Although they're popular with competitive cyclists, conventional power meters do have a potential drawback – once they've been mounted on one bike, it's a hassle to transfer them to another. That's why Spanish company Luck has taken a different approach than most. It's developed a power meter that attaches to the shoe, not the bike.
First unveiled as a prototype a couple of years ago, the production version of the Luck Potentiometer is now being showcased at the Eurobike trade show in Germany.
The device can be bolted onto the bottom of any of the company's existing higher-end road or mountain-biking shoes, where it measures parameters such as power output, cadence, and heart rate. That data is transmitted wirelessly via Bluetooth or ANT+ to either a smartphone or a compatible cycling computer, where it's displayed on the screen.
Users can go with one Potentiometer on one shoe, or buy two and put one on each shoe. If just one is used, the wattage readings will simply be doubled by the onboard computer. Using two, on the other hand, allows for independent readings for each leg.
According to a report on Bike Radar, the device is priced at €200 (about US$223) per shoe.
For another take on a shoe-mounted power meter, check out the Zone DPMX – which was recently successfully crowdfunded.
Source: Luck via Bike Radar