Thinkrider PP5 power meter

[Catsoft]

Is there a changelog somewere? What do you mean by

yes, first time this PM shows halfway believable numbers for me

[rakagian]

Does anybody know if the plastic installation tool is a standard size? It slipped a couple times and the plastic has been deformed. Where can I find a replacement?

[maxpet]

Is there a changelog somewere? What do you mean by

before the update the power was way off (too low, sometimes just showed 0) and after the update it looks fine so far, or at least a lot better

[Chineseweaklegrider]

Does anybody know if the plastic installation tool is a standard size? It slipped a couple times and the plastic has been deformed. Where can I find a replacement?

https://tieba.baidu.com/p/10759222575

Mine is DUB but I saw this problem before, this might be the deviation

[M91]

Hello guys,
are u happy with ur PP5 so far? Is the test of GPlama really so concerning? Should i buy it for 60 Dollars?

Thank u

[Catsoft]

I bought one for my Girlfriend. After calibrating against my Feveros (+10%!) it works fine. But she´s no wattmonster like GPLama ;-)  She uses it for pacing on long climbs, not for intervals. For $ 60 it´s a no-brainer.

[gplama]

I’ll call it straight: I don’t believe you.

You acknowledge the issues but construct a narrative in which the known failures appear irrelevant. My concern is that I’ve seen more effort put into sidestepping this product’s failures than the company has put into resolving their root cause.

This post reads like a standard play used by so many companies promoting budget bike tech through guerrilla marketing. The giveaway? The “girlfriend” line. It’s always the girlfriend. Never the wife, never the sister, and almost always a woman. Why? Because, to support the narrative you’re spinning, she’ll put out less power, right? Therefore, the issues acknowledged by the manufacturer supposedly don’t apply.

Company employees or associates repeatedly use this tactic to plant comments while posing as ordinary users. It completely erodes trust in the brand and its marketing. It also makes forums like this less useful.

I could be completely wrong about this, but I’ve been online and active on enough forums for long enough to recognise the pattern.

Either way, it doesn’t change the underlying issue. The day the PP5 meets an acceptable standard, which simply means meeting its own published technical specifications - people won’t need to explain away its failures. And they won’t have to risk a breakup by buying known-crappy gifts for their “girlfriends.”

[Catsoft]

Hi GPLama,

you ARE wrong. You can verify me via a German forum.: https://www.mtb-news.de/forum/ user Catsoft

I don´t say the Powermeter is great and I trust your testing. But the issues in your test seem to be after peaks with more the 600 Watts. So if you use the Powermeter for pacing with 200-300 W it seems to work fine. if I want to di intervals I would use Feveros or SRAM (Witch I use since I do Intervals with more then 600 W)

[gplama]

Happy to be wrong. Now buy your girlfriend a better power meter

[Catsoft]

Happy to be wrong. Now buy your girlfriend a better power meter

She likes Powermeter so the test the the cheap Thinkrider on the Easton crank was successful. I´m now looking for a SRAM Powermeter for a good price. I'm not willing to spend 700 bucks and she don't want other pedal than Eggbeater. It´s complicated ;-)

[kbernstein]

Lama I love you and always will for your excellent essential work but I think you (and many others here) have expectations from a racing bubble.
yes, the unit is flawed, thinkrider don't address it and it should be improved, but for many (i would argue most..) bike riders, a cheap unit that peforms well until 1000w sprints is still a complete nobrainer.
i think a powermeter is a wonderful upgrade even for casual riders and for 60usd those limitations are not a big deal at all.
for your audience, and for many people here the PP5 is worthless junk, but for the casual rider, why not? didn't read like blatant company marketing either to me

[Ultramic]

I think its fair to call out a product that doesn't meet its own advertised specifications, you don't have to be a hardcore or elite cyclist to agree with this and hold the manufacturer responsible. If they are lying about the accuracy then what else are they lying about ? Are the numbers flashing up on your screen an accurate representation of your power or are they just random numbers ? It seems to work for some while not for others, it's your own money, so only you can decide if it's worth it.

[gplama]

My hand is up for being overly triggered by the recent post. The company’s history on this very forum and on Reddit has contributed significantly to my scepticism. Spending hours, days, and more riding and testing these products, only to reach the same conclusions repeatedly, has also worn me down.

Just to reiterate what I want to see on the market: quality, trustworthy, accessible components that allow people to have a better time on their bikes. That’s why I spend time trawling forums for new products, ordering whatever pops up on AliExpress, and sending emails asking for early access, whether it’s power meters, bike computers, radars, or anything else.

It’s also self-serving. As a cyclist, I want the latest, greatest, lightest, cheapest, and so on. The whole review thing is a side quest. I’d be doing this even if YouTube and other social platforms didn’t exist. I’d also still be sending companies support tickets nonstop, asking them to fix problems.

Over the past four or five years, we’ve seen a massive shift in the smart-trainer category from $1,000 trainers to quality $399–$499 trainers with even more features. That has been a huge win for consumers.

In the power-meter category, we’ve also seen a massive drop in price, which is excellent, but it has been accompanied by a massive drop in quality, reliability, and accuracy. The average user, however, wouldn’t know. The claimed technical specifications are often the same for a $100 meter as they are for a $500 meter. That’s extremely deceptive and potentially illegal in many markets. It needs to change.

[gribs]

I wonder for some of these low cost power meters that at least provide repeatable data is there a market for a device that intercepts the data, applies a correction factor, and retransmits it. Calibration should be easy enough with access to a smart trainer. The obvious other application is cheating on Zwift etc.

[hubba]

What's the chainline on the PP5 + thinkrider crankset combo? I'm trying to find out do I need offset 1x chainring for it or a normal one. Some ppl report it's wider than normal? Is it because of the spider or the crank? And how long is the spindle do you use spacers on the bb?

I found it cheap for my commuter bike I don't need that good accuracy on it and it's definitely not for sprinting.