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)
Do you have any other means of measuring power to compare, like a crank arm or pedal based power meter? It’s pretty common for people to get significantly different power readings when going from a wheel-on trainer to direct drive because the wheel-on trainers are often wrong, especially if there is any tire slippage. Changing trainer difficulty won’t directly affect your power or speed in the game, it just reduces the amount of resistance you get from gradient simulation. If you do the same power with trainer difficulty at 0% you will go the same speed as before.
There is still a factory spindown process for the Kickr v5, but it may be working correctly. Wahoo says that process should be done when advised by their support department.
For starters, did you download the wahoo app and update the V5? When I switched trainers earlier this year I had the same experience, I just had to get used to the V5. Also I find anything less than 50% TD makes it feel more difficult to pedal downhill.
So I do have the app and have updated the firmware and the device is properly paired with Zwift
I don’t have another way to test power
I did expect it to be harder compared to the kinetic but just not that hard… So, the option to suck it up and just ride might be the best option
Secret factory reset? Never found that … That’ll be a last ditch effort if I choose to contact Wahoo (I’ve read they are away for xmas vacation anyway)
Thinking about it I just might have left the app running in the background but I’ll make sure it’s closed when I try again today
I’ll check everything out today and try a few things and report back later today
The Kickr is a very accurate high-quality smart-trainer -that’s fact.
So many times, I raced a TT in Zwift/Kickr as pre-race training, and then, I went on racing a TT in IRL with similar times/power output!
Impossible to do the same with one of those wheel-on/lower end trainers… Yeah, it’s so very cool to feel like van der Poel while riding in Zwift, but what’s the point of fake power numbers IMHO…
Btw: since 2018, I have ridden on 3 different Kickr’s, and all of them have been right on the money regarding power accuracy as compare with my power meters (the v5 is self-calibrated, so a spindown is not really needed.
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
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