Same here, I much prefer the Victory over my old Kickr V5, when racing and in ERG mode. It beats it in every way.
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The vibrations are manageable and attributable to the Zwift Cog. The 20w power difference is non-negotiable. I suspect the majority of people using the JBV may not have any way to measure the difference or may not be as dialed into the feel for different wattages.
I can close my eyes on my road bike and Neo 2T and pedal at 200W probably +/- 5W on feel. If I do this on the JBV, Iāll be at around 180W. 10% power accuracy isnāt gonna cut it.
I have a pretty decent power imbalance of 53/47 L/R. When I look at the power graph for the JBV, itās a bit closer to the right side only measurement. Iām not sure if they are sampling incorrectly or what, but itās definitely there. It was fixed in 4.12 and back in 4.13.
Since I posted a list of issues I initially had with my Victory, I feel like I should provide an update:
Iāve done several races and rides on mine now, and have had no issues on firmware 4.13.
I run exclusively on BLE, since I donāt need the WiFi or HRM bridging, and have had 0 disconnects.
The power is within a couple watts of my Assiomas.
āRace modeā seems to work (though I do wish JB better explained how/when it worked. I had expected it to be some kind of toggle-able option in the app, but i guess its just always on?)
I like the overall feel better than my Saris H3 (the H3 always felt like riding through mud, and hard to accelerate/increase cadence, probably due to the heavy flywheel)
I have 3 people on my ZRL team that have a Victory, and no one reported having any issues.
So Iāve been happy with mine, plan to keep it, and will likely sell my H3 soon.
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Iām about half inclined to ship you my JBV for a few weeks and see if it works for you or if they just have massive hardware inconsistencies.
The 20W power difference is not acceptable. I do find it hard to see how firmware updates can fix this unless there are some bugs with the auto calibration that they have found.
Another possible reason is environmental, someone way higher up in this thread wondered if it could be temperature related. Mine is in the basement and the ambient temp there is probably always between 20-25Ā°C, maybe if people have these in unheated buildings (sheds, garages etc) this could be affecting it.
As for vibrations I donāt feel any, although that could be my 20 year old steel MTB I have on there absorbing them all!
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Agreed. Iām also in a basement at around 65F year round. I have tried doing the spin down both cold and warm. Iām going to get a pair of Garmin Vector Pedals as a tie breaker to make sure my Quark PM is not reading high (although like I said, based on feel I can tell you I donāt think it is).
Whatās amazing is that I have dual recorded a few rides that are within 3W, so I know itās capable of matching up. They vary from high Zone 2 to hard race efforts, so it doesnāt seem to be only low or high power rides. All of my matching rides were on 4.12.0 firmware which had the WiFi and cadence bugs. Iām assuming the power difference could be a sampling issue which, I believe, was one of the fixes for the cadence/drop out issue. Seems possible one could break the other.
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Interesting as Iām also on a H3.
Deffo agree the saris is hard to wind upā¦ But Iāve never felt like it was riding thru mud (which I have felt with the JBV)ā¦ The saris also carries the power a bit more. Race mode on the JBV really showed how I actually come off the power really quickly.
I do need to try the new firmware. But Iāll wait till after ZRL now.
Another Saris H3 user. The Victory is a much more refined trainer. The massive flywheel on the H3 is both a blessing & a curse but mostly a curse. The Victoryās response is much quicker & that suits my riding style. Power numbers are not an issue with my Victory.
Itās my guess that there are some manufacturing related issues with the Victory. Iād like to know if JB has/had an engineer @ the facility in Vietnam. Outsourcing manufacturing does have its downside. Tacx kept manufacturing inhouse and still managed to get it wrong when it was first introduced. Now that was a doorstop for the ages.
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The power difference is real and is an issue for some trainers. I mentioned earlier in this thread that I suspect some rough handling during shipping might jolt the flywheel closer to the electromagnetic coils, and I still stand by my suspicion. This same jolting could lead to bearing damage (brinelling if you want to read more) that results in vibrations, noise, and ultimately, premature bearing failure.
Thereās a wave spring preloading the inner flywheel bearing which means there is some āfloatā and possibility for movement of the flywheel shaft and attached flywheel either inbound (under report watts) or outbound (over report watts).
I think I lucked out and shifted everything back into place after about 1000km, and especially after some heavy TT efforts and repeated sprints. My power comparison is spot on now with my Quarq.
Hereās last nightās ZRL dual recording:
Compare that to a ride from just two weeks ago:
Pretty crazy how that happened, but Iām happy with the trainer and its power just in time for ZRL round 3. If you are having power issues though, I would reach out to JetBlack for a replacement because I donāt think thereās any guarantee of a āself fixā as mine did.
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JetBlack has offered to send me a replacement unit. Should I take them up? My original request was just to return it for a refund. If I get a replacement and it doesnāt fix the issues, I guess I can always still return it.
Has anyone gotten an replacement from them and successfully fixed their issues?
I want to like this trainer because I do love a few of the features. I tried going back to my Neo 2T and definitely prefer the virtual shifting (also the Neo flywheel feels like it weighs 10,000 pounds now :), although I will say the Neo is just buttery smooth which I miss.
Iāll let others that have received a replacement answer that for you. For me, the Victory fits my budget and definitely exceeds my needs now that itās accurate. If budget wasnāt a limitation, I like the kickr v6, but even it has issues (virtual shifting phantom watts).
I love the race mode, WiFi, handle, and shifting. I donāt really do workouts (erg), but I hear itās great there. Also, having disassembled the moving bits, I can see the Victory lasting forever with periodic maintenance and replacement of wearable parts like the belt and bearings. I actually went ahead and ordered a two pack of belts off Amazon.
I do think it could be smoother, especially when Iām cooling down after a hard session. Not sure what exactly causes my vibrations, but I think it disappears when the belt is under higher load/tension (>250 watts). I have not had more severe vibrations that others have, and Iāve seen a handful of videos over on reddit of what sounds like groaning/failed bearings.
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Returned JBV today and purchased a kickr V6 at the same time in the same store. Currently rolling the legs, set up was easy and the ride feel is 10x better, Smooth, quiet and connected through wifi first time and hasnāt dropped out.
Straight away noticed the difference even in terms of build quality, thereās no left to right moment in the pulley wheel at all.
Buy cheap, buy twice. Lucky Iām getting a refund.
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Like others, I have also voiced my feeling on JBV when I had constant Wi-Fi dropouts, 1/2 cadence readings etc. I reached out to JB support as I was willing to work with them in order to address issues.
For me, support was responsive and have kept me up to date with preview firmware etc. After every update I have informed them what I experienced.
I am now running preview version 04_13_01 and my Wi-Fi drops and 1/2 cadence readings are now addressed. I have been using Wi-Fi connection for the last week and it has stable.
It was also stable in later 04_12 preview versions.
Virtual gearing is working great and the trainer is quite responsive when in ERG and SIM mode.
I took a risk moving from a Neo 2T (motion plates), dedicated bike and Zwift play controllers to move to a trainer that is ā¬450.
For ā¬450 I feel this trainer is awesome in comparison to original RRP of ā¬1300 for a Neo 2T.
I sold all previous equipment (Neo 2T, motion plates, dedicated CX bike for indoors and play controllers) and for the same money I have bought the JBV, Zwift Ride Frame, Turbo Rocks Realplate react rocker plate and Vacmaster 54 fan.
I am much happier with my new setup and I am glad I worked with JB support to make them aware of issues and allow them some time to address issues us users are experiencing.
I hope everyone elseās issues get addressed and if there are hardware issues, I am sure JB support will honour either a refund or replacement trainer.
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Vibrations were the same on mine with the cog and with a cassette.
Replacement trainer arriving tomorrow. Really hope itās better than the first one was, but based on what Iām seeing in hereā¦ I doubt it.
Jetblack stated officially somewhere, Reddit I think, that their original packaging and shipping instructions lead to mishandling and potential damage. My replacement due to vibrations comes today and Iāll report back.
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I know itās a minor thingā¦ but I really wish Iād left the cog on there, tedious having to remove my cassette / put it on the new one!
Just setup my replacement. Few things I noticed:
The replacement has additional branding on the legs.
All the components are super dusty/dirty for some reason.
Thereās no rubbing/skipping sound like my original.
No more airplane rubbing sound (which developed after a few rides I just noticed).
Thereās still some vibration when I put power down which is discouraging. Maybe this is normal to feel some āgrabbingā when you put power down? Can anyone confirm?
It seems to be working correctly but I havent done a ride with it yet. Iāll keep the replacement since itās better than the first but Iām still worried about how long itāll last.
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Interesting! Did you notice any difference in the packaging?
Also, fwiw if anyone else is having issues with the rubber end caps on the legs falling off - wrap a few loops of electrical tape around the metal and slide them back on.
Just that the box came badly bent and sagging from the weight. First package was pretty perfect.