Review CinQo power meter system by Quarq technologies

We finally got our hands on the often talked about, but rarely seen CinQo power meter.   We’ve been waiting a long time for this system and we want to give you a full and detailed review.  Our review of the CinQo power meter will be broken into three parts:

• The first is on the unit itself
• The second will be about the unit on the cranks we ride: in this case the Cannondale Hollowgram SL
• The third will be on the CinQo compared to the ever-popular power tap by Saris

The Quarq CinQo power meter system. As you can see the footprint is small, but the info it gives you is immense.

The CinQo power meter has been a long time coming.   The company, Quarq, out of South Dakota, basically developed a power meter system that is very similar to well known and more famous SRM power meter, but retailes for about 40% less.   When this was announced the entire industry sat up and took notice.   The CinQo system essentially utilizes the removable spiders found in various 3rd party cranks such as SRM, FSA, Specialized and Cannondale.  The spider is replaced with their own system that contains strain gauges to measure power output.  Utilizing the growing ANT+ wireless open network a user can supply their own computers such as the Garmin 705 or 500 or the Bontrager Node.    Noticeably absent from this list of cranks are Shimano or Campy.   The reason is since those cranks do not have a removable spider they can’t meet the requirements for the CinQo.

We found ourselves selling our power tap wheels and switching bikes so we had compatible cranks in preparation of getting our own Cinqo.   In our case it was the BB30-specific Cannondale SL hallowgram crank.   We’ll review this crank later specifically in part II of our III part series.   After selling our power tap wheels and going without power, we waited and waited. . . . and waited    We waited almost a full year and just when we thought that CinQo for the dale crank was vaporware and we couldn’t take it anymore Quarq called us up and told us they had a Cannondale Specific unit available.   Finally our day had come and it had almost been an entire year: March 2009 to February 2010.

So how does it perform?    After riding it for over a month we can say, without hesitation, that the system performs and it performs well.   We’re very impressed with the unit, it paired effortlessly with our Garmin 705 and after a year absence we were out training and riding with power.   The system itself does have some nuances that should be known to owners or would be owners.   Quarq recommends you calibrate or zero out your unit before each ride.   This is easy enough on a Garmin – you basically place the cranks with the drive side at 6 o’clock, make sure the cranks have no pressure on them (i.e., you’re not clipped into the pedal pressing down) and hit calibrate on the Garmin menu feature which is found under settings.   After you hit “calibrate” total time is maybe 15 seconds.   The Garmin unit imports the data into all the big power programs – e.g., Saris PowerAgent and  WKO+.  We’re on a mac, too, so the two big operating systems are covered.   The user replaceable battery has us excited as we know with SRM cranks you have to send it back to SRM.   Power Taps also have this feature and we’ve found it to be beneficial as battery power level indicators are basically nonexistent for these svelte units – so when the battery goes you need to replace it ASAP and it’s a good idea to have one on standby.

The unit itself is small and is hardly noticeable, only a discerning eye will pick it up.   There is a little bulge on the outside of the cranks due to the user replaceable battery and some of the radio equipment, but it’s de minimis.  Weight, at worst, is negligible.   So what are some of the problems?   Well, within the unit itself there really seem to be only a few.   We sometimes notice that after a long descent the power seems a little off, mostly it seems to low by a factor of 10%.   When this happens it’s recommended to “zero” the unit.  This is done by peddling backwards about four times.   Once we do this we see the unit detect power more inline with our expectations.    To have to backpedal during training is fine, but not in a race – so we’ll reserve judgment until race season is fully underway.   If you find yourself switching chainrings with any frequency, say, from a 39 to a 42 or a bigger TT specific ring, you really should send the unit back to Quarq for recalibration – and by “unit” we mean the entire drive side crank.   Something to consider, but for us, like most riders, we keep our 53×39 rings on till they wear out so it’s not a factor.   As we’ve in New England we ride rollers a fair share.   With the CinQo if you want to get your speed and your distance then you need to install some device to detect these factors.   In our case we used the Garmin GSC Speed and Cadence sensor.   We typically don’t ride with this unit after the spring as the GPS records speed and distance and the CinQo also records cadence as well as power, but on the rollers, we need it or we wouldn’t have speed and distance.   Easily enough solved, but keep this in mind if you ride rollers or trainers.   Other than that, there really isn’t too much to complain about – the unit works and it works for a fraction of SRM and so far we’ve been very happy.

The only other item to keep in mind is availability.   Since Quarq has to make crank-specific units you need to check on availability.  What work for SRAM cranks doesn’t work for the Cannondale Crank and vice versa.   So check with Quarq on availability and know if you change cranks manufactures you will have to get an all new CinQo and, as we said earlier, not all cranks are supported.  So plan accordingly if you switch out cranks.

If you’re like us, you ride the same crank and the same chainrings for years.    If this is the case and you want to train and race with power, then you should seriously consider the CinQo power meter system.   On a scale of one to ten we would give it a 8.5 – with the only cons being to train with power is still a little pricey and the limited availability for 3rd party cranks.