Echelon bike users - warning!

If you use an echelon bike via the QZ app to access Zwift do not update your firmware via the echelon app. Echelon’s latest update (July 25) will effectively brick your bike. It necessitates a connection to Echelon’s servers at all times thus requiring an echelon subscription to use the bike at all. Best advice is to make sure you remove the echelon app entirely.

If anyone is considering buying a new echelon bike think carefully. You will be forever tied into the echelon eco system. If buying second hand make sure the firmware hasn’t been updated!

I thought the QZ app was banned anyway since it is essentially an ANT simulator providing junk information to zwift?

No, loads of people use QZ to make their wonky fitness equipment work with Zwift at all. It has options for power adjustment (not unlike Assioma pedals in that way) but by default it just passes on whatever the trainer reports as power.

And you don’t seem to see that as an issue? Yikes.

My preference would be to be able to identify when QZ is adjusting power up so it can be prevented in races. In other contexts I don’t care. I’d also like to know when someone uses the Assioma app to increase their power for the same reason. I’m less concerned about people adjusting power down. Fundamentally spin bikes like Echelon (or almost any other) should not be used in races whether via QZ or not - the problem is the bike’s inaccuracy more than the app.

Well the solution for racing is to have trainer primary so there is no adjustment of power through apps. QZ ruins this because people pretend to be on a trainer with it.

I can ID it through log files and see who is cheating, but I don’t have access to log files.

Zwift would be a lot more enjoyable of a proposition for racing if basic lanes to cheating were removed.

Agree with that, but I want those Echelon owners in my group rides and out cruising around. It’s good for their health and there’s nothing wrong with it. There are also people using power meter pedals who don’t have a smart trainer. They race. If QZ advertised that the trainer is power-adjusted so it could be targeted in the racing context, that would be enough for me.

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Yea everyone should be healthy.

Zwift should use the obvious flags in log files to block it from races.

Echelon should not be greedy