The trainer doesn’t know your weight, but Zwift does. And Zwift then controls the trainer. And if our trainers respond differently to those controls, one of us is at a disadvantage.
The difference in feel between different weights of riders is part of IRL riding too, that’s not something to try to program away. But if you and I were riding IRL with the same weight, same bike, same drivetrain, same road, and in the same gear putting out the same power at the same cadence you were pulling away from me…something would be very wrong with physics
In OP’s case, I think there’s something wrong with calibrations or setups, because that dramatic of a difference from what Zwift is attempting to give us (IRL-ish conditions) and what OP got is something I haven’t heard of about the Hub so far. And it would be a mark against the Hub, a significant one.
I thought that the trainer did receive the rider’s weight and the gradient, so then it can work out how much resistance to apply to simulate the gradient appropriately for the rider.
Otherwise how can it possibly simulate gradient for varying light/heavy riders?
And what is desirable is for the trainers to act as much like real bikes as possible at that point. So when Zwift combines the wattage we put out with that known weight, we would go the same speeds.
I’m not saying there aren’t differences. I’m saying the manufacturers have a motivation to minimize those differences. And that OPs differences are unusual.
I have counted the cendance today by myself for 1 minute on 65rpm, 85prm, 95rpm each in Erg mode it seems pretty accurate.
I hope the next Stage (Scotland) will have a nice incline so that i can keep count for 1 minute by myself. Just to see if the cadence sensor is working properly.
I have disconnected all my devices and paired and calibrated them again now the display seems to be a bit more consistent (70rpm 36/28 8kmh and approx. 210w).
My buddy installed his external cadence sensor and it turns out that his Wahoo kickr was under-performing by 10rpm when he actually rode it, so earlier it was more like 75rpm than 65rpm.
These points now reduce the difference to maybe. 20-30w. Now ican say it is natural deviation because of different trainers, slight difference in weight and height of the rider etc.
Thanks for the update, David–I was honestly curious about what was happening. Glad it’s sorted, and that it wasn’t a major issue from any one component.
