Constantly swapping garmin vectors from one bike to another.

[Kaboom]

Hello everyone!

I'm certain this question has been asked before, but both my google-fu and my search-fu skills are proving insufficient this time around...

I recently built myself a new bike, so the old one is going on the trainer permanently. I use the trainer with Zwift and its a pretty crappy one so the power figures are all over the place, and always too low. But this doesn't matter because I get power figures from my Garmin Vector 2, which I love.

Now the thing is I don't want to miss out on power for either Zwift of the road, and I just threw all my spare cash at that new bike to i'm not in a position to buy either a better trainer or a second power meter. I was thinking of keeping the pedals on the trainer bike during the week, and then change them over to the new bike for the outdoor weekend rides, but I'm somewhat worried than constantly installing and removing the pedals is going to screw something up. Either the axles, or the crank threads, or those tiny, finicky little connectors that go from the pods to the back of the spindle, or even the pods themselves.

Is anyone constantly moving the pedal based power meters around without any problems? Or is this just a bad idea? I know pedal power meters in general are marketed as "easy to swap between bikes", but I'm not convinced it's such a good idea...

TL:DR--> I'm worried that moving the pedals from one bike to another potentially 100 times a year is gonna screw something up. Is this justified?

[dgasmd]

Hello everyone!

I'm certain this question has been asked before, but both my google-fu and my search-fu skills are proving insufficient this time around...

I recently built myself a new bike, so the old one is going on the trainer permanently. I use the trainer with Zwift and its a pretty crappy one so the power figures are all over the place, and always too low. But this doesn't matter because I get power figures from my Garmin Vector 2, which I love.

Now the thing is I don't want to miss out on power for either Zwift of the road, and I just threw all my spare cash at that new bike to i'm not in a position to buy either a better trainer or a second power meter. I was thinking of keeping the pedals on the trainer bike during the week, and then change them over to the new bike for the outdoor weekend rides, but I'm somewhat worried than constantly installing and removing the pedals is going to screw something up. Either the axles, or the crank threads, or those tiny, finicky little connectors that go from the pods to the back of the spindle, or even the pods themselves.

Is anyone constantly moving the pedal based power meters around without any problems? Or is this just a bad idea? I know pedal power meters in general are marketed as "easy to swap between bikes", but I'm not convinced it's such a good idea...

TL:DR--> I'm worried that moving the pedals from one bike to another potentially 100 times a year is gonna screw something up. Is this justified?

Solution-------> Stop worrying about it!

First question would be, when you use your new/weekend bike, what do you do with it? Will knowing power readings at that time make a difference at all or is it just for collecting more info that you do nothing with? If it is doing group rides or even racing (many will disagree here) on the new bike, having your PM on it won't change a thing on how you do those rides.

I think people obsess too much about the actual reading and not enough on the trends. If your PM reads consistently 20 below your "normal" on your trainer bike than on the road, what difference does it really make for training as you are looking for improving on that number regardless of what it is so long as it is consistent.

Short of it is leave on the trainer and enjoy your new bike!!

[alcatraz]

I have a feeling the op is a bit unsatisfied with that conclusion

If only the vectors had some quick release like I've seen on some other pedals. It does screw with your foot position "Q-factor" a bit though I think.

I'd personally use the same points to reason differently. How accurate do you need your power numbers to be to benefit from them? If you know how much the trainer deviates from the real number, does it really stop you from training properly?

I'd keep the vectors on the new bike and just use the power feed from the trainer. Voila. Display a 3 sec average on your garmin if the numbers fluctuate too much.

/a

[Kaboom]

Hello everyone!

I'm certain this question has been asked before, but both my google-fu and my search-fu skills are proving insufficient this time around...

I recently built myself a new bike, so the old one is going on the trainer permanently. I use the trainer with Zwift and its a pretty crappy one so the power figures are all over the place, and always too low. But this doesn't matter because I get power figures from my Garmin Vector 2, which I love.

Now the thing is I don't want to miss out on power for either Zwift of the road, and I just threw all my spare cash at that new bike to i'm not in a position to buy either a better trainer or a second power meter. I was thinking of keeping the pedals on the trainer bike during the week, and then change them over to the new bike for the outdoor weekend rides, but I'm somewhat worried than constantly installing and removing the pedals is going to screw something up. Either the axles, or the crank threads, or those tiny, finicky little connectors that go from the pods to the back of the spindle, or even the pods themselves.

Is anyone constantly moving the pedal based power meters around without any problems? Or is this just a bad idea? I know pedal power meters in general are marketed as "easy to swap between bikes", but I'm not convinced it's such a good idea...

TL:DR--> I'm worried that moving the pedals from one bike to another potentially 100 times a year is gonna screw something up. Is this justified?

Solution-------> Stop worrying about it!

First question would be, when you use your new/weekend bike, what do you do with it? Will knowing power readings at that time make a difference at all or is it just for collecting more info that you do nothing with? If it is doing group rides or even racing (many will disagree here) on the new bike, having your PM on it won't change a thing on how you do those rides.

I think people obsess too much about the actual reading and not enough on the trends. If your PM reads consistently 20 below your "normal" on your trainer bike than on the road, what difference does it really make for training as you are looking for improving on that number regardless of what it is so long as it is consistent.

Short of it is leave on the trainer and enjoy your new bike!!

I use the power numbers to pace myself, specially on climbs, and mainly just because I like seeing numbers. I ride with sth like 10 fields on my bike computer. I have one page setup with instant, 3 sec, 10 sec and 30 power all at the same time... I don't do anything of substance with the numbers, but I just like having them and for me it's part of the fun!

EDIT! actually what I wrote above is not completely true, I also use it to measure my progress and gauge my fitness at any given point in the season.
I thought nobody needed an HRM. I got one and can't even imagine training without it.
I then thought power meters were expensive toys. I got one and again, I would much rather spend another 400-900€ than to ride without power.

[Kaboom]

I have a feeling the op is a bit unsatisfied with that conclusion

If only the vectors had some quick release like I've seen on some other pedals. It does screw with your foot position "Q-factor" a bit though I think.

I'd personally use the same points to reason differently. How accurate do you need your power numbers to be to benefit from them? If you know how much the trainer deviates from the real number, does it really stop you from training properly?

I'd keep the vectors on the new bike and just use the power feed from the trainer. Voila. Display a 3 sec average on your garmin if the numbers fluctuate too much.

/a

If the readings from the trainer are somewhat consistent (i'm not even sure of this, I haven't done a proper test), doing intervals and pure training on it would be fine since I would only need to adjust the power targets.

The thing is I do a lot of group rides on Zwift. The trainer reads low by between 30 and 40 watts... I'd get dropped instantly.

[alcatraz]

It might not be a proper fix but what about weight doping the numbers? Set your zwift weight to 30% less and see if you can get the power numbers to match up. If anyone asks it's just to fix an error.

/a

[Kaboom]

It might not be a proper fix but what about weight doping the numbers? Set your zwift weight to 30% less and see if you can get the power numbers to match up. If anyone asks it's just to fix an error.

/a

that'll make me faster on the climbs but it wont actually affect the power number that Zwift reports, so i'll still get torn to shreds in the flats...

[alcatraz]

Swap trainer or check with zwift/trainer manufacturer if it can be adjusted. It's in their best interest too.

/a