How to get the best performance out of Favero Assioma Pro MX pedals

Pedal-based power meters, like Favero’s Assioma PRO MX, are helping to open up data-driven high-quality training to a wider range of riders. How? By enabling riders to get more out of their investment.

Like any high-tech equipment, though, there’s a few straightforward few tips and tricks to make sure you get the most out of your pedals, and for as long as possible.

Why pedal-based power?

Pedal-based power meters let you use the same set of pedals across multiple bikes, even multiple disciplines, from gravel to mountain biking. Other types of power meters – whether spindle, hub, or crank/chainring based – are almost always constrained by different standards across different types of bikes. Try putting your gravel hub in your XC bike, or XC crankset on your gravel rig.

Below, we will outline the installation and maintenance procedures that will help you make sure you’re getting the most accurate data possible from your power-based pedals. Again, compared to other types of power meters, these are minor matters. But it’s still important to follow them anyway.

What’s inside a pedal-based power meter?

To understand why correctly installing and calibrating pedals is important, let’s look at how the Assioma PRO MX work.

All power meters rely on a combination of strain gauges, a battery and other electronics (to communicate with the head unit,m etc). Where these are positioned in the pedal design makes a big impact on durability and service over the lifespan of the pedals.

Favero manages to position all three of these elements specific to power pedals within a stainless steel spindle. That means the 6061-T6 aluminium pedal body is a separate, electronic-less and easily replaceable part.

In contrast, Garmin’s Rally system relies on a replaceable battery. Since that requires access to the battery compartment to replace them, there has to be a connection between the battery area and the axle internals. This means an additional barrier between the electronics and the outside environment must be meticulously maintained in order to maintain consistent data.

Key to Favero’s isolation of electronic elements is its use of a rechargeable battery. This helps eliminate power dropouts associated with replaceable batteries. Interruptions in data can be caused by a faulty connection, either dirty or worn, between the battery and the pedal electronics. SRM’s X-Power similarly uses a rechargeable battery but, unlike the Assioma PRO MX pedals, houses the strain gauges outside the power spindle. Unlike Favero, where the electronics are completely isolated, SRM requires a connection between the interior and exterior of the power spindle.

Installation and switching between bikes

Installation will differ slightly between power-based pedals, but is largely consistent. Install the pedals, set the crank-arm length, connect and calibrate.

Favero recommends greasing the spindle thread of the Assioma PRO MX pedals and installing by hand first. It’s important to have enough space between spindle cap and bike chain and spindle cap and frame. Then tighten to the recommended torque (30-40Nm) using an open end 15mm wrench. After the first installation, connect the pedals to an external power source to “wake up” the pedals and check the charge level.

Then connect the pedals to the Favero Assioma app or pair directly with a headunit using ANT+ or Bluetooth connectivity.

Once connected, set the crank-arm length to match the bike you are using the pedals with. This can be done on your bike computer or, if that is not possible, through the Favero Assioma app. (If your cycling computer does have this capacity, crank length must be set on the computer as it will overwrite the values set in the app).

The first time you use the Assioma PRO MX pedals on any bike, you must manually calibrate the power sensors. Set the bike upright, with no tilt, and set the pedals in a vertical position (one up, one down instead of level), and use the calibration function in either the app or head unit.

After installation, Assioma PRO MX must complete an internal self-calibration before it starts sending any power data to the bike computer. This takes place in the first 10-15 pedal strokes (ideally performed sitting and pedalling at a steady cadence) on the first ride.

Switching between different bikes

With any pedal-based power meter, you have to re-calibrate when you switch between bikes. Favero makes this process simple with its Favero Assioma app, though the process can also be performed through your bicycles head unit.

To switch the Assioma PRO MX pedals to a different bike, follow the same procedure as installing for the first time. This includes a manual calibration and ensuring your crank-arm length is correct. If you are using the same head unit, or crankarm length is the same between bikes, those steps are unnecessary.

Set crankarm length, if it changes between bikes. As above, this should be done in the head unit, if possible, or the Favero Assioma app if not.

With the Assioma PRO MX, there is otherwise no need to manually recalibrate between rides as Favero’s automatic calibration system will make sure the data stays within the promised +/- 1 per cent accuracy range, even compensating for changes in temperature from -10 to +55 Celsius. Favero does recommend storing your bike upright, not leaning or on an angle, and with no load on the pedals to avoid distorting the calibration between rides.

Pedal maintenance and service

That means there’s no connections between the outside of the power spindle and interior of the spindle to keep clean, or keep isolated from the outside world (seals, etc, degrade over time and need to be serviced). This guarantees extreme resistance even with frequent and intense use, as well as excellent protection from rain, mud and dust (IP67). Favero’s rechargeable battery, which the brand estimates has a lifespan of 500 complete recharges (over 25,000 hours of use), remains protected through all of this.

It also means servicing the rest of the pedal body is simple. Like any other non-power pedal, you still need to service bearings and other small parts. Favero’s power meter pedal is, in fact, the first power pedal where both the electronics and the battery are completely enclosed inside the spindle, the heart of the product. That means that there’s no need to make additional checks beyond charging the battery.

For Assioma PRO MX pedals, service is straight forward. The pedal axle must periodically be greased, using the kit included with the pedals. Detailed instructions for this procedure are available from Favero.

Aside from greasing the axle, service is the same as any pedal. Check the torque on the axle, the end caps and screw caps before every ride. After rides, clean the pedal body with a damp cloth. Do not use aggressive solvents like gasoline, gas oil and petrol by-products in general, alcohol, industrial or all-purpose degreasers, etc.

To learn more, head over to Favero.com