It’s amusing reading through these comments where people are stating that their old Powermeter shows better data than the Kickr bike. All the mentioned Power sources are self-calibrated ones or devices that have a way less accuracy. That tells me all i wanted to know. Anyways, I know it’s hard for you guys, but it’s not the bike, it’s merely your legs. Happy Riding.
2 Likes
I’m 100% experiencing this. Anyone found a resolution?
Had a 2018 kickr and my output always worked to my FTP @c295w and 3.1w/kg. This is/was consistent to my power meter on the outdoor bike.
I’m finding my now averaging 230-40 watts per ride and efforts seem harder as pushing more to get back to my known level?
This is playing with my mind 
so any help/ assistance would be great!!!
I was among the first to receive a Kickr Bike last year and it has consistently shown ~ 8% lower power than all 4 of my other meters. I have gone several rounds with Wahoo and they claim it has to do with connectivity. If there are micro-losses in connectivity the power will show zero for those moments… I have tried everything they recommend without luck. Now I have resigned to using powertap pedals on the bike…
I think what everyone is experiencing is the effect of the large flywheel with the kickr. It is so heavy it is like riding outdoors and downhill, making it impossible to keep the power up.
I think there needs to be more built in resistance as not only is my power lower than other sources, but my mph is generally slower on the kickr compared to outdoors, which shouldn’t be the case.
That’s poor software design. With high data streams there is often a signal to noise ratio, and your software should be smart enough to limit the noise. And this may be on the Zwift side. If you are receiving a stream of data showing 300 watts, then a few milliseconds later a zero, then a few milliseconds after that 300 watts again, simply remove the zero or replace it with an average between the numbers on either side. And it doesn’t even have to be milliseconds. If you go from 180 watts to 0 and then 175 watts in a 3 second period the software should know that is incredibly unlikely and repair or ignore the data.
How can Zwift know which data are wrong?
It is not just a game, we use it for serious training - I personally do not want the software to “repair or ignore the data”!
Love my Kicker Bike. Only about 10 rides into it, but overall solid piece of equipment. And yes, the bike definitely reads lower, in my experience thus far 10-15% less. This is compared to Staqes Bike indoor power meter that I used to ride in the gym all the time and Saris M2. But more importantly, to my Quarq SRAM RED AXS POWER METER that I calibrate for every outdoor ride. I can push relatively easily 325-350 wats consistently outside on a 20 minutes uphill. On the Kicker bike, my FTP is 275 (barely). Anyway, it’s possible that all of the otter trainers are reading too high and the Kickr bike is just more accurate (it would be understandable and expected for the $ it costs). But, it should be more consistant with the outside feel and experience in my opinion - the whole point of having “realistic feel” trainer. Hopefully, it will be fixed in firmware update soon.
I have had my Kickr bike for 6 months or so now and moved from a flux S to neo2 and have compared to Quarq and stages on bike meters.
OI put out similar questions straight away as i was killing myself to do average in races i had previously done ok in even on the neo with similar quoted accuracy.
My conclusion and fitting in with most others; the kickr bike definately reads lower than anything else.
My theory - quark and stages measure at the crank (no drive train losses), neo only chain losses, kick bike measures at the back after a rubber belt drive has took its share of the power.
Anyone put powertap peddles on the kickr bike.
Other than that - its great
Hi, thanks for this. I have just bought a Tacx Flux direct drive, moved from the Nero Elite.I was happily a mid B Cat rider and pushing 3.2W/Kg - 3.5W/Kg. I now struggle to get higher than 2.0W/Kg.
I’ve calibrated the Tacx and it feels like a much tougher ride than the wheel on trainer I was using before.
Any thoughts please folks?
Hi @J_onny_Race3R, welcome to the forums. Wheel on trainers are generally known for not being as accurate as a direct drive trainer. Did you happen to verify your power was correct or accurate with the old wheel on trainer? I thought the Elite Nero are rollers, not wheel on trainers?
Doh! Sorry I got it wrong, the wheel on trainer was a Elite Novo Smart.
Thanks for the reply, I’ve just tried a firmware upgrade again on the Tacx utility app.
I wasn’t able to verify wheel on was correct, prior to that I had a Jet-black Z1 fluid trainer and the results were very similar.
Thanks again for the reply
Accuracy of the Novo is +/- 5% and the Flux is +/- 3% so you should have a more accurate setup now and were probably getting over estimated power with the Novo. That is quite common I believe.
doh! I was hoping that wasn’t the case… back to CAT C for me then.
Again, thanks for taking the time to reply.
I have the same issue… about 20 -30 W lower. Adding insult to injury I gave My kicker snap to my 14-year-old and now he’s outpacing me!
I have a Kickr 2018 and it was a replacement for a prior Kickr that self-destructed. This one about kills a fellow as you have to go REALLY hard to maintain 220 watts. I have Quark and Power2max power meters on my bikes and they both read significantly higher (vs the Kickr), especially as the watts go up. At 100 watts, not a huge variance - but at 300 - a 40watt or more variance.
I do a lot of spin downs and nothing seems to help.
For these reasons, and reading the issues here, I think I may look at the new Stages SB20 bike (vs the Wahoo bike)- I want to believe that they have the power meter stuff figured out.
In both cases, I sort of wonder if both bikes are something of v1.0 and will be leaps and bounds better when version 2.0 comes out.
I’m the same about 50 watts and doing my nut in. Use the taxc neo 1 and everything was going good regarding FTP and strength. Now after buying the kickr bike I’m pissed off think I’ll change it for the neo smart bike.
Wahoo need to fix this problem
1 Like
Just started with Kick Bike. I have been using two regular Kickrs in the US and Asia for over two years. My watts have dropped massively on the Kickr Bike. I have been a solid C, borderline B rider. Now struggling to maintain D. Huge drop. Not an issue with moving from a “wheel on” trainer, as the Kickr is direct crank. Anyone found a solution to the problem?
I Zwifted for nearly a year on a Kickr Smart V4, a direct drive trainer. About six months in, I added Garmin Vector 3 pedals for dual recording and to verify the output of the Kickr. The pedals read about 2% higher than the trainer and that’s considered to be within measurement error.
I got my Kickr Bike a coupla months ago and sold the trainer to a friend. The main reason for the switch was the great deal I got on the Bike and an opportunity to help my friend get started on Zwift.
I put the pedals on the Kickr Bike and have been riding with two power meters. My Kickr Bike reads about 2% higher than the pedals! My ability to keep up with the groups I’ve ridden with in the past is the same and other than the crap clamping of the handlebars and seatpost, I’m pretty satisfied. I think it’s noisier than it should be but they say, they’re all that loud.
I would suggest contacting Wahoo if your Bike is reading lower than expected. They may have a calibration process you can do to mitigate your power drop. Good luck…