4iiii Factory Install Experience with Lex Albrecht
Posted by Lex Albrecht on May 12, 2022
As a professional cyclist, I’ve spent over a decade racing on the road, as a member of the Canadian National Team and with various professional trade teams. A significant tool of the trade has always been a power meter, which I’ve used to build and track training and racing goals over the years. As I now steer away from the pro road peloton and onto new adventures in the world of gravel, mountain biking and ultra endurance road cycling, I still look to the data that a power meter provides to help guide my riding and racing endeavours.
Using the Factory Install option 4iiii offers for power meter additions to cranks, I’ve added a PRECISION Powermeter to my BMC UnReStricted gravel bike and will be getting a PRECISION 3 Powermeter installed on my BMC FourStroke mountain bike next! I’ll be putting the FourStroke and PRECISION 3 to the test in the SKODA Titan Desert stage race in Africa, Life Time Grand Prix and at the Pikes Peak APEX 4-day mountain bike race in Colorado this season. Being able to track the data from those events will help with pacing such demanding events and provide useful insight, during post-race analysis.
The 4iiii Factory Install process is pretty easy!
Choose a Power Meter
Enter the brand and model of your crank on the Crank Finder page, then check out your 4iiii power meter options. There’s options for single-sided power, dual-sided power, battery operated power meters (PRECISION & PRECISION 3) or rechargeable (Podiiiium). I chose to go with PRECISION for the convenience of swapping out the 2032 battery when needed. Important to note is the Clearance Checker Guide, to ensure the power meter you’re considering has adequate clearance between your crank and chainstay… if not, they have options to help work around it, with the drive-side only power meters.
Installation
Once you’ve selected the power meter you’ll receive detailed instructions and shipping labels to ship your crank to 4iiii for the installation process. You’ll only need a window of about 14 days and chances are it will only take half of that time. If you have a back-up bike to ride during that time you’re golden! I sent my BMC URS gravel bike crankset in while I did Race Across America on my BMC TimeMachineRoad road bike.
Track your order
You’ll receive an email that will allow you to track your order and know exactly where your crank arm is, and where it is in the install process. Frankly, I was too busy having fun riding my bike, and I trust 4iiii. They’ve had plenty of my crank arms in their hands before, and they don’t drag their feet with them once they show up at the factory.
Go ride
When I got it back, I simply re-installed the crank on my bike, did a “zero-offset” / calibration using the free 4iiii app, connected the power meter to my GPS computer’s device list, and then I took off!
Having a 4iiii power meter installed on your own crankset is easy, efficient and affordable. There’s no need to waste money on a whole new crankset, or spend time figuring out a compatible alternative to what you’ve already got.
Have fun!
