Tacx calibration altered by Tacx; non-functional in Zwift

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I bought a Vortex specifically for off season training in Zwift last year. It was fabulous. Stored it for the season, pulled it out a few weeks ago to start off season training (for me that just means working out/maintaining fitness over the winter) and calibration no longer works (using the Tacx calibration app).

Went to the Tacx support website and turns out Tacx did an update due to some issue (overheating??) and now to get it within the calibration zone the tire has to be so loose it slips (to prevent overheating is the speculation). You can calibrate at the high end, but that causes it to become incompatible with Zwift. With it calibrated at the high limit it reduces your RPM to nothing (44 for me tonight in Richmond!!) and reduces your speed accordingly. As such you can neither ride with others nor can you try to maintain a fitness program consistent with either real riding or rides prior to the update (or on other smart trainers).

I am doing everything exactly as I was last year and have read all of the “fixes” here, the Tacx forum and every other site on the internet; no go. My settings in Zwift are fine, using the same ant+, etc. 

Note also that the forum indicates there are no plans to fix this issue.  If you are a tech person and know how to roll back the software, go for it. Otherwise I cannot recommend tossing $550 at a company that won’t support their equipment. 

Grrrr :(  

(However, I will say that I still think Zwift is a great way to stay fit in the off season/winter. Still recommend Zwift, just not Tacx)

1 Like
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I had same problem with slipping tyre. The tyre was very old Tacx Trainer tyre gave to me by friend. I bought new tyre (Vittoria trainer tyre) and the problem went away - no slipping, can calibrate and ride just fine. Pretty sure that there weren’t any other changes.

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Actually there were changes:

http://forum.tacx.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=34007

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Sorry, I ment that there were no other changes in my setup. First day I had similar problems to yours, I got new tyre and the problems went away. Hmm. I might use slightly higher pressure as well because new tyre allows it. I did not do any changes to software (it was already up-to-date). 

But reading the thread in Tacx forum it seems that there is some other problem as well. 

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Oh, ok. Yeah it’s been a serious bummer. I have a brand new tire, actually. I’ve tried anywhere from 100-110psi. No luck :frowning:

A few days ago I tried to sprint-the harder I went the slower the cadence and slower the speed.  Kinda nuts. It was my slowest time and speed EVER and I was busting my butt. So now can’t do hills or sprint in Zwift. 

Fortunately I’m overcoming tendon/muscle issues on both sides of one knee and alternating weight lifting with Zwift, so the Zwift days are all flat with as little resistance as possible, so for now it’s working well. It’s just that I’m doing it on a $550 trainer that has only part of a season on it, hmph.