Drafting and erroneous wind data from ibike

[Drissmalet]

Hi there
I love my ibike and is fantastic training tool. But unfortunately I doubt its readings when drafting in big group rides after this AM...

This morning I went on 53 mile ride and there was ZERO wind at 7:30 AM. The wetaher forecast posted 5 mph average later during the day
I drafted most of the ride and the ibike consistently is showing 15-18 MPH tail wind on the ride file!!! That is impossible as there was NO tail wind of that magnitude!

So I have 2 questions:
1)Why such a false reading and what to do to correct it? (no i didn;t do a wind cal before the ride (THE NEW MANUAL SAID NOT TO as well as TECH SUPPORT)

File ride posted
Thanks a lot

[racerfern]

A couple of questions:
1) Is your Newton on the stem or on the handlebar?
2) Did you really draft the entire ride?? Assuming no, it's obvious either the wind sensor is blocked, or somehow the wind offset got thrown WAY off.
3) Are you sure this is the correct profile for this bike?

You might have a blocked port so think about doing a 2-3 mile out/back alone to double check your profile.

FWIW, I haven't done a wind offset check in over a month and I don't plan on doing one.
I did a group ride today and for about 8 miles got sucked along by my group. I was generally showing -5 to -8 mph wind and I have no issues when drafting.

Hey, nothing flat where you are! WOW!

[Drissmalet]

Thank you very much Fernando

Answers to your questions:
1) Is your Newton on the stem or on the handlebar?
I have the Newton on the handle bar. It hasn't changed since my last cal ride

2) Did you really draft the entire ride?? Assuming no, it's obvious either the wind sensor is blocked, or somehow the wind offset got thrown WAY off.
I drafted a lot but not the entire draft.

3) Are you sure this is the correct profile for this bike?
I have profile 1 selected as I never messed with the other profiles. But again, I may be wrong. What is the best way to check? Is there a file I could upload for you to take a look at my profile

Yes, I live in VERY hilly area and makes it a "classic" everytime i have a group ride LOL

Thanks again

[racerfern]

I was able to extract your profile out of the file up uploaded. The only thing I noticed is that the wind scaling looks low since you're on the handlebars. However it's not out of the realm of possible numbers.

If you could upload whatever ride you recently did solo, especially if it has an out/back section or perhaps the last cal ride you did.

I find it difficult to believe that all your regular riding is fine and all of a sudden you had a problem with one group ride.

[Drissmalet]

Hi Fernando, here is one very short 6 mn time trial ride I did on my own with the same everything setup and no changes

Thank you very much

[racerfern]

Since this isn't an out/back there's no way to figure out if your wind scaling is off. I do have to say that this TT and the group ride do not have the same profile. They're similar but not identical and the wind scaling is a little over 5% higher in the TT ride.

You'll have to consider doing a cal ride or at least an out/back. Upload it and we'll have a look.

[Drissmalet]

Ok Fernando,
I will do a brand new out and back (I am getting tired of doing those as it take me 45 mn to drive to a flat enough area, otherwise, I don;t have a 2 miles flat road around here. (Unless you tell me it is ok to do the out and back on a road that has some small% hills(like 3 %max) here and there, then it is right around the corner and not have to drive...)

Should I create a brand new profile ?
Also dumb question, for the wind offset. When i press on setup, the first is wind calibration, how long do you keep it flashing befoire pressing the ok button? I see it fluctuating a bit to even some minus number but it doesn;t stop on its own, and it doesn;t give you ANY indication that it did the wind calibration , or if it was good or bad.

BTW, a note of importance. The unit was working great untill I did the firmware updgrade and it was awful after that. Did several cal ride, but have had really very strange low most of the time readings and crazy spikes and obviously wrong wind readings.

Thank you

[racerfern]

Do a hard reset (left, middle,right and bottom buttons all at once), then set the date and time. I agree a cal ride can be a pain but it might be really worth it this time.

Since you're using Profile 1, leave it alone. Switch to profile 2, enter setup and go to the FAST START screen. Put in your info and do a cal ride. After the cal ride, do an out/back on the same piece of road. Download all the info and post it here or email it to me directly: fernando.j.maldonado at gmail.com

AFA the wind offset (the first screen you come to). Do a wind offset after the unit acclimates to the outside temp and just before your cal ride. Make sure you're in as calm wind conditions as possible. Wind offset numbers are constantly moving due to sensitivity. Don't worry about that. Just enter the screen, wait a few seconds for the unit to settle down and press the center button. The numbers will gradually go toward zero then the unit will return to the main screen. You can do a second one to set your mind at ease but after that don't bother doing wind offset checks. I haven't done one in at least two months and I don't plan on doing one until there is a significant change in temperature.

[Drissmalet]

Thank you so much Fernando, you are so incredibly helpful. (I have to say, better than tech support in my opinion)

I will try to do this in the next 2 days and email you the information. Probably Wednesday AM, as i will do the Cal ride very early with minimum wind

Thanks again