Coasting cadence and power readings worse than ever on v4.23. If I coast/freewheel it takes about 30 seconds for Zwift to then report ZERO power/cadence.
A full power cycle (unplug for 30+ seconds) followed by an in app spindown and a fan pointed at the flywheel has seemingly solved my phantom watts, at least for now. I have an unconfirmed suspicion that the automatic spindown calibration is not always working correctly or maybe just doesn’t get triggered when phantom watts show up since the trainer doesn’t know that you’re coasting. Or, maybe there’s some sort of memory limitation on the number of spindowns (like the odometer until recent firmwares)?
Either way, it is finicky. I race a bunch where dual recordings are the norm, and it’s always embarrassing when the Victory acts up and there’s a >3-4% discrepancy vs. my power meters.
So for months my trainer has been running flawlessly. Recently though i started to hear a tick tick tick noise coming from the back of the bike.
Checked the QR skewer and it was cranked down hard. Frame is not damaged or cracked.
When off the bike it all feels solid.
Jump on the bike and there is that bloody clicking noise again.
After scratching my head and swearing at the trainer for a few moments i was able to narrow the noise down to where the QR skewer met the adapter area.
I removed the bike from the trainer and what do you know. The non dive side adapter is looser than a $2,…well you know the rest.
Turns out that as soon as i would slightly rock the frame to put down power it would tilt the axle enough to make the adapter click in the housing.
Debating to either locktite it in place or maybe a thin layer of plumbers teflon to make it a tighter fit and give it some cushioning.
Anyone else had the same issue?
I always unplug after each ride. I’ll try and do a spin down in JB app (no longer seem to get prompted to do one in Zwift) and point a fan at the trainer. If that does then trick I will be happy out.
I have to come back here and unfortunately say my experience just got worse to the point I’m done with mine. It’s hard to recommend at this point. They have a lot of teething issues. We all just got stuck for nearly two months with a firmware bug causing it not to wake up and have to be power cycled. Thing is, even though the users were all sure it was software (see the reddit post), they assured me it was hardware and had me replace an internal circuit board. But worse: the instructions to recalibrate it were out of date and left my unit over-reporting power by 20% (which I found out on a power test I then had to redo). An upper tier support engineer had to put together a calibration update specifically to fix my trainer. All of which could’ve been avoided. Suffice to say: while it’s fixed and working, and I didn’t have the damaged-in-shipping issues many folks had, I no longer trust it and am looking to replace it with a Tacx. Honestly, it’s probably just fine for an entry level smart trainer. But you do get what you pay for. (Side note: I’m pretty sure the WiFi still doesn’t work reliably, I long ago gave up after multiple promised firmware fixes and use Bluetooth.)
Pay attention to the value of the Assioma, it is not always correct either. To be sure, you have to do a static weight test. In my case, since I correctly calibrated Assioma by weight and correctly calibrated the Victory, I am at minus 1% everywhere.
I have to use Assioma’s for cadence but the Victory & the pedals are so close in power, I just use the Victory. All on Bluetooth.
David
That’s got to be one of the most expensive cadence sensors in the world! You can get a Wahoo cadence sensor the clips on to one of your shoes for $60 Canadian.
Sorry to burst your bubble Michael. I ride outdoors as well. Don’t Canadians ride outdoors? 
David
Yes, my next step is to cal the Assioma’s, let’s see. Hope the Victory is accurate cause it’s giving me 3% more during sprints!
My wifi connection also kept dropping out so went back to BLE. No problems with BLE. JB tech support wanted me to upload Zwift log files. I uploaded one set but can’t be bothered uploading more because BLE is all I need, giving up on wifi based on everyone else’s posts.
I’ve been using the Victory since December. For the price, it’s a good trainer. I just got the new Wahoo Kickr Core 2. It’s a big step up from the Victory. Feature wise, it’s pretty even but the ride experience is very different. The Core 2 is way more stable, especially sprinting out of the saddle.
The Core pedal feel is also more connected like what I was used to with my Saris H3.
The Victory is fine for a first trainer but outside of a few features, it’s not an upgrade from most older trainers.
If all you have is $400. USD, the Victory is a good choice. If you can go up to $550., it’ll reward you.
Thanks for all the discussion for the past year.
David
Can you elaborate on that?
Having gone from a saris h3 to a victory also last year. I still don’t feel fully happy on the victory. I’ve always felt the lighter fly wheel seemed to amplify the dead spots in my cadence or something. Magnified further when I sprint and have an avatar bobbing up and down on the saddle.
The Victory is a true entry level smart trainer. The H3 was a mid level trainer. The Core 2 is more money than the Victory but it does give us the feel of the H3 with better immediate response like the Victory. I’m going to sell the Victory. Somebody will get a bargain.
David
I fear contemporary searchers will find threads like this and only have the patience to read the first handful of pages before drawing their conclusion. Its a considerable pain to simply scroll to the bottom of this massive discussion and over the complaints about JetBlack’s early release(s). The conclusion most might draw from the early part of this thread is to look for another trainer solution, but I’d like to add a contemporary opinion that the Victory is well worth considering.
I’m at-best a mediocre recreational cyclist without huge top-end power, and in no way associated with JetBlack nor Zwift, but after two weeks of daily riding, I think the Victory trainer I purchased July '25 is quite solid and good value for my money. The problems I had in the early going were my own, perhaps exacerbated by lackluster Zwift and JetBlack documentation, but nonetheless not persistent fundamental problems. I had a noise problem early-on until I realized I hadn’t removed the intentionally-placed shipping padding between the flywheel and the case. I had another problem where putting some force through the pedals had the side-effect of unplugging the low-voltage power, something I remedied by fabricating a harness from zip ties to hold the connectors together (tape might work as well). I also had a problem where the chain wasn’t aligned and therefore rubbed the front derailleur, and it took a bit of guessing at how to properly adjust the Zwift Cog. I also struggled with what I thought was the Victory ‘spinning out’ in Zwift gear 24 at my [feeble] top-end, but since discovered that being predominately due to Zwift trainer difficulty set mid-range.
My Victory connects to WiFi within a handful of seconds after power-on (I unplug it after each workout and plug it back in the next time), and Zwift finds its BLE signals after another few seconds. Its all but silent at all speeds and all wattages I’m able to apply. Right now, heart rate is connected to Zwift rather than the Victory, and I can’t think of a compelling reason to let Victory relay heart rate to Zwift (I don’t have a BLE limitation to work-around like AppleTV folk have).
I have no information to share w.r.t. accuracy of power or cadence. It ‘feels’ like it requires a little more effort to produce the same power as my Peloton Bike+, but that’s 100% subjective with nothing to suggest either device were reliably calibrated. If I stumble on some kind of calibration procedure, I may do it, but all the metrics seem ‘directionally correct’ for my recreational fitness purposes.
I’m ever-so-slightly disappointed that Victory wants a 2.4 GHz WiFi instead of 5 GHz, but I have so far not had a single network dropout nor any visible laggy or stuttering behavior on Zwift. I’m not sure 5 GHz would improve anything other than reduce radio interference my neighbors must put up with anyway. I’m a little concerned with what some have shown many months ago with wear of the belt and/or pullies that is normally out-of-view, but guess I’ll just have to open the case every few months to check. I find the inherent side-to-side instability a little disconcerting for top-end power, and find it easy to believe that Wahoo’s design might be a bit more stable, but believe that’s a problem inherent in all rear-wheel-attached trainers. I’ve read some users weigh down their trainer’s feet, but I’ve seen Wahoo users who do that too.
In summary, I’ve found the contemporary Victory to be a solid machine so far, and particularly meritorious when comparing its price to credible competitors. My experience matches the expectations set by DCRainmaker’s YouToob review.
JBV support sent me a new trainer after I showed them a video of my wifi dropouts and power/cadence readings taking about 45 seconds to go to ZERO after I stop pedalling.
Delighted to say the new unit (which they said had new internals) has been rock solid when connected to Wi-Fi with no dropouts, and my power/cadence now drops to ZERO pretty much immediately if I stop pedalling..
I am now very happy with my JBV..
Gosh, if I had found this thread before buying I would have gone with the V6. I was trying to upgrade from a cheap trainer to have more accurate power. I have the same problem you had Ray : 20 to 30 Watts when I stop pedaling and cadence not going to 0. It is annoying in a race when you want to get a little rest in the descend. Also, I have 4 rides with the Victory. The power of the first 3 were within 2% of my Stages crank PM but the last one the Victory was almost 10% higher. I don’t know yet if it will happen again or not.
Hello Stephane, the trainer for its price is a great trainer but does seem to have issues. Mine are now addressed as I contacted support and recorded videos of the issues I had. They issued me a replacement trainer and I am delighted to say my issues have been addressed.
My issues were:
Wi-Fi drop outs
Cadence and Power not going to ZERO, resulting in no “super tuck” so I would have to work on descents to keep up.
Vibration
New trainer working very well. 100% contact support and outline your concerns.
The same happens to any new kit - I have a new Wahoo Core 2 and could list things that don’t work as advertised, are subject to dropouts, etc. And remember that people tend not to come to forums and post when things are working well - so forum threads are rarely a true reflection of the majority experience, especially almost a year after the thread started.
This has happened to me from time to time, usually when I’ve changed something, been off the trainer for a few days, or sometimes if the trainer gets hot during sustained (10+ min) intense climbing at a lower RPM (300+ watts ~70 RPM). My hunch is that these “phantom watts” are caused by an inaccurate spindown calibration that prevents the trainer from recalibrating automatically.
First, the spindown calibration (either auto or manual) estimates an offset, or a set amount of watts that are added to the reported power to account for trainer friction losses from the belt, bearings, and other moving parts at different flywheel speeds. Phantom watts occur when this offset is greater than the actual friction loss by a significant margin (10+ watts). I suspect that this can happen when a calibration is done when the friction losses are higher than they normally might be. In other words, power is overcompensated. The phantom watts appear at spindown but are applied across the entire power curve. They just become less significant as wattage increases (10 watts is 10% of 100 watts but only 1% of 1000 watts). So you may or may not notice the power inaccuracy depending on your power output.
Second, since these phantom watts cause power to continue to be reported even while coasting, the automatic spindown calibration either isn’t triggered (it doesn’t know you’re coasting) or isn’t done accurately (too late and too low flywheel speed).
The solution that has always worked for me is a cold reboot (unplug the trainer for 10 minutes or so) followed by a spindown using the JetBlack App.
Also, I keep a small fan pointed at the flywheel to try to prevent the phantom watts on climbing days. My theory is that as the trainer gets really heated during those long climbs, the friction losses start to decrease as the bearing grease becomes less viscous and the belt becomes softer, providing ideal conditions for the phantom watts to creep in.
Last thing, is that if my hunch is correct, then it’s no surprise to see phantom watts on your new trainer. The belt is probably still breaking in and producing less friction with each ride. I’d expect this to become less of a factor over time.
Hi Alex,
I think your may be right on this. Here is what Jetblack support replied :
“the super tuck is a known issue on some new trainers. It comes down to the belt being a little sticky.
We ask that you do a good warmup, get the trainer hot, the hotter the better then perform a spin down in our app. This will set calibration as these values. If this does not work and it continues we may have to replace the belt.”
I have to say I did two spindowns already, but not for the last three rides. I will do as they say and report back here.
In the meantime, I have done two other races on the Jetblack and both produced power that were around 2% of my crank based powermeter, which is acceptable. So now out of 6 races only one produced innacurate power (10%). And it could also be my crank based PM that was faulty. I calibrate it every ride.
So in summary the issues might be related to the belt being new. We’ll see. I don’t really understand the belt being “sticky” though. The belt is not supposed to slip, does it?