New Wahoo Kickr owner and just took it for it’s first spin on Zwift… I’m not sure its behaving as it should… I will just copy and paste the Zwift forums post below… Hopefully someone has experience with this
"I’m wondering if I’ve made a huge mistake getting this Wahoo Kickr V5…
On the plus side… Wonderful smooth feel. Very quiet. And, a rather impressive looking piece of hardware
However… And maybe its partially or all me…
Did my first ride on it (Castle to Castle) and you can see for yourself if you’d like on Zwiftpower how it compares to a previous ride of the Highlands… 2 rides, effectively the same length, Highland a bit more hilly… 7 minutes longer and 35W less average power on the Kickr
The whole time it felt like I was going up a hill… It just felt wrong… Even the down hills felt wrong. Like dragging the brakes
I am coming off a Kurt Kinetic smart trainer (T6400 I think?) and expected that things would be different but not take you ego and flush it down the crapper different
I’ve searched and found lots of results on this but no “fix”… Most results say do a spin down or try a factory reset but those options no longer exist with auto calibration
Did a quick test a while ago with trainer difficulty set to 0 (it was 50%)… It felt promising but my legs are shot and I’ll have to try again tomorrow
If anyone has any ideas/input I’d sure like to hear it (excluding GIT GUD, LoL)
Are you sure you have the latest firmware for it? That is, have you downloaded the Wahoo Fitness App and paired it to the Kickr. Doing that will tell you if there’s a firmware update.
Do you have any other way to test power like a bike with a power meter on it that you could compare readings?
I’ve got a Kickr ‘18 and I always set trainer difficulty to 100% because to me, that’s the best way to tell whether gradients of 1-10% feel realistic. Those are the kinds of climbs that I’m accustomed to irl.
Oh, one other thing, make sure there is no other app running that may have grabbed trainer control while you’re on Zwift (or any other app). So, if you do have the Wahoo App, make sure it’s been force closed before riding in Zwift.
How do your average speeds on Zwift using the Kinetic and Kickr compare to real life cycling? Using my Kickr Core I always find average speeds on Zwift somewhat but not ridiculously optimistic compared to real world cycling. Is the Kickr giving you faster speeds on Zwift than you would expect in reality?
FWIW I find the average speed to Systm compares well with my feeling of a similar RPE ride in real life on a flatish road with little wind.
If you aren’t already subscribed to Systm you could still try “High Time” or “UAE Tour 2” which are both currently free to see how the average speed from those workouts compares to expectations from real life.
Was your Kurt Kinetic a wheel-on trainer or direct drive? The power measurements from a wheel-on trainer are nowhere near as accurate as a direct drive trainer like the KICKR. If you’ve never measured your power with another power meter, to have a realistic comparison, unfortunately, you’re in a tough spot to know which one is correct. With no other information, I would guess that the KICKR is correct and the Kurt Kinetic was overestimating your power. Is there a local bike shop near you that might have a trainer setup that you can try in-store? That would at least give you a feel for which of your devices is giving you incorrect readings.
So I don’t actually get out into the real world anymore… I value my life while idiots in cars couldn’t care less (you can find my full rant about this on the Zwift forums)… That being said, my cycling journey is really only about me, my enjoyment and my fitness. I race on Zwift (bottom 2/3 in cat D) but I see myself as the competition and those around my as motivation
The Kinetic was a wheel on trainer of lies LoL… It is what it is. My new numbers took a hit but at least I know the truth
Below is the copy of a post from Zwift forums about the same subject
OK… So I took time to read everything and look up more info…
Today my Kickr climb arrived and is now set up and working. Much better immersion than steering IMO
So, Ipad runs Zwift… LG G8 runs companion, Wahoo app and music
Went testing on Railways and Rooftops and the feel was “different” today. Not sure how but it just felt more positive… Its still far more difficult than the Kinetic but that, I know, is expected
I kept the trainer on 50% and found a work around on line so the climb mimics the correct grade… wheelbase/trainer difficulty… Gives you new wheel base to input and the grade remains true
To sum up… I’m quite happy with the purchase/performance… Finding my real numbers was a bit of a punch in the gut but I will keep my chin up , train hard and most important… GIT GUD!
I’m still coming for you cat C racing… You’ll just have to wait a bit
One thing to make absolutely sure of with the app is that the trainer is in PASSIVE mode if you are using any other app to control the KICKR. I ran smack into this when trying to monitor a Zwift session (controlling). It felt like I was riding through mud.
One good thing though is now I feel the gradients when riding.
Actually, the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine is the most studied dumb trainer. Its power curve is almost spot on until you wear down the roller. That was the beauty of it. The other thing is it won’t wear out like other trainers (Elite wheel on dumb trainers, cough, cough). I have a ten year old RM which replaced another and it’s still ready to use.
I will agree that it provides absolutely no feedback though. But that wasn’t its original purpose.
As to the truth, every different trainer will produce different numbers. It’s long been the mantra to retest if you change anything in your pain cave setup related to the bicycle, tires, and trainer.
Any chance you can go into more detail on how to do this?
Does it perhaps have anything to do with the order of how you hook things up? I’m not sure if that even matters but best to check with those more familiar with the equipment… Should it be wahoo app first then Zwift? **Sorry, had to edit… Wahoo was in ipad the first time with running with Zwift… The next time I wahoo ran on LG phone ** maybe that has something to do with it???
The going through mud feeling is a good analogy… But the next day it felt different (even thought I think I did everything the same)???
The order should not matter if using things as they should be for that arrangement. The support site has some details on passive including screenshots for the current Wahoo app.
Rode Rolling Hills event just now so I have a direct comparison to the previous trainer which I ran on Rolling Hills just last week
The Kickr with Climb felt fantastic… I am sure of my purchase now and would go so far to say it is the best money I’ve spent on myself in a long time. The way the climb mimics the grades is amazing and I found the whole set up more comfortable because it is not completely rigid
In the Kickr race I couldn’t find a pack to run with and was in no man’s land for quite a long time. I also found that it was easier to attack the climbs out of the saddle because of the added incline
Hello, I am new to wahoo trainer, and I have recently done my training on wahoo smart trainer v6 and i have noticed that when i did re ride a outdoor route indoor and my power and speed was very slow and as compared to what i have ridden out because my trainer is simulating route but my speed and power is showing very low and on Zwift also on my ftp test my power and speed was very slow and because I can produce more power and hold more than 300 watts for longer time easily but in zwift ftp test or in free ride 220 or 250 watts feel alot harder and i am seeing people going easy on 300 watts and there speed is also high , so I think there is some problem, maybe some settings on my smart trainer. Can you please tell me that? When I do my training on roller with or without zwift , I always feel like I am putting power in, but whenever I see my speed or power (watts), it is very low, and I don’t know because what is happening. So is there anything to do in setting to measure accurate power and speed or anything? i am telling this because i am a professional cyclist and i know that how much power i produce so please reply to me and tell me what to do. Please help me if anyone knows it
Make sure you have performed a spin down calibration of your KICKR or allowed it to fully warm up before doing a ride. This can be done be riding in Zone 1 for at least ten minutes.