australia, but that’s another story.

    First ride was just a settling ride. Power and cadence data was missing for a few seconds at the start, so don’t let your first ride be one that matters.

    Second ride went better, Had data for the entire duration. One cadence spike, but the power data looks a lot nicer than my 4iiii. They showed me I have an imbalance (53%/47% average for the ride) and it wasn’t uncommon for me to see 55%/45% at time. This could have put my 4iiii readings out.

    I didn’t like the supplied cleats. They seemed to have more float than my Shimanos even though they were both 6 degree cleats. They were also slippery to walk in. I bought some Look Keo Grip 4.5 degree cleats, fitted them and took them for a short ride, I like them much better. They are also better to walk in. If anyone’s wondering, Favero themselves say they’re compatible.

    I also find the Look cleats/pedals easier to get into, but not out of. I have to change my unclipping technique though. I’m used to turning my foot in, but you can’t really do that with these pedals. Now I have to get used to turning my foot out.

  59. Sinan Avcı

    Will there be an SPD version of these power meters? I am a roadie but prefer SPD over other systems due to ease of walking around with SPD cleats.

  60. Fil

    Hi Ray,

    I came across this, it’s a cleat base power meter. Have you seen this?

    link to indiegogo.com

    • I have seen it. Knowing how difficult it was for Brim Brothers (like, half a decade of trying), I have low confidence in this particular area of power meters at this time.

      Also, being Indiegogo further lowers my trust, since it implies:

      A) They need cash more than validity
      B) They can’t meet the Kickstarter vetting process

      If they’re serious – I’d suggest them send a prototype pair to any of the various reputable cycling media outlets to try out. It need not be perfect, but it should at least spit out a reliable power number. If it can’t do that, I wouldn’t pay any money at this stage, since getting to that point is incredibly difficult, let along getting to the next point of manufacturing.

    • Ok, minor update here as I dig further through the e-mail hell that was my inbox the last 7 days while at Eurobike.

      They shot me an e-mail on Thursday evening asking for a Eurobike meeting (I left Friday mid-day). My bad. On the bright side, they’re from Zurich and I’ll be there tomorrow. So we’ll see if I can touch one and get a better feel for things.

  61. SG-Highland

    Hey all, received my Assioma Duo last week and everything going well, including swapping between road and tri bike.

    First power user, and using a Bryton head unit which will only show left power. If I buy a new head unit my wife will divorce me, are there iOS apps for iPad that will show me left/right data via Bluetooth for use on trainer over winter? appreciate I will lose things using BT rather than ANT but keen to access more data.

    Cheers for any advice!

    • So the Bryton units should be able to connect on ANT+, which will get you total power (and I think they also do power balance).

      For iOS apps that properly support left/right power, you *may* be able to try the PowerTap Mobile app. I haven’t tried it with it, but I have a funny feeling it might actually work oddly enough (or it could fail miserably).

    • SG-Highland

      Thanks a lot for the comment, will have a go with the Powertap app!

  62. Marco Romagnuolo

    Hi guys, did any of you have issues with this beautiful power meter? Mine has a nifty issue: the left pedal battery goes flat in about 7/8h riding, while the right pedal is just fine!
    Anyone else had this issue? I am in contact with Favero, it seems it is the first time they hear anything like this…

    • Ricardo Araujo

      That sucks mate – def not happening with mine as I only had to charge it twice since started using it. I’m actually amazed at how long the battery lasts. One thing you can double check – which happened to me and drained the batteries early on – is that when you connect the pedals to the iPhone or Android app thru bluetooth to check status, battery etc., it will remain connected unless you turn off the bluetooth connection on your phone and wait for the pedal lights to stop blinking, effectively terminating the connection. Try that and see if works.

      Cheers

    • Marco

      True – I noticed it’s well. But still I wonder why only the left one has this issue. Maybe I’ll have to return it… 🙁

    • Michael

      I believe the BT communication to the head or phone is through the left pedal only and it relays both pedals.

    • craig schaepe

      This is exactly what is happening to me for 2.5 months usually the right pedal will go flat when it should have a 90% charge. I have seen it happen on the left pedal as well. So now I have to send it back to Italy for ‘repair’.

      If I had known the cost of shipping to get these things repaired I would have gone for the Garmin V3’s. It costs between $120 and $200 for ONE way shipping to Italy. I don’t know there policy but they are going to want me to pay the other way as well. I should have just thrown them in the trash or used them as regular non power pedals if that was the case.

    • craig schaepe

      That is BS it is NOT the first time they have heard of it. Reference my# T180426001 to link them. I get 2 to 3 rides of < 2 hours apiece then one pedal will be dead the other will be at 90%.
      Beware sending them back from the US will be expensive.

  63. Scott r

    Wonder if anyone has had as much trouble with their Power meter pedals as much as I have. I had the Favero bepro for 18months when on one ride the power dropped out and never returned. Long story short I sent it back and they said it was out of warranty due to the rubbing on the sensor. Another 350 pound later and the new Assioma uno pedal… 3 months in and same again, power stops working again, sent it back to Italy again and again they say it’s rubbing when there has been none at all. Has anyone had a problem and been within warranty?