Am I Missing Something

General Discussion
1

Morning All

New to all this and so far its taken me two nights to try and get my head around it and understand how to set it up and getting it working…sort of.
Fisrt off problems with Laptop / Bluetooth Dongle / Ant+ / ZCA / Signal Drop Out / etc, etc.

Main issue I have is that i did my first ride this morning using my IPhone in the end due to the above issues and I just don’t get it.

I have a cheap Lifeline Magnetic trainer which apparently you leave on setting 1 (really noisy and hardly any resistance)
I did a top speed of 51mph (never in a month of Sundays)
My max watts 381 (never achieved that on the road)
Avg watts 207 (I’m usually around 170W)
Max heart rate 140 (around 165 on the road)
New FTP 246 (I think not)

Is it just not worth it unless you have an expensive trainer (which I cannot afford)

Would really appreciate any commens and sugestions before the free 7 day trial is up.

Steve

2

You don’t need an expensive trainer.
You just need a good quality trainer.
Like Tacx Blue Motion, Cyclops/Saris M2, Kinetic Road Machine…
Look at the supported classic trainers and look what you can find on ebay.

3

Thanks Ben

Perhaps expecting too much from my cheapy.

4

Well, you can always try and set your trainer to setting 2 or more.

For real data (Watt) you’ll need a powermeter or an expensive trainer.

5

I thought I had read somewhere that you shouldn’t change the setting that Zwift recommend as it throws the results out hence why I had left it on the first setting. But then results don’t seem accurate anyway so worth a go.

6

Zwift has bought a lot of classic trainers and tested them to get a power curve for each one.
That’s why they can use the data from a speedmeter and convert it to power (on a predefined setting)
But not all trainers are the same. Sometimes they’re are a bit off, sometimes they’re way off.

If you don’t have a powermeter or a trainer with builtin powermeter, it’ll always be guessing.
But it’s really not so much importnant unless you want to compete with others in races and stuff.

7

Good morning @SteveMLewis

Welcome to the forum

when you setup your trainer Zwift should indicate what level you should use for the resistance leaver.

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Also check that your wheel are tight against the roller so that it don’t slip,

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8

Thanks Gerrie

When I select my trainer it tells me to leave it on setting 1 which seems very low. I have also done some further research and my magnetic trainer isn’t supported for ZPower. I also think its far too noisy so must be on its way out.
Time to search ebay etc for a slightly better and more Zwift supported trainer.

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9

I’m enjoying my kurt kinetic road machine that has worked perfectly since I purchased it 4 months ago used for $75. I highly recommend it for a classic/non-smart trainer.

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10

I’m using an ancient Blackburn wind trainer that I’ve had for 20+ years. I found that it matches up pretty well with the power curve of the CycleOps Fluid 2. My point…a new trainer is nice, but night not be necessary. Experiment and find the settings that get you close enough.

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