A thread for all SB20 owners β I'm very interested to have your feedback!
For many of my sessions on my SB20, I do "micro intervals". Because the erg mode responds too slowly, I use slope mode for this. On my SB20, the slope mode has a number of faults:
1. If I increase effort/pedaling cadence too quickly, the resistance cannot keep up, and it actually loses resistance for a couple of seconds, and then suddenly piles it on.
2. If I stand up on the pedals (or even shift my weight too much), then the resistance unit again plays up and I lose resistance. This can be for 15β30 seconds, until it adapts and builds resistance back in. Still, for this and flaw #1, there are ways of adapting or living with them.
3. However, the flaw that really perplexes me, and that I also find (irrationally?) annoying, is that slope mode does not maintain a steady resistance level. Instead, over the course of minutes, the resistance level gradually decreases. The easy way to notice this is to ride to a constant target power output β monitored using average power β while keeping in the same virtual gear. If I do this on my SB20, over time I have to gradually but constantly increase cadence in order to keep to the target power. Over a 40 minute session this can be an upwards drift in cadence of 10+ rpm. This behavior is irrespective of which app is communicating with the device.
Regarding flaw #3, I have been in contact with Stages service for troubleshooting. Two times they sent a new PCB and one time a new power brick, but these did not make any difference. So, right now, I have no idea if it is problem with just my SB20, or it is simply how all SB20s behave. I have also read through various threads and tried the SB30 Facebook group for feedback on this, but found almost nothing. Therefore, I would be really appreciative if other SB20 owners can try doing the test described in #3 and report back. Even a 15 or 20 minute test should be enough! Does yours also have a downward drifting resistance when in slope mode?
For many of my sessions on my SB20, I do "micro intervals". Because the erg mode responds too slowly, I use slope mode for this. On my SB20, the slope mode has a number of faults:
1. If I increase effort/pedaling cadence too quickly, the resistance cannot keep up, and it actually loses resistance for a couple of seconds, and then suddenly piles it on.
2. If I stand up on the pedals (or even shift my weight too much), then the resistance unit again plays up and I lose resistance. This can be for 15β30 seconds, until it adapts and builds resistance back in. Still, for this and flaw #1, there are ways of adapting or living with them.
3. However, the flaw that really perplexes me, and that I also find (irrationally?) annoying, is that slope mode does not maintain a steady resistance level. Instead, over the course of minutes, the resistance level gradually decreases. The easy way to notice this is to ride to a constant target power output β monitored using average power β while keeping in the same virtual gear. If I do this on my SB20, over time I have to gradually but constantly increase cadence in order to keep to the target power. Over a 40 minute session this can be an upwards drift in cadence of 10+ rpm. This behavior is irrespective of which app is communicating with the device.
Regarding flaw #3, I have been in contact with Stages service for troubleshooting. Two times they sent a new PCB and one time a new power brick, but these did not make any difference. So, right now, I have no idea if it is problem with just my SB20, or it is simply how all SB20s behave. I have also read through various threads and tried the SB30 Facebook group for feedback on this, but found almost nothing. Therefore, I would be really appreciative if other SB20 owners can try doing the test described in #3 and report back. Even a 15 or 20 minute test should be enough! Does yours also have a downward drifting resistance when in slope mode?
