- GCN unboxing is back
and as per usual we are giving you not only
the opportunity to marvel at some amazing bike tech,
but then also actually try and win what is inside this box.
I know, what's not to like?
So what have I got for you this week?
Well the clue is certainly in the box.
Rotor 2INpower.
(angelic chorus)
Oh my word look at those.
Check it out, the Rotor 2INPower powermeter crankset
as used by Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka
and the Cervelo Bigla Pro teams.
And also me actually, I use this,
just quite a bit slower.
Now, we do say here on GCN
that without a doubt the best investment
that you can make to your training
is buying a powermeter.
That, ultimately, is gonna be
what makes you the fastest cyclist that you could be.
So the fact that you may be able to win this powermeter
is a cracking opportunity.
As always I will tell you
how you can enter this competition at the end of this video,
but for now we're just gonna look at this,
close up.
There are loads of different ways
and places to measure power on a bike.
There's your hub, there are your chainrings,
your chainring spider, your cranks, your crank axle,
your bottom bracket and in fact your pedals as well.
And this Rotor 2INPower actually combines two,
the crank axle and the crank,
and that combines to give
a quite frankly mind-boggling array of data,
should you want it.
It will just give you accurate power measurements
if you don't.
Now, how does it give you those accurate power measurements?
Well there are eight strain gauges on this crankset,
now that is quite a lot
in the world of bicycle powermeters.
Four of them live here inside the crank axle
and they measure the force coming off your left leg.
And then the other four are here on your right hand crank
and funnily enough that measures
the power coming off your right leg.
And the fact that it measures these two legs independently
is really important for actually giving a total
and accurate power measurement.
Now we will get on to
what other things it measures in a little bit,
but for now I wanna talk about aluminium,
because in a world dominated by carbon,
aluminium is still a more than valid choice
and somehow it manages to feel at times even more exclusive.
These ones are machined out of 7055 aluminium
in Spain, just outside of Madrid,
and all of that CNC machining manages, so I'm told,
to get them in at a rather competitive weight.
Shall we see?
(soft upbeat music)
644 grammes.
Now to put it some kind of context,
Shimano Dura Ace cranks weigh, I'm told, 636 grammes.
So that is pretty darn impressive for a power metre.
They're made with 110 millimetre bolt circle diameter
which means that they fit both compact
and also standard chainrings.
And interestingly, the way these measure power means
that they will also give you accurate power measurement
using non-round chainrings,
which is just as well
because Rotor have long been advocates.
In fact, they make these as well, their Q-Rings.
I'm sure you're wondering by now where the battery is.
Well since you asked,
it too is located inside the crank axle
along with those four strain gauges.
It's rechargeable and it lasts, so I'm told,
300 hours of riding.
And you get access to the charging port
just under that little dust cap there.
It also has a charger unlike any that I've ever seen before,
see if I can find it for you.
(soft upbeat music)
Look, look at that.
What even is that?
Well, apart from being your charger
for your Rotor 2INPower powermeter.
Right then, what about all that other data
I was talking about?
Well in addition to those eight strain gauges
there is also an accelerometer in here
that will tell the crank speed of rotation,
and that is the missing part of our equation
to turn force into power.
And this accelerometer will actually allow
the crankset to measure power 500 times per second
and then Rotor can use all of that detail to actually
break down loads of other data using their own software.
So it will tell you your torque effectiveness,
which is basically the ratio of positive torque,
on the downstroke, to negative torque, on your upstroke.
And then it will tell you where abouts on your pedal stroke
you are putting out the maximum amount of power,
and then it will actually tell you
what the ratio between your average power
and your maximum power is per stroke,
so giving you an idea of your pedalling smoothness.
And then they can put all of that data together
and actually tell you which position
that you should put their Q-Rings in.
Now more on Q-Rings in a little minute
because I need to tell you that actually Rotor are in
the final stages of developing an app,
it's currently in beta,
and that will allow you to see all of this data
in real time on your phone,
using the crank's ability to transmit via Bluetooth
as well as usual ANT plus.
Back to the Q-Rings then.
A brand new powermeter is obviously amazing,
but Rotor are going further
and actually giving away a set of their Q-Rings as well.
If you've not used non-round rings before
then this would be a cracking opportunity to do so.
And even if you have, you've gotta admit,
they look absolutely brilliant with that cranks.
Look at that.
Now the idea behind non-round rings is
that they effectively increase the size of your gear
at the points of the pedal stroke
where you're exerting the maximum amount of force,
and then they also reduces the size of the gear
at those points of the pedal stroke
where you're exerting less force.
And the aim of all of that
is to therefore try to make you more efficient on the bike.
I'm sure by now that you are dying to know
about that competition, so I'm gonna tell you.
In the description beneath this video there is a link.
Click on that
and you will be sent straight through to the competition.
There you go, it is as simple as that.
And I'll tell you what,
I really hope you win, I genuinely do,
because a powermeter absolutely revolutionised my training
when I first bought one,
and I hope it can do the same for you.
Make sure that you subscribe to GCN as well,
that could potentially revolutionise your training
and it is completely free so if you don't win this,
it's kind of a consolation prize.
To do that just click on the globe.
And then if you wanna see a little bit more information
about training with power,
well you can click just down there
and you get through to a video.
Or for another chance, a cheeky little shortcut in fact,
to get though to that competition app,
click just down there.