First of all, I attempted to research this, but failed to find sufficient clarity.
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I have an indoor stationary bike (Kondition ICB101) and am looking into setting it up with Zwift.
The bike uses an 8 step magnetic resistance mechanism.
It can track time, speed, distance, heart rate (sensors on handles) and calories (some sort of estimation).
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My question is pretty straight-forward:
Can I set this up to work with Zwift? If so, how would that work?
What options do I have? What are the pluses/minuses?
As your spinning bike does not have a power meter, and AFAIK no credible means of estimating power output, your only real option would be to fit a set of power pedals (noting that this wont be cheap).
Hi @Intangibil welcome to the Forums! I’m Norman from Zwift.
Picking up from what @Andrew_Jones6 said (Thanks for the valuable suggestion by the way) a Power Meter is really the best option to get started in Zwift with a non-smart trainer. You can check more information here.
But if you’re looking for something more budget-friendly, speed sensors are your ally. They measure your RPM and calculate your speed, this is the most important thing for your Avatar to move in-game. If you’d like more information you can check this article.
the problem is @Norman … where do you put a speed sensor on this bike (assuming Google gave me the correct picture)? And you know Zwift doesn’t have a power curve for this spin bike, so it will not be even close to accurate… last thing we need is another user noodling around pinned at 400 watts because they have a poor setup.
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Hey @Mike_Rowe1 that’s true, and I also tried looking for information on the bike but it was scarce from my end so couldn’t say if this is the bike or not.
When we don’t have a power curve for a specific brand I like to say “Trial and error, look for the one that works best for you”, I don’t want to make people feel unwelcomed you know? But you’re right about the 400 watts bit, even if we have some automatic regulation engines if the game encounters something like that, having a proper setup is important.
I’ll say that the Power Meter is the best option always! If our friend @Intangibil wants to try a Speed Sensor, it wouldn’t harm to give it a shot, just buy one from a store that has a solid return policy if the results are irregular.
If you end up liking Zwift, you may want to invest in a Direct Drive Trainer and a second-hand bike which will give you the best results for the best price!
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Generally you would stick it on the wheel near the hub, but there will be some trial and error involved in getting a realistic power number, and it’s harder if you don’t know what a realistic number is for you. People often stick them on with poster tape or glue (which might make returning the sensor difficult). There are some YouTube videos on the topic. Aside from selecting a model of trainer in-game, you can also tune its performance by selecting the wheel size in-game. A larger wheel travels further for each revolution.
Thank you all for the suggestions.
Because the reason I am interested in Zwift is the ‘gamification’ aspect and the competitive dimension, I will of course look to value an immersive experience, which I believe you can only achieve through reasonable technical accuracy.
In this sense, your suggestions give me the impression this is not that ‘tightly controlled’ of an environment, and most often than not there isn’t much alignment between a user’s ‘in-Zwift’ performance and their ‘real’ performance.
Speaking plainly, I don’t want to half-a** it, and I don’t want to game the system. I want a ‘real’ experience that allows me to truly push myself. Of course, ideally I’d appreciate not having to spend a fortune to make it work.
EDIT: Forgot to mention. That is the indeed the bike in question. (The one in the photo.)
You have the correct understanding. If you want accuracy there is a very short list of smart bikes that are good: Wahoo Kickr Bike or Kickr SHIFT, Wattbike Atom, and Tacx NeoBike. (StagesBike SB20 is also OK but the company is bankrupt.) Those are all pretty expensive and the more cost effective solution would be to put a bicycle on a direct drive smart trainer. The smart bike is easier to share between multiple riders in your household who differ in size, but you pay a lot extra for that.