Cheap spin bike + cheap power meter = possible?

General Discussion
#1

I’ve seen a lot of spin bikes on Amazon and Walmart in the $200 to $300 range that people seem generally happy with. I’ve also seen some nice, refurbished even, crank power meters from 4iiii for about $250. I already have a cadence sensor and I’m not interested in ERG mode.

I was wondering if there is any possibility of combining one of these relatively inexpensive spin bikes with a relatively inexpensive crank power meter, I think stages has some too, for around $500 to $600 total? Or is this pretty hopeless? I know a lot of folks put power meter pedals on their spin bikes ultimately but given the cheapest ones are about $500 themselves that kind of blows things out of my budget.

Thanks for any thoughts!

#2

Pretty hopeless sounds about right. If you can find a single-sided crank powermeter for a square taper bottom bracket and a spin bike with such a thing, you might be in luck, but most crank powermeters are made for more new-fangled standards and even a square taper BB is almost high-end for spin bikes.

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#3

Hi @Albert_Terry

I did exactly that for my wife’s spin bike. It is a older spin bike that used a square taper BB. I got a Stages left crank arm then replaced the BB and the right crank arm and chainring.

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#4

Thanks, encouraging you solved the problem. I’m pretty novice at bike repair…replacing the left crank with the power meter and then the BB, right crank arm, and chainring feels like I’d be replacing the majority of the pedaling mechanism?

My fear would be buying a bunch of parts and not being able to get a final product put together. What might I have to look out for here? Would the spin bike frame have to be a certain size or are there any other parts I’d have to make sure would be compatible if I purchased the pieces mentioned above? I assume I can just screw my pedals in as it sounds like those are pretty standard.

Thanks again

#5

Yes there is many things to consider. Most Newer spin bikes don’t use standard BB’s anymore.

So if you can find a used Spin bike for $100 then spend money on power pedals you can use those on your out door bike in the summer.

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