erg mode tacx vortex

chatlow

Hi all,

Recently moved from Zwift to TrainerRoad and I am having an issue with the setup. When I spin at say 80 and attempt to hold that cadence throughout the workout I am finding the resistance doesnt increase enough to match the watts much. Usually 20-30 off at least. I end up having to spin faster or change gears.

I have set it to erg mode in auto and also changed the power setting from 5 to 3 as I hear this helps with wheel based trainers.

Using an ant+ dongle on my laptop and also tried moving it within 2 feet of the trainer as a test but no luck

StillGoing

A lot of trainers work best in erg mode with the chain in the inner ring and centre of the cassette. There have though been issues of components burning out on the board of the Vortex that stops erg mode working.

zeee

Have you made sure you have selected the right option when linking the trainer to zwift? My flux shows 2 options in controllable trainer option and if I select the wrong one it doesn't work in erg mode.

chatlow

i have been testing mine in the small ring and the top 3rd of the cassette. If the power goes above 300 i would have to use big ring and sometimes spin out

as for options, the vortex comes up and seems okay. I have tried both ant+ usb with laptop and my android using bluetooth. Both exactly the same.

Ive had this Vortex for years now and its been perfect with zwift so really hope its okay with ERG for both TR or Sufferfest.

i have receipt and if faulty i wonder what the warranty is

wongataa

You are probably just hitting the power floor limits of the trainer. The trainer can only provide a certain power range in each gear.

With all trainers you can find that in certain gears you cannot achieve a low enough wattage or vice versa. This is due to the way the resistance is generated. In cheaper trainers this range will be narrower than in more expensive units.

You are probably just using a wider range of power targets in the TR sessions and so finding these limits. You will just have to accept that will have to change gear sometimes to hit the targets if you cannot find a gear that will allow you to do the entire session with shifting. TR sessions can have quite a wide range of power targets, especially if they are ones with hard intervals and low wattage rest periods.

chatlow

wongataa wrote:

You are probably just hitting the power floor limits of the trainer. The trainer can only provide a certain power range in each gear.

With all trainers you can find that in certain gears you cannot achieve a low enough wattage or vice versa. This is due to the way the resistance is generated. In cheaper trainers this range will be narrower than in more expensive units.

You are probably just using a wider range of power targets in the TR sessions and so finding these limits. You will just have to accept that will have to change gear sometimes to hit the targets if you cannot find a gear that will allow you to do the entire session with shifting. TR sessions can have quite a wide range of power targets, especially if they are ones with hard intervals and low wattage rest periods.

yeah i think you're right, thanks. Been looking at a few sites relating to Vortex and other trainer's power and seems that all have a limit when in the small ring.

Been advised to keep half way up the cassette for a good chain line and when spinning around 80, I can hit up to around 250 max in the small ring up front. In the big ring it's fine over 400.

Looks like my trainer is fine and I need to use the big ring if going above my ftp at a normal cadence

I wonder if the neo / kickr can produce a lot more when in the low ring

thanks!

StillGoing

chatlow wrote:

wongataa wrote:

You are probably just hitting the power floor limits of the trainer. The trainer can only provide a certain power range in each gear.

With all trainers you can find that in certain gears you cannot achieve a low enough wattage or vice versa. This is due to the way the resistance is generated. In cheaper trainers this range will be narrower than in more expensive units.

You are probably just using a wider range of power targets in the TR sessions and so finding these limits. You will just have to accept that will have to change gear sometimes to hit the targets if you cannot find a gear that will allow you to do the entire session with shifting. TR sessions can have quite a wide range of power targets, especially if they are ones with hard intervals and low wattage rest periods.

yeah i think you're right, thanks. Been looking at a few sites relating to Vortex and other trainer's power and seems that all have a limit when in the small ring.

Been advised to keep half way up the cassette for a good chain line and when spinning around 80, I can hit up to around 250 max in the small ring up front. In the big ring it's fine over 400.

Looks like my trainer is fine and I need to use the big ring if going above my ftp at a normal cadence

I wonder if the neo / kickr can produce a lot more when in the low ring

thanks!

The issue isn't what watts the trainer is capable of, but the range between your peak watts and recovery watts during your sessions. You can't expect to be doing 70 watts recovery when you're hitting 5s and 1m type peaks.

wongataa

chatlow wrote:

Looks like my trainer is fine and I need to use the big ring if going above my ftp at a normal cadence

I wonder if the neo / kickr can produce a lot more when in the low ring

thanks!

The Neo and Kickr will have a wider power range in each gear.

navrig2

I run my Vortex on the large chainring and about mid-cassette. This works well for the higher power output but I struggle to run at a low enough cadence to achieve the low power and cool down sections.

This is a standard chainring (not compact) set up.

lochindaal

Put TR into Resistance mode and change it until you are in the centre of the rear cassette (I used big front ring) for 80% of FTP. When you go back to Erg mode it should then be OK.

I ended up from a default of 0 to 60.

I've not used TR in a while but that is what worked for me in the past.

itboffin

philthy3 wrote:

A lot of trainers work best in erg mode with the chain in the inner ring and centre of the cassette. There have though been issues of components burning out on the board of the Vortex that stops erg mode working.

This happened to mine in fact it's just back from being replaced and although I haven't tried another ftp test is does feel much better.

Erg mode rides really show the weaknesses of a turbo