I posted this in the Wahoo forum but seems quite dead.
I am the happy owner of a Kickr v2 from 2016. It works well, use it almost every day, replaced the belt one year ago. The only issue is that it over reads by around 30W at 300W, I did all sorts of calibrations, so I am using it with a Stages crank PM to control the power.
I noticed that the v5 is now on sale for £749.
Is it worth upgrading from v2 to v5? Whilst mine is excellent, it is ageing and I feel that it will just let go at some point.
Is there a v6 around the corner, hence the discount on v5?
As Eurobike has just finished with no new Kickr announced I would not be expecting V6 to be released.
If your Kickr is working well I would just hang on until it does die. It will have little resale value. Stock is available for most models now and prices might drop lower.
I too have a 2016 version and was thinking the same thing, but couldn’t get myself to replace mine while it’s still working perfectly well. @Manny76, out of curiosity, what made you change the belt on your old kicker? Did it break or did you notice anything in particular while riding it. I’m wondering if I should pre-order a belt for that old version before they are no longer available for dated versions.
Yup, a standard Gates type belt is all you need. The Wahoo one is just an over-priced version, nothing really special. I have a spare on hand for my Kickr and H2.
30w at 300w isn’t that far off depending on what your setup is. The Kickr tends to lie as the app tells it to changes power, telling the app what it wants to hear as it seeks out the power target. You’d need to be steady for about 4-5sec before the stages and kickr read the same, which might be hard to do at 300w.
Thanks all! Will keep it until it dies; be it.
Re my belt, it was making a strange noise so I called support, they walked me through and it turned out the belt was starting to fray. Fair enough, used it really a lot. Top marks for support, they sent me a new belt for free.
Would purchase again in a heart beat!
I’ve got an OG Kickr and a v5 as I routinely operate from 2 different places and eventually got fed up with hauling the original one about. I’ve repalced the belt a few times myself.
Do you reclaibrate once you’ve warmed the trainer up? I usually do this after the workout warm up.
Did you do a Factory Spindown in the Utility App after changing the belt? (Not the standard Spindown) I do this everytime I tweek the belt tension (not that often) or replace it.
When I didn’t use the Stages to control it, yes I performed a soft calibration each time, after a 5 mins warm up usually. I did the factory hard calibration a few times, for sure after replacing the belt, but also when I was on the phone with customer support as advised by them.
Given that I train with a bike that has a mono Stages v3, which is extremely reliable I have to say, I then decided to bypass the problem all together and to use the Stages to control the Kickr. Works quite well.
Even if the Kickr is over reading, the Stages doesn’t lie. I find the Stages power more in line with my Quarq, which I have on another bike. The Kickr does feel a bit easier, so in line with my theory that it is over estimating the power. I always train with HR too, so I noticed the difference.
Same here: use your Kickr until it gives up the ghost. I use my bike’s power meters in order to have consistent data, no matter whether I ride indoors or outdoors.