Head unit

update firmware on everything?

well...I popped the cap on the battery compartment on both meters and used a small screwdriver to pry up those battery contact points.  Then I placed a small piece of tape between the battery door and the battery to stop the battery from moving around.  For shits and gigs I applied a small film of that white lightening clear grease around the battery door to keep moisture out.  Tomorrow I'll see if any of that works.  I remember the gen 1 had some issues and the tape solved it.  
The head unit is my Cateye Stealth evo....not the head unit cuz I'm using ant+ heart rate strap and that doesn't drop.  Firmware all up to date
Also...look at an indoor workout = SOLID no dropsy's
must be a situation where the battery is gettin jostled 

i did the battery container prong pry last week or so on my quarq and it fixed everything. it had been dropping the signal and seeming to just shut off.  hopefully you'll get same results!

its a little silly to me that these engineers have figured out how to make these incredible power meters and somehow the battery connections, that seem so damn simple are shitting the bed

Those power drops correlate pretty squarely with drops in your speed and HR --in other words, if something is failing, it is not the power meter.

As John stated, it is more likely the head unit.

Used the little clock icon on strava to see those drops a little bit more clear.

A couple of additional comments:
- Regardless, you will always coast more outside than inside, in fact, you are likely to not coast at all inside.
- Avg power on races, will almost always be lower than perceived exertion
- You are Chris Yacks "The Destroyer" Any gear Chris Yacks uses will eventually break and need to be replaced. :'(

Eloy I'll have you know it most certainly is the power meter and I'm starting to narrow down when things started to get janky...below are 2 races at Prospect...look at the pink charts.  The top one is clean and the drops correspond to some coasting on the downhill...the bottom one is a dumpster fire of drops.   This also corresponds to a phantom 45 watt difference in avg power.

-When you are averaging close to 28 mph in a race you ain't coasting
-There is nothing "perceived" about the exertion required to maintain those speeds
-Any kit on my bike must have fucked up royally in a previous life to be assigned such a fate

just trying to help. good luck.

I'm tempted to drive up to Hartford for NAHBS next weekend. Not sure which day.

Anyone else so tempted?

Yacks would love to but...schedule is full...
tangentially...power meter issues appear to be resolved.  After prying up the battery connectors & shimming the battery door = still dropping signal...Once I got to the park...as a last gasp I loosened up my out front mount and tilted my head unit down about 20 degrees and.....I'll be a monkeys uncle = no drops !!!  Apparently it was an issue of line of sight, yet indoors never an issue...oh well at least it is fixed

Yacks and tech = no good...
currently shopping for a cell phone 

the jitterbug is the current leader...

so this weekend i spent a lot of time working on bikes.  

one was my friend's tri bike with eTap... http://www.kestrelbicycles.com/triathlon/5000-sl-sram-red-etap

the other was a rebuild of my own cx bike, https://www.giant-bicycles.com/us/tcx-advanced-pro-2, after the frame had to be replaced because a car hit it.  it was on the bike rack of a rental car and we got rear ended on the highway (thank you Redbeard for the help with this project!)

i've come to some conclusions:

1. all triathlon bikes are ridiculous and should all have hydraulic disc brakes. the brakes are TERRIBLE in part because the cable bends in such strange ways through the strangely shaped frames.
2. bottom bracket adapters were sent here directly from hell with the goal of eating my weekend.  just get the correct bottom bracket.
3. eTap is probably worth the money just so that you never, ever, ever have to fiddle with an internally routed cable situation.  replacing shift cables in internally routed frames is tedious and frustrating.  too bad eTap costs the same as a fully built carbon bike with sram rival 1x.  dragging a bunch of magnets along a frame trying to get a 4mm cable guide through a 6mm hole is just...joy-sapping
4. sram's new method of connecting a hydraulic brake hose is a major improvement and saves a lot of time.  i can't find a link about it right now, but it's worlds better than what came on my 2015 hydraulic disc brake bike.

jim_nelson said:

I'm tempted to drive up to Hartford for NAHBS next weekend. Not sure which day.

Anyone else so tempted?

I've got a press pass and am heading up early Friday morning.

mugwump said:

jim_nelson said:

I'm tempted to drive up to Hartford for NAHBS next weekend. Not sure which day.

Anyone else so tempted?

I've got a press pass and am heading up early Friday morning.

Damn, that sounds nice. If I make it up there I'll keep an eye out for you.

Giant has released a new bicycle

Giant Toughroad SLR GX 0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqBJR6Dzybk

cool! looks like a great all-weather longer distance city commuter.  lame that it's not thru-axle.

edit: now they just need a fat bike and they will have entered the modern era of product offerings

Low end, but Giant has a side brand called "momentum", that has a fat bike offering:
https://www.momentum-biking.com/us/iride-rocker

More interested in their iNeed street bikes with a through-frame coffee holder...now that  technology is Yack approved

Yacks hath killed another computer...le sigh
Cateye contacted for a warranty...

^ not exactly sponsor appropriate, but.... so much hotness 

Interesting
http://www.buxumbox.com/

ACME + Yacks this morn....fit is all good in the land of Spooky

Did he change your fit up much?

lowered my saddle a few mm and proposed a slightly longer stem...which I poo-poo'd
my back feels great and I'm keeping it that way !
I go back to ACME for a visual every year or so.  The deep fit was done when I got the Spooky...7 years ago = time flies

Slingshot got a proper post

mugwump said:

Brendan Rigby said:

a set of brake pads just lasted me 17 days!  keep that one in your rim-brake-loving back pocket, yacks!  going through a set in a muddy cross race is one thing.  two weeks of commuting is a little more annoying.  switching to sintered for commuting.

Let me get this straight.  The pads that are better for city braking were switched out for lesser pads because of durability.

Could you remind us why you were so enamored of rotor disc braking in the first place?

i'm not here to convince people to switch to disc brakes.  ride what you like! 

for me, the following were factors in my decision:

• wanted the same wheel, disc, and wheel axle standard on all my bikes - complete wheel swappability for maximum convenience
• hydraulic disc brakes are easier to actuate: you can slam them on from the hoods with your pinky
• vanity/aesthetics: disc brakes eliminate the ugly silver stripe on aluminum rim brake surface wheels
• no magic required to get carbon rims to brake well--wheel designers can use a resin that's better for a rim (more compliant), period, with no consideration of how it will behave under braking temperatures because without using the rim as a brake, you won't see those temperatures
• i was never going to buy carbon rim brake wheels because they have a shelf life--the braking surface is your expensive carbon rim that you wear down every time you brake AND because of all the braking quality compromises inherent to the material.  carbon disc brake wheels on the other hand do not transform the rim into a wear part, better longevity, better warranties, easier to justify spending $$$ on completely unneccesary carbon wheels
• hydraulic lines are a lot lower maintenence than cable-actuated discs. you just don't ever have to do anything to them and they always maintain their smooth feel.  i found with my cable actuated rim brake bikes, the brakes got harder to pull over time.  i've never had to bleed any hydraulic disc brakes on my bikes, i've only done it because i am weird and wanted to do it. SRAM has a connector that allows you to do about 3 complete disconnects without having to bleed them
• more tire size flexibility because brakes don't need to grab rim. i have 30mm tires on my TCR Advanced SL

some issues i've experienced with disc brakes:

• noise on muddy/rainy days.   the distance between pad and rotor is so small that road debris will get in there and make a sand-scratching-metal noise while you ride.  not fun and wears your rotors. 
• really fast pad wear in mud/rain.  i had one set of organic pads last about two weeks of winter commuting.  in CX races with mud a set will last only a race (or less! hope you have a pit bike!)
• noise from misaligned rotor/caliper.  i would say that disc brakes can be quite finicky with their alignment.  as the pads wear and as you heat the rotor, it does get slightly warped.  the pads don't necessarily wear evenly either--one pad does more work, often the on the side closer to the hydraulic line.  this is really only a problem depending on how finicky you are.  
• low speed squeal.  porsche was so sick of their customers complaining about this that they made a video.  it's an unavoidable part of all brake systems, it happens on rim brakes under the right conditions, but it happens with wet bicycle rotors under all conditions (until the rotor's been cleared of moisture).  in city commuting it is a benefit because you typically brake at crosswalks and people hear you coming. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUNHb9O52WQ

^come for the Brandon tech talk, stay for the education on brake squeal. Pity Myles doesn't read the forum I'm sure he'd have something pithy to say on the topic.

@Brendan Rigby

Thanks for the explanation.  Worthwhile read.

Geometry and heat.  Effective braking is caused by friction and friction produces heat.  Assuming all things are equal, the force needed to stop a 160mm rotor in a given distance versus stopping a 622mm rotor has to be greater.  When I look at rotor disc pads, they look like they have way less surface area, to boot.  As such, it would also stand to reason that the heat produced from rotor disc braking is greater, possibly much greater.  And that heat has to go somewhere.  

Rotors are steel and steel stays hotter longer. and as there's less surface area to the steel and a smaller circle, it has less time to cool.  That means the heat then gets transferred to the pads.  Resin pads can evaporate, and when they start in this process, it will feel like you have no brakes.  Insufficient heat shielding means that heat goes to the fluid.  Which, if it boils, and it can, will then expand the fluid, and stop the bike for you.  Until you pump the brakes, then nothing, momentarily.  This is why they recommend pulsing brakes, not dragging them.

The geometry issue is also interesting because it suggests that panic-stopping at slow speeds could be harder, depending on how the brake design is executed.  At higher speeds, panic-stops don't occur the same way because the tire will lose traction first.    

And if your pinky can reach a brake lever while you're riding, I'll be mighty impressed.

I also wonder how much it matters for the rear brake, as very little of one's stopping force is on the rear wheel.  But, in terms of aesthetics, I like the look of matched brakes, even in terms of rotor size.  

I can see the appeal of hydraulics, though I do wonder if the work eventually ends up being equal, much like the extra time it takes to install tubeless tires and fill with goo, then check the goo every month to make sure it hasn't dried out, and replace it every third or fourth month.

From what I've read, it doesn't seem like sinterized pads stop as well as resin in low-speed situations.  I think it has something do to with heat produced.  

@mugwump
" much like the extra time it takes to fill install tubeless tires and fill with goo"

This is not my experience at all , its super easy 

Yacks almost performed a self frontal lobotomy last summer after suffering flats on almost every single cross ride I went on.  Rebuilt my hubs with wide rims and had Redbeard mount some wide tubeless tires and it has changed my life.  I can run any pressure without pinch flatting...they don't flop around in turns when the pressure is low and have yet to get a flat.  Yacks abides
I don't even bring a saddle bag to fix a flat should I get one = life is good.  The ride is so much plusher than tubes.  I took off that janky suspension seatpost and stem and I can now actually dial in a proper fit.  The Slingshot is starting to feel...wait for it...fast
For cross....or monster cross cus yacks rides through everythig...tubeless is the way to go.  Also I'm hearing Finish Line has a new sealant that stays in for the life of the tire