Shimano R9100-P Powermeter

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bas
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by bas

Interested to hear how the PC8 gets on with this. Please let us know. It should be fine i would have thought.

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Conza
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by Conza

mds wrote:I received my R9100-P today, express from alex's cycles. It has mid compact chainrings and replaces my 6 year old SRM 7900 standard. I upgraded my SRM PC7 head to PC8 GPS, hopefully the Shimano will work OK with it. The Shimano looks good. The control box door and hinge seems lightweight, hopefully not too fragile. I am glad the connector is magnetic and not USB.


Awesome. Love to hear your thoughts over time. I'll be looking in mid-Jan for a PM.
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PinaF8
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by PinaF8

bas wrote:Interested to hear how the PC8 gets on with this. Please let us know. It should be fine i would have thought.



Sort of pointless using an SRM PC8 as it will not measure left and the right data. I would love to get a hold of the shimano power meter but at this time I prefer the data of the PC8 over my Pioneer.
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BdaGhisallo
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by BdaGhisallo

mds wrote: The Shimano looks good. The control box door and hinge seems lightweight, hopefully not too fragile. I am glad the connector is magnetic and not USB.



That's one thing that turned me off of the Shimano powermeter. An SRM never needs to be touched. There are no doors to wear out by opening and closing too much. There are no small user operated battery enclosures that can leak. The SRM, in my 20 year experience with multiple variants of their powermeter, is simply so robust that it is a set it and forget it component. Sure you do have to send it in for battery replacement, but having to do so every two years or so is not actually a bad thing, allowing the slope to be updated correctly and getting a good check over of the unit.

These new models do look good in many ways but if you can afford one, an SRM is a unit that is ultra reliable and as robust as can be.

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ms6073
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by ms6073

BdaGhisallo wrote:Sure you do have to send it in for battery replacement

I am typically able to replace the batteries and calibrate our SRM powermeters myself, but still end up having to send it to the US Service center when a new firmware update becomes available.
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mds
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by mds

BdaGhisallo wrote:
mds wrote: The Shimano looks good. The control box door and hinge seems lightweight, hopefully not too fragile. I am glad the connector is magnetic and not USB.



That's one thing that turned me off of the Shimano powermeter. An SRM never needs to be touched. There are no doors to wear out by opening and closing too much. There are no small user operated battery enclosures that can leak. The SRM, in my 20 year experience with multiple variants of their powermeter, is simply so robust that it is a set it and forget it component. Sure you do have to send it in for battery replacement, but having to do so every two years or so is not actually a bad thing, allowing the slope to be updated correctly and getting a good check over of the unit.

These new models do look good in many ways but if you can afford one, an SRM is a unit that is ultra reliable and as robust as can be.


Overall I agree with you BdaGhisallo. But I would like to add some comments. Over the past 6 years my SRM 7900 has been excellent, sent back roughly every 1.5 to 2 years for battery and service, I ride about 600 to 800 hours per year. Once the PC7 head failed, replaced at no cost. Once the drive side crank cracked, replaced at cost. Once the non-drive side crank cracked, replaced at cost. It appears the Shimano 7800 cranks used by SRM in my 7900 compatible powermeter suffer from a Shimano manufacturing defect.

SRM no longer sells this 7800 crank based system, the SRM Origin with carbon cranks is their replacement. I am not happy with it for several reasons. My bike shop says the Look Trilobe crank inserts have suffered creaking in the past (maybe the problem is fixed now?). The 24mm spindle option requires a NDS spline adaptor. That is not acceptable to me, I don't want to risk eventual creaking and loss of rigidity. SRM now offers a rechargeable option, but I would never accept that due to the use of a USB connector. With my clumsiness it is inevitable that I (or a family member?) will snag the cable and damage the connector. So overall SRM as is no longer a good option for me.

The Shimano is new and a risk. But Shimano has been very good at replacing defective (poorly designed?) components for me in the past, so I decided to take the chance with the R9100-P. I need compact/mid-compact 11-speed gearing now, and my SRM standard cannot be so upgraded.

Regarding the Shimano battery enclosure, its door is not weather sealed. I think its purpose is to reduce dirt on the magnetic connector, and possibly reduce the chance of control box button damage in an impact. With the door removed, the unit would work fine, but the button would extend about 4-5mm up from the surface of the control box. If you were to accidentally kick it for example you could easily break it IMO.
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BdaGhisallo
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by BdaGhisallo

mds wrote:
BdaGhisallo wrote:
mds wrote: The Shimano looks good. The control box door and hinge seems lightweight, hopefully not too fragile. I am glad the connector is magnetic and not USB.



That's one thing that turned me off of the Shimano powermeter. An SRM never needs to be touched. There are no doors to wear out by opening and closing too much. There are no small user operated battery enclosures that can leak. The SRM, in my 20 year experience with multiple variants of their powermeter, is simply so robust that it is a set it and forget it component. Sure you do have to send it in for battery replacement, but having to do so every two years or so is not actually a bad thing, allowing the slope to be updated correctly and getting a good check over of the unit.

These new models do look good in many ways but if you can afford one, an SRM is a unit that is ultra reliable and as robust as can be.


Overall I agree with you BdaGhisallo. But I would like to add some comments. Over the past 6 years my SRM 7900 has been excellent, sent back roughly every 1.5 to 2 years for battery and service, I ride about 600 to 800 hours per year. Once the PC7 head failed, replaced at no cost. Once the drive side crank cracked, replaced at cost. Once the non-drive side crank cracked, replaced at cost. It appears the Shimano 7800 cranks used by SRM in my 7900 compatible powermeter suffer from a Shimano manufacturing defect.

SRM no longer sells this 7800 crank based system, the SRM Origin with carbon cranks is their replacement. I am not happy with it for several reasons. My bike shop says the Look Trilobe crank inserts have suffered creaking in the past (maybe the problem is fixed now?). The 24mm spindle option requires a NDS spline adaptor. That is not acceptable to me, I don't want to risk eventual creaking and loss of rigidity. SRM now offers a rechargeable option, but I would never accept that due to the use of a USB connector. With my clumsiness it is inevitable that I (or a family member?) will snag the cable and damage the connector. So overall SRM as is no longer a good option for me.

The Shimano is new and a risk. But Shimano has been very good at replacing defective (poorly designed?) components for me in the past, so I decided to take the chance with the R9100-P. I need compact/mid-compact 11-speed gearing now, and my SRM standard cannot be so upgraded.

Regarding the Shimano battery enclosure, its door is not weather sealed. I think its purpose is to reduce dirt on the magnetic connector, and possibly reduce the chance of control box button damage in an impact. With the door removed, the unit would work fine, but the button would extend about 4-5mm up from the surface of the control box. If you were to accidentally kick it for example you could easily break it IMO.


I hear you with regard to the SRM Origin. It didn't excite me too much for the reasons you cite. For me there's too many adapters that will be ripe for creaking down the line. I had been humming and hawing about getting another SRM and finally jumped as their 9000 inventory dwindled. I haven't had any issues with the 7800, 7900 or 9000 SRM PMs I have owned so I am fine with the "old" SRM design!

topflightpro
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by topflightpro

SRM doesn't use a USB connector to charge the origin. It's a magnet connector link that will disconnect if pulled.

ipenguinking
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by ipenguinking

Now we need to hear the real world experience from SRM Origin owners. Anyone here already clocked some good miles on non-24mm SRM Origin?

cunn1n9
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by cunn1n9

Well I took the chance on Shimano. I bought 2 which cost about the same as 1 SRM so I can just jump in either bike and go. I can update the firmware myself (already done that via iPhone app) very easily. No reason to think this won’t be the usual Shimano bullet proof product.


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TonyM
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by TonyM

cunn1n9 wrote:Well I took the chance on Shimano. I bought 2 which cost about the same as 1 SRM so I can just jump in either bike and go. I can update the firmware myself (already done that via iPhone app) very easily. No reason to think this won’t be the usual Shimano bullet proof product.


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Which bike computer do you use with it? Garmin? Wahoo? SRM PC8?

cunn1n9
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by cunn1n9

TonyM wrote:
cunn1n9 wrote:Well I took the chance on Shimano. I bought 2 which cost about the same as 1 SRM so I can just jump in either bike and go. I can update the firmware myself (already done that via iPhone app) very easily. No reason to think this won’t be the usual Shimano bullet proof product.


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Which bike computer do you use with it? Garmin? Wahoo? SRM PC8?



Garmin 820. But anything ANT+ is fine. Apparently BLE is coming later. Right now its used for firmware updates only

mds
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by mds

bas wrote:Interested to hear how the PC8 gets on with this. Please let us know. It should be fine i would have thought.


Yes, today I found that the PC8 works fine with the R9100-P.
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mds
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by mds

Conza wrote:Awesome. Love to hear your thoughts over time. I'll be looking in mid-Jan for a PM.

First ride yesterday with the R9100-P powermeter and PC8 head. 26km of rollers with one 480m ascent at 7% grade.

Power and cadence data appears consistent with both my expectations and my SRM powermeter history. Both the R9100-P and PC8 are working well.

The first plot shows a ~7 minute section on the climb from the SRMX analysis app. I was trying to ride about 230w, you can see what I think are typical variations in power. Cadence and speed track each other as expected (no gear changes).

I also downloaded the ride to Strava, I have not been able to do this previously with my SRM PC7. The second plot shows the same ~7 minute section. The scales are different. You can see an anomaly on the power plot, a "spike" of about 330w occurs roughly every minute. These spikes do not appear in the SRMX plot, power is always well below 315w. I submitted a trouble ticket to Strava concerning this issue. Alternatively, it could be a SRM app downloading to Stava issue so I will also ask SRM tech support.
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PinaF8
Posts: 190
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by PinaF8

mds wrote:
Conza wrote:Awesome. Love to hear your thoughts over time. I'll be looking in mid-Jan for a PM.

First ride yesterday with the R9100-P powermeter and PC8 head. 26km of rollers with one 480m ascent at 7% grade.

Power and cadence data appears consistent with both my expectations and my SRM powermeter history. Both the R9100-P and PC8 are working well.

The first plot shows a ~7 minute section on the climb from the SRMX analysis app. I was trying to ride about 230w, you can see what I think are typical variations in power. Cadence and speed track each other as expected (no gear changes).

I also downloaded the ride to Strava, I have not been able to do this previously with my SRM PC7. The second plot shows the same ~7 minute section. The scales are different. You can see an anomaly on the power plot, a "spike" of about 330w occurs roughly every minute. These spikes do not appear in the SRMX plot, power is always well below 315w. I submitted a trouble ticket to Strava concerning this issue. Alternatively, it could be a SRM app downloading to Stava issue so I will also ask SRM tech support.



Good stuff!

I wouldn’t even bother trying to get Strava to do anything as they are not great at translating these data. I prefer to use golden cheetah as it is a free and a very robust software. However, you do have to your homework in order to understand the available data. If I were you I would use a computer that will show dual leg output.

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