Since they first rolled out their power meters in 2012 there’s been one thing missing from Stages, and that’s carbon. All that’s now in the past.
Now three of these are for SRAM and FSA (one SRAM, two FSA if you’re interested) and the other three are for Campagnolo’s top three group sets Super Record, Record and Chorus.
The Campagnolo crank arms are Campag arms with the Stages box attached, whereas the other three will be branded with the Stages logo rather than fitting in seamlessly with the look of your current crankset. It’s worth noting, however, that although the logo is different, the Stages branded crank arms are just FSA and SRAM’s products re-branded, so they’ll match perfectly in every way but the graphics.
And the changes aren’t only in the material either. Across the range, Stages have gone smaller and slimmer, decreasing the size of their already sleek device by reducing frontal area by 17 per cent and depth by 28 per cent. It might just sound like numbers but in practice it should increase the compatibility of the crank arms making them work with frames that, in the past, wouldn’t have had the clearance to accommodate the box.
The battery door has also been improved, one of the few slightly weak points on the original design, and Stages claim the ‘interface strength’ of the battery door is now 200 per cent better. Any water that wants to find its way in there is going to have to work overtime.
The other thing you don’t have to worry about with Stages is weight. If you want to build a super light bike with a power meter, you wont find anything that beats Stages. Swap out your non-driveside crank for a Stages version and you’ll add just 20g to the bike.
