The issue we are having is very specific. When there is a dramatic change in resistance, for example, a high effort climb followed by a dramatic descent or a high effort sprint followed by a descent; the trainer can’t manage its resistance appropriately. Basically what happens is the trainer loses all resistance and the flywheel spins at a rate inconsistent with the pedaling cadence; for example, I’ll be pedaling at 80 rpm but the trainer will say its at 118rpm with 0 power. The only way to resolve this is to let the R1 spin down to a stop; unplug it; and then begin again. This doesn’t happen every ride but when it does its very annoying! Especially during an event. We have contacted Kinetic multiple times and they are non-rsponsive, claim to be very busy, or that the issue is related to bluetooth interference - all of which is their way of not wanting to deal with the issue. You can see an example of this in the images shared here - at the tail end of the ride, the flywheel went up to over 110rpm and the resistance dropped dramatically. I have multiple examples of this phenomenon (all have been shared with Kinetic). Anyone have advice?
I am having the same issue. You described it perfectly. I have reached out to Kinetic twice, but they are slow to respond, and they don’t seem to have any answers.
I’m sorry to hear that you’re having this issue too but in a strange way glad to know its not just our trainer. We got ours last March. Are you sticking with yours or looking at getting something else?
I purchased mine at the end of March 2020 was well. I will probably go with the Wahoo Kickr, but want to have the R1 repaired, since it is still under warranty.
I’m just frustrated with its ongoing issues. I wanted to really like it.
Are you going with another brand?
Sounds like we are in the same situation. I would really like them to honor their warranty and repair/replace this one. I really do like it when it works. Otherwise, we’re also looking at Wahoo Kickr; seems that’s the market leader.
I just purchased this unit on October 2nd and am having the same issues. Does anyone know if there was a solution to this problem? I have sent in a warranty claim and will advise what I find out.
Scott
I’ve had my R1 for a little over a week. I was experiencing the same issues with losing resistance. I’ve now been using a fan directly pointing at the unit. The issue seems to have gone away, I’ve done 5 rides now without losing resistance. I assume it was overheating before. I’ve been in touch with Kinectic Customer support, they are slow to respond. They asked me to take video to better describe what is happening, like i’m their QA department. Up till now they don’t want to acknowledge there’s a problem with the unit at all. I asked them for a refund or send a new machine.
Adding to the post for others as I know there’s not much out there for those searching:
I purchased the new T-7100 R1 early October 2021 and had it about two weeks.
Some details:
Running Zwift on a Windows Surface Pro 3
Running Zwift Companion iPhone 7
Connecting R1 via ANT+ on a powered extension cable and receiver placed on floor beside trainer
HR chest strap connected via BT
Trainer set to 100% difficulty
I ran into several calibration within the KK app and resistance issues while using with ZWIFT.
I had a hard time calibrating the R1 within the KK app as the screen would stay on “preparing calibration” but would go no further the majority of the time. After rebooting ALL equipment I was able to calibrate and came out with a 3.8 second spindown time. I calibrated after a 30 minute ride between 1.5 and 2.0 WKG to ensure the unit was totally warmed up.
What I found was the resistance would work well with stable, smooth power and cadence as I ran a one hour ERG workout of 4 ramps up and down from 45% to 95% FTP.
However, in a free ride in SIM mode the resistance would behave normally for the first 30 minutes (I was riding France’s RGV route) but after a few hard 30 second sprints of 400 - 500 watts the trainer would lag to ‘settle down’ back to 200 watts. On the first hill after that the resistance would increase on the incline, but then on the decline I would lose 100% of the resistance and be left with pushing less than 100 watts at 125 cadence in the hardest gear (even on the flats) and the resistance would not respond to course changes.
I closed and reset everything and attempted to recalibrate, but to no avail. The calibration process in the KK app wouldn’t start (I did ensure all other apps/connections were closed).
On the advice of KK CS, I tried the “Hardware Diagnostic” in the KK app workout and found the resistance wasn’t responding there either when it would attempt to jump to 600 watts, so it wasn’t just a ZWIFT issue. The fact the internal cooling fan wasn’t coming on during/after a hard run was another clue.
KK CS answered my emails immediately, asked me to ‘field destroy’ the trainer and they got one shipped out to me the same day (it should arrive in a few days as of Oct 17).
Now, my issue was a confirmed KK hardware issue, but reading the forum threads I do see Wahoo is having a lot of resistance issues in ZWIFT too, not to mention even more total hardware failures and machines being sent back.
When I get my new R1 next week I plan on setting it up as per the KK instructions and then running some tests with the KK app alone, ZWIFT, and with RGT to see if there are any differences. I’ve read many other trainers sometimes appear to operate fine within other apps (RGT/Rouvy, etc.) but fail within ZWIFT, unfortunately.
I’ll update as soon as I can run the tests, next week.
I do want to reiterate that KK CS has been excellent in their responsiveness and willingness to troubleshoot the issues all the way to replacement, so not issues with the organization.
I am really hoping it works out as I really like the R1’s features and feel - the best out there IMHO, and I’ve been using ZWIFT for several years and would be disappointed if the answer is use another SIM platform (as it has been for Wahoo users).
If/when you ever encounter the resistance issue again, you should jump over to the KK app and run the Hardware Diagnostic workout - that confirmed for me that the resistance failure was at the KK level, not ZWIFT.
Goo idea with the fan on the unit too - when I get my new unit I will doing that as well. I’m not convinced the internal fan can handle the heat generated on long rides.
Short Update: Received the new R1 a few days ago.
Set it up and calibrated - Zwift felt a little flakey. Still good resistance, but it seemed to read so went over to Rouvy and it immediately felt better- power matches my real-world output and gear selection on similar grades, resistance changes were smooth and reliable.
Another thing I liked about Rouvy was there was no ‘set-up’ yu simply click start and it takes care of connecting all your devices (HR, Power, Trainer, etc.) without any need for user input. It ‘just works’
I did, as a precaution, place a fan blowing on the unit as I’m sure it gets hot on long efforts.
Completed half a dozen rides on Zwift and Rouvy now and very happy with the performance of the R1, but a little suspect of Zwift right now 
Doing more investigation and it seems that Zwift may be introducing issues that complicate troubleshooting. Wahoo’s units continue have issues in Zwift but not in other programs.
May be time for Zwift to settle down on the ‘updates’ and work on stabilizing the platform.
Received R1 two weeks ago, having the same issue. Happens 20-30 mins. into a ride, no resistance, power readings all over the place. Happens in both zwift and RGT.
Contacted kinetics and they said to send video of the noise coming from trainer. Sounds like fan is running. Unplug and plug back in noise is gone, resistance is sometimes restored but not always. Agree, seems to be an issue of trainer getting hot. Hope there is a resolution because I really like the R1 other than this issue.
I bought the R1 about a month ago or so from Kinetic directly. The price was amazing so I could not pass it up. Prior I was using the Wheel on Non rocking version (2 of them) with Zero issues. Loved them except the wheel slip approaching 10% grade and the fact 10% grade was is tough as it got. Bring on the R1. First one would not calibrate at all. Zero clutch engagement. KK CS was super responsive and supportive and sent me another machine with in days. Second unit would calibrate but it was way off in Zwift. Imagine the whole spectrum of resistance 0% to 100% happening between -3% grade and a +3% grade in Zwift. Tried to recalibrate several times after riding for an hour to warm up the machine. It appeared the fly wheel was coasting way to long with little resistance to calibrate properly. So i ended up calibrating once more but this time I lightly dragged my foot on the rear belt pully to slow it down and bam it worked and was calibrated much closer to my other Kinetic trainer. Still not correct but now I can at least get a good work out in. Sort of haha: Then the other issue described here started happening. right around an hour or so into a ride the clutches would disengage and I am freewheeling. This just happened today at 1hour 35 into a ride. I rebooted the Kinetic and it started to work for another 5 minutes before it disengaged again. As some one pointed out in forum earlier I feel it is related to overheating as well. I am going to try out a fan blowing on the unit to see if it helps. There are a couple other issues too which I am not sure if it is Kinetic or Zwift but anything over 10% grade in the game does not provide consistent drag. The clutches engage and disengage repeatedly. Or if you slow down on the climb resistance goes down and then climbs back up as you get going. I love the rock and roll feel and the direct drive but everything else has been a hot mess. Stuff the wheel on trainer never had. Also if you read the DC Rainmaker article the review states a software update was sent out that disabled the very loud fan (2.4). The was supposed to be another update to come out to resolve some of these issues. That update did come out, but was rolled back in the spring of 2020. No updates have been released since. You can find that info here: kurtkinetic.c@m/firmware-updates No links allowed so you will have to change the @ to an o
Same issue here - I’ve been working their support - sent videos, etc, and then they just stopped responding. I have had two successful rides, and then now it’s basically useless for training as after 15 minutes it just goes into free wheel spin mode. So frustrating - the first few minutes it feels amazing and I’m loving it - and then nothing…been back on the dumb trainer while I wait for some resolution sadly.
Did you try to contact Kinetic support?
See above:
yes - I did, it was still happening - the app had me spin to 600 but the trainer wouldn’t go above 75 even in my top gear
For all of you struggling with Kinetic R1 resistance issues, here is my fix. This is a short rundown how it works:
All we have is a big iron flywheel spinning around with a big strong magnet moving closer and further away from it creating more and less resistance. Magnet is mounted to plastic tray and movement is controlled by a small stepper motor. Now here is the problem, plastic tray slides on 2 simple metal rails with no bearings of any kind. When magnet moves closer to flywheel it pulls harder towards flywheel creating more friction and binding between plastic tray and metal rails. This friction overloads the stepper motor and the controller located on the main board. Extra current overload overheats them both. Stepper driver DRV8811 does have thermal protection build in but not the stepper motor itself. Anyways, when they both overheat stepper is losing its position and everything starts misbehaving. Now for the fix, you will need to remove controller side cover, then using Kinetic app you have to change brake position to 100. This will move the tray with magnet to the furthest point.
Now what you need to do is to apply bearing grease to bottom and top rails of the tray plus to the brass screw as well to make the driving smoother. After doing so, use the app to move the brake back to 0 position. Then move it back and forth numerous times to spread the grease around. Also at 0 position you can try to apply grease from the other side as well but I’m not sure if this is necessary. As a precaution I also applied a heatsink to the Stepper controller:
And on top of this I had small temporary fan cooling the stepper motor, but I don’t think this is necessary.
After all those steps I get no more 30-35 minute power losses with Zwift.
This is something that worked for me. Keep your fingers away from the magnet and flywheel area when moving magnet or spinning. I don’t want to be responsible for anyone’s trainers or injuries so try this at your own risk! Also, this will most likely void your Warranty with Kinetic.
To confirm my theory, last night I found YouTube video of R1 owner replacing Control Board provided by Kinetic. He displayed his faulty board. Bellow is the picture from his Video.
And guess what, as you can see there is sign of catastrophic failure to Stepper Motor controller. The IC is actually melted.
Pawel, Thanks for posting this. Your tip did in fact make things way better and I had 6 rides without the trainer disconnecting from Zwift!! Then on a particular hilly ride it dropped out. I think the heat being generated within the housing is still too much. At this point I have removed the cover of the housing and have a round free standing fan blowing directly on the board and flywheel. Since then I have done a HERD race, my son one day did a 45 min FTP test followed by me rolling in with the C pace group so it went for around 2.5 hours non stop no issues. So between your fix and removing the cover and putting a fan blowing directly onto the mechanism I seemed to have found some success. Lets see how long it lasts. Thanks again for the tip!
As I was thinking about updating this thread:) I also discovered that on long rides stepper motor requires more direct cooling. I’m also running my trainer with the cover off and small USB powered Amazon Fan blowing on it all the time while using the trainer. Right now I’m working on attaching a 12V fan on the inside of the cover directed towards the stepper. Kinetic fan inside of the enclosure is mounted in totally wrong spot. I can’t believe they didn’t spot the actual issue. Stepper motor they are using is the cheapest you can find with casing made out of tin. If they used proper NEMA 17 Motor this would not be an issue. Also I’m not sure if you noticed but power output is very inconsistent on them. I endup using stages with it.
@Pawel_Kielce So yes I too thought the the stepper motor was getting hot and moved my fan accordingly. That seems to have helped. Today I had a successful ride in the hills for 1.5 hours. But to your other point power is off. My sons road bike has a stages crank power meter on it so I have run a few comparisons. In general I find down hill reads power to high, flats about right and hills to low, way low. As the trainer warms up this just get worse. On my old wheel on trainer I could be in the rollers power down the hill at let’s say 200 watts and hammer the short up hill and peak at 350 to 400. Now if I come in at 200 it might peak at 240 and quickly drop to like 170 meanwhile my heart rate is through the roof and my legs are burning. This Trainer is terrible. Love the rock and roll feature. The rest is misery. At this point at least I can get a real workout in but I don’t dare race with it. Too inaccurate and I’ll really be annoyed if it drops out mid race haha. The power stats image are from my son riding the trainer. 45 minute ride rolling hills
