Saris H3 Discussion/Issues

OK, sounds like you’ve done some good testing. Not sure I have more to offer other than checking with Saris to see if they can help.

Thanks, I love a big flywheel. The lemond has a monster.
That’s why I bought the Saris. It seems to spin up but then bites down the resistance. Then I release and it happily coasts along! I don’t get it.

For zwift I run around 75% on the resistance bar. Feels smooth to me, but then again I’m at a pleasantly 316w. Maybe you’re too strong for the trainer to keep up :man_shrugging:t3:

Chad, How does the resistance work in Zwift? Never have Zwfted. Just wondering if he was on a slight grade and reduced cadence by a few RPM, would it start clamping down like it does in a TR workout? I get that mud feeling on my H1 in TR if I let the cadence slip.

Ron

I don’t have the specifics, but it is “simple” math based upon:

  • Rider Weight entered in the game
  • Rider Height entered in the game
  • Current road grade in the game
  • Current rider speed entered in the game
  • Trainer Difficulty setting.

Essentially, it is setting a trainer resistance to approximate the actual “resistance” at the pedals that a ride would feel outside, given the same conditions present above.

It won’t change resistance or clamp down unless one of the conditions above changes, such as the road changing from flat to 5% incline.

What you are describing here is what happens when following a workout using ERG mode. That does happen.

But that is not what is happening in Zwift when rolling around the world in any mode other than a “workout”. In all those cases, “Simulation” via the fancy math they do is at play. So the clamp won’t happen.

This article is about “Speed” but relates directly to the resistance applied to the trainer too.

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Haha, if only that was the case

I’ll try it again tomorrow, maybe I am just not used to the resistance curve. The lemond is heavy to get going but once it is it’s just about keeping it spinning. A very different thing to a magnetic brake I guess.

I’ve never tried a lemond but my understanding is it’s an older machine. Probably as all older things it does some things better than the new stuff and as all older things simply can’t do what new stuff can. Zwift wise mine feels smooth, and I’ve tried the Kickr and NEO2 to compare (the Neo was awful with that riding through mud feel due to being belt less and having magnets not up to the task)

Yes I hated the neo too.

Most people report the lemond as the smoothest trainer. It’s super smooth.
The resistance feels very natural as it’s wind and flywheel weight.

The saris feels like an old fluid/mag by comparison. To me anyway.

But there is no way of having that natural resistance like the lemond with the natural braking without magnets I guess.

Part of me does wonder if it is the bearings. The freehub ones are stiff as anything and if that’s the same with all the bearings across the whole lot (around 8 at least) then that adds up.

The lemond is very sensitive to bearing drag, I changed them in it often to keep things super smooth. And used low drag dunlop ones.

I know people who have hammered (sweet pun) their trainers for years and no issues with bearings. The H3 is the smoothest feeling trainer I’ve tried, maybe no better or worse than the H1/2 but better than the Kickr and Neo for sure. Give it some time, or maybe you have a defective one?

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I was thinking it more from the bearings needing to run in.
I’ll give it a week and see how it goes.

did a firmware update and the dropouts are much less frequent!

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Small update to this.
The bearings are getting looser, or at least it feels that way. The resistance is definitely getting smoother and with that the difference between my Quarq and the Saris is now around 10-15w at 300, so around 4-5% which is acceptable drive loses.

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Also, what are people connecting on?
I usually use the bluetooth as trainer controller but have had a few dropouts.
But when I switched to Ant FEC the resistance felt horrible in comparison and was very un-responsive to gradient.
Has anyone else noticed a difference?

I use Ant+. Works great on TR but slow reaction to gradients in Zwift. I did not know/think this could be a connection protocol issues. I asked Saris about a year ago and they said they might look to improve it in the future. At this point, I guess that’s a no, however.

Anyone had any success with contacting Saris?
They seem to have given up on all customer service.
Shocking really considering the price of the trainer.
Mine is not performing well, resistance has gone weird again, like pedalling in treacle on 0% on zwift. Hitting a hill is like a wall. and sudden loss of all inertia in the flywheel. Even on low TD.

Yeah, the are offering very poor service over the last year or so. From comments of others seeking help, your best bets are apparently to call them directly, or complain on their official social media outlets. Squeaky wheel…

I have mine coming back this week after repairs. About 2.5 weeks from when I sent it in. I had to pay $65 to ship it from CO to WI, which was a bummer and they said they couldn’t ship me a replacement first.

the longest I waited for an email response before just calling was about 2 business days. I ended up taking care of everything by phone. Had some fairly lengthy hold times (30 mins as I remember).

Luckily the distributer over here stepped up and sorted it with new unit on the way.

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Find with Saris, to get support you are best calling them in the USA and they are super responsive there. If it’s a international call, use something like Planet Talk, 0.1p per minute. Emails to them I find hardly ever get a response. UK, Raleigh are the ones to contact, I’ll throw details here for reference for other UK users.

Raleigh UK Ltd
Church Street
Nottingham
NG16 3HT
01773 532 600
sales@raleigh.co.uk

Brought a H3 recently and the only time I have issues is when two devices are trying to control the trainer via Ant+ ! Feels strange when that happens and all my own fault. Otherwise super-happy with the feel and performance of my H3.

Hope your replacement improves your experience.

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So to update.
I actually got another H3, but may not need it.

I identified the source of the issues, I took the freehub off and the hat shaped spacer was very rough, something up with the machining I think. It was creating tonnes of resistance.
Polished it down until it spun smoothly and now the trainer feels loads better.

But I think there are still issues with the calibration.

Did a 15 minute warm up and calibrated (with Rouvy this time)
In the 30 minute race I then did there was a 7-8% difference between the Saris and the Quarq, around 20w.

Did another calbration after the race, this dropped to 5%.
Then a 20 minute Ronnestad interval session. 30/15s.
Calibrated again.

Difference is now 2%!

Does it really take that long to get it warmed up?

Edit.
Just hoped back on the bike after leaving it for a few hours, and we are back up to 7-8% difference!
WTF?