The Neo I tried (forget if it was the 2 or 2T now) slipped out of the saddle going up radio tower climb at 400-450w, on every pedal stroke. Felt like riding through mud
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Yup, really low flywheel speed and those powers can sure slip. Been there, done that on my N2.
I too have this problem with NEO 2 reading about 20W lower than powerpedals (P1)
And Iām on my third Kickr Bike. First one was incredibly noisy, squeaks and creaks, and the shifters died. Second was ādamaged in shippingā. Hoping third timeās the charmā¦
Did Wahoo learn from their āquality issuesā? Iām beginning to doubt that. As much problems as I had with the 2T, Iām thinking of selling the third bike, and getting the Tacx Bike, or just going back to a āsmartā mag trainer. I canāt afford to blow $3,500 on a piece of āmodern artā, but have gotten good at breaking the bike down to ship it back.
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I have noticed it has a decent amount of vibration in the pedals when under load (200-250W). Is this just the magnets and how the resistance works? Definitely not a smooth feeling as my old Kickr Snap.
The other issue I have noticed in in Zwift, the changes are extremely rapid so for example cresting a hill the change from a positive gradient to a negative one causes the resistance to just let go and almost feels like it is slipping. I am not sure if this is normal and the switch from my power to it powering itself down the hill is that abrupt? I guess I need to try unplugging it and remove the powered downhill option.
I went from an H2 to the 2T, and noticed the vibration under heavier resistance. I attributed it to magnet harmonics. It wasnāt constant, but was different than the H2.
The changes being sudden was a surprise. I think that was more the āvirtual flywheel effectā. The H2 would often take a bit to get up to the higher goal, and would take a bit to spin down to a lower goal. The 2T was generally like riding a flywheel equipped trainer like the H2, but at times it was a lot more harsh also. It got better with a firmware update, but was still an issue somewhat.
I also experienced a 2-second pre-change in the goal. Trucking along, and the goal jumps 50% at 2 minutes, and the 2T was always at 1:58, but it also dropped 2 seconds early too. That seemed to get better over time with firmware updates, but was a surprise. I didnāt notice it being a problem with the H2 but I think the inertia of the flywheel smoothed things out a lot. The Kickr Bike would often jump early too, but I kind of expected that after the 2T.
But there are no perfect trainers. I have an H3 backup trainer, that I have been using a lot since I bought the Kickr Bike, and it has some idiosyncrasies too. I swear it will be on the nose for changes, and then all of a sudden lag on some, plus it gets really hot often but hasnāt quit because of overheating, yet.
I love the smart trainer concept. I was usually bored into torpor on a mag trainer, but all of the drama with failures and quality issues has proven to be a major distraction from riding. I just want to ride my bike.
EDIT: One comment on the Kickr Bike: The shop sold 2 bikes the same day. Mine, and another one. Mine squeaked, creaked, popped, and the shifters died. The other bike, ridden probably more than I rode mine, has experienced no problems at all. None. Weirdā¦
A lot of my vibrations went away with a new chain, I guess I just never noticed it before with my Kickr Snap. There are still light vibrations at lower flywheel speeds, but I think it is largely due to magnets.
As for the rapid changes, those are fixed in the latest beta versions of TR on iOS, the timing changes are correct and it is a small ramp instead of hitting you like a freight train
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Iām on my third 2T (I think). This one was great for about a month, then the cadence slowly started to go wonky. It will drop from regular ~90rpm to reading 24-40rpm and just stick there for 5-10 seconds then come back up. Some rides it does this constantly, other rides it doesnāt do it at all.
Iāve been jumping through hoops with Garmin to troubleshoot it. Trying connectivity to phone, Fenix watch, computer and AppleTV and sending them all the files. Photos of the bike setup. Screenshots of the Tacx app. Right now, they are blaming it on my using flat pedals, which allows the foot to move around too much and mess up the cadence sensor. So they are sending me the little metal crank arm extender bit. WTF? That is ridiculous. Itās super easy to experiment with foot placement and see that it has no effect on the cadence readings.
Iām eyeing up another trainer, but at this point, Iāll probably wait until 2021-22 stuff comes out later this year. The new Kickr models do not seem to be any more reliable.
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I am using their crank arm extension on my mtb, it works great.
I had the same issue, and the little metal stick fixed all my cadence issues. My chainstays were just a bit too long and my heel wasnāt enough to trigger the sensor. I know 5 other people with the same 2T and they have no issues (they are also either shorter or using a road bike with very short chainstays so the crank actually passes the sensor)
Weāll see. I still havenāt received the crank extensions. If it is the solution, itās annoying. They also want me to remove my crank cadence sensor that I use outdoors. So now Iāve got several more steps to take the bike outdoors. Design flaw Tacx!
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Hey,
Iāve bought a Neo 2T last December, replacing a faulty Elite Suito (very innacurate power readings). After ~1400kms on it, the only thing i can say is that itās really good. No issues whatsoever till now.
I did noticed some vibrations when using some cross chaining positions, but it was due to worn chainā¦ changed chain and itās perfectā¦
The unit came with firmware 0.0.37 installed, and today iāve noticed and made the update to 0.0.38 version. Did an endurance workout, seems all Ok for now.
Regarding power readings, iāve done some tests against my Giant crank power meter, and readings seems Ok.
Cheers
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Yeah, that was my reaction after I got mine. I love most aspects of my 2T (solid feel, accuracy, Erg feel) but frankly if Iām paying that much money for a trainer, Iād expect it to read cadence accurately. If they couldnāt design a robust way of doing it, why didnāt they just throw a GBP/USD 20/30 shoe mounted cadence sensor in the box.
I may end up just using my CABLE device to collect crank-based cadence sensor, power, HRM, etc. to package and send via FTMS to AppleTV or TrainerRoad.
The other annoying part is that for Ant+, the Neo either outputs cadence AND power, or neither. Thereās a toggle in the Tacx Utility app to turn off Ant+ broadcast of cadence from the Neo, but when you do that it also turns off power broadcast.
If you want to see if the crank extension will work, just rubber band a butter knife or any metal stick ( I used a park tool chain stretch tool ). I verified it fixed all my cadence issues before I had them even send it to me.
Also depending on your crank you could mount your cadence sensor lower on the arm and have both the extension and the sensor on at the same time.
Totally agree
Giving my test results here, I have a 2%-5% power difference between the 2T and Quarq Dzero Axs the 2T underreporting. Yet the results seem within the drivetrain losses. Small ring, big ringā¦ no actual difference except that pikes are higher on the Quarq PM which is normal.
What I find weird though is that I have big differences in numbers and feeling between oustside and inside numbers. I have the Quarq PM on my oustise bike which I did put on the 2T for the above test but when I go outside I am able to maintain 375W for 5 min when I canāt even hold it for 1 min in the ramp test which I ended at 363W last time I tested.
I donāt believe the outside effect is that big in terms of differenceā¦ I am using two fans for my inside trainings and windows opended etc. I didnāt really test thinking of the effort difference using my outside bike on the 2T instead of the regular 2T bike but I didnāt notice so much difference in feeling just testing, so I really donāt think it could come from power accuracy measurements, neither from the bike setupā¦
As anyone tested Quard Dzero Axs with the 2T as well ?
Another issue I noticed is that sometimes using the 2T to record the power with the Garmin 1080 Plus, I have holes in the graphs like 0 power for a few seconds when the Quarq never stopped recordingā¦ Anyone had this ?
My rough guess is they needed the cadence directly in the unit for the L/R power numbers, it would also explain why they donāt just use torque variations like Wahoo and everyone else to determine cadence since it wouldnāt know Left vs Right. Though this seems like it would be a good fall back for cadence that could be done in firmware.
Now donāt get me started on the promised cycling dynamics stats that use this L/R power that still seem to be missing unless you use their Windows application or a Garmin head unit. If TR could access this it would be a great feature update to see my pedal smoothness, etc while doing the drills during a session.
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The Flux series also uses the proximity sensor to measure cadence - with the same difficulties. So itās not driven by pedal dynamics. The variations in chainstay length, foot length, crank arm length, etc makes heel position vary a lot between individuals and bikes. Itās not a foolproof design. I ditched their measure and use a Wahoo Cadence instead.
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