Trainer won't calibrate, but who cares?

Equipment
,
1

So after spending a year dabbling in the virtual power world, I decided to head for real power readings to take my training (and racing) to the next level. So fast forward a few months and I have a Garmin Vector 3 (single side) and a used TacX Smart Flow (wheel on). So I go to calibrate my trainer as it says I am suppose to using the Tac X app. Well no luck, no matter what I do, it tells me to keep tightening on wheel pressure to the point where the threaded thru standoff runs out of threads and pops off. So ultimately, I have a trainer that doesn’t calibrate. Wow what a bummer. Now what?

Well i slept on it a few nights and then asked my question, wait does it matter? My understanding of TR is that it takes power from the power meter (Vector pedal in my instance) and then adjusts the trainer up or down on resistance to keep the required power for the interval.

Can someone tell me if this logic is flawed? The only thing I could see being out of whack is that when I upload it from TR to strava, the speed and distance will not be correct. But I am not doing TR workouts measuring speed and distance so I think I don’t care. Any thoughts / opinions?

Happy new year to all!

1 Like
2

If you use Power Match (which sets power targets based upon your power meter data, not the trainer itself) and you want that power meter for your power data inside, you are fine to not calibrate the trainer.

Speed & distance in ERG is covered here:

One option that works for some people that want no speed or distance record, is to set the wheel size to 0 (zero) in the TR app. In many cases (not all) that will zero out speed & distance data sent out.

2 Likes
3

For a while I had issues with calibrating my Kickr Core, but like you, didn’t care since I was using a power meter w/ TR power match. Maybe it had to work a little harder? I don’t trust the power from my trainer anyway, so I always go with my PM.

I don’t get speed / distance from a direct drive trainer so that never bothered me. Speed / distance from a wheel-on don’t make sense to me, so I don’t see that as a loss.

1 Like
4

Thanks for the response. I am going to look into that 0 wheel size as I hate seeing metrics go to strava that aren’t really worthwhile data.

1 Like
5

I had that same issue with my Tacx Flow Smart trainer not calibrating. Then one day I decided to try to calibrate it AFTER a workout and it finally worked.
-Hugh

6

My Vector pedals calibrated fine for a few months. About a month ago they stopped calibrating. Tried with TR and the Garmin app. No dice. Hit up Garmin and they’re sending me a pair of new pedals. FWIW.