After a rather dismal FTP test today(-58w off last test on powertap/Kurt Kinetic), I spoke with customer service, and they had me do an advanced spin down, from within the app, to reset the brake.

They also told me that the basic spindown time for a V2 is: Cold spindown: 19 secs, +/- 2 secs. Warm spindown: 23secs, +/- 2 secs.

About to do another ride and see if it feels any different.

Well? Did it improve?

Did you run the test? If yes, what was the result?

I had an issue with power after a beta firmware update on KICKR 2. Power discrepancy of ~100w. An advanced spin down took care of the issue.

Interesting finding, I like the product but the spikes and valleys in erg mode with Power2Max are sometimes showstoppers on tougher workouts. Their TS is responsive but not very savvy. Can you elaborate on the issue and the fix?

Cheers!

Short answer, I feel like it improved a little. They had me do a short 15 minute session with various wattages, at constant cadence, and submit the workout file to them, along with the screen shot from a couple of spindowns after that session. After pinging them a couple of times, they said that everything looks normal..

It doesn't really feel all that normal to me, at least compared to similar wattage on the powertap(and yes inside on a trainer also). I can set the Sufferfest workouts(via TR) at 90% and complete the workouts. At 100% I cannot, and I used to be able to do so using the powertap/KK combo.

One of them is off. Having compared my buddies Quarq to the powertap. I'm more inclined to believe the Kickr is off. I'm trying to get him over here on the kickr with his quarq for a direct comparison.

I feel like it did improve slightly when I did a spin down on my iphone, then shut everything BTLE or ANT+ related down except my PC, and used TR via ant+dongle placed right under the trainer.

I'm not ready to throw in the towel yet. It's not so much what I care what the wattage is per se, but using TSS to control my weekly workouts, this kinda throws things off. If I use my previous FTP, then it under reports TSS. Maybe it doesn't throw TSS off too much either way, but I know when I finish the Sufferfest session, and only see like 50 TSS, something isn't right, as I have a couple of years of those being 70-75 TSS workouts. Even if my powertap isn't accurate, I used it on the bike AND trainer, so TSS was at least consistent.

This error, wherever it may lie, causes a problem in consistently measuring my weekly training load.

In full disclosure, I just bought a new kickr and I'm trying to decide if I should return it before I open the box. Who needs an inaccurate power meter!? If it in fact inaccurate (that's what I'm trying to decern with my questions).

So that being said:

Did you do a new ftp test with the kickr? I'd be ok if it was consistent. With watts being measured in different locations, is it reasonable to expect the same output?

Does the new Kickr still allow you to use your bike's PM to drive the Kickr? TrainerRoad calls it PowerMatch. Not sure if Wahoo has a name for it, but they also had it enabled. It sure seems like Wahoo should have solved this issue by now (and I would be very frustrated if I had bought one on the assumption that these issues were resolved) but PowerMatch really works like a charm for me on my first generation Kickr.

I have not done a new FTP test since I doing the advanced spin down. I have done a SufferFest workout(The Wretched), and had to do it with less intensity selected(10% less). I've been out of town the last 3 days, and not able to mess with it yet otherwise. But I do plan on getting some work in over the next few days.

ProfTri, my understanding is that you can use a power meter to control the new kickr as before, but it's not something I'm smart on. As my powertap is in the hub, this is sadly not an option for me.

Update...

Just did the SufferFest "Omnium" workout from within the Sufferfest Windows App at 240 FTP Intensity 100% selected. I made sure I had everything that might interfere off. I also found out my Sufferfest App was a few updates behind so today I was using the latest beta app for windows today.

I cycled power on the unit, and removed reinstalled dongle prior to connecting. And you know what... It seemed to work pretty darn well. Power and effort seemed commensurate with the effort required. Certainly in the ball park.

I have so many gadgets from my 520, Fenix 3, Ant+dongle Ipad, Iphone etc that maybe some of the problems were self induced. Maybe not.

Either way, today I'm pretty happy with how it all worked out today. I did have a few power drops, which is odd because the dongle is directly below the unit. But it didn't seem to last for more than a second or two.

One thing I've noticed is that using the Kickr is driving me toward higher cadence. It seems easier to spin to get the watts, than mash.

I'm still in the process of testing the New Kickr vs. my slate of crank-based meters. So far the New Kickr has performed exceptionally well and within the margin of error vis-a-vis two of my DZero Quarqs. By 'within the margin of error', I mean within the stated accuracy range of both units. Oddly enough, the Kickr itself seems to be more stable than the Quarq, which I have been manually ZO'ing throughout trainer rides frequently during these tests (I disable 'auto zero' for my crank-based meters).

Suffice it to say that I wouldn't hesitate at this point to use my New Kickr without an exogenous power meter, because I'm confident that the integrated unit is as accurate and as stable as any of the meters I own. Of course, this doesn't mean jack shit for you...it's my n = 1. I have tested my unit(s); I haven't tested yours. So caveat emptor and all that.

I only had an advanced spindown option the first time I connected the Kickr to the iPhone App. Now I only have a regular spindown option. How can you do an advanced spindown again?

Here's how they told me to do it:


Open App

Open "Sensors"

Open "Kickr"

Scroll to bottom, click Spindown

Click on the text in the middle 5x(there's no button. Just click on the words.)

Scroll to bottom, select "Perform Advanced Spindown"

Follow Instructions from there.


Hope that helps!

The advanced spindown only works on the Apple app and WILL NOT work on the android app right now.

https://itunes.apple.com/...red/id391599899?mt=8


I just did the advanced spindown twice on my friend's IPhone and the power is 2-3% higher on my quarq DFour than the kickr, so the kickr (version 2) is spot on with accounting for drivetrain loss.

I've had the kickr2 since October and at first it was pretty much dead on with my p1 pedals. Yesterday I felt like something was different. My heart rate was lower at a given wattage and just felt easier. So I put the pedals back on the bike and bam. The Kickr was reading 10-12 watts higher. Anybody else having this problem?