Brim Brothers Power Meter Announcement

pprendeville

I'm writing to you because you are one of the many people who pre-ordered a Zone power meter from Brim Brothers, and we want to bring you up to date with how we're doing.

We're still working hard, and making progress, although time is slipping past far more quickly than we planned. The Zone power meter is now in field tests, but the work of dealing with the many tasks to get it into volume production is like climbing the Alpe d'Huez or Mont Ventoux at the end of a long Tour de France stage. We can see the top, we know we're getting there, and we just have to keep pushing!

At the moment our plan is to launch the power meter in the first few months of 2014. While that's later than we had hoped, we're putting a huge effort into meeting this schedule. We're very aware that our deadline has slipped a number of times. All we can say in our defence is that the time needed to develop innovative technology and put it into production is very difficult to predict. Over the last six months the company has gone through some structural changes, and we now have extra resources and renewed commitment to our goals.

We are still not announcing a price, but we are keeping a very close watch on trends in the power meter market. Price will be announced much closer to launch.

Speedplay Zero is still the pedal/cleat system that our first version will work with.

One piece of new information I can give you now is that the Zone power meter will provide the new "torque effectiveness" and "pedal smoothness" values that some Garmin displays will be able to show. These two data values will provide a measure of your cycling style and efficiency. In general, the Zone will work with any ANT+ display that can show power and cadence, and if the display is able to show them you will also see left/right power balance, torque effectiveness, and pedal smoothness.

Lastly, we'll be attending Eurobike on 28th and 29th August, and Interbike on 18th, 19th and 20th September. If you will be at either of those, then please let us know. We'd love to meet you and find out what you want from your Zone power meter.

Thanks for your patience and support,
Barry Redmond
CEO, Brim Brothers
brimbrothers.com

ednwireland

from there website

Nothing fitted to your bike

from your email

Speedplay Zero is still the pedal/cleat system that our first version will work with.

how that work then

Inquitus

The Power Measurement is in the Cleat and the Shoe attachment. Currently they only support Speedplay cleats, which obviously means you need Speedplay pedals.

bren_mc

We're still working hard, and making progress, although time is slipping past far more quickly than we planned.

Brilliant. This will be my standard response to my boss from now on.:D

CramCycle

Statement released today:

Hi, You're receiving this email because you are on the pre-order list for a Zone power meter from Brim Brothers. In a few hours we will launch the power meter at the Interbike trade show in Las Vegas. We want you and all the others who have supported us by pre-ordering to be the first to know the details that we will be announcing at the launch. We really appreciate your patience and support as we worked to bring the power meter to you. First, the name has been expanded a little to ZONE D.P.M.X, so this is the name you'll see used from here on. We're also launching a new website, with new logos and new colours. This will go live in a few hours. And finally the answer to the question you've asked us many times: the ZONE D.P.M.X power meter will sell for US$999. Over the next few weeks we will begin to contact everyone on the pre-order list, starting from the top, to give them an opportunity to purchase a ZONE D.P.M.X power meter. It will probably take us a number of months to work our way through the list, so when we get to you depends on where you are on the list. Thanks again for your support, Barry Redmond CEO, Brim Brother

pprendeville

Price is a bit disappointing. Was really hoping for something around the €400-€500 mark. Unless it works flawlessly and ha Bluetooth it's hard to consider compared with a Stages given some will be switching to Speedplay (which are fantastic pedals however).

Chips Lovell

That's what, €770? Not bad at all.

C-Shore

Isn't a Quarq Riken the same price?

While there's a value in not having to change your crankset etc., is it not more beneficial to be able to pay the same amount plus upgrade your crankset?

I suppose some will want to keep the current crankset and add the Zero, but if you wanted a new crankset, the price is a bit off it seems.

Edit: Woops, no. Misread it as €999, not $999. Seems to be a good option actually - aside from Speedplay which is an additional cost if you haven't got them already.

Kaisr Sose

Oscar Gateaux wrote: »

That's what, €770? Not bad at all.

Unless there is some really top notch metric or data measurement with Brim/Speedplay, Stages or Power2Max seem to me to be a more economic entry point to Power.

If Shimano were to launch a system -pedal/ hub/crank based price competition would improve across all platforms.

Alek

They're based in Dublin, aren't they? No shipping costs then, at least for some

Lumen

Oscar Gateaux wrote: »

That's what, €770? Not bad at all.

+VAT

godtabh

Lumen wrote: »

+VAT

so about €999

C-Shore

So I was right! Quarq seems to be a better option.

Ryath

C-Shore wrote: »

So I was right! Quarq seems to be a better option.

Quarq riken is around the €1300 mark. Power2max is the one that undercuts it classic starts at €705 now delivered. Like the idea of the portability of the brim but like the vast majority of cyclists I don't use speedplays and don't fancy having to buy new pedals for 3-4 bikes.

Edit Just seen you can get it without chainrings for €999 mmm that's tempting.
http://www.powermeter24.com/de/produkte/quarq/quarq-powermeter-road/quarq-riken-powermeter-road-gxp

moots

Another (relatively) low cost option: 4iiii Precision
$399 US single / $749 US dual.
No Europe availability date yet.

Can't move it between cranks though. Seems that once it's bonded on, taking it off destroys the pod.
See dcrainmaker.com "first ride" review

Alek

You can intall it to the non-driveside crank and swap it between bikes no problem ;-)

moots

Ha ha, good point I'll fix that

C-Shore

Ryath wrote: »

Quarq riken is around the €1300 mark. Power2max is the one that undercuts it classic starts at €705 now delivered. Like the idea of the portability of the brim but like the vast majority of cyclists I don't use speedplays and don't fancy having to buy new pedals for 3-4 bikes.

Edit Just seen you can get it without chainrings for €999 mmm that's tempting.
http://www.powermeter24.com/de/produkte/quarq/quarq-powermeter-road/quarq-riken-powermeter-road-gxp

Yeah that's what I meant, they changed the pricing around a bit. It's what tempted me too!

Like you said though, it's being able to transfer it across bikes that makes the Zero so appealing.

tunney

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2014/09/brothers-announces-production.html

Not exactly a fantastic initial review.

CramCycle

I know they say Speedplay only but surely if you just used slightly longer bolts where he is installing the Speedplay adaptor you could just bolt spd-sl cleats straight on top quite easily.

mossym

had a read of dcrainmakers initial report

poor readings due to a "rogue" user

and 15 hours battery life? what happens 2 years in when the batteries only hold a fraction of a charge, you barely get a ride? can the batteries be replaced

Kaisr Sose

CramCycle wrote: »

I know they say Speedplay only but surely if you just used slightly longer bolts where he is installing the Speedplay adaptor you could just bolt spd-sl cleats straight on top quite easily.

Maybe, but the plate is calibrated / manufactured to take loads and forces across its whole area as per Speedplay footprint. If a different cleat was used, would the forces be applied in the same way? I doubt it, but if so, would it be consistent enough to be scientifically measurable?

tunney

mossym wrote: »

had a read of dcrainmakers initial report

poor readings due to a "rogue" user

and 15 hours battery life? what happens 2 years in when the batteries only hold a fraction of a charge, you barely get a ride? can the batteries be replaced

So if it cannot work for all users and in all circumstances what use is it?

Might as well get a powertap and just keep posting that back for repair.

Or Vectors and get crap data.

Or stages and get one leg.

CramCycle

Kaisr Sose wrote: »

Maybe, but the plate is calibrated / manufactured to take loads and forces across its whole area as per Speedplay footprint. If a different cleat was used, would the forces be applied in the same way? I doubt it, but if so, would it be consistent enough to be scientifically measurable?

If the adapter plate is pretty solid, then I can't see there being to many issues, as the forces involved will distribute pretty evenly. It just seems like they lost an opportunity to be a truly easy to use, easy to transfer PM.

doozerie

That ceramic adaptor plate comes into contact with the pedal, which makes me wonder about its durability. Ceramic is obviously pretty tough but friction is eventually going to cause wear somewhere. Maybe the rate of wear will be negligible over any reasonable amount of time, but without knowing for sure I'd wonder whether the ceramic plate or pedal body/bowties will wear out first - if wear does prove to be an issue then you'd "hope" that the plate would be less susceptible to wear than the pedal as the pedal body would presumably be a lot cheaper to replace.

mossym

CramCycle wrote: »

If the adapter plate is pretty solid, then I can't see there being to many issues, as the forces involved will distribute pretty evenly. It just seems like they lost an opportunity to be a truly easy to use, easy to transfer PM.

you'd imagine if would have to be. if spot forces caused an issue, then any float in the pedal would be a problem as pressure areas would change slightly with different foot angles

Hi Ho

tunney wrote: »

.... Might as well get a powertap and just keep posting that back for repair.

I'm afraid that was my experience (sorry, should have said 'is my experience' - it's still away, getting the first 'fix' fixed again).