Kickr Bike Reading Much Lower Wattage vs. Snap

I’m 3 rides in to my new Kickr bike and I am experiencing 40-50W less than on my old Kickr 2. It’s massive issue on Zwift. Any solution out there?

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Scott - welcome to the “new reality club”. :slightly_smiling_face:
I went through all kinds of stuff with Wahoo directly and no resolution.
Mine reads consistently about 10% below my “real world” similar PE and old kicker snap. I keep hoping some software update will suddenly accelerate me, but no dice, at least not yet.

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Strangely I feel better for knowing I’m not alone… thanks for sharing the pain. Will just have to pedal 10% harder and downgrade my race category on Zwift.

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Based on the experiments I did with power pedals, I’m not convinced there’s actually a problem. I’d like there to be :slight_smile: but the numbers were close enough for me. Maybe when I purchase a power meter for my road bike I can make another judgement.

You may be right. I’ve only got three rides in so far on the bike so I’m keeping an eye on heart rate and perceived exertion because I don’t have pedals to compare. All the reviews I read before buying said the power readings were accurate, though I do notice on the Wahoo website a note about measuring power at the rear hub, resulting in lower readings due to losses through the drive chain.

My KICKR bike is reading slightly higher than my Garmin Vector 3’s. Within about 5% but the KICKR bike is always higher.

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I’m in the same boat and have my suspicions about the Kickr bike power data (albeit opposite problem to the thread title). I’ve run a few tests comparing my Vector 3s and 2-month old Kickr Bike and find the bike readings ~5-10% higher than the pedals, comparing fit files on the DCR Analyser.

Given I’d expect the pedals to read higher I pulled out my old Kickr turbo, calibrated and did some comparisons yesterday with the Vectors. The pedals read higher than the turbo by a margin that makes sense given drivetrain losses.

Not yet felt concerned enough to raise it with Wahoo but given others seem to have similar suspicions I might now…

Also facing issue.

Received Kickr Bike yesterday - did Road to Sky route. Couldn’t believe how strong I was on the climb. Had done it two days before with my direct drive Saris H2 (Hammer) and averaged 20 watts less at higher heart rate. Figured something had to be wrong.

Also just received Garmin Vector 3 pedals so today put them on the Kickr Bike. They were consistently reading 10-15% below the Kickr. Set the Kickr in ERG mode using the Wahoo app - riding at 150W. Vectors were showing 125-130.

Filed support ticket with Wahoo. Kinda bummed out but I figured it would be a journey going in this early on a new product.

I have both Wahoo Kickr Bike and Tacx Neo. I also have vector 3 on the kickr bike and they are spot on. On all my rides the Power difference was at 1 watt on average.I have done approx. 1500 miles.

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Hi All. Interesting read and one I’ll watch. Having similar thoughts with new kickr bike. I have a slower cadence (80-85) and suspect this might be the issue. On a regular kickr the momentum seems to favour slower cadence but with the more realistic road feel of the BIKE it might be that more effort is need throughout the whole pedal stroke. I’m also pretty cooked from lots of Zwift and have been tinkering with ride position. So might be range of factors.

Well, a number of months in now, I’ve just kind of adjusted to it. Still enjoy the bike a lot, and no other issues with it. (fingers crossed).

I’m about 10 days in with a Wahoo Kickr Bike, and I also feel like there is a significant difference in real world output vs the Kickr. Specifically, the amount of power required is higher on the Kickr than my real world bike equivalent. My in-game speed at my average wattage is much lower than I would expect, and that is still when I feel like I’m working harder for it.

I’m going to add this to the list of things to talk to Wahoo about, a long with an occasional whistle/high-pitched whine. But having said that, I am loving this bike, and in the long run if I it is making me work even harder, then perhaps that is actually just for the best. :sweat_smile:

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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.

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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 :weary: 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