I am lucky enough to have a career where employees need to maintain fitness and all work locations have gyms. Recently they have invested a lot of money into new gym equipment and one of these is a Wattbike.
Can anyone tell me how the power compares when they use a pedal based pm on a Wattbike. I use 4iiii’s so cannot throw that on for a comparison. The sessions I have had on the Wattbike (using TR) initially feel easier than my wheel on and direct drive, however looking at my HR it tracks well. I’m thinking this is a flywheel/feel issue.
I know all pm’s give different readings but if the Wattbike is in the ball park it would be a boon not to have to drag my turbo to work all the time.
Wattbikes I’ve used always came in high relative to my Kickr (two diff gyms multiple bikes). FTP came in at 285 last test I did on one then 265 on my Kickr under a month later (granted one was 2x8 vs ramp test, so clearly an extremely scientific data point - but even then I know I couldn’t hold 315 Kickr watts for 8min).
Just so I’ve got this right - looking at the mean max power curve, compared to the pedals, up to around 470W the Wattbike reports slightly lower than the pedals. However above 470W the Wattbike reports higher? By what looks like quite a margin at some points? One may be able to conclude that the Wattbike Atom may give a bit of an advantage in say over the legsnapper or in a sprint during a Zwift race?
Did you ever get to do another comparison? I’ve not been able to find a video on it.im concerned as I have just recently got the atom and tested against my P1 dual pedals and the Atom consistently reads about +8% over the pedals at all watts tested so far.
I’m confident as I can be with my P1’s due to having them already tested against a few other PM’s and Wattbike pro’s at my local gym and they were virtually bang on with the data so the Atom is the outlier here.
They were also factory calibrated during a service around a year ago.
I’m not sure how to tackle this going forward with wattbike, maybe just take advantage of my 30 day return window
@gpl- yes this is definitely the same as my own personal experience.
IE: My stages LH power meter on my bike compared to my Atom
I’d say the ‘power’ on the Atom does ‘feel’ subjectively about 10% harder - however I should have probably caveated this observation by stating the obvious: it could also be down to:
stages reading high
lack of efficient cooling indoors
difference between riding a bike outside versus the harder challenge of ERG mode and maintaining the same power constantly throughout the pedal strokes
Personally I’ve found my Wattbike to be really easy to use and reliable in the 9 months I’ve owned it.
Just to add another personal experience: I did a couple of ‘10 mile’ TTs on a WattBike (original, not Atom) with my assioma pedals (dual side), both times average power was equal to within a few watts/ < 2%.
Used a wattbike for most of my workouts in 2019 at the work gym, then moved to a kickr due to CV19. I noticed Kickr felt harder. I then did my first ramp test on Kickr with 4 weeks gap and i had no change in FTP on the ramp test. So whilst not scientific, based on perceived feel and that i didnt go up makes me think either the calibration on one or the other was different. Could be the kickr wasnt right but i’d just got all new drive chain parts so it was best case.
Whilst more basic and not smart, i did like the pro model being able to push/pull a lever for instant resistance adjustments and the fan felt smooth. At the time i was annoyed i couldnt keep my variables constant and have no idea which machine is more accurate, but i like the kickr and that first test is just a new reference point im working on…
That’s a large pile of BS from WB. Total crap AFAIC, because you do an amazing job and seem to give companies plenty of opportunities to correct issues.
Sucks so see what sounds like another mark on a black list for you from a manufacturer, for doing a proper job.
Is it possible they are not confident enough in their product to have it put under proper scrutiny? All the other major PM’s let Shane test and review then thoroughly.
I know around 8 people with an atom including myself. 3 of those that have had other PM’s to test against (vector 3’s) have all told me that their Atoms report around 10% higher.
That is my experience also however after contacting their support they have gotten back to me and claim they want to help and fix it if it’s not reading correctly.
They have asked for some ride files and another test for me to do, recording 1 min laps in certain gears at 90rpm. (I presume this is because they know what power it should produce in a each gear at that cadence, the Pro had a similar thing, and there are charts online to check against however there is no such public info for the Atom??
I’ve heard good things from their support so I currently am giving them the benefit of the doubt and hoping they can look into this.
I have an Atom and really like it. It was perfect for what I wanted. When I have interacted with Wattbike they have been very good. I am disappointed to hear they have reacted like this to you.
After sending my ride files over to them, wattbike have said they want to take the bike in to do a factory check and calibration and will come and get it as soon as they can pending the covid situation here (UK)
So, to be fair their customer service and response so far in this matter has been very good. I do actually like the Atom too for the time I’ve currently used it, it works as I want it too and it’s soooo convenient being a stay at home dad to a 1 year old that I really value having the small size and being ready to jump on go!!!
just following up here… borrowed a Wattbike (not atom) from a gym over lockdown (8ish weeks) and have been using with Zwift. Loved so much I have purchased a Tacx Neo and now with Zwift it is so so hard! I’ve been a bit run down and did a big mtb last w/e so trying to recover before I give it a good shot and redo FTP. Not sure if I’m not hitting the watts because I’m tired, or if the accuracy between the 2 is waaay off. Would expect it to be off slightly as just 2 machines but my FTP on Wattbike was 253 W, and I could barely hold 210 W for 20mins last night… any thoughts? Maybe it is the rude awakening I need. I will do a new FTP on Tacx and create workouts from that, but just a bit gutted I’m not as good as I thought I was!! haha
Just received my Atom today. Based on perceived exertion, I’d say the Atom felt 20-30 watts harder for the same power target than on my Elite Drivo, either reading the Drivo power meter reading or the Quarq DZero. 2 vs 1, I’m happy to conclude the Atom is wrong. Of course, there’s no calibration to be done, so I’m either stuck with very different FTPs indoors vs out, or the Atom goes back.
