Hello!
I am on the fence buying this bike. Anyone on this forum use this smart bike and can share their experience w suffesfest?
Like is ERG mode reacting fast enough for the short sections in Team scream?
It seems Kickr bike is rpm limited to 130 which makes cadence builds impossible. Does SB20 have similar limitation?
Thanks!
Cannot comment personally on it but recommend having a look at DC Rainmakers Reviews on the various bikes (Wahoo - Stages - Tacx-Watt) he has done very detailed reviews of each. Ultimately, āEach company has their own unique strengths and weaknessesā.
DC is the MOST helpful for all items needing reviews! The bible of reviews.
I second the recommendation to read DCR:
Hi there! There are some known issues with this bike with the app: This bike is fully interactive with the app on iOS using Bluetooth, but requires ANT+ for ERG control on the Windows or Mac app. When connecting the bike using Bluetooth, be sure to choose the Stages Bike connection and not the individual power meters. Those will report independently to the bike console, that will transmit and report to the app. If you have any questions or need help connecting, please be sure to send us an email! theminions@thesufferfest.com
I used my sb20 with the recovery ride tonight. How should I set the bike for thw 4dp test? Can I calibrate the bike through the SF app?
Hi @turbo38t! Any calibrations should be done in the trainerās native app. Check with Stages to see how you should be calibrating your trainer. Once it is calibrated in that app, disconnect and then connect to the SUF app for your test.
If you have any questions about how to connect, please message us at theminions@thesufferfest.com or submit a ticket.
Hi, did you buy an SB20 in the end? Iām seriously considering one but itās up against the Tacx bike in a head to head. Only trouble with the Tacx is the leg rub issue.
I just bought the stages sb20 and have had a lot of problems. support from stages is non existent. have 5 support tickets in starting at 12/18 and no response. Iāve developed workaround myself for the problems but becoming uncomfortable that there wouldnāt be more. Bike is solid but problems are sw, firmware, documentation, so they can be resolved. but will they???
I picked up an SB20 a few weeks back and have been using it with Sufferfest using an iPad. I havenāt encountered any issues with the bike, or with integration with the app. As mentioned in the DC Rainmaker review, the one thing youāll notice is that Stages doesnāt seem to smooth the power data in the same manner as some competing smart bikes. I am ok with this as I think itās showing the reality that I donāt have a perfectly smooth and even output. I donāt believe there is any similar cadence limitation as Iāve been at least into the 150s and I believe the 160s. I havenāt done Team Scream, so canāt comment on that specifically, but it reacts very quickly in ERG mode.
I canāt compare to other smart bikes, but I find that ERG mode reacts pretty quickly to both changes in power the app is targeting, and my cadence changes. It will fluctuate above and below the target when I am adjusting to a new target, but now that Iāve gone through enough workouts and am familiar with how it works, itās very quick and smooth to get me to the target. For something like a 10 second sprint or shorter, itās not going get me exactly to the target, as I am not nearly skilled enough to get my output quickly and smoothly to the new target, while the app/bike are also trying to adjust based on my changing output and cadence. For anything longer, I find it very easy to settle into a groove where variances from me are adjusted for by the app/bike and Iām consistently hitting my targets. The one issue, which doesnāt bother me much, is that with the heavy flywheel, you will overshoot your targets for a significant length of time when you have a large drop in requested output, say from 500 to 150. This can be alleviated by using the brakes to slow the flywheel enough to scrub off the momentum and allow the bike to get you to the target more quickly.
Is it perfect? No, but Iām not sure that is possible as the app/bike canāt know what variations there will be from the user throughout each pedal stroke. I donāt know the specifics of how each app and each smartbike/trainer adjusts, but I think it would be nice to have some user settings where perhaps we could adjust the speed of reaction, or set the bike to adjust so that the user hits the target output if they hit the target cadence. As it is now, the bike is adjusting to me at the same time Iām trying to adjust to the bike. I focus on hitting the target cadence, and just allow the app/bike to adjust so that I hit the target output. That is working very well, but there are fluctuations that Iām sure bother some people, who expect to have perfect straight lines at exactly the target. After a couple dozen workouts, I havenāt had one where I felt that the bike/app werenāt able to put me right where I needed the resistance for every segment.
For those of you with a Stages Bike how have you approached the NM portion of the 4DP? When I had my bike on the kickr I had the gears figured out but still trying to figure out what to do on the bike, just mimic my road setup or do some of you use the dream drive and use the jump feature to skip 4-5 gears at once?
Iāve only gone through the Full Frontal once with its 2 NM sprints (and have been mostly in ERG mode for my training sessions), so take my experience with a grain of salt. I used Dream Drive setup with 25 steps covering the range of my 50/34 & 11-28. For the first NM sprint, I tried doing an initial 5 step jump and I wouldnāt necessarily recommend that. When the increased resistance hit right as I was trying to apply full power, it caused the bike to actually jump off the floor. For the second NM sprint, I went with a more linear build up, getting myself in a gear where my sprint took me from 80 to 125ish RPM, which felt a lot more stable, but ultimately both resulted in similar NM outputs.
I think before I do another FF, Iām going to mess around with a variety of techniques to launch sprints to see which I feel works best. I definitely didnāt like how the 5 step jump felt at my max output, but that may be me more than the bike as Iām new to smart trainers, structured training, FTP, 4DP, etc and may have just been in the wrong gear. For me at least, I feel like I probably should have gotten more acclimated with the bike in different modes and scenarios prior to doing the test (I had the bike about a week before doing the FF). Iām both looking forward to (to hopefully improve the results) and dreading (itās pretty brutal) doing the FF again.