Difference in power zones in Kickr vs Kinetic InRide

Equipment
1

I’ve been training on Kinetic Rd machine with InRide sensor for a few years but had the opportunity to try Kickr V2. The power reading with the InRide sensor has always been very close to my outdoor Assioma Duo. The Kickr trainer seemed to be off by quite a margin! Had to increase the intensity by 10% to be somewhat close to the effort level I’d expect from an endurance workout in this instance. I wonder if this is due to the ERG mode so erratic/changeable cadence is not a factor? I wonder if people find this kind of difference when swapping from wheel on to DD trainers?

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  • Can you expand on what this means? I don’t understand the issue of concern here.

  • Broadly speaking, different trainers feel different due to the flywheel and it’s impact on pedaling action. The Kickr flywheel is much larger and could well change what it feels like to pedal compared to the Kinetic.

  • It’s also necessary to consider the gearing used on each trainer since that may differ and might impact the feel.

  • And from your comment above, if you were doing an ERG workout on the Kickr vs the Kinetic that uses a fluid resistance unit… that is a HUGE difference in function. And with ERG in the picture, the gearing mention above becomes more important. It’s possible to use ERG on a Kickr at the extreme gearing range or somewhere in the middle. That gearing will potentially impact the feel as mentioned above, as an added effect to the flywheel difference.

  • In short, it sounds like you changed just about every variable possible other than the bike and power meter in use. That may not seem like much, but it’s a large change and one reason I recommend new FTP tests whenever you change trainers, even if you use the same exact bike and power meter between them.

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Put your bike on the trainer with the assioma pedals installed. Record a ride, and then plug the two files into the zwift power online analysis tool to see how the power numbers compare.

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What I meant was that workout Fletcher felt like Taku or Dans on Kickr as opposed to Kinetic InRide. I had to crank up the workout intensity to 110% to have RPE nearer to what I am used to from endurance workout

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OK, thanks for the clarification. And I think my discussion on the physical differences between the trainers is a part, as well as ERG mode for an added factor (especially if you are new to it).

You introduced a large variable with the trainer swap and I’m not surprised it feels different.

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