Today Powertap announced two new power meters to join its very popular, and very accurate hub-based power meter. The two additions to the family are a pedal-based power meter, and a power meter embedded in a chain ring.

The two new power meters have the ability to measure directly, or at least extract a value, for the power generated by each leg. They are also of course wireless and can be paired with an ANT+ or SMART Bluetooth device.

The chainrings come in three combos, 50/36, 52/36, and 53/39. They are designed for 110mm (Compact) bolt pattern.

Powertap promises the accuracy for which the brand is known in both new power meters. Powertap also announced a new edition Joule head unit and a disc-ready MTB power meter hub.

With this announcement Powertap recognizes the obvious, that customers are variously attached – strongly – to components based on their need. A die-hard Speedplay pedal customer would never switch to a Garmin pedal-based power meter. A rider with a number of bikes would find it expensive to outfit each with a crank-based power meter, which has been one of the selling features of Powertap’s hub-based units. Now Powertap can reassert its core mission of power through a number of power meters based on customer preference.

The price for the P1 (pedal-based power meter) is going to be about $1,200 per pair. It's built on a Look Keo platform, but lacks the dongle on the Garmin power meter, and just in general appears cleaner. We have no info yet on who the pedal maker is, and there are no spindle lengths beyond the one that comes with the pedal, presumably with a 53mm standard distance from the pedal shoulder to the pedal center.

The chain ring-based meter, the C1, will come in at a very attractive $700 for the set, placing it in the same price range as the value-priced Stages power meter. The C1 is a one-piece unit, that is, it’s not a pair of chain rings, so, you can’t slot in a 34-tooth ring on the otherwise 50x36 set.

Each new power meter is scheduled to ship late-Spring, early-Summer, meaning May/June-ish. The P1 will probably ship first.

The C1 will be compatible with Shimano, Campy, SRAM, FSA, pretty much every crank out there, with very few exceptions. There are clearance issues with the Cannondale Hollowgram and with the Specialized S Works crank. It will work with pretty much any crank pre-2014, and almost every crank newer than 2013 with the aforementioned exceptions.

There will of course be questions about the shifting performance of the C1, especially with Shimano electronic. However, Powertap reports very good shift quality across all drivetrain platforms.

The one final fly in the ointment on the C1 is the move from some drivetrain systems away from 5-bolt to 4-bolt cranks. But this might just be a detail to those drawn to the C1. There are plenty of 5-bolt 110mm bolt pattern cranks out there.

We’ll write a deep dive about each these new power platforms as we are able to take a closer look.