Just to let you guys know, I've been using the Wahoo iPhone app for the past 5 months and the power spikes happen there too. So this is probably not a TrainerRoad issue...

I had one yesterday using Perf Pro and the KICKR. They are rare... but still happening.

I thought I would resurrect this thread and provide some input as to my own experience with the power spikes.

I have a first gen Kickr and have been using it for about 3 years or so. I primarily use it with Trainerroad connected via iPad. For the first few years I mainly let Trainerroad control the Kickr in erg mode and didn't utilize powermatch with my own power meter but more recently have used my Quarq for power and then used powermatch to set resistance on the Kickr.

I have always gotten the random power spikes that are noted in this thread. They are very brief but can be very high, instantly causing me a slowing of cadence and pressure to my legs/knees. As others have noted, they are extremely annoying. Usually they won't happen more than once or twice a workout. They don't happen every single workout but I do see them a fair bit.

In terms of my Kickr, I've always kept the firmware up to date and I don't think any of the updates made a difference. More recently I did the "Advanced Spindown" option in the Wahoo software which disables the strain gauge in the original Kickr and has it measure power in a manner more similar to the second and third gen Kickr's. However none of this made a difference. Disabling the strain gauge has also resulted in a greater difference in power readings now between my bike based power meters (current a Quarq dual sided meter) and the Kickr. I used to see differences that were cadence dependent and about 10 - 15 watts. Now I'm seeing more like 20+ watt differences. This is a separate issue from the power spikes but thought I would mention it.

Last night I did Carson on TR and there is an obvious power spike right at 17 min.



Given the random power spikes and the large mismatch in power between the Kickr and my on bike power meters, I'm thinking of moving to a new trainer. I'm just not certain whether I should do Kickr 3 or Tacx Neo. Still deciding. However if the power spikes go away, then we'll know that it was my original Kickr hardware that was to blame. If not, then the troubleshooting continues.

Good timing on this post. I thought my power spikes were a thing of the past. I bought a Kickr in November 2014 and signed up on Trainer Road. The power spikes were an issue for me. My recollection is that they happened most rides, often more than once in a ride. I transitioned most of my bike training to outdoors in the spring of '15 and bought my first power meter P2M) in August '15. When I moved back indoors, I noticed my P2M power was considerably below my Kickr power -- so I went with power match so that my indoor training would be measured by the meter I used outdoors -- and NO MORE POWER SPIKES. I did not keep my Kickr firmware up to date after that (I gave up trying to get my Android to talk to the Kickr until one day I read about a glitch in Android that would not let BTLE work unless I allowed the app to have location rights -- who knew?). I finally got the firmware updated. In violation of the "If it ain't broke" rule, I chose to do the advanced spin down. The good news is that the Kickr and P2M reported power now correlate much better.

And you guessed the bad news -- this month, THE POWER SPIKES ARE BACK. They are not as frequent and not quite as bad as recall the old ones to be. Power match seems to tamp down the harshness of power changes -- even for power spikes. So these do not crush my soul like the old ones did and they tend to not hurt my knee as bad, but I would really like them to go away (e.g., having the erg mode blip up to 150% of FTP from 83% still sucks).


Anyway, are there any other sufferers out there and has anyone found a solution.

I have a Gen1 Kickr with up-to-date firmware and use TrainerRoad. I see these killer spikes about once every 10 workouts. I don't know what triggers them and I have no solution, either.

Same setup, same issue here -- maybe more like once every 3-5 workouts.

I have the first gen Kickr as well as first and 2nd gen Vector PM. Fortunately for me, my Kickr matches my Vectors very closely. With the latest FW my Kickr might be a few watts low while I warm up with low wattage and then a few watts higher when I'm pushing the watts. I'm OK with that.

I have always had the occasional power spike. I use my iPhone to control my Kickr so I just figured it was an occasional incorrect bluetooth signal to the Kickr. It's somewhat rare so I don't let it bother me.

Yep, nothing to do with trainerroad. I get the spikes when I use it with the Wahoo app. If particularly awesome when you get a spike 3 minutes into a vo2 interval :)

I have a 1st gen Kickr and the same issues with the spikes, no matter what platform I run TR on. I just try to embrace the spikes as added training :)

I have a solution - buy a Hammer. That's what I did. Thought about the new KICKR but decided it was better to support a different platform entirely. No spikes.

As for the cause, there were many times when the spike was immediately preceded by the faintest of hitches in my pedal stroke - one of those times where my pressure goes slack and then reengages with a slight impact. It would not surprise me (especially given that they occur with all software) if the spikes are caused by a bug in the firmware which gets confused about an imperfect stroke and attempts to compensate for a fractional moment of lost pressure by increasing the resistance.

---

The point is, ladies and gentleman, that speed, for lack of a better word, is good. Speed is right, Speed works. Speed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.

I ended up ordering a Tacx Neo and did the first ride on it today. It looks like it matches my Quarq power meter very closely and so far no power spikes.

Just my 2 cents regarding this issue....

I used to have these problems on my first generation Kickr. They persisted until the power measurement broke completely.
Then, Wahoo customer services sent me a new speed sensor and a new flywheel, and changing them gave me a clear picture of the issue.

The speed measurement is tied to the power control process; if there are misread in speed, the algorithm could behave improperly and cause some spikes.

I would suggest to:
- verify that the flywheel isn't moving in the axle and that the fixing nut is torques properly
- verify the black&white adesive in the flywheel center is not damaged/broken or dirty(the speed sensor is an optic one, so this is important)
- verify that the speed sensor, which is below the cap on the left, is clean
- verify that lightning in the room doesn't interfere(ex. some direct light could cause strange reflection on the flywheel white part).

After I took care of this, I had not even a single occurence of power spikes

Disclaimer: I train 95% indoor and my Kickr has 4 years of continuous use.

Yep, bought a Hammer and have not regretted it one minute. Works great!!

Update:

As mentioned earlier in the thread, I switched to a Tacx Neo in January 2018 after having used a first gen Kickr for a few years. I'm please to report that after several months of heavy use, everything is great with the combination of the Tacx Neo, my Quarq PM, my iPad, and Trainerroad. Most of the time I'm using powermatch with ERG mode and everything is seamless. Not a single power spike.

I've also done the occasional workout in Sufferfest (no powermatch and requires me to use the somewhat flaky ANT+ dongle on the iPad due to Sufferfest's limited bluetooth support), but these have also gone well.