Pioneer Power Meter Dura Ace 9000 Single Arm

The Dura-Ace 9000 crank is one of the lightest, stiffest, most attractive cranks on the market. Pioneer has made it easy to turn this crank into a power meter. If you already have a Shimano Dura-Ace 9000 crankset, all you need is this single left crank arm to start producing power readings that can be read by an ANT+-compatible head unit. They call it the SGY-MP910HL for Dura-Ace.

Power may well be the killer metric for riding. More than speed and/or heart rate, power tells you exactly how hard you’re working. It’s a great way to track progress, compare hard rides to easy, and compare you to the pro’s. If you want to get faster, or even just more mindful of your efforts, it is the measure you should be taking.

Pioneer has taken an Ultegra arm and added their electronics, which includes strain gauges, accelerometer, chip, ANT+ transmitter, and 2032 battery to the inside of the arm to create this power meter. They’ve tested the unit to make sure it falls within an accuracy of +/- 2%. The only difference between this arm and the left Ultegra crankarm you already possess is 22g of weight and an extra depth of 8.8mm to the backside of the arm. Total crankarm weight is 200g.

All you need to do is pull your current 9000 crankarm, and install the new one. If your bike has an under-the-bottom bracket brake, you might not have the room: measure first. Pioneer recommends making sure you have at least 10mm of clearance. While neither Shimano nor Pioneer recommends it, the splines on the thru-axle are such that 105 5700, Ultegra 6800, and Dura-Ace 9000 should all be cross-compatible: there’s no guarantee they are.

The arm comes with both an arm-type and patch-type magnet. You don’t need to install either for the meter to work as the accelerometer turns on the meter once the crank starts turning. The signal is ANT+, so any head unit that reads ANT+ power signals is compatible. All the same, Pioneer’s head units, SGX-CA500 and SGX-CA900 add pedaling dynamics to the offerings. You can thus have a visual representation of the force you’re applying to the left-side of your pedaling and the efficiency at which you’re applying it. Having a magnet installed on your frame can help with the accuracy of these readings. And with the Pioneer head units comes access to their Cyclo-Sphere cloud-based training program, which can analyze this data.

This power meter measures your left-side power only. Very few people apply equal force to the left and right cranks. And the imbalances can vary, even for those with very symmetric strokes. If people find they love power, and want more in the way of data, they can upgrade their power meter by sending in the right crankarm to Pioneer and having them install the electronics. That is known as SGY-PM910HR, and is also for sale at R&A.

The Pioneer SGY-PM910HL Dura-Ace 9000 Left Crank Arm lasts approximately 180 hours on the included 2032 coin cell battery, which can be replaced by the user. The battery case has a water resistance rating of IPX-6/IPX-7.