If you have a Tacx FLow please help

supermurph09

Hi, getting some advice of my club mates which is helping but I wondered if people that own a Tacx flow could offer some assistance.

Set my flow up without the cadence and speed sensor stuff as only having one bike shifting my existing Garmin stuff would be too much of a faff, so decided to use Garmin for HRM, cadence etc and then the flow for power. Whilst having to experiment a bit with the gradient and gear etc last week it seemed work ok, but last night it was almost in the bin. Some questions.

Q1. Can you only calibrate the Flow with the sensors attached? Because I managed to calibrate it first time with the sensors on, but since removing, despite pedalling at over 20mph for 10 minutes the Flow never says stop!

Q2. Does it naturally just take the Flow a little time to warm up before it settles down, mine is very stop start and clunky?

Q3. Doing sprints last night, (2% incline set), after one 5 sec rep where the Flow showed 380Watts, on the next rep the brake was coming on and there was no resistance, meaning I was only seeing 150W and a cadence of about 175! No strain on the legs at all. What would cause that and how do people set up for sprints?

Q4. If people could mention what settings they apply for their sessions that would be great.

I'll leave it at that for now...

herzog

Q1: You can calibrate without the sensors, the calibration protocol only relates to the internal brake. Make sure you press the UP arrow to begin the calibration when SPEED is on the screen. --- then appears on the screen, pedal >30kph and stop. You can accept the calibration with the UP arrow;
Q2: Yes, I can feel a gradual loosening of resistance between 0 - 5 minutes. I reckon it's fully warmed up by 10 min or so;
Q3: Is this in ergo mode, or normal mode...;
Q4: I find +1 gives a realistic road feeling (relating to HR and speed).

Hope that helps!

supermurph09

Thanks Herzog, yes that is helpful.

Just to clarify, calibration. So if I pedal at >30kph for a couple of minutes and then stop, the calibration should come up with a number, I don't have to keep going until it says stop?

Q3, can you explain what the differences are?

herzog

No problem, you should only need to pedal for a few seconds above 30kph then STOP will appear. After the wheel stops rotating, a number will come up on the display. To accept press UP, to keep calibration at 0 press DOWN.

Ergo mode is where you set a target power and the flow changes the resistance according to your cadence and gearing - note, the Flow is not particularly good at this and it's better just to train using normal mode (based on slope).

supermurph09

I just use the incline setting I don't increase or decrease the Watt setting, my display shows the incline.

I've pedalled almost 10 minutes above 20mph without STOP appearing, I'd have to assume that you do need the Tacx sensors hooked up as the only time I've seen STOP is when I first set it up with everything attached.

Trial and error I guess.

xscreamsuk

Supermurph09 wrote:

I just use the incline setting I don't increase or decrease the Watt setting, my display shows the incline.

I've pedalled almost 10 minutes above 20mph without STOP appearing, I'd have to assume that you do need the Tacx sensors hooked up as the only time I've seen STOP is when I first set it up with everything attached.

Trial and error I guess.

You keep pedalling faster until you reach the speed it wants. It takes seconds not minutes. It needs no sensors. The plus figures etc are used to vary the resistance. I use +1 or +2 to simulate road, then work up and down the block as needed. For the big low cadence session you do, I use plus 5, and a fair way down the block. If you still need help let me know and I can come round and check it out.

supermurph09

I may take you up on that offer, clearly something is not working.

herzog

Sounds knackered to me, warranty claim?

jkTrain

I recently got my Flow Smart hooked up to Zwift and other apps. I calibrate it but it doesn't give a number; just shows a color range if if you're in the green zone you're good. But I'm finding it's reading approximately 50-100watts lower at any given moment than normal for me on a Wattbike or Stages Cycling bike. It means that if I ride with an event in Zwift most of the field quickly disappears and I have noone to ride with. In the FulGaz app I can't keep up with the slowest challenger, and if I just run the video at my 'speed' it slows to a complete stop! I don't care if the numbers are low or is a bit inaccurate, but I would like to ride with some people!

Just another thought on the Flow which is sort of the opposite problem. I'm using it with my beater MTB bike which has 3 rings but not the largest range. I certainly get a workout but even in my heaviest bike gear set with the Flows most resistance (climb) it's not quite hard enough. I sort of wish it had more 'range', so I'm wondering if I need to spend more and get a more robust machine? I know I could change the bike and get more out of it but I only have MTBs. I realized it's a great bargain for it's tech. But I'm a longtime rider and racer I'm worried it may not be enough.

Then again I may not be happy with any trainer but the top end models, which I can't afford. If it goes to 6% slope simulation I think I'm wishing had more like 10-15%.

Appreciate any comments.