By Kenneth Lundgren
I remember racing Bear Mountain Fall 2005. A breakaway of four went up the road. On the final lap, one of the riders, Ryan Morris of Cornell University, had flatted, and we picked him up road-side. Two more guys were scooped up, leaving only Dan Zmolik up the road, able to stay away for the victory.
In the downhill sprint, Morris, off the front for most of the race, was STILL able to take the sprint for 2nd. Pretty. Damn. Impressive. It was apparent that when Morris flatted, the horsepower of that break flattened, too…
I raced with him a month later in Rhode Island at the Jamestown Classic. We got into an early breakaway, and man this kid could ride! We were caught mid-way, a rider soloed off, and in the final sprint – you got it – this kid Morris took the sprint for 2nd! He had a very fluid, effortless pedal stroke, able to power in TT-mode for long stretches, and he could also sprint…
In May 2006 I found myself in a 2-man break with him at the Hollenbeck Road Race, Cornell’s home race. We hammered for 44 miles, and this kid just did not seem to tire. He crushed me in the steep uphill finish, putting 11 seconds into me in less than 200 feet. Afterwards, we got to talking, and he told me of his training secret…
As an engineering major at Cornell, Morris was thinking of inventing the ultimate training tool: independent cranks. But then he realized they already existed: POWERCRANKS. Morris was on them immediately, riding them a ton, and in less than two years, he went from being a Cat-5 to Cat-1 and one of the top time-trialists in America.
Purchasing a set of PowerCranks, second only to a power meter, is where you should put your money if looking to improve performance. Carbon frames, aerodynamic wheels, lighter pedals, hugely expensive wind-tunnel testing, the latest 10-speed groupset – these things should not be your ticket to getting faster. PowerCranks offer a plethora of benefits: they teach you how to pedal more efficiently, strengthen your core, strengthen your legs, help you maximize your strength, and teach you how to best fit on the bike…
PowerCranks force you to pedal each leg independently. When you get on the bike, both crank arms are hanging down. You clip in and must pedal each leg individually, picking your leg up and pedaling in complete circles – there is no fixed bottom bracket holding the cranks together in a 180° position. You can pedal one leg at time, both legs at the same time. The moment you stop pedaling, both legs fall to the down position. Most guys who get on them either want to not ride them again, sell them, or can do only 5-20 minutes at a time. You usually ride very slowly and the cadence is very, very low – most likely you find the 11 and keep it there! You are hitting new muscles you never hit before and simply do not have the ability to keep picking your foot up…
But if you stick with it, PowerCranks will help you create the perfect pedal stroke. Let’s break down the pedaling action: your hamstrings are not only used on the upstroke. As you’re pedaling down, you should already be pulling back. There is a lot of hamstring in the downstroke. If you can access this large muscle in your downstroke, you will increase power.
As you get to the bottom of the downstroke, Greg LeMond’s advice from the 1980s remains the best and most succinct: “Scrape the mud off the bottom of your shoe.†Never will you feel like you’re scraping mud off the bottom of your shoe as much as when you are PowerCranking…
The upstroke is primarily a hip flexor and hamstring effort. One way to improve your pedal stroke, without using PowerCranks or doing pedaling efficiency drills, is to mountain bike as it forces you to pedal in circles to gain traction and get over rocks, roots, steep inclines, and other challenges in the trail. When you start mountain biking, you’ll realize how important a perfect pedal stroke is as you struggle through a rock garden or ride over a log… It’s not surprising that many fast mountain bikers are also avid PowerCrankers – mountain bikers have excellent pedaling action…
The final part of the pedal stroke is the top, and you need to drop the heel as you come over the top of the stroke, something PowerCranks automatically make you do. I can tell you from absolute experience that after first riding these things, muscles in your ankle, in your calf, behind your knee – muscles that you never knew you had – will be sore because you’ve never used them on the bike before.
Team Campmor’s Eddy Ceccolini, New Jersey’s fastest and one of New England’s best professional mountain bikers, rides PowerCranks religiously. Fast Eddy commutes to work on them 2-4 times a week during the race season, and in the off-season he’s on them usually 4 times, generally 8-12 hours a week. He doesn’t try to do too much structure – he just tries to ride them consistently as he knows how beneficial they are.
Just remaining upright on the PowerCrank bike forces you to use core muscles in your abs and lower back that you don’t use when pedaling traditional cranks. Westwood Velo’s Mike Gisler, the 2007 New Jersey State Time Trial Champion, noted that if he gets back on the Power Cranks after a break, his core is sore the next day. He credits Power Cranks for not only giving him a more powerful and efficient pedaling stroke but also a very strong core, a powerful ingredient to time trial success. Mike believes he also avoids injury because his tendons are super-strengthened, not to mention PowerCranks prevent muscle imbalances because his pedal stroke has become complete.
As the name implies, PowerCranks also do just that: they improve your power. Because it’s tiresome to keep picking your leg up, you end up pushing a bigger gear than normal, putting more stress on your quad. I should also mention another important fact about PowerCranks: they are HEAVY. When I put them on my Ghisallo, I added close to three pounds to my bike. So, when pedaling you can certainly feel the weight of these suckers, making the workouts even harder!
After PowerCrank training, on your regular bike you will notice that you can push a bigger gear, either when climbing, riding at threshold, or just cruising at tempo. But the Cranks FORCE you to strengthen your hamstring and hip flexors, so if you’re now using three muscles more effectively as opposed to one on the road bike, do you think you can ride harder, longer? The muscular workload is divided more evenly.
Something I’ve discovered is PowerCranks can take your strength and maximize it – The Tale of Two Opposite Time Trialists. Westwood’s Mike Gisler rides them a lot, and he is wicked fast on them. He time trials at around 80-85 rpms, so he’s right at home on these things. At 80 rpms on the TT bike, he’s putting out even more power because he’s utilizing a complete stroke.
I’ve been riding the PowerCranks for almost a year now. I’m the opposite of Gisler, spinning a much smaller gear in TTs, 105-110 rpms, and I’ve still garnered improvements because of the Cranks. I thought the PowerCranks would help lower my cadence, but they really didn’t – the cadence has actually increased! On the Cranks, I’m usually at 90-95 rpms. But I notice when I’m time-trialing, I can stay at a higher cadence without fatiguing because my pedal stroke is much improved. As a result, I feel much, much more comfortable time-trialing now. The quads, hip flexors, hammies, core – everything just feels solid. My legs aren’t fatiguing like they used to, whereas before I lacked the massive power to TT fast at 110 rpms… PowerCranks catered to my personal riding style and helped my capacity for time-trialing.
Succinctly, PowerCranks help strengthen your strength. If you are a sprinter doing sprints on them, I can guarantee you will sprint faster on your road bike (you truly learn to balance your body – you can’t even sprint on PowerCranks without a powerful core). If you are a climber and consistently did hill repeats on them, whether a spinner or big-gear masher, when you get on your road bike you will climb as if shot out of a cannon…
Once you put the Cranks on a spare bike, over time you’ll tinker with the position so you can ride them better. On my PowerCrank bike, I now have my handlebars higher, my saddle more forward and a little lower. I’ve found that with my bars higher, I can keep my hip angle open, allowing me to keep picking my leg up. Additionally, if you slide the saddle back, you’ll find it easier to ride the Cranks.
However, I’m focusing on TTs, so I have the saddle more forward, making it harder to pull up (further back, you can ride longer because you’re incorporating more leg muscle and core, and further forward you’re more aero but relying more on your quads and will fatigue faster – this is why if you want to become a good time trialist, as with anything else, you need to train the position).
I also found it easier for me to pedal with the saddle slightly lower, as I can pedal THROUGH the stroke more effectively. I see too many riders with their saddles too high, hips almost teetering up there, feet pointing down to reach for the bottom of that pedal stroke, and if they had that same height with PowerCranks, they’d have difficulty. With the saddle a smidge lower than usual, I can power down and through the stroke with more control – when I made the adjustment, I felt exponentially more competent on the Cranks. If you began applying these concepts to your road bike fit, I guarantee you’d benefit similarly…
Roger Aspholm of FinCraft Endurance Sport Coaching and one of the nation’s strongest 35+ racers has been riding PowerCranks since 1999. He understands that you need to balance the body and get both legs equally strong, that you need to properly tune that V8 engine! He thinks they’re pretty much the greatest training invention, teaching the neurological system to pedal perfectly.
Aspholm makes a good point in that it takes a long time to build strength on these things. “There is no shortcut to stardom, so be very patient,†Roger says. “Once you have eliminated all your weak spots in your legs, you can pretty much train normal on these. I do sprints, hill intervals, longer steadier intervals, and once in a while even fast group rides on these. If you have a PowerTap, then you have something to stare at when you are dealing with the pain. Pain is good!â€
Now is the time to ride them. In the winter, we should all be returning to the gym, hitting up a progressive lifting program. As the leg strength is developed, endurance and force work on the bike can then be done. All the while, we should be working on our pedaling efficiency – so this means hitting the PowerCranks regularly! In my program, the first six weeks of Foundation training focuses on pedaling mechanics – this is what we need to do as we embark on winter riding. As the training progresses, you’ll be able to do tempo and force work on them, and then during the season you should ride them at least once a week. Last year I rode them on my easy days, hoping to get acclimated to them. This year, I’m going to hammer on them once during the week, actually make a PowerCrank day – they’re that important.
Doing group rides on PowerCranks is beneficial because it gets you on the Cranks for a few hours, usually without going too too hard. Don’t get me wrong: PowerCranks HURT. During a group ride, you’re working twice as hard as the guy next to you. But because you really can’t focus primarily on the downstroke and are instead hitting your hamstrings and hip flexors so much, it’s difficult to get out of the Tempo zone, or even elevate the HR up for extended periods… In a way, PowerCranking prevents you from going too hard and keeps you in the proper training zone because it’s difficult to hammer 100%.
PowerCranks are not magic, not some fast secret, not an easy recipe to the podium. You need to put in the time and be willing to suffer. Aspholm makes a good point in that success does not come overnight. Like with everything, you need to take your time with them and gradually find improvement. But this much is guaranteed: if you have the desire, motivation, and the ability to push yourself, PowerCranks are a great way to help you realize 100% of your potential.
Kenneth Lundgren
reading! wow, have more interesting tech and this site wont be so obnoxious with the retarded posts/hate.
PowerCranks have been the source of some of the most obnoxious long runnning flame wars in the history of the internet. Check the slowtwitch.com archives. Without going into details, Andrew Coggan , the main developer of CyclingPeaks power software thinks they are worthless. He and Frank Day, the developer/owner of PowerCranks have gone at it all levels with each ending up calling the other an idiot. If you’re interested in buying PowerCranks their customer service is excellent.
9:03 is naive, not Lundgren
never used them. but it makes sense.
do they work by individual ratchet mechanisms driving one chainring? or with gears like an automotive differential?
great article.
pezcyclingnews.com has been talking about them for a while. Here’s a couple links for those who want to see more.
http://pezcyclingnews.com/default.asp?pg=fullstory&id=4331
http://pezcyclingnews.com/default.asp?pg=fullstory&id=1171
I don’t know if power cranks work or not. I’ve never used them and I’m not very curious about them. But I think it’s funny when I see guys who spend less than 10 hours per week on their bikes burn 20% or more of their total training time on them. Those people could most certainly benefit greater by just training regularly.
PowerCranks says that full benefits will not be realized unless almost 100% of training is done with the powercranks.
odd to admit ignorance to effectiveness then state that “those using them could most certainly benefit greater by just training regularly”.
Claudio Chiappucci once said. just goes out there and trained.
he never used any technology,and he won planty of races.
100% of time on PCs? That’s absurd. I’m admittedly not experienced with the PCs, but I’m also not ignorant. What a load of horse crap.
ok now can we talk about the benefits of Tupperware
Lundgren said he had to adjust his seat to rider the pwercranks and that he couldn’t go all out 100% with them. This seems to go against specificity of training and developing maximal power.
They are an excellent but expensive way to do 1 legged drills.
they seem like they would make training painful and not much fun. That said, I’ve read various reviews and all users who have written have suggested significant gains.
Yes, if you could do one legged drills with both legs at the same time. My sense also is that unclipping one leg and doing one legged drills changes your position on the bike slightly which is not as advantageous as riding in your natural position with the powercranks.
What do are they supposed to train? My brain is very susceptible to influence and I’m not sure that I want to teach it to pedal one legged unless we are all gonna race like that. They might be great in a crit though so you could continue to pedal with one leg in throughout the corners.
Is a rediculous exercise for anyone who is not rehabing an atrophied broken limb. It’s almost as useless as practicing picking up water bottles while riding.
anyone know of someone that wants to sell a set of powercranks?
Do you guys know that they are STILL arguing about helmets over on that thread, seven days later? It’s like some David Blaine stunt or something — it’s down to CR, JFT and a bunch of taunters….
Lots of times, people say powermeters, aero wheels, custom shoes, Assos and Rapha clothing and carbon frames are the best. It helps them justifying paying for junk they already have or is cheaper. I know I do that.
guys who just can’t loose, no matter how dumb they end up lookng.
na, na ,na, na na na. got you last
I’m rubber you’re glue
this was a really good one. i’m convinced for sure
POWER CRANKS ARE GAY.
I race my bike one-legged all the time, these cranks are great for that.
You can pedal through the sharpest turn and still keep the inside pedal up!!
No amount of reasoned argument will ever convince me to ride these.
who the hell is Liam Quigley? And who cares how he trains?
re: crits.
i’m not sure i buy the argument that these would be a benefit. if you’re in a sharp turn and applying force to the opposite side of the bike through pedaling, it’s gonna be tricky to keep your line.
CRCA Junior but is not lighting the racing world on fire.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=wME5NTriTco
HELMET!
(Duck and cover, here it comes!!!!)
HELMET!
(Duck and cover, here it comes!!!!)
you realize you’re actually supposed to keep pedaling through corners right?
Since using PowerCranks, I’ve noticed big improvement in TTing. My 10m max has gone from 360 to 390w. I attribute much of this to PowerCranking…
For the guys I know who use them, they seem beneficial. Gisler has won NJ TT Cup two years running, won State TT last year, Battenkill. Aspholm, we all know he’s an all-around beast. Ken Harris is an avid PowerCranker… Eddy Ceccolini of Team Campmor is the area’s top pro mtn biker and he’s on PowerCranks religiously…
Something to consider is HOW you ride them. The winter is perfect time, 2-3 times/week as you need to recover the hip flexors and hammies, doing either force or tempo work. Also, we should be doing a ton of core work now and PCs do just that — murder the core.
The most important thing I’ve seen is that on the downstroke, you learn to use your hamstring — which is already pulling back… So, like EPO (I’m only speculating!), I think PCs don’t make you sharply FASTER — they just let you ride harder longer… because you’ve become more efficient…
I love telling powercrankers that their cranks are broken as we pass each other- you know it annoys the hell out of them, and there’s no time for them to explain!
I’m pretty sure, if you just consciously work on your pedal stroke you can make similar gains in efficiency, without looking like a jackass…You also have to consider the fact that basically no pros train with em, and they are generally thought to be pretty good at that whole pedaling thing.
You might as well start a thread on biopace rings.
Now, I want one…but why are they SOOOO expensive? Technoloy wise…is it really more expensive the sat Campy Record carbon crank or other already over priced stuff? or the cost does not justify demand to sell low…?
That’s one reason they cost a lot.
You’re a Cat 4 or 5, and you’re thinking about getting some Powercranks to get faster. First step: go through the races you did last year. How many of them did you lose because you were off the front on a beautiful solo attach and then your left hamstring just failed you due to muscular imbalance? OK, write down that number. Now how many of them did you lose because it ended in a field sprint and you were in the wrong place, or some guy was in your way, or there was a crash in front of you, or you started your sprint too early or too late, or you just had bad legs that day. Write down that number.
Chances are, the second number is substantially larger than the first. If that’s the case, save your money and spend your time this winter learning how to sprint. That’s what wins races.
thanks for the advice
i’m going to run and file it away as “not that useful”
what is a “solo attach”?
uh oh, JFT has migrated over to this thread. Everyone, hold your line……
Powercranks are awesome! I’m $900 poorer and I still can’t sprint so I have no chance in 90% of the races I do, but I can totally feel how much stronger my hip flexors are!
I know of at least one Cat 1/coach (Josh Horowitz of Liquid Fitness) that uses them.
Power cranks are very useful training devices . . . if you are rehabing an atrophied limb newly emerged from a smelly cast.
KL is correct that a number of strong riders use them, but those riders were kicking ass long before they discovered PCs. The relationship is not causal.
yeah, hes a cat 1, is he pro? I rest my case. And the Advice post is right on. Bike racing at the amateur level is not all about fitness and “muscular balance,” its got a lot to do with riding intelligently, and powercranks won’t give that to you, no matter how strong your hamstrings are, a smart bike racer will beat you, every fuckin time.
Don’t bother trying to buy speed. That goes for all the zipps, and the light carbon frames, and stupid shit guys think will give them an edge. It may, only to a certain point, typically until you upgrade and start racing real bike racers.
That ain’t too shabby.
2006 at valley of the sun doesn’t count. And I’m sure it has very little to do with using powercranks or having a coaching license…
Besides, not to shabby does not equate being a professional athlete. Again, how many pro tour riders do you see riding them. ZERO.
You have a house in Girona?
WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH POWER CRANKS?
I do not own a house in Gerona, but I have trained there in the off season. Have you?
are just stupid or something and don’t know much about training for cycling.
No, actually I think I’m not only phyiscially strong, but fiscally as well. What strong riders use them? Are you talking about really strong or Ken Harris, I’m gods gift to the CRCA strong?
You know, you’re the type of asshole that I pass in the park and comes up on my wheel and sits there without asking like a total jackass. For some reason you think thats an acceptable activity. Not only is it totally rude and obnoxious, but its bad for you, and does nothing for your own fitness. If you wanna ride with me, come talk to me and ask first, don’t be a parasite; I’ll still say you can’t ride with me, but at least you asked. Otherwise, I’m gonna run your fat ass into a curb, and then I’ll look like the asshole. Don’t make me the asshole.
Take note everyone reading this thread, if you think starting a paceline in the park is cool, its not. ride by yourself. I don’t like you.
When you win the New Jersey state tt championship (Gisler), become a pro mountain biker (Ceccolini), or win the California state championship (Horowitz), feel free to give me advice about powercranks.
click on news and find that Levi Leipheimer, Dario Cioni, and Paolo Bettini use powercranks.
From velonews, Lennard Zinn remarks on seeing powercranks on Stefano Garzelli’s bike.
Oh, but you wanted some strong riders who use them. Sorry.
http://www.velonews.com/tour2005/tech/articles/8519.0.html
11:49 — you need therapy dude. You should step back and read the shit you just wrote. What a disgrace. A road raging cyclist. Nice. Why don’t you sign your name so we know what an asshole you really are. That’s probably all it would take for people to stay off your wheel.
12:10 – – those guys would win races without PCs.
12:24 – – those guys get paid to ride PCs 2x a year and pose for a photo. Wake up.
Why does anybody care if anybody else does or does not wear a helmet? It’s none of your business. You people (the helmet lobby) are worse than ex-smokers.
I usually wear a helmet because in the event I crash AND hit my head (which we all know is not usually the case), a helmet could be helpful in preventing a head-split caused by hitting the pavement, a car, a guard rail, etc. and therefore bleeding to death or incurring permanent brain injury. But sometimes I don’t wear a helmet because I don’t feel like it. Big woop. Personal choice.
Based on some of these posts, including anyone in favor of Power Cranks, maybe guys don’t wear helmets because they don’t have brains to protect?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teMlv3ripSM
and we’re back to the helmet argument…great! that wasn’t even a very good segue.
Hewitt Thayer, a Long Island based early-80s hotshot who rode for the national team, turned me on to riding up mild grades in a large gear with your hands clasp behind your back. This helps round out the dead parts of your pedal stroke, forcing the ham/psoas effect, and transfers part of the work to your “core” (we used to call this “putting your back into it”). It is also in my humble opinion, safer than Powercranks. I’m baffled how people deal with traffic, potholes and the nesc. weight transfer skills required when riding through the city on those. Everyone needs to know how to ride w/o hands from time to time in races, no one needs to know how to ride with a broken crank. Powercranking, I suppose forces the issue of learning to pedal properly, esp. if you’ve already spent 900$ and the damn things are on your bike. Now you have no choice. Maybe it’s harder to go to River Rd and ride up it with your hands behind your back 5 times. A bit like having a coach, I suppose: if you had the discipline you could figure this relatively straight forward sport out for your self but why do that when you can spend money to have an “expert” tell you what to do . All part and parcel of the same mindset.
If you’ve got an opinion on helmets, how about saying it in that other thread?
Thanks.
That velonews article was from 2005, and if you look at the quotes from the crap cranks website they have guys quoted saying they’ve used them for a week…thats pretty extensive. It also shows magnus B on the site, who now uses an SRM with rotor rings instead. Powercranks were “cool” 5 years ago, not anymore. get with it.
Bike riding is my therapy, so get out of my session.
I think the general idea from that wheelsucker rant was that people shouldn’t just sit there silently, say something, ask, don’t just sit on and act like everything is peachy. Its something like mutual respect for others space, or something like that…..maybe? Do you sit on peoples lap on the subway?
Seriously? Hasn’t it been shown relative little benefit to a lifting program, unless you are looking to even muscle groups out and prevent injuries….Don’t rollers basically smooth out your pedaling? I guess that option is far too thrifty.
Lets talk about how no one around here seems to know how to pedal out of the saddle. I see all these guys holdin their bikes straight up all stiff and shit and wiggling all over the place, instead of just swaying you bike under you. talk about efficiency, or total lack there of.
Perhaps before you get into the “benefits” of fancy training aids you should get the basic technique down.
This reads more like an advertisement than a review of the cranks.
You know, if you have a gym membership, you can do hipflexor/hamstring exercises, at no extra cost! so put your 900 dollars back in your pocket and save up to by some zipp 50005050’s
if you havent used them your opinion on these is essentially worthless. or at least as valuable as your description of what it’s like living on mars.
I love the “don’t draft behind me, parasite” guys. All macho and stuff. Slow down, toolboxes.
I did a lot of “PowerCranking” in junior high with my mom’s Cosmo magazine. That training has served me well. I endorse PowerCranking fully.
Hmm. Fine. Go and buy them. and use them and look like a fool, not get any faster, and then feel really shitty cause you wasted so much money.
they seem kind of like gravity boots to me.
or plan to get them any time soon, however, you people just amaze me. Virtually every reputable reviewer who has used them reported gains, some of the strongest local riders are reported to use them, some pros are using them, Max Testa has endorsed them, and there are a few studies showing positive effect on the website, yet you assholes continue to deride them without any evidence or sound reasoning. You ask for strong riders that use them and when provided you dismiss them as strong enough without the cranks or whores for the company.
I now understand jft’s frustration.
you can pretty much do it with one legged drills on the trainer, without paying 900 bucks for a broken crankset
hey, I don’t own them, and am unlikely to do so any time soon. but why be so negative about them? the whole point it it forces you to use all of your strength & coordination for the whole 360deg. Makes sense to me, at least in theory.
I started out on this thread thinking that PCs are stupid. I still feel that way, but for those who disagree, please go ahead and use them. Use them for nearly 100% of your training time as recommended. But don’t expect to win any races unless you learn how to race/win. The strongest, most efficient, most neuromuscularly memoryladen hip flexors on the globe won’t bring you a win on their own. This game is only about 40% physical. The balance is 40% smarts/experience and 20% luck/good fortune. Most of you guys have all the fitness you need without the Power Cranks, but you’ll never get the rest because you race like idiots, making the same mistakes week in/week out.
That their cranks are broken – highly obnoxious and highly hysterical. I’ll remember to do that next time.
PS I love how the fact that I sign my name on my posts imparts the idea to some anon people that I think my opinion is more important than others.
the best teknik enhancement from PC comes from learning how to pedal standing, using your hips and finding the best balance point when out of the saddle. Also optimal to use with power assessment. As well to assess position in terms of power/efficiency/muscle recruitment relationship…
Of course you could do all of this with simply riding your regular cranks in search of…but difficult to measure. Let alone become aware of any particular weakness…
If you have PC and Computrainer with Spinscan, good “lab” to figure it out…
Not a cure all, just another tool, when used properly, thoughtfully may help enhance your training.
Have not seen improvement in sprinting power, but climbing, cross and TT; high torque/low rpm type riding, not for trackies/sprinters style…
KL posted this here and on PelotonEast. Leave here while you can. We’re not interested in learning or exploring just tearing each other apart. If you want good dialogue, go back over to your Peletoneast.com (FYI, another good site)
oh brother. nice self-advertisement sg.
I understood the point, but it’s just unnecessary. If you don’t want someone on your wheel, turn and around and say please go away. You don’t have to get all agro about it. I don’t like it either, but we’re not apes. We can speak. We can actually tell someone to split. We don’t need to beat our chests and act like a drag racing cab driver trying to run the next guy onto the sidewalk. Just because you ride a bike and are naturally antisocial doesn’t mean you shouldnt’ try to be normal from time to time.
What ever happened to that guy?
if you havent used them your opinion has no factual basis and is therefore worthless.
Interesting that cyclists are just getting around to upgrading bearings. Inline skaters have been upgrading to higher rated abec and ceramic bearings for the past 10-15 years.
strictly valid arguments can be constrcuted from various sources of information, absolutely. nonetheless, if the ability to actually experience firsthand any given phenomena exists, doing so provides the most accruate basis for judgement. like visting a country vs. reading about its population, vegetation, etc. but i think we are essentially in agreement..
Aside from my hip flexors, my third leg is now utilized to get that extra kick for the finish.
My steam room partners swear it’s done wonders for my “C” game.
You’re still talkin about this shit?
is it more dangerous to ride powercranks without a helmet?
Come on guys. Eating eggs is more dangerous without a helmet!
i’ve used them to re-hab after spinal surgery, to re-train my leg to work correctly after nerve damage. while i certainly feel like i’m super-duper strong after training on them, i cant prove that. but i can prove that my leg has regained full function and coordination after substantial time on the PCs.
Ride a track bike, trackies have a smoother pedal stroke than any powercrankers, I don’t care what anyone says.
brings balance to muscle groups recruited in your pedalstroke. There is nothing better, it engages in real time, seated or standing. Fixed gear is great for smoothing (floating) the gear. Thats why PC users typically will see better performance when used properly in climbing and TTing. While it also goes back to specificity…or understanding the demand of your event (and your own physiology)…ultimately the event picks the athlete, not the other way around.
Lots of people say riding a fixed smooths out the pedal stroke, but I don’t really believe it. What I think smooths out the pedal stroke is learning to pedal at a variety of RPMs, especially at high power and high RPMs. Trackies have to do this, but there is at least one really accomplished track rider (Shaun Wallace, who I think won medals at the Commonwealth Games) who wrote some persuasive messages a few years ago that if he had to ride around the velodrome on the same low gear on a freewheel he’d be just as smooth.
Moreover, with a fixed gear sometimes riders are forced to go at an RPM they can’t handle and they bounce. A central tenet of all learning is not to practice doing something wrong, and bouncing is very wrong. It’d be bettr to ride around with a derailleur at a cadence that is higher than comfortable but not so high as to bounce, then to ride around with a fixed that makes you bounce on downhills.
I just put a set of powercranks on my recumbent…. man those things are kicking my ass.
my kids tricycle and he’s pissed as shit.
Guys, I know this is going to sound strange but the weirdest thing just happened to me. I was in the bodega and these two guys started giving the owner a hard time, like they were going to rob him. I was standing there not sure what to do when all of a sudden out of nowhere my hip flexors just started kicking the crap out the guys. It was like they had superhuman strength. And it wasn’t just my right one, either. They were pushing and pulling in total muscular balance, left and right. One guy got thrown against the counter, knocked out cold, and the other guy just ran away. The owner was so grateful he was offering my hip flexors a reward, telling them they could take anything they wanted from the store. But my hip flexors said they just wanted to use the strength that PowerCranks had given them for good instead of evil.
I know this sounds far-fetched and if I hadn’t seen it myself, I wouldn’t believe it happened. Take it from me: whatever they put in those PowerCranks, it works.
damn thats good!
damn thats good!
I just put a set of powercranks on my recumbent…. man those things are kicking my ass.
my kids tricycle and he’s pissed as shit.
Guys, I know this is going to sound strange but the weirdest thing just happened to me. I was in the bodega and these two guys started giving the owner a hard time, like they were going to rob him. I was standing there not sure what to do when all of a sudden out of nowhere my hip flexors just started kicking the crap out the guys. It was like they had superhuman strength. And it wasn’t just my right one, either. They were pushing and pulling in total muscular balance, left and right. One guy got thrown against the counter, knocked out cold, and the other guy just ran away. The owner was so grateful he was offering my hip flexors a reward, telling them they could take anything they wanted from the store. But my hip flexors said they just wanted to use the strength that PowerCranks had given them for good instead of evil.
I know this sounds far-fetched and if I hadn’t seen it myself, I wouldn’t believe it happened. Take it from me: whatever they put in those PowerCranks, it works.
Lots of people say riding a fixed smooths out the pedal stroke, but I don’t really believe it. What I think smooths out the pedal stroke is learning to pedal at a variety of RPMs, especially at high power and high RPMs. Trackies have to do this, but there is at least one really accomplished track rider (Shaun Wallace, who I think won medals at the Commonwealth Games) who wrote some persuasive messages a few years ago that if he had to ride around the velodrome on the same low gear on a freewheel he’d be just as smooth.
Moreover, with a fixed gear sometimes riders are forced to go at an RPM they can’t handle and they bounce. A central tenet of all learning is not to practice doing something wrong, and bouncing is very wrong. It’d be bettr to ride around with a derailleur at a cadence that is higher than comfortable but not so high as to bounce, then to ride around with a fixed that makes you bounce on downhills.
brings balance to muscle groups recruited in your pedalstroke. There is nothing better, it engages in real time, seated or standing. Fixed gear is great for smoothing (floating) the gear. Thats why PC users typically will see better performance when used properly in climbing and TTing. While it also goes back to specificity…or understanding the demand of your event (and your own physiology)…ultimately the event picks the athlete, not the other way around.
Ride a track bike, trackies have a smoother pedal stroke than any powercrankers, I don’t care what anyone says.
You’re still talkin about this shit?
is it more dangerous to ride powercranks without a helmet?
Come on guys. Eating eggs is more dangerous without a helmet!
i’ve used them to re-hab after spinal surgery, to re-train my leg to work correctly after nerve damage. while i certainly feel like i’m super-duper strong after training on them, i cant prove that. but i can prove that my leg has regained full function and coordination after substantial time on the PCs.
KL posted this here and on PelotonEast. Leave here while you can. We’re not interested in learning or exploring just tearing each other apart. If you want good dialogue, go back over to your Peletoneast.com (FYI, another good site)
oh brother. nice self-advertisement sg.
I understood the point, but it’s just unnecessary. If you don’t want someone on your wheel, turn and around and say please go away. You don’t have to get all agro about it. I don’t like it either, but we’re not apes. We can speak. We can actually tell someone to split. We don’t need to beat our chests and act like a drag racing cab driver trying to run the next guy onto the sidewalk. Just because you ride a bike and are naturally antisocial doesn’t mean you shouldnt’ try to be normal from time to time.
What ever happened to that guy?
if you havent used them your opinion has no factual basis and is therefore worthless.
Interesting that cyclists are just getting around to upgrading bearings. Inline skaters have been upgrading to higher rated abec and ceramic bearings for the past 10-15 years.
strictly valid arguments can be constrcuted from various sources of information, absolutely. nonetheless, if the ability to actually experience firsthand any given phenomena exists, doing so provides the most accruate basis for judgement. like visting a country vs. reading about its population, vegetation, etc. but i think we are essentially in agreement..
Aside from my hip flexors, my third leg is now utilized to get that extra kick for the finish.
My steam room partners swear it’s done wonders for my “C” game.
That their cranks are broken – highly obnoxious and highly hysterical. I’ll remember to do that next time.
PS I love how the fact that I sign my name on my posts imparts the idea to some anon people that I think my opinion is more important than others.
the best teknik enhancement from PC comes from learning how to pedal standing, using your hips and finding the best balance point when out of the saddle. Also optimal to use with power assessment. As well to assess position in terms of power/efficiency/muscle recruitment relationship…
Of course you could do all of this with simply riding your regular cranks in search of…but difficult to measure. Let alone become aware of any particular weakness…
If you have PC and Computrainer with Spinscan, good “lab” to figure it out…
Not a cure all, just another tool, when used properly, thoughtfully may help enhance your training.
Have not seen improvement in sprinting power, but climbing, cross and TT; high torque/low rpm type riding, not for trackies/sprinters style…
I started out on this thread thinking that PCs are stupid. I still feel that way, but for those who disagree, please go ahead and use them. Use them for nearly 100% of your training time as recommended. But don’t expect to win any races unless you learn how to race/win. The strongest, most efficient, most neuromuscularly memoryladen hip flexors on the globe won’t bring you a win on their own. This game is only about 40% physical. The balance is 40% smarts/experience and 20% luck/good fortune. Most of you guys have all the fitness you need without the Power Cranks, but you’ll never get the rest because you race like idiots, making the same mistakes week in/week out.
hey, I don’t own them, and am unlikely to do so any time soon. but why be so negative about them? the whole point it it forces you to use all of your strength & coordination for the whole 360deg. Makes sense to me, at least in theory.
you can pretty much do it with one legged drills on the trainer, without paying 900 bucks for a broken crankset
they seem kind of like gravity boots to me.
or plan to get them any time soon, however, you people just amaze me. Virtually every reputable reviewer who has used them reported gains, some of the strongest local riders are reported to use them, some pros are using them, Max Testa has endorsed them, and there are a few studies showing positive effect on the website, yet you assholes continue to deride them without any evidence or sound reasoning. You ask for strong riders that use them and when provided you dismiss them as strong enough without the cranks or whores for the company.
I now understand jft’s frustration.
I did a lot of “PowerCranking” in junior high with my mom’s Cosmo magazine. That training has served me well. I endorse PowerCranking fully.
Hmm. Fine. Go and buy them. and use them and look like a fool, not get any faster, and then feel really shitty cause you wasted so much money.
I love the “don’t draft behind me, parasite” guys. All macho and stuff. Slow down, toolboxes.
if you havent used them your opinion on these is essentially worthless. or at least as valuable as your description of what it’s like living on mars.
You know, if you have a gym membership, you can do hipflexor/hamstring exercises, at no extra cost! so put your 900 dollars back in your pocket and save up to by some zipp 50005050’s
This reads more like an advertisement than a review of the cranks.
Lets talk about how no one around here seems to know how to pedal out of the saddle. I see all these guys holdin their bikes straight up all stiff and shit and wiggling all over the place, instead of just swaying you bike under you. talk about efficiency, or total lack there of.
Perhaps before you get into the “benefits” of fancy training aids you should get the basic technique down.
Seriously? Hasn’t it been shown relative little benefit to a lifting program, unless you are looking to even muscle groups out and prevent injuries….Don’t rollers basically smooth out your pedaling? I guess that option is far too thrifty.
Bike riding is my therapy, so get out of my session.
I think the general idea from that wheelsucker rant was that people shouldn’t just sit there silently, say something, ask, don’t just sit on and act like everything is peachy. Its something like mutual respect for others space, or something like that…..maybe? Do you sit on peoples lap on the subway?
That velonews article was from 2005, and if you look at the quotes from the crap cranks website they have guys quoted saying they’ve used them for a week…thats pretty extensive. It also shows magnus B on the site, who now uses an SRM with rotor rings instead. Powercranks were “cool” 5 years ago, not anymore. get with it.
If you’ve got an opinion on helmets, how about saying it in that other thread?
Thanks.
and we’re back to the helmet argument…great! that wasn’t even a very good segue.
Hewitt Thayer, a Long Island based early-80s hotshot who rode for the national team, turned me on to riding up mild grades in a large gear with your hands clasp behind your back. This helps round out the dead parts of your pedal stroke, forcing the ham/psoas effect, and transfers part of the work to your “core” (we used to call this “putting your back into it”). It is also in my humble opinion, safer than Powercranks. I’m baffled how people deal with traffic, potholes and the nesc. weight transfer skills required when riding through the city on those. Everyone needs to know how to ride w/o hands from time to time in races, no one needs to know how to ride with a broken crank. Powercranking, I suppose forces the issue of learning to pedal properly, esp. if you’ve already spent 900$ and the damn things are on your bike. Now you have no choice. Maybe it’s harder to go to River Rd and ride up it with your hands behind your back 5 times. A bit like having a coach, I suppose: if you had the discipline you could figure this relatively straight forward sport out for your self but why do that when you can spend money to have an “expert” tell you what to do . All part and parcel of the same mindset.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teMlv3ripSM
Why does anybody care if anybody else does or does not wear a helmet? It’s none of your business. You people (the helmet lobby) are worse than ex-smokers.
I usually wear a helmet because in the event I crash AND hit my head (which we all know is not usually the case), a helmet could be helpful in preventing a head-split caused by hitting the pavement, a car, a guard rail, etc. and therefore bleeding to death or incurring permanent brain injury. But sometimes I don’t wear a helmet because I don’t feel like it. Big woop. Personal choice.
Based on some of these posts, including anyone in favor of Power Cranks, maybe guys don’t wear helmets because they don’t have brains to protect?
are just stupid or something and don’t know much about training for cycling.
You know, you’re the type of asshole that I pass in the park and comes up on my wheel and sits there without asking like a total jackass. For some reason you think thats an acceptable activity. Not only is it totally rude and obnoxious, but its bad for you, and does nothing for your own fitness. If you wanna ride with me, come talk to me and ask first, don’t be a parasite; I’ll still say you can’t ride with me, but at least you asked. Otherwise, I’m gonna run your fat ass into a curb, and then I’ll look like the asshole. Don’t make me the asshole.
Take note everyone reading this thread, if you think starting a paceline in the park is cool, its not. ride by yourself. I don’t like you.
When you win the New Jersey state tt championship (Gisler), become a pro mountain biker (Ceccolini), or win the California state championship (Horowitz), feel free to give me advice about powercranks.
click on news and find that Levi Leipheimer, Dario Cioni, and Paolo Bettini use powercranks.
From velonews, Lennard Zinn remarks on seeing powercranks on Stefano Garzelli’s bike.
Oh, but you wanted some strong riders who use them. Sorry.
http://www.velonews.com/tour2005/tech/articles/8519.0.html
11:49 — you need therapy dude. You should step back and read the shit you just wrote. What a disgrace. A road raging cyclist. Nice. Why don’t you sign your name so we know what an asshole you really are. That’s probably all it would take for people to stay off your wheel.
12:10 – – those guys would win races without PCs.
12:24 – – those guys get paid to ride PCs 2x a year and pose for a photo. Wake up.
You have a house in Girona?
WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH POWER CRANKS?
I do not own a house in Gerona, but I have trained there in the off season. Have you?
Besides, not to shabby does not equate being a professional athlete. Again, how many pro tour riders do you see riding them. ZERO.
That ain’t too shabby.
2006 at valley of the sun doesn’t count. And I’m sure it has very little to do with using powercranks or having a coaching license…
yeah, hes a cat 1, is he pro? I rest my case. And the Advice post is right on. Bike racing at the amateur level is not all about fitness and “muscular balance,” its got a lot to do with riding intelligently, and powercranks won’t give that to you, no matter how strong your hamstrings are, a smart bike racer will beat you, every fuckin time.
Don’t bother trying to buy speed. That goes for all the zipps, and the light carbon frames, and stupid shit guys think will give them an edge. It may, only to a certain point, typically until you upgrade and start racing real bike racers.
Power cranks are very useful training devices . . . if you are rehabing an atrophied limb newly emerged from a smelly cast.
KL is correct that a number of strong riders use them, but those riders were kicking ass long before they discovered PCs. The relationship is not causal.
I know of at least one Cat 1/coach (Josh Horowitz of Liquid Fitness) that uses them.
Powercranks are awesome! I’m $900 poorer and I still can’t sprint so I have no chance in 90% of the races I do, but I can totally feel how much stronger my hip flexors are!
what is a “solo attach”?
uh oh, JFT has migrated over to this thread. Everyone, hold your line……
thanks for the advice
i’m going to run and file it away as “not that useful”
Now, I want one…but why are they SOOOO expensive? Technoloy wise…is it really more expensive the sat Campy Record carbon crank or other already over priced stuff? or the cost does not justify demand to sell low…?
That’s one reason they cost a lot.
You’re a Cat 4 or 5, and you’re thinking about getting some Powercranks to get faster. First step: go through the races you did last year. How many of them did you lose because you were off the front on a beautiful solo attach and then your left hamstring just failed you due to muscular imbalance? OK, write down that number. Now how many of them did you lose because it ended in a field sprint and you were in the wrong place, or some guy was in your way, or there was a crash in front of you, or you started your sprint too early or too late, or you just had bad legs that day. Write down that number.
Chances are, the second number is substantially larger than the first. If that’s the case, save your money and spend your time this winter learning how to sprint. That’s what wins races.
I love telling powercrankers that their cranks are broken as we pass each other- you know it annoys the hell out of them, and there’s no time for them to explain!
I’m pretty sure, if you just consciously work on your pedal stroke you can make similar gains in efficiency, without looking like a jackass…You also have to consider the fact that basically no pros train with em, and they are generally thought to be pretty good at that whole pedaling thing.
You might as well start a thread on biopace rings.
Since using PowerCranks, I’ve noticed big improvement in TTing. My 10m max has gone from 360 to 390w. I attribute much of this to PowerCranking…
For the guys I know who use them, they seem beneficial. Gisler has won NJ TT Cup two years running, won State TT last year, Battenkill. Aspholm, we all know he’s an all-around beast. Ken Harris is an avid PowerCranker… Eddy Ceccolini of Team Campmor is the area’s top pro mtn biker and he’s on PowerCranks religiously…
Something to consider is HOW you ride them. The winter is perfect time, 2-3 times/week as you need to recover the hip flexors and hammies, doing either force or tempo work. Also, we should be doing a ton of core work now and PCs do just that — murder the core.
The most important thing I’ve seen is that on the downstroke, you learn to use your hamstring — which is already pulling back… So, like EPO (I’m only speculating!), I think PCs don’t make you sharply FASTER — they just let you ride harder longer… because you’ve become more efficient…
you realize you’re actually supposed to keep pedaling through corners right?
HELMET!
(Duck and cover, here it comes!!!!)
HELMET!
(Duck and cover, here it comes!!!!)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=wME5NTriTco
CRCA Junior but is not lighting the racing world on fire.
re: crits.
i’m not sure i buy the argument that these would be a benefit. if you’re in a sharp turn and applying force to the opposite side of the bike through pedaling, it’s gonna be tricky to keep your line.
who the hell is Liam Quigley? And who cares how he trains?
No amount of reasoned argument will ever convince me to ride these.
POWER CRANKS ARE GAY.
I race my bike one-legged all the time, these cranks are great for that.
You can pedal through the sharpest turn and still keep the inside pedal up!!
this was a really good one. i’m convinced for sure
guys who just can’t loose, no matter how dumb they end up lookng.
na, na ,na, na na na. got you last
I’m rubber you’re glue
Do you guys know that they are STILL arguing about helmets over on that thread, seven days later? It’s like some David Blaine stunt or something — it’s down to CR, JFT and a bunch of taunters….
Lots of times, people say powermeters, aero wheels, custom shoes, Assos and Rapha clothing and carbon frames are the best. It helps them justifying paying for junk they already have or is cheaper. I know I do that.
anyone know of someone that wants to sell a set of powercranks?
Is a rediculous exercise for anyone who is not rehabing an atrophied broken limb. It’s almost as useless as practicing picking up water bottles while riding.
What do are they supposed to train? My brain is very susceptible to influence and I’m not sure that I want to teach it to pedal one legged unless we are all gonna race like that. They might be great in a crit though so you could continue to pedal with one leg in throughout the corners.
Yes, if you could do one legged drills with both legs at the same time. My sense also is that unclipping one leg and doing one legged drills changes your position on the bike slightly which is not as advantageous as riding in your natural position with the powercranks.
they seem like they would make training painful and not much fun. That said, I’ve read various reviews and all users who have written have suggested significant gains.
Lundgren said he had to adjust his seat to rider the pwercranks and that he couldn’t go all out 100% with them. This seems to go against specificity of training and developing maximal power.
They are an excellent but expensive way to do 1 legged drills.
ok now can we talk about the benefits of Tupperware
Claudio Chiappucci once said. just goes out there and trained.
he never used any technology,and he won planty of races.
100% of time on PCs? That’s absurd. I’m admittedly not experienced with the PCs, but I’m also not ignorant. What a load of horse crap.
odd to admit ignorance to effectiveness then state that “those using them could most certainly benefit greater by just training regularly”.
PowerCranks says that full benefits will not be realized unless almost 100% of training is done with the powercranks.
I don’t know if power cranks work or not. I’ve never used them and I’m not very curious about them. But I think it’s funny when I see guys who spend less than 10 hours per week on their bikes burn 20% or more of their total training time on them. Those people could most certainly benefit greater by just training regularly.
great article.
pezcyclingnews.com has been talking about them for a while. Here’s a couple links for those who want to see more.
http://pezcyclingnews.com/default.asp?pg=fullstory&id=4331
http://pezcyclingnews.com/default.asp?pg=fullstory&id=1171
9:03 is naive, not Lundgren
never used them. but it makes sense.
do they work by individual ratchet mechanisms driving one chainring? or with gears like an automotive differential?
PowerCranks have been the source of some of the most obnoxious long runnning flame wars in the history of the internet. Check the slowtwitch.com archives. Without going into details, Andrew Coggan , the main developer of CyclingPeaks power software thinks they are worthless. He and Frank Day, the developer/owner of PowerCranks have gone at it all levels with each ending up calling the other an idiot. If you’re interested in buying PowerCranks their customer service is excellent.
reading! wow, have more interesting tech and this site wont be so obnoxious with the retarded posts/hate.
Guys, I know this is going to sound strange but the weirdest thing just happened to me. I was in the bodega and these two guys started giving the owner a hard time, like they were going to rob him. I was standing there not sure what to do when all of a sudden out of nowhere my hip flexors just started kicking the crap out the guys. It was like they had superhuman strength. And it wasn’t just my right one, either. They were pushing and pulling in total muscular balance, left and right. One guy got thrown against the counter, knocked out cold, and the other guy just ran away. The owner was so grateful he was offering my hip flexors a reward, telling them they could take anything they wanted from the store. But my hip flexors said they just wanted to use the strength that PowerCranks had given them for good instead of evil.
I know this sounds far-fetched and if I hadn’t seen it myself, I wouldn’t believe it happened. Take it from me: whatever they put in those PowerCranks, it works.