Hi all,
I hooked my bike up to the Wahoo Kickr Snap that I got today. Set it all up correctly according to manual (turned the screw until the bike tire doesn’t spin or skid when I hold the fly wheel and move the tire). I did a 3 mile test ride just to see how it feels. I was peddling pretty hard and it took me 22 minutes to cycle 3.1 miles with an average wattage of 40. I’m 5’10" and weight 152. I don’t usually cycle, but I run a lot and can run 3.1 miles in 18 minutes, so I feel this MUST be way off.
What could be causing my speed/wattage to be so off? Does anyone have suggestions of things I can do/try to fix this?
Your watts and hence your speed is very low.
Is your trainer calibrated?
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When I tried to calibrate the kickr snap through the Wahoo app, it didn’t work? I got a blank speed screen on the screen that said to speed up steadily to a set speed then stop. I have no idea why?
I don’t have that type of trainer but check to see if there is a firmware update.
It’s very likely you’ve pushed the tire too far into the drive cylinder. This compresses the tire so much that you have to use huge force to get it to turn the drive. Try backing the tire off a lot and test to see if it slips during a ride, during acceleration or on a steep climb. You want the tire to be JUST far enough to not slip in any of those 3 circumstances. NOTE, if it slips slightly when you start from stationary that’s OK, because there’s significant inertia in the system initially (flywheel is heavy).
Unless the calibration is way off, you should be able to get at least 150w given your fitness level, probably more, even if you are a newbie cyclist.
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Thanks Justin, I will give that a go. It did say to twist the knob slowly once it touches the tire and try to spin the tire by hand while holding the flywheel to see if there’s any slip. Maybe my problem was I was spinning the tire too hard by hand and thus causing slip no matter what until the cylinder was so tight.
I also thought my wattage was low, considering I’m a quick short distance runner and also do ultramarathons regularly. I know it’s a different sport, but I figured someone of my size and fitness level should definitely be outputting more than that!
I will report back.
I went back to it this morning. Loosened up the drum on the wheel and then recalibrated it. I did it through Zwift because Wahoo app doesn’t do it for me at all for some reason (won’t show my speed).
I did a 10 mile ride around London in 32 minutes, averaging 121 Watts and an average speed of 19.4 mph. This did feel a good workout, and I was sweating a bunch. I’m assuming this sounds about right?
That does sound a lot more realistic.
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Thank you @Steve_Hammatt . Do you know if a trainer tire make much difference? I am in the process of ordering one to fit to my rear wheel. Obviously I would recalibrate it once fitted and pumped up to the recommended PSI.
No, the only difference that a trainer tyre will make is not wearing out one of your outdoor tyres. Maybe noise level too. DC Rainmaker always says that he thinks trainer tyres are pointless.
What will make a big difference is the correct tyre pressure and the correct adjustment of the tension of the roller vs your tyre.
Also, some outdoor tires get awfully messy because they shed a lot of rubber dust when used on the trainer, a trainer tire has no such problems.
Use a solid tire, no glued on tread. When I used my Snap I melted off the tread some good tires.
@Justin_Thackeray haha the rudeness!
But, I calibrated it again today when warm, and did another 10 miles. I did a tough hill climb, so my elevation was 481 ft for this ride, but I did an average of 153W and a max of 464 when I decided to go for a sprint on a flat to test my legs… haha. I feel this is definitely much more whereabouts I should be in terms of power etc?
Yep, sounds very reasonable now, I think you’ve got the tyre position dialed in. 
Something else to mention, don’t be tempted to leave the tyre connected between rides, or you’ll put a “dent” in it…
thanks @Justin_Thackeray , I didn’t know that and I will go and make sure I don’t leave it turned into the tire! Just got to make sure I hit the right point on the tire pressure each time!
