Assistance with Wahoo Kickr

I don’t think it is possible to connect through the Wahoo app, or do you mean the Zwift Companion app?

Anyway, looks like you got it figured out. I have a feeling that Zwift was not in control of your trainer during your other attempts.

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yes i meant the zwift companion but yes also the wahoo fitness app. my method of connecting was to save pairing to wahoo fitness and then connect through zwift companion. that article you sent me said they are able to use wahoo fitness to exploit how the game works with low gearing. that must mean it was changing my high gearing to be ineffectual somehow. which is weird because all i did was keep default settings and do a spindown then pair through companion. i was rly struggling to keep my heartrate monitor active any other method of connection. that was the largest reason i was using the wahoo fitness app. the tickr would only stay actove for me through the wahoo fitness app. i didnt mess with the tickr last might but hopefully i can get it to connect now that i have actually selected the “use built in bluetooth” option. it’s very strange that i was able to connect through bluetooth previously because i even recall noticing that neither option was selected. the default for connection is neither box checked “use built in bluetooth” or “use companion app” are defaultly both unselected.

Glad it seems to be sorted. Definitely don’t have it paired to the Wahoo app at the same time as Zwift - this is probably what stopped Zwift from controlling the resistance.

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Ive put down a few hundred miles down now on the Kickr and I feel 100% ok with saying the speed is very off in Zwift. Please look into this matter devs. When performing a spin down the power, speed, and cadence is very accurate. When playing the game speed is 100% thrown away and the simulated speed does not match the flywheel on the wahoo kickr. Others will say that the speed shouldn’t match the flywheel, but that makes no sense. Today I was riding in the desert and my zwift speed was capped at 13-17mph on 0% grade when my flywheel on my wahoo kickr was spinning 35+mph. How are you supposed to add acceleration to the flywheel to add power and watts when your flywheel is spinning out of control? You guys need to add speed calculations in the default wahoo kickr setup. Either that or slow the flywheel down to match the simulated speed. We can’t have a real world speed flywheel and be expected to put additional watts on it because the game simulates our speed 1/3 the rate.

This may help understand how Zwift calculates speed from power.

How Does Zwift Determine My Speed??

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How do you know this information? Is it also paired to a head unit?

because if i perform a spindown i know exactly my cadence and power input to achieve 25 mph. when im in game doing 25mph on the flywheel and only traveling 7mph simulated speed or some nonsense I try kicking in a higher gear. my watts spike up to 400 until the flywheel gets some ridiculous speed and i can no longer add power to it. then since i can no longer add power the game assumes i am no moving. its a vicious circle of the faster i go on the wahoo kickr the less power it thinks i am inputting. which is technically true, but it doesn’t mean in actual riding I’d be going slower…I believe the wahoo kickr is truly 99% accurate, but zwift is nowhere near accurate. Even if I try to low cadence keep power on the flywheel my speed ends up capped at 15 mph in the game while my flywheel is spinning much higher.

i understand how zwift is calculating speed, but if your flywheel is not matching your simulated speed it will prevent you for properly traveling. This is the point I am trying to make. They need to slow the flywheel down to match the simulated speed otherwise inputting wattage becomes nearly impossible.

I don’t think you can compare the two. When I do a spindown in the wahoo utility app there is no resistance. The flywheel easily spins up to 23 mph very quickly, with little effort.

If it still feels like that when you are in zwift then something is not paired correctly. I know you’ve had issues pairing and it always seemed like Zwift was not controlling your Kickr.

Sounds like the Kickr is NOT paired as “Controllable” :thinking: As a result, Zwift is unable to control the resistance. Hence, your spinning a million mile per hour and going nowhere fast.

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it controls my kickr. i am not sure correctly or not. up 3% or greater grades the flywheel does actually slow down allowing my to add power. 17% grade does feel quite tough. i am able to kick any of those grades 400-600 watts quite consistently. 2% or less when the text is not yellow my kickrs flywheel is very hard to add power to. I have found that for 2% i need to be in my tall front sprocket before i notice any slowing of the flywheel and even then it’s barely any. only enough to allow me to maintain 50-100watts. if i try to do any sprinting the flywheel gets too quick and has to slow down before it can register any power. my rider ends up pulling over since it thinks im not moving. if im lucky the 2% section will register close to a 3% and i can get 250 or so watts. do people add resistance to their flywheel? is their a wahoo fitness setting to slow it down or something?

There’s definitely something very wrong there. Maybe your setup, maybe a trainer fault, maybe something very simple.

Hopefully those familiar with Wahoo’s app can give you more specific advice.

Maybe your sprockets is just to small to get enough power. Take your trainer to a bike shop and have them test it.

do you own a kickr? at 2% or less grade does your flywheel come to a stop faster than a regular spindown? my flywheel behaves exactly the same as a spindown at 0% grade.

I have a Kickr core. At 0% there is some resistance, I am able to change to the harder gears and generate plenty of power, over 1000 watts in sprints.

Then something is not paired correctly, Zwift is not in control of your Kickr. I assume it is still paired to your wahoo app.

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(edited) different new text.

All Kickrs support Bluetooth. Want to update the Kickr firmware or adjust settings, do it from the mobile app (iOS or Android).

As for Windows, perhaps update the Bluetooth drivers. There are other threads here on the forum regarding Bluetooth connectivity issues, many of which are due to bugs w/Zwift.

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Kickrs are one of the top smart trainers and very solid, and as Lin mentioned, fully support BT. The guy who has clocked the most km’s on Zwift has only just broken his original Kickr after over 200,000km’s! That’s not luck, that’s solid design.

I suspect you just had a bad run, as I am sure other people have had with competitor brands. A shame that your experience with customer service isnt comparable to experiences people have shared in the forums here with Wahoo but Wahoo’s loss will be another brand’s gain. Good luck with your next choice.

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think u miss the point of my post. im well aware of all the work arounds to the product. i purchased the product for accuracy, durability, windows support. the product has failed to deliver on all of those features. if you want those features i suggest buying a product that delivers and actually has a desire to do so. the company suggests you buy other products to make their device work. i suggest buying a different device all together is the best solution.

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I didn’t reference any workarounds. I currently have a Neo, but I had a Kickr. It worked out of the box w/Zwift. Most of my friends on Zwift have Kickrs. They don’t have any issues. H3ll, the official trainer of the upcoming UCI Cycling Esports World Championships is the Wahoo Kickr v5 and will be ridden in Zwift.

What “Windows support” are you referring to?

As for accuracy and durability, perhaps you got a bad unit. It happens.

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