My trail bike, Crimson Ghost, has been serving me well, but unlike almost all my other bikes it doesn't have a power meter.
This isn't really a big deal, since trail bike riding isn't really about how much power I'm laying down, as compared with cross country, gravel or road riding. It's just about getting up the ups and down the downs at a fun pace.
But still, having a power meter is really nice for being able to pace myself on those uphills, and it integrates with my fitness tracking apps way better when the power data is available. Over time I was finding that those factors were giving me just a little bit of a nudge away from riding this bike as often as I should, so I figured it was high time to correct this deficiency.
This is a spider-based power meter, which means that it bolts up to the cranks, and then the chainring, which drives the chain, gets bolted to it. By measuring the torque through the unit and multiplying that with how fast it's spinning, it produces a reading for how many watts of power are flowing through it.
And this model bolts straight up to the Raceface cranks that I already have installed, so I don't need to buy a whole new crankset at the same time, which is nice.That saves me some money on top of this being a budget Chinese power meter.
So we just need to get the direct-mount chainring off, in this case using my bottom bracket spline tool.
Which should be in my toolbox here...
Hmm, or perhaps it's in my other toolbox.
There we go, back where it should be.
This style of tool is designed to be turned by a wrench or ratchet, but it's actually a lot easier to use it by sticking it in a vise and turning the crankset instead.
And with a few love taps with a soft blow hammer, the chainring is off.
And then the process is reversed to mount the power meter spider.
This technique of holding a tool in the vise is also very helpful when installing the chainring bolts, since they use a 6mm hex on one side and a 4mm hex on the other.
It's like having an extra hand to hold onto things, which is always helpful.
And then there's nothing left to do but put it back on the bike.
And since I moved up to a 32t chainring from the 30t that was on there before (32t is generally the smallest you can go on this size of crank spider), I need to give the derailleur a quick b-screw adjustment.
And, naturally, take a glamour shot.
And then go out and ride it, I guess.
Happily, I can report that the power meter does indeed work. Upgrade success!
