The last Trek Emonda I picked up, I had it configured with Quarq Dzero crank and dura ace di2 drive train. Got the best of both worlds.
I use a stages gen2 as part of a 6800 Ultegra arm, but my crank and other components are 8000 Ultegra. Haven’t noticed any problems with fit or offset or anything
Can you use the .tcx file I recorded with the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt? It has the Stages power. If you can use it, does it split out the L/R? I just added a second .tcx file to the shared Google Drive directory. That one matches the ERG mode 2nd ride where the Zwift file has the Wahoo Kickr power data. Note: I started the Element Bolt a bit later than the start of the ride, but I assume you will be able to match them up.
What does the ‘controllable’ box do? Should this box be left unchecked/used if using your stages for power while riding in zwift - doing a structured workout or race, etc?
I have a kicker as well. Just curious.
When mixing TR and Z, you want the Z device Controlled to be empty. That means Z wont be trying to control the train as the same time as TR via your ERG workout.
You only want me app with control access at any time. You just want Z to read power to move your avatar in the game.
The ‘controllable’ tells Zwift you have a smart trainer that Zwift can ‘control.’ If you select your trainer as ‘controllable,’ then Zwift will change the resistance of your trainer to fit the course that are on riding on in Zwift. You can use either your smart trainer or your stages as the power source (your choice).
So, if you are just riding on Zwift, doing a structured workout, a race, or just riding, you want the smart trainer selected in the ‘controllable’ box. If you are doing a TrainerRoad workout, you want TrainerRoad to control your trainer, not Zwift. So you need to leave the ‘controllable’ box in Zwift unchecked in that case.
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Done. The 105 file should be the match to the first ride and the 106 to the second. Still concerned that it may not have L/R date for some reason…
Alright, I was afraid of that. I will try to fix it. If you have any ideas, let me know! FYI, it is a Stages L/R crank with Ultegra R8000 cranks.
No joy. Guess I’ll be contacting Stages support. Thanks.
Edit: I just opened a support ticket.
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I heard back from Stages. They don’t have an in-field fix for my power meter issues. They are issuing a warranty replacement – good on them! I’ll try to get the data you requested once I have them installed. In the meantime, although I know you are really interested in the Stages L/R differences, is there anything yo can say about the Kickr/Stages power differences in SIM vs ERG mode from the data I provided?
Thanks Shane!
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Ok, very quick customer service by Stages and I’m back in business. Took me a while to get set up properly though – I was trying to record both the Stages and Kickr power output on the Element Bolt, but the Bolt kept taking control of the Kickr from TrainerRoad. I didn’t select a workout in the Bolt, but I couldn’t figure out how to have it just record the power from the Kickr and not take control. So, I ended up unpairing the Kickr from the Bolt and just recording the Stages power output on the Bolt.
Then, I has a problem that I was only getting half the power reading from the Stages power meters. For example, if TrainerRoad requested 150 watts from the Kickr with power match on, it would settle on a power output reading or 75 watts. The Kickr output was at least 150 watts. After much finagling around, I found that having the gyroscope turned on on the right crank, was preventing the right crank from sending its power reading (or sending zeros). If I turned the gyroscope off, everything was back to normal.
It must have taken my 2 hours of experimentation before I finally got everything working properly. The pattern I had seen with my previous cranks was also present on these. In ERG mode on a TrainerRoad workout, the Stages power was 10% or more less than the Kickr power. In SIM mode, the two readings seemed quite a bit closer.
I deposited 5 .fit files in the Google drive folder shared with you. Three are associated with a TrainerRoad ERG mode workout (Monitor+1, which maybe wasn’t the best choice, but that’s what I had on tap for today). They should be labeled well enough for you to identify what they are. Of the 3 ERG mode files, the TrainerRoad file should have the Stages power, the Zwift file will have the Kickr power, the the Bolt file should also have the Stages power. (I included the Bolt file because I don’t know if the TrainerRoad file has the L/R % data in it.)
For the 2 SIM mode files, the Zwift file will have the Kickr power and the Bolt file will have the Stages power. It was difficult to hold a steady power/cadence on this ride as the terrain (NY central park loop) was very rolling. Then instead of concentrating on the task at hand, I got caught up in trading pulls with the red jersey holder to turn a good time and take 2nd on the loop. The second lap I tried to be more steady, but just like outside, that’s difficult to do in SIM mode. There are a couple of sprints in there as well.
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Update. New, interesting data after reading the thread on big vs. small ring (Big vs Small Chainring - Same Power (ERG Mode Gearing) - #241 by mcneese.chad).
I have been doing all my TrainerRoad ERG riding in the big ring. After reading that thread, I decided to try doing today’s workout (Antelope) in the small ring, except for the last interval, which I did in the big ring.
Well, guess what? The Kickr and Stages power levels seemed to match when doing the workout in the small ring. The big mismatch came back in the last interval, where I switched back to the big ring. I have uploaded the TrainerRoad file (Power match Stages power), Zwift file (Kickr power), and Wahoo Elemnt file (Stage power) for this workout.
Big ring was 53-14 or -15 and small ring was 39-17 or -19.
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I see similar things with my Kickr Core and Pioneer PM (left only). I train 99% in small ring now. If I get out of the saddle the power differences are even bigger
Arrgh, more riding and more “weirdness.” Using the small ring doesn’t result in the same power from both sources anymore. Don’t know why not, but the same old discrepancy has cropped up again. After re-watching your videos and all the supporting info, I tried use Right only, then Left only power from the Stages meters. As expected, the Right only power seemed more different than the Kickr power and included some larger drops in power of short durations (kind of erratic).
I was hoping that using the Left only Stages power would provide a better match with the Kickr, but no joy. It was still consistently off (lower) in ERG mode, though it seemed to match well in SIM mode on Zwift. I haven’t checked whether there is still any difference at all in the power level comparison when using the the large chainring.
I don’t really care for the larger fluctuations in power from the Stages power meters when using PowerMatch with Trainer Road. So, I think I will go back to using Kickr power in the future when it’s time for another FTP test.
I’m not sure if you have tried this yet, but I was have a similar issue with my Stages and Kickr and here’s what I did to fix it.
I pair my Stages and Stages only to Zwift.
Then I pair the Kickr and Kickr only to TR in ERG mode.
So Zwift is getting readings from the Stages and TR is getting readings from the Kickr.
What I then did is opened up the Wahoo Fitness app and there’s a box where you can type in the ANT+ ID for your Stages power meter. After I did that, the Kickr seems to pull the power readings from my Stages and report those to TR as if it was the Kickrs power reading.
After I did that, the power I see on my TV for Zwift and the power I see on my phone for TR are dang near identical.
This is very interesting. You are not the first one that says the setting “control w/Ant+ Power Meter” in the Wahoo app works. I have had this setting turned on for a year now and I can say with certainty it doesn’t work for me. My power is off by over 5% to 6% at times and well within 1% at other times. It’s a huge frustration for me because I don’t like using power match. I wonder if the reason it doesn’t work for me is because I use TR with a laptop. Maybe the trick is using the same phone the Wahoo app is installed on to run TR. I will have to try this.
Here’s a comparison I did with my setup and there’s a slight lag that’s visible and I think the graphs are slightly misaligned. However, the key take away for me is that there’s a .25 watt difference between the file as reported from the Kickr and TrainerRoad vs as reported by Zwift and the Stages.
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It was inconsistent for me, so I gave up and went with TR’s PowerMatch. IMHO the side benefit is that PowerMatch feels more like riding outside. Even with PowerMatch on, the “larger power fluctuations” are actually “smaller power fluctuations versus outside” and so I’ll say to each their own.
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Actually you have a great point and I have thought about that. It’s those freakin times I’m already at my mental limit only to see my power is fluctuating 20 watts high 
. On longer intervals I do think I might give power match another try.
I did intervals outside before signing on to TrainerRoad, and so it all seems so much easier on the trainer. Without PowerMatch, Erg mode on my wheel-off Kickr 2017 felt unnatural and I hated it. Much rather have indoor training feel like outside, than make picture perfect interval graphs (and turn off Kickr power smoothing too!).