A 70g power meter with tool-free installation for £115? What’s the catch?

BikeOn says its CycleClick power meter will attach to your bike chain in seconds without tools and provide accuracy comparable to a high-end device at a pre-launch price of just US$149 (which converts to £115 using today’s exchange rate).

Well, this is all very odd, isn’t it? What the hell is going on here?

In short, BikeOn’s CycleClick power meter is a device that fits onto your bike chain, held in place just by a ball and socket system that mounts in most cases to your front derailleur. BikeOn reckons that CycleClick can detect your cadence and measure power up to 2000W. It’s unlike anything else currently on the market and, we have to say, first impressions make us hugely sceptical that this is going to rival power meters from the major players, but let’s see what’s going on here.

> Check out the best power meters for cycling 2025 — maximise your training with on-bike data to track your efforts

Most power meters rely on strain gauges in the pedal axle, cranks, spider or hub, depending on the type of system. Power is the product of torque and speed (or, more accurately, angular velocity). 

BikeOn co-founder Aram Novikov says, “We wanted to avoid the limitation of building the strain gauges into a load-bearing part, which means that the strain gauge has to measure very tiny displacement. Here we got rid of that limitation.”

Instead BikeOn’s CycleClick system relies on a device that fits over the chain. The chain runs through a channel that features a hump.

“That hump actually makes the rollers press the bottom portion of the sensor,” says Novikov. Inside we have the strain gages which measure the deflection of the bottom portion and that gives us the torque, the tension of the chain.”

2025 BikeOn Cycleclick - 3 (credit: BikeOn)

And what about the speed of the chain? This is taken by a little roller contained in the CycleClick device.

As for installation, you zip tie a small plastic part to your front derailleur (a separate housing will be available for 1x setups without a front derailleur) and the device itself clips to a retention arm with a simple ball connection. 

You’re dubious, aren’t you? As you can imagine, plenty of people on social media have been vocal about their doubts that the CycleClick could deliver accurate results, but BikeOn has come out fighting.

It says that the device is free to move laterally with the chain when you shift chainrings and that it will not come off easily. BikeOn also says that having a wet or dirty chain makes no difference to the results and that it doesn't matter whether the spring of your derailleur is heavy or light. 

Will a bouncing chain affect things? BikeOn says that the CycleClick “becomes part of the chain” and will bounce itself.

“It can bounce, but because it’s so lightweight, the bouncing does not affect the measurements,” says Novikov. “It does not introduce any significant noise. If the device bounces on the chain, it indicates there is no tension and no power to measure.”

The CycleClick automatically zeroes itself periodically.

“Some people say there are too many variables on a moving chain for these [measurements] to be accurate,” says Novikov. “It depends on how you design it. The device becomes part of the chain. It's very lightweight, and forces acting on the device are very small. So no, there are not too many variables. We measure the tension, we measure the speed of the chain, all the movement… It's all accounted for.”

A microcontroller within the device is said to deduce cadence, for example, by measuring the peaks of force, and this allows analysis of left/right power distribution and pedalling smoothness.

BikeOn also argues that the CycleClick doesn’t add a significant amount of resistance – only about 0.1% – and that the device is accurate to +/-1%.

“The device does introduce some disturbance, but it's very, very small and does not affect the precision, and does not affect your feel as you pedal,” says Novikov.

BikeOn has compared power measurements from its CycleClick with those from a Favero Assioma Uno pedal-based system and claims the data correlates closely. CycleClick syncs with your smartphone and you can get detailed statistics via BikeOn’s app, or link up with popular training apps like Strava, Zwift, TrainingPeaks, TrainerRoad, and so on.

2025 BikeOn Cycleclick - 2 (credit: BikeOn)

CycleClick is said to be waterproof and dustproof (with an IP67 rating) and is designed to operate in temperatures from -10°C to 60°C. BikeOn says it weighs about 70g, measures 125mm x 40mm x 17mm, and is rechargeable via USB-C

BikeOn says it will launch a crowdfunding campaign for CycleClick but you can get early access via prelaunch.com where you can leave a small refundable deposit to reserve “the lowest price ever” of $149.

It’s very interesting and all, but could the BikeOn CycleClick really offer decent power measurement? It reminds us a little of Polar’s CS600 with Power which used chain tension and chain speed to derive power – although we didn’t find it particularly accurate (and it’s no longer made). We’re naturally approaching this with caution but we're not going to dismiss the BikeOn CycleClick before we've used it – that’s not our style. Let's just say that we’ll be very interested to see how this one performs in the real world.

prelaunch.com