New Wahoo Kickr20, Kickr Axis, Kickr V5, Kickr2020

Equipment
#81

Question about KICKR AXIS ACTION FEET:

  • Only for kikr and not available for kikr Core. Just for now or the Core Will never get this?
  • Its not compatible with using the climb or is it?

Another question is about the kikr mat. Someone said before that it gives some extra confort not needing this kikr ACTION FEET for lateral movement. How so? Never considered to buy the kikr mat because its too expensive for a simple mat but if it gives some extra confort maybe i’ll go for it as long as it is compatible with using the climb.

#82
  • No idea what Wahoo has planned, but there would need to be some design changes to make something work with the Core. The legs and feet are different and most importantly, the pattern of the feet (square Core vs diamond Kickr) is different enough to need something unique.
  • Yes, the Axis feet are compatible with the Climb unit. The Climb actually has a bi-directional curve that works fine with the amount of angle the Axis feet provide.

  • The mat allows for mild compression of the trainer feet into the mat. This can give more angular motion of the trainer vs it sitting on a hard surface.

  • There are countless options for compression mats and foam tiles you can get for a fraction of the cost of dedicated “trainer” mats. Many people in my rocker group find good results with those tiles.

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#83

Going With the RJ25 port is probably due to less stringent electromagnetic interference certifications than on RJ45 by using an adapter you could use an off the shelf adapter that probably is already certified.

#84

They probably won’t be using Ethernet on the RJ25 and a networking stack, which seems unnecessary. I’d guess it would just be a serial port, or rather multiple serial slaves. I would guess 2 ports, with a ground reference. One for trainer control (in/out), and another for data gathering (out). The interface is likely RS485 full duplex.

The use of the RJ25 is, IMHO, to indicate a non-standard interface vs a USB port or an ethernet RJ45 port, and people jamming things in there and expecting it to work.

FTDI to RS485 is pretty common.

Just a guess on my part, but given the low speed interfaces needed, that would be my guess. Given ANT+ has a data rate of 0.5Hz and BT is 4Hz, anything faster is unnecessary.

#85

Have wahoo put out anything yet on the hardwire connection? Would certainly look into this if available.

#86

Nothing yet.

#87

Since this thread is about the relatively new Kickr 20 i thought I’d relay something I’m trying to figure about it and perhaps others have encountered.

Background: this is my 3rd Wahoo Kickr in 4 years. Had two Kickr 18s over the last 3 years that both succumbed to the HW failure issue resulting in loud noises, etc. that many have experienced. Received a new 20 V5 model a few weeks and set it up, etc.

Did an FTP ramp test recently and I could not believe how much more resistance I encountered and the workout unfolded and thus resulting in a much lower FTP reading. 300 watt FTP six weeks down to 266. My fitness has been somewhat steady state. I had no issues between the two Kickr 18s over the last many years and my benchmarks were nearly identical between the two and stayed consistent. However the Kickr 20 vs the prior 18s is like different experience altogether.

I’ve searched for other posts about this but have not seen any. Any insight, thoughts, fixes appreciated.

#88

So, the old FTP test was on a K18 & the new test was on the K20?

Assuming you are on the latest firmware (the K20 got a new one very recently) and had a habit of calibrating the K18 as directed (every 3-4 weeks minimum), we’d hope the are reasonably close for power reporting. The K2 auto-calibrates when you coast for at least 2 seconds.

Sadly, we see plenty of examples where that is not the case. It’s best to run a comparison with a 3rd power meter, on a bike between both trainers. You need a comparison with the same intermediate device to have a meaningful comparison.

Lacking that is a bunch of RPE and guesswork that is not conclusive. This issue is the reason for the recommendation to retest FTP any time you swap power measurement devices. At this point, you are best to use the new data and create a new season so you can start a new history based upon your new trainer.

More work may be possible to analyze the new trainer. but it will take a power meter to do so.

#89

Yes thats right. I did dozens of tests on the 2 prior 18s.
I have another power meter (Quarq) on a gravel bike. To run a comparison between the new Kickr 20 and the Quarq, how is that done? Via a 20 min test? Not sure how i could do a ramp test with the Quarq? Thanks very much for the response (new here!)

#90

I am not the best at running the tests, but here is an overly simple concept.

  1. Load a bike and associated power meter on Trainer A (ex: K18).

    • Calibrate both devices per standard practice for each.
    • Connect each power device to a device capable of recording a workout.
    • Perform a basic workout with steady efforts of maybe 1-2 minutes each, at a few different power levels, according the the bike power meter. Something like an Endurance pace, Tempo pace, Threshold pace and VO2Max pace so you cover a range of powers.
    • Save the two workout files for analysis later.

  2. Load the same bike and power meter on trainer B (ex: K20).

    • Repeat the same setup and test and file save as above.

  3. Use a power data file comparison too to see how each trainer reported power as compared to the power meter.

    • Since the power meter is the same “tape measure” any deviation from that would be similar if the trainers are similar.
    • But if the trainers have a different deviation from the power meter ( one up while the other is down), that shows a differential in reporting.
    • You need to check at each respective power block, since they may not have the same difference across the board.
    • It’s a real pain to do it properly.
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#91

Chad has the methodology. You don’t need 20 minutes.

Just warmup and do a ramp. You don’t have to complete it, just ramp up to FTP. 1min steps are more than enough. You can throw in some VO2 and anaerobic if you want, but if it’s what you’re saying you should see it at sub threshold levels.

Suffice to say, it wouldn’t surprise me that there’s a delta. I try to base off a power meter too, until I’m confident that it’s close enough.

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