Tacx Flow Ergotrainer - How accurate in reality

[The_Break]

Does anyone have any experience with accuracy issues with the Tacx Flow Ergo trainer?

 

My friend and I did a power test using a his Tacx Flow yesterday morning and the figures came out rather higher than I expected. Higher than figures on lab grade equipment I tested on last year when I was fitter and stronger than I am now. So my question is, are there any setup or calibration issues that could have led to the figures being out?

 

We did a basic test starting at 180W and increased the wattage by 30W every 2min30 until exhaustion or cadence below 80RPM.

[usxorf]

I have a flow and powertap. It doesn't match the powertap. And the deviation is inconsistent depending on cadence, resistance. Stick within 85-90 cadence and it might be reporting 10% under. Or over.

 

However, the flow is consistent with the same tyre pressure, etc. so your retests should be a good indication of getting stronger (try and stick to same cadence range for best results).

 

There is some calibration possible depending on how tightly the brake is applied to the wheel, but there is no guarentee that a calibration of 0 will match real world power. I found 0 to be too soft and my back wheel (normal road tyre) would have traction issues.

Edited December 12, 2011 by yazzo

[Disylizzy]

Don't know about the Tacx, but on a Computrainer you need to warm up the bike (rear wheel) for about 10min and then calibrate it to how hard you want the roller to touch up against the wheel.

 

I know that if that wasn't done the power readings were significantly out of whack.

[The_Break]

Thanks guys, looks like the flow is not accurate then for a set up and go. Mine was reading about 15% too high at a guess. We calibrated on a cold setup. Will try warm next time. Thanks for the advice.

 

I am thinking of doiing future testing using a powertap to correlate data afterward, but I guess paying for the lab is probably the most accurate. Guess thats why their equipment costs so much.