Why I decided to do a factory reset on my Wahoo Kickr (2017 model)

Sorry I don’t have a Snap, hoping someone that does jumps in and comments!

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I havea kickr core, which was reading high about 30w compared to the PM i had on the bike…so i have direct comparisons. Did the factory spindown and it now is within a watt or two of my PM. Its now been good for the last two years.

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My understanding is that the advanced calibration wears something down on the trainer. I suspect it is perfectly fine to do it say 10 times over the years, but is not something you should do weekly. Hence the cumbersome steps involved and that Wahoo does not announce this method very openly.

Now to your problem, it is probably unrelated to the calibration of the unit. There are many threads covering this topic, but in short, all the FTP tests are just estimates and every person has a different power profile. So the factor to get from test outcome to FTP might be higher or lower for you. If you can’t perform the intervals, the estimated FTP is too high. Use a multiplier that works for you. For example, keep using the ramp test, but do the workouts at 95% of what comes out of the test. The idea is that you keep that personal multiplier fixed as you perform the test in the future again. Or try the 20 min test, that one might give you the lower FTP right away and you can complete at 100%. Either way result is the same.

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I’d like to learn more, since that is the first I’ve seen anything about ‘wear’ for that calibration.

For people that don’t have a feeling for what all these power numbers mean in terms of performance, here is a handy calculator: http://bikecalculator.com/
Computed speeds will not exactly match real world speeds at each power level because of wind, drag uncertainty and what not, but at least you get a feeling for where you stand accurate to 25-50W.

As a very rough guide, for example if you go out for an intense, fairly interrupted ride of 1 to 1.5 hours on flat roads with little wind, you should be able to get average speeds corresponding to a wattage of say 90% of your FTP.

Or if you have a climb for which you know grade and the speed you can maintain, you should be able to compute your power over that interval. So if you are doing 230W on an all out effort of 10 minutes, you know that your FTP must be 10-15% lower.

I remember reading something to that extend, where it was explained that Wahoo does not encourage people to perform this calibration for that reason. Probably they don’t want to be liable for people that would break the devices performing a calibration that is provided by the system.

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Here it is: How to Perform an Advanced Factory Spindown on Your Wahoo KICKR | Zwift Insider

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Appreciate the research and info. That’s at least one thing imagonna learn today :wink:

It’s worth noting that some Wahoo documentation has stated that doing factory spindowns often can cause some damage to the internals of your KICKR, so you should only do one if requested by Wahoo support, or if the regular spindown doesn’t resolve your issue.

“… damage to internals…” possibly subjective to a point of “often” in particular, but that wording may be ZI, not Wahoo.

Though he says it comes from “Wahoo documentation”

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Power Match hypothetically means this never happens right? Or at least it’s much more rare? I’m one of those people who has to move his trainer everyday he trains (take it out, put it back) and I know if I was using the Kickr’s power readings that would mean recalibrating the Kickr every workout. :frowning_face: I’d be real bummed if Power Match required the Kickr to be recalibrated often.

No need to calibrate the trainer when using Power Match. Just do the normal Zero Offset on your power meter and you are set.

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No idea on the specifics, since there aren’t any listed. Would need to get something more from Wahoo to really know what’s happening. It’s an interesting bit of info none the less.

Anyone know what app version you can use to do this? I found an older utility app APK, and the newest Wahoo app, neither work. While I am not worked up about it, it would be nice to get mine at least close’ish to accurate as opposed to now which is way out.

Yeah, I read all that stuff and none of it is available on the apps I tried. The advanced spindown function is nowhere to be found.