(Finally, found a use for ChatGPT image generation that isn’t horrific!)
An ugly software bug reared its head over the weekend for owners of the Wahoo BOLT V1 & ROAM V1 cycling GPS units. Those units were first introduced in 2017 for the Wahoo BOLT V1, and 2019 for the Wahoo ROAM V1. The original ELMENT from 2016 is also affected, based on comments on Reddit.
In any case, the ‘problem’ here is relatively straightforward (albeit highly bad). The internal clock on these devices has reset to January 1st, 2006. Making matters worse, manually changing the time forward (via phone app), then is overwritten back to 2006 the moment the unit connects to GPS (because it gets/confirms time from GPS, and there appears to be a bug handling the time aspect there).
However, while you might think a bad-GPS date is only a minor problem, as always, when it rains it pours. The bad GPS date then in turn causes connection issues, resulting in wildly-random and impossible speed values, constant pausing/resuming, failure to follow courses, and generally speaking, failure to act like a GPS unit. And of course, if you do get that ride finished, you get salt in the wound of having the wrong date on your Strava upload, back to January 1st, 2006.
While you can fix the date/time offset on your completed activity by getting the original file and using FitFileTools to change the date, it’s obviously a bit cumbersome. If you need access to that file, you’ve got a few quick ways of getting it:
1) If uploaded to Strava, you can download the original file on the left-side of the desktop site
2) If on the Wahoo app, you can export the original file to your computer/phone
3) If connected via USB to your Wahoo unit, you can do the same.
Then, on FitFileTools, you can upload the file, and use the Time Adjuster option to correct it. Once that’s complete, you’ll re-upload the file to Strava/TrainingPeaks/MapMyRide.
So, what’s the cause of the issue?
Well, Wahoo hasn’t quite confirmed yet, but the assumption here is a bug related to 1024, and specifically the number of weeks the 10-bit counter holds. In this case, it reached the maximum amount of weeks it could hold over the weekend, since January 1st, 2006, and thus ‘reset’. And this past weekend (yesterday) is exactly 1,024 weeks since January 1st, 2006. Much like Garmin’s GPS-related issues this past January, there’s a substantial amount of interwoven threads between ‘date/time’ and ‘Will GPS work?’. And when those threads break, it all goes to crap.
And what about the fix?
Well, it’ll almost certainly require a firmware update to fix these three units. I’ve reached out to Wahoo, and they’ve already responded to confirm they’ve got my e-mail and CC’d a boatload of people. I’ll report back and update here, as soon as I have some more details on what a fix might look like in terms of timing.
Update #1 – Aug 18th @ 10:30AM Eastern:Wahoo’s cycling product manager says: “We have all hands on deck working towards a root cause analysis that will lead to a firmware update to resolve this issue. I don’t have more of an update at this time but will share as we progress on resolving this issue.”
Update #2 – Aug 19th @ 2:26PM Eastern: Wahoo has added a dedicated page for future updates, as well as provided this update:
“We deeply apologize to our valued customers for the inconvenience experienced over the past few days with the first generation ELEMNT, BOLT, and ROAM Bike Computers. We now fully understand the root cause of the issue relating to older first generation devices, which use a limited 10-bit system to track GPS time. We have been working around the clock on a fix so that users of these devices can continue enjoying riding with them again.
Given the age of these devices and the several upgrades to our product platform since, we are testing the firmware update to ensure it runs smoothly and hope to release it to users soon.
Thank you for your patience and understanding so far. Customers should keep an eye on this web page, which will be updated regularly.”
Update #3 – Aug 21st 1PM Eastern: Wahoo has re-confirmed that this is only impacting V1 models. Specifically saying:
“Wahoo have investigated the support tickets coming in for Wahoo Generation 2 bike computer devices, reporting similar issues to those reported on Generation 1 devices. So far they have ALL been misidentified and are actually a Generation 1 computers.”
They go on to say if you’re not sure which unit you have, you can use this page to double-check.
Update #4 – Aug 22nd 5:21PM Eastern: Wahoo says they have a fix for the issue, but they’ll continue testing it over the weekend privately, to ensure it works. They’re saying they hope to release it next week.
“Thank you for your continued patience as we work to resolve the GPS time issue on ELEMNT, BOLT 1, and ROAM 1 computers. We know how frustrating this has been, and we truly appreciate your understanding.
We have identified a firmware solution and will be testing it thoroughly this weekend to ensure it’s completely stable. We expect the testing to take at least three days.
We will release the fix via a standard firmware update as soon as we have confirmed the solution. Our team is working hard to get you back on the road.”
Update #5: Aug 23rd, 5:21PM Eastern: Wahoo has made available (earlier than expected) firmware updates for the BOLT1 & ROAM 1, to fix the issue. Full details also here, and links.
“We continue to apply all resources to resolve the GPS time issue for all first generation ELEMNT computers. We have now released the fix for BOLT 1 and ROAM 1 computers via firmware update that should resolve the issue going forward* for those models. A firmware update for original ELEMNT computers is currently in development.
The updated firmware versions for ROAM 1 and BOLT 1 are as follows:
ROAM 1 – WR24 – 17055
BOLT 1 – WB17 – 17055
To receive the fix for future rides*, please ensure that your computer is connected to a viable Wi-Fi network and complete a standard firmware update. for more detail on these processes and basic troubleshooting, please review the articles below:
- Connect an ELEMNT computer to Wi-Fi
- Update firmware on an ELEMNT, BOLT 1, or ROAM 1
- Charge an ELEMNT GPS computer
* The firmware update will not change or recover any rides completed between August 17 and when it is updated. For information on recovering or changing ride dates, see Retrieve / change ride files from ELEMNT, BOLT 1, or ROAM 1 from August 2025″
In the meantime, may I suggest going old-school style (I mean, older-school than a 2016-2019-era device), and riding without a GPS unit? I know, that’s speaking sacrilege around these parts. In any case, thanks for reading!
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I had this issue yesterday, thought my bolt v1 had finally given up.
Hopefully they can fix it via software update
I’m happy to ride without a unit…except when I’m navigating a race/event course, which is literally the only thing I use my head unit for…
A friend thought his Bolt was dead now, the MPH was dropping all day when loaded it had GPS pings all over the place. Hopefully a quick fix.
Lezyne is also affected. Presumably they share a hardware/software component with the early Wahoo units.
3 rides dissapeared. Found them in 2006…
Oh great. I’m currently on holdiay in France and exploring new local routes when I get the chance. I’ll be completely lost without GPS routes on my v1 Bolt. I can try my phone maybe. Good for the heads up at least.
Andy. I live in France and I use the app Iphigénie for route planning on my mtb in the forests. It’s basically the French equivalent of the OS maps and the layers go right into satellite photographic images and is really accurate. Not sure if there’s a free version, but maybe worth a look?
Thanks Hamish, I’ve been using komoot and strava and finding routes has been fine, but I will check out your suggestion as the network of farm trails arouns here is amazing.
The problem is my bolt works for hours securely on my bars instead of stopping every 5 minutes to check my phone in my jersey pocket and hoping that the battery lasts!
Got a nice ride in the the day before this issue as the temperature had dropped to a nicer low 30 something!
Still do not understand the relation between the date issue and deteriation of the GPS signal. Can anyone explain this?
GPS satellites broadcast signals that contain exact time information. The receiver uses the difference between the time a signal was sent with the time it was received to calculate the distance to that specific satellite. When the receiver knows the distance to multiple satellites it can calculate it’s position (3 satellites for latitude/longitude and 4 for elevation). With a time difference of 19+ years, the receiver cannot accurate measure the time difference so it has no idea where it is. Or something like that
Thank you so much for sharing this info! I hope Wahoo fixes this over the next couple of days!
Be right back, going to start my ride in 2025, finish in 2006, and have a negative segment time. That KOM is finally mine!
Haha 😅
You made me chuckle….back to the past!!
As a software engineer working on embedded systems, stuff like this happens. They should have been aware of this issue way before, but I am sure a fix will be coming shortly.
Wahoo has always had good support if you exclude their watch.
I am affected as a luddite with an ELEMNT v1 which I have been using since 2017. It does exactly what I want from a GPS/Power/Cadence/HR logging point of view although I was looking at replacing it with a ROAM v3.
I’m not so sure how easy a fix will be – I also work in the embedded domain and have actually worked on similar products in the past as a contractor.. Mainly on the ANT+ and BLE side of things.
Ray’s comment “there’s a substantial amount of interwoven threads between ‘date/time’ and ‘Will GPS work?’” hits the nail on the head.
I am not sure of the architecture of the Wahoo ELEMNT line but it is likely the electronics of the unit itself is based on an OEM reference design provided by a chinese company which Wahoo will have tailored to their needs. It will be modular with multiple firmwares in play. An application firmware which is the main ‘computer’ running the GUI and driving the display, one that does BLE/ANT+ most likely a Nordic nRF series and then a GPS module. If this issue is in the GPS module firmware then it might be a much more involved fix. Hard to know.
Fair play to Wahoo for owning the problem and working on a fix.
I’ve looked at the firmware on a surface level, the Wahoo interface is basically an App running on a custom version of Android.
My Wahoo Element Roam lost my ride yesterday AM when it went to sync after I stopped it. I wonder if this is what caused that? I know that model is not in the list of affected devices above, but very coincidental if not.
Really bad timing with a big race coming up this weekend.
SAME ride was completed and the device displayed my ride stats such as distance, time, HR. Then it never saved to weekly history locally. Can’t find the ride anywhere. V1 Bolt.
Found it by looking at January 2006 bingo there’s the ride.
Thanks for reporting on this and Wahoo’s response. After their relatively low urgency response to BBS fields being broken on v1 devices, I wondered if I was going to be on my own here.
Who knows, Sounds like another canned answer while they stumble around to not support old gear and apps. I have little faith it will be resolved ASAP.
This article is super helpful. Describes exactly the issue I had yesterday. Repeatedly freezing and the ride data logging my ride back to 2006 (oh and riding into the English Channel). V frustrating, hope they get a fix soon.
PS. Is this only affecting older models? Have some big rides coming up and wondering if I should bite the bullet and get a new model.
My Roam V3 added (23) routes. They appear to be Wahoo branded ?
My RideWithGPS and the Wahoo App both have the correct value of (6)
I put in a support request.
I had the same issue with my Roam v3.
I called Wahoo today (8/18) and they had Unpair my device from the Wahoo App. Remove it from my list of Devices in my iPhone Bluetooth.
Then I had to do a Factory Reset of my Roam v3. Then follow the New Device Setup.
And finally now I will have to Re-Pair all my various Sensors on each bike to the Roam v3. (Heart Strap, Power Meters, Speed & Cadence and Trek Radar.
What a PITA.
Forgot to add they you need to Update the Wahoo App to 6.64.0 on your Phone and also the Roam v3 to WH42.
Same issue with my Boltv3. Wahoo advised factory reset which has resolved the problem but very annoying to have to re-pair devices etc.
For now I’ve downloaded ‘Wahoo Fitness’ app on my iPhone and using that instead! It’s not bad actually since unlike Strava app it supports Power Meter.
You make my day!.
Great suggestion!.
Although yesterdsyvit crashed after an hour of riding and lost the ride data up to that point. Not a great week for Wahoo developers …
Now I know that what happened to my wife with my old ROAM wasn’t her brow technology aura. Thanks for this!
How are people still using V1s? Are they riding once a month? I went through 3 and the buttons stopped working or the screen delaminated within 16 months each time.
I bought my ROAM v1 used off of eBay 2 years ago and physically it’s still like new and holding at least 10 hours of charge! :-) Shame they hosed the software LOL
I’ve had my Bolt V1 for 6 years and it works like new (present issue excluded). I use it year round in all sorts of weather. What the hell do you do to your bike computers?
I bought my Bolt V1 in Feb 2020 and it still works perfectly. I use it for multiple rides a week. I just did a 5 hour ride and it finished with 58% battery remaining, so I can’t complain there either. I don’t feel like I treat it gently…
Just turned mine on to see this problem and yes… mine also recorded a test as 2006. Hoping for a quick fix!
The rubber on my bolt v1 power button perished and cracked but I just popped a silicone case on it and it’s fine since. No screen delaminating on my 6 year old unit.
I stopped using my original ELEMNT about a year ago, but I could still ride up to 5 hours on it on a single charge. Mostly just gave me an excuse to upgrade, but honestly I could still be riding with it today and be happy (excepting the breakage).
Thanks for sharing this, it’s been driving me mad for the last few days and I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve rebooted/reset/setup etc.
Thank you, this was very helpful.
Hold on, hold on, let me take out that Excel spreadsheet I have had collecting dust for about a decade LOL
I purchased a brand new Bolt V1 when the V2’s came out, my V1 had a problem in high temperatures, March/April it was restarting mid-ride in South Florida! No way it would survive through summer in our heat/humidity, I contacted support and they send me a new unit. Got instead a V2, seems they ran out of V1’s when I contacted them, otherwise I’d have had this issue.
In all honesty, this is kind of lame for a company size that Wahoo is right now, just my personal thoughts. However, I love their products though, maybe I’m lame?
That explains what happened on my ride today . !
Imagine if this affected V3 also, and if it came up one month earlier at the Tour!
My last two rides, Sunday & Monday have issues with the GPS data on my v1 roam. Was going to use it as an excuse to upgrade to a v3 bolt but now it looks like it’ll be fixed eventually. Bugger 🙂
Update: ride today double tracked with my v1 roam and android phone running Strava tracking. Only a 1.5 mile difference between the 2. The wahoo recorded the shorter distance and was in a number of places just a little out on the road and gravel tracks compared to the phone being locked on during the whole route.
Awaiting the update.
A mate of mine had a very similar or related issue with Roam v3 (three) over the weekend and I think also from a few days before. For him, he said it was saving the workout to a date earlier in the year (this year).
At the time, I said ‘nah, user error,’ but that clearly isn’t the case based on the info above! I shall eat humble pie next Sunday.
Wow thank you so much for this article and putting the awareness to Wahoo. I went for my first ride in a month today and was immediately faced with this bug that made me go crazy and think my v1 is dying
I have an early 2016 Elemnt. I thought the gps had finally given up so ordered a new roam 3! Might send it back now if the issue is fixed before it arrives! BTW it saved Sundays ride with the correct date, although the gps was not working. Tried starting a ride today and got 01/01/06!!
Interestingly, I went for a ride with mine yesterday and the activity never synced. I wonder if that is related. I thought for sure I deleted it with my fat fingers.
…one might argue it synced…straight back to 2006. :)
Yep, that’s what happened to my ride yesterday:
link to strava.com
Though it’s worth saying, it’s off by 19 years, not 20 – it’s August 2025, not August 2026. 😅
I have a Roam V2 and I was affected. Am I the only one?
Not just you. Me also with a roam 2. I don’t actually record rides on my roam 2 I use a Garmin watch. However I do use the roam 2 for navigation. Part of this issue as I am gathering is losing the current position and your speed dropping to zero, intermittently. This is what I am experiencing which is going to be an issue for me in a couple of days for a hundred mile ride I am doing. I’ve factory reset and of course this has not helped. I am glad it’s not a fault with my unit but I hope we get a fix quickly.
My v2 Roam GPS went haywire on a ride the 17th but was fine on the 16th. Today, the 18th, I notices a ride come in Jan 2, 2006 but GPS info.seems ok. So the ride dates are simply offset. I tried to remove the GPS screwed ride from my android element app to force a resync but it did not work. It seems that trip is gone from the Roam completely but made ut to Strava albiet with GPS showing as a huge straight line rather than the trail I always ride.
Apparently my unit is actually a V1 Roam. Sorry for the confusion.
Bummer. I keep itching to move away from Garmin and Bolt/Roam v3 was my target (don’t like the Hammerhead mount or size). All these reports of Wahoo software issues are scaring me off.
The trend of pushing out beta level products to public and not supporting old products very well continues. I would proceed with caution.
You should look at Wahoo’s new ACE computer, really great upgrade over the Roam.
I had the exact same problems with my Elemnt V2 this weekend, so seems like it’s not just the V1
I also got caught by this over the weekend on my ELEMNT v1 (I was dual recording with my rather more modern Fenix 7s).
I keep debating whether to upgrade, but the big, easy to read screen and lack of any features I feel I’m really missing have kept me on my original 2016 ELEMNT.
The one thing it doesn’t have that I would quite like is automatic re-routing and ability to enter an address/poi on the device and it create a route on the fly. However, my experience of all of the route making software (Garmin, RideWithGps, Komoot etc.) is that they make poor life choices in terms of surfaces or busy roads and I usually end up correcting a route before I use it.
Ah thank goodness somebody knowa what is going on… did a ride yesterday afyernoon on my Roam V1 and man…. it kept losing speed. so the time went on but iwas not covering distance. My son has a later edition V1 and his was fine. Interristingly my Roam V1 does not recognise our home wifi but my son’s does.
I used fitfiletools to fix the date of my fit file, then uploaded it to the dcrainmaker analyzer and the battery graph is messed up, like a bar graph with the bars being horizontal, it’s weird.
Hmm… my guess here is that the FitFileTools isn’t re-doing the timelines in the battery realm, and then we stumble over the upsidedown data. I’ll pass it along!
on my rival and bolt version 1 you cannot upload to training peaks because there is no option now to upload to training peaks under aps . it doesnt exist any more. !!! you can upload directly to training peaks and it wont even upload to strva which is an option
ridiculous
Ik zit ook met het probleem, zoals hiervoor is geschetst. Wilt u mij op de hoogte houden. Dank u!! Met groeten,
Gerard
Not the first issue these devices have had with the week number for me. More than once (before this weekend) the fit file produced by my elemnt has been exactly 7 days in the past. Once, it’s a fluke, twice and it’s a legit bug.
Yup happened to me on my ride yesterday with my bolt v1, needless to say I’m looking forward to the new garmin 850 whenever it comes I’m switching. This is the third or fourth problem I’ve had with this and I’m done
Thank you very much with this clear clarification! Last weekend I ride a gpx tour with my son. Both my Elemnt from 2018 and his Bolt where completely lost. All other, garmin riders, didn’t have issues. Also the connection with my heartbeat band was ‘strange’, and my son lost his connection to his Di2 config. I created a wahoo request, but haven’t got a reaction. But I can imagine they have ‘a little’ work to do. This is since 2018 my first serious issue with Wahoo. I hope they will patch it soon. Thanks again!
Tell them to fox their v2 while they are at it. My v2 takes 30 minutes to find gps. Ive been using the v1 because of this. Now i cant use either. Im moving to garmin
If you’re V2 is taking that long to find GPS, something is broke. My guess would be two things:
1) It needs a reset
2) (more likely), for some reason it’s not pulling down the satellite pre-cache file, which makes satellite acquisition instant. That said, 30 minutes is still crazy long even without that file
My first ever issue with Wahoo for 6 years.
Hope they’re fixing it within the next few days. I don’t want to buy a new one only because of such stupid IT fault.
I am riding my ROAM V1 every day, every weather – that device is just great and it only can get worse with a new one :)
As with others assumed my ever reliable Bolt had suddenly acquired a hardware fault. Hopefully a quick fix is on the way
Thanks for confirming this, I thought I was going to have to replace it. I had exactly as you described on my Roam v1, see attached pic
I’ve ridden Bolt 1 for five years, clocking 50,000 km in various environments, without any issues. But last weekend, while riding, the GPS signal suddenly lost. It would re-establish, then disconnect, and then re-establish again.
Numerous Wahoo users in the same country are experiencing the same issue.I’m seriously considering buying a Garmin right now.
Countless GPS issues have been reported, but Wahoo has never officially acknowledged them. Hey, take action now.
This glitch also affects the Polar V650. Grrrr. As if sync issues weren’t bad enough with that unit anyway! Still nothing from Polar on a bike computer which really screws up cyclists/triathletes who use Polar flow.
To get my activities on Strava, I downloaded the tcx-files from January 2006, and manually did a search/replace 2006-01-xx to 2025-08-yy and manually uploaded them to strava.
Can one set a date on the v650 manually upon resetting it, so I don’t have to do that every time? Polar flow won’t know about the trainings _now_ otherwise?
Ok, I can confirm:
If you go under settings and disable “use gps time” the V650 saves rides in the present time again. I tried with one, synced with the computer and it uploaded to polar and strava as “today”.
Hope that helps someone!
Well I Linux nerd myself outta here
– connect to gps
– connect to laptop
– run adb shell date $(date +%s) to set the current date
I’m not sure if wahoo is even able to fix this problem itself. If they use an external library for the GPS, possibly even only in binary form, then the solution can only come from the outside. In the worst case, the library is no longer maintained at all.
My Bolt v3 is now seven years old and I still find the display better than v2 and v3. In other words, I found the updates quite disappointing!
So hey wahoo, do something….
It should be fixable if they own the source code for the main cycling computer application.
The GPS data will come from a GPS module within the device. These use a defined NMEA protocol and within that is defined the 10 bit / 1024 week counter. It is up to the client handling and parsing those msgs to handle the wrap. The main computer application clearly isn’t doing that correctly. What the wider issue will be is how much of that application firmware wahoo developed themselves vs outsourced. That will define how quickly they can implement a fix.
Bolt V3 was only released in May this year. If you’ve had it for 7 years it has to be the OG Bolt
@Rouleur
I really hope they have the source code. The real problem is that they should have been working on this problem a long time ago. And if they didn’t realize that, it says a lot!
@JacobR
Sorry for the typo, I meant v1 (desperately missing the edit button)
Happened to me at the weekend and as I thought it was just my trusty 7year old ELEMNT finally dying… I got home and ordered a Bolt 3 after watching and being informed by DV rainmaker YouTube content.
Do feel that Wahoo has cost me an early upgrade here that I could have continued to hold off on as moneys tight but given the issues had caused a me huge problem navigating a family cycling trip , I couldn’t risk that happening again.
Excellent post.
First day with newly bought sensors on the Bolt V1 I was gifted aaaaand…a hardware bug :-D
Gave me a 2 second KOM at 600+ kph as well. Max speed in the segment just 42.
Hi Everyone – on the basis of ‘if it ain’t working, turn it off and on again’, and following a suggestion from a fellow rider, I disconnected my Bolt v1 from my phone and wifi and did a full factory reset and reinstall/ set up.
The date showed up as correct for today and everything paired up again as expected – phone/ wifi/ sensors (powermeter and HRM).
A quick test walking up and down the road showed stable GPS lock and recording of speed and distance.
(My ride yesterday was a nightmare of dropped gps signal, no route following, no speed or distance).
The test saved in the head unit under today’s date, uploaded into the Wahoo app and then into Strava.
So it would seem that a simple(!) factory reset will resolve the issue. Reading the explanation above a reset makes sense as presumably the ’10 bit counter’ that is under suspicion, gets reset back to zero and takes the date of the reset as week Zero, so a reset should give you another 10 years life!
Yes a bit of a pain but it took me about 10 mins to sort and it would seem the head unit is back to normal. Time will tell of course but in the absence of any other advice and a currently useless head unit, you could do a lot worse than try it.
Good luck everyone!
I have the same problem with my Roam 1 with the software version WR20-17055. Speed shows intermittently and GPS is not tracking route consistently and the date reverts back to 2006 as noted by others. My M/N WFCC4, S/N starts with 3720. My brother’s Roam 1 has a M/N WFCC4 but his S/N starts with 4721 and his software version is WD14-17055 which I believe is the same s/n sequence and software version as the Roam 2. His is a few years newer than mine and was bought as the Roam 2 was released. SOOO, it appears that those of us that have the older Roam 1 with the older software should be able to have the newer software ver uploaded so we can continue using them. There may have been a hardware upgrade in his (with the newer M/N) to make it compatible with the newer software. Hope they can resolve the issue with those of us who are stuck with a nonfunctioning unit.
To clarify, by brother’s is working fine with the newer software version despite being a Roam 1.
My version is 15- 17055 on a Bolt v1
Used this to change date of downloaded .fit file and upload with correct date to strava: link to fitfiletools.com
I saw your post that they are looking into a root cause, did they give any indication of a fix timeline? Can you reach out and press them for a date?
I reached out to them earlier today, and just a few mins ago received an update (TLDR, nothing much).
“We deeply apologize to our valued customers for the inconvenience experienced over the past few days with the first generation ELEMNT, BOLT, and ROAM Bike Computers. We now fully understand the root cause of the issue relating to older first generation devices, which use a limited 10-bit system to track GPS time. We have been working around the clock on a fix so that users of these devices can continue enjoying riding with them again.
Given the age of these devices and the several upgrades to our product platform since, we are testing the firmware update to ensure it runs smoothly and hope to release it to users soon.
Thank you for your patience and understanding so far. Customers should keep an eye on this web page, which will be updated regularly.”
Good post and thank you DC
No more updates? Is there any official statement from Wahoo?
I think this is the Wahoo official statement page:
link to support.wahoofitness.com
Thanks for posting this. A partial fix is to go to SYSTEM INFO anf then RUN SETUP. This allowsnyou to set the correct date and time. The embedded GPS will scan the wrong satellites while the date is set incorectly causing sporadic loss of signal.
I did this and my date and time were correct. Today’s date and current time. Yet my workout form this morning is dated Jan 03, 2006. This is so wonky.
Thank you for this article. I allready feared it was a planned thing from wahoo getting us to buy the new V3 ones. Honestly V1 still the best device out. Keep us posted please! And thanks for your efforts!
A 10-bit unsigned integer? What on earth are they using as a CPU? A Motorola 6802? Any self-respecting programmer (read lazy), would just use the natural word size in the machine.
My V1 Roam issues are the date reverting back to Jan 01, 2006 and syncing/uploading with the Wahoo app and Training Peaks. My workouts aren’t automatically uploading to Training Peaks when I complete them. They aren’t uploading at all. And they aren’t showing up in the Wahoo app upon completion either. My workouts however, are syncing and showing up in my head unit. I can select them and complete the workout as normal. Speed and GPS tracking are fine.
This problem occurred on my Wahoo bolt this weekend, unable to upload 2 rides to Wahoo. I have done a reset on the unit, I will now have to see if this has fixed it. If not, I won’t a replacement from Wahoo.
I just turned my head unit (V1 Roam) on and off and it said it was updating…I won’t be able to test until I get home later.
How ungrateful we humans can be!
My Wahoo Elemnt was manufactured in 2016, and nine years later, these folks at Wahoo are still updating the firmware—nine years! No one offers after-sales service like they do, and yet here we are throwing stones at them just because someone didn’t write one more line of code. This is the first time my Elemnt has ever given me a problem. They have my full respect and appreciation.
Their updates are not always a positive thing. My Elemnt was unusable for months due to an update until they finally fixed it a couple years ago. And realistically they aren’t adding anything, they are just updating their shared codebase and cutting releases for older devices from it. I’d be fine if they didn’t update the devices if they just kept working like they were before.
Aww, I was quite happy with my Ride from Scotland to Reykjavík on sunday :D
Hi,
Just tested my Roam v1 with (version WD14-17055) and I had no issues at all.
Simultaniously, I placed my old Bolt v1 next to it during the same ride (WB15-17055), and had +/- 10% dropouts of gps signal, resulting in route errors and a shorter ride than reality.
Kind regards,
Filip – Belgium
Did your Roam v1 save the ride as 2006? I have a v1 ROAM on 17055 (latest) and it saves rides as 2006 (so requires post-ride FIT file editing) and during riding it intermittently drops GPS. It has built in error correction so will get the distance right but it lost some Strava segments / times where the GPS dropped (aside: yesterday I rode for an hour with no probs but then the GPS issues started in the second hour)
The date was not reset to 2006… all worked just fine.
I had the problem today on my Wahoo Elmnt.
I’d not used it at the weekend.
So, you’re saying this completely unpredictable and unavoidable issue, which is basically the Y2K Bug but delayed ~25 years, is rendering my 5 year old device currently useless?
Thanks Trump
Currently on a cycle tour. All I use my wahoo elemnt for is to follow a route. And now I can’t. I have a phone but the battery drains so quickly that I can’t ride all day with it. Really hoping this gets fixed by Friday or things are going to become trickier for me. Thanks for highlighting and explaining the issue and hopefully pushing Wahoo into fixing this as quickly as possible. Presumably someone there must have foreseen this and been muttering about it internally before it became clear to everyone else?
Status of this issue can be followed at Wahoo at
link to support.wahoofitness.com
Thanks Ray, I thought it was just my unit until I got an email from Wahoo this morning. Much appreciated. Lawrence
Thank you so much! I started experiencing the exact same problem yesterday, and I’m glad I found this post. Now I know it’s not just my device, but a common issue with these devices. Hopefully, Wahoo will release a firmware update soon.
So Wahoo has indeed become the new Garmin.
Am visiting a new city and got lost several times because the GPS course i loaded kept freezing.
Onto my 3rd Wahoo after the first two died well before their time.
Oh well wahoo, it was nice having a rival to Garmin for a while. Too bad you now suck
My ride last Saturday was fine – no Wahoo issues. However, on Sunday I kept losing GPS. The GPS pointer kept freezing and about every 5-10 mins or so would catch-up and briefly correct it’s location on the map. During the ride the unit was constantly pinging and flashing red (off route) and green (back on route) which was a pain. I didn’t notice any date issues until I looked at the unit. See attached. Looks like “August” is now written as “MO8”
Lezyne affected as well. Back to 1/4/2006
Checking the 3 I and my wife has.
Lezyne Enhanced Super GPS currently showing 1/4/06 (04-Jan-2006) This is the one I use regularly and “Lost” 3 rides finding them in 2006. Gets connected to phone regularly. Was NOT on auto update time zone ( From Melb, AUS, Currently in Ontario Canada)
Lezyne Mini GPS. Turned it on. Went straight to 1/6/00 Time zone set to Automatic. not connected to any phone (Was my wife’s till I bought her a bigger Lezyne Macro GPS.
Lezyne Macro GPS. Showing 21/08/25 (Correct date in AUS at time of writing.) Ensured it picked up satelites, recorded a walk across the deck, no change. Not connected to a phone (Wife out at the moment) DATE has NOT changed. (Though “Enhanced super gps and macro gps look identical, there must be a difference somewhere.)
Word on the street is that the bug only affects model year “10” devices, and “Y12” devices are fine. Looking at the photo I’ve included, if I remember correctly, Mega through Micro C are Y12 and the rest are Y10.
There’s an update coming out today that should address the issue.
Update from Lezyne
link to support.lezyne.com
I have the exact same issue on a Lezyne Super GPS. No solution yet.
I put a support ticket to Lezyne. They replied they are aware and working on it.
Thanks for the info!
Luckily my Roam V1 is switched off since more than a week. And Luckily I have a Polar Pacer Pro, a Garmin Venu X1 and a Garmin Edge 1040 as spare replacement GPS devices. Sadly the Edge locked itself into unusable booting it up the last time wanting to connect to two sensors at once and was stuck in an interminable loop connecting the HR sensor. Every time I tried to touch Cancel or Connect it popped up the same connection dialogue. Even after shutting it down and on again. Had to hard reset it and disconnect all sensors. And then I was so disappointed that the Polar Pacer Pro crashed every time I had to calibrate the compass. Well, the Venu X1 just released the 12. something Firmware, which should fix a lot of issues, but as its fairly new, that had to be expected. Bugs and Features everywhere. Wonder what is waiting in the Amazfit, Suunto or Hammerhead realm?
Thanks for posting. Similar information on the Wahoo website, too. I thought my bolt was at end of life, but optimistic Wahoo will fix and be able to continue to use!
So same issue with GPS Bolt V1 however I now have a new problem wonder if anyone else is struggling to charge the unit? It’s taken hours to move from 50%+ to 68%!!!!
link to support.wahoofitness.com
Had the same charging issue with my Roam 1 until I read their recommendation to use a non-Apple 2+ amp charger. (See link) Problem solved!
Many thanks DCR, and yes that inebriated ‘bug’ pushed the red lines all over my Strava map on Monday…
So.., until Wahoo have fed the ‘week’ register a few more bits to kill that bug, and updated my Bolt V1, I have turned off GPS by setting my Element app to ‘Indoor’ and Synced back to V1, then manually corrected the date/time on V1…
I use a speed sensor and provided the altimeter is working, I should get good workout data again.., but without the luxury of location data,
My Bolt V1 developed the habit of resetting itself in the middle of long rides. Annoying to look down to see a blank screen. 10 minutes later it would restart. I contacted Wahoo Support and opened a ticket #1403516, but after sending them all the requested data multiple times, there has been no resolution. There ‘fix’ was that I should break up rides into small files. This started in April ’22 … .
Thanks DC for a very helpful article once again! I’m in Italy, Torbole-Nago, riding endless trails on MTB. Tremalzo anyone? 😊 Thanks to Wahoo I lost navigation capabilities, basically ruining my rides, my training, my holidays. And now they claim they are working around the clock? Even have a fix? But need more testing? Honestly, I lost all faith in this company. There is simply no excuse.
Do they realize people could get lost in the mountains and end up in really dangerous situations?
They really think tracking is my only concern in life?
I need navigation and I need it to work.
Happy to help Wahoo with testing if that can speed things up….
Seems to be a well known problem:
link to en.wikipedia.org
at this point I don’t really understand why Wahoo have not backed out the change and reverted to the last working version. Continuing to try and fix forward whilst I presume thousands are left like this is a bizarre approach like a tin pot tiny company, not one the size and supposed maturity of Wahoo.
There is no previous working version for this issue, its GPS calendar just ran out, reset and messed things up.
Correct. But v2 and v3 devices don’t have this issue. If the bug is in wahoo code, somebody did not inform/update the v1 baseline. If the bug is in a 3rd party piece (likely) then somebody didn’t read the release notes…. More recent units have a more recent 3rd party module as I can imagine. Educated guesses of course, but this should never have gone unnoticed or unannounced. Sad story for such a tier 1 company.
Not correct. I have a v2 and it is affected as are others if you search around. Another fact is not all v1 devices are affected as my buddy as a v1 bolt and he’s fine.
Got an update on my Roam 1 this morning and the speed/GPS appear to be working, but I didn’t realize the date had not been updated, so my ride was recorded as Jan 5, 2006. Manually corrected the date so should be good to go for next ride.
My speed and GPS never stopped working. No issues with maps either. It’s the date and my rides are no longer uploading into Training Peaks. No matter what I do, rides are no longer uploading into Training Peaks.
Well damn, the date needs to be reset every time it boots up as it reverts back to 2006. Getting close, but no cigar, yet.
You set the date manually and it will be wrong again in minutes after you get GPS signal. And next you loose the GPS signal and can’t follow you gpx track anymore. And this is on repeat the entire day with interval in minutes.
Extremely annoying… Barely impossible to navigate in the mountains.
what is the version number in your settings after your update?
2 previous days my date was correct, today again 5th of January, 2006. GPS doesnt work all the time, just intermitently.
I am also on holiday in the mountains, and it is very annoying, that only 10 days when I really need navigation, it is not working for last 5 already!
And my upload to TP and Strava works, its just uploaded in 5th of January of 2006. :D
Harv,
There was no change in the app, 1.82.4 (11446), or Elemnt ver (WR20-17055) after the update this morning. It looks like a ride will record correctly and upload to Strava, etc. with the corrected date (run setup), but it will revert back to 2006 with every reboot. Just did a very brief activity and the date held and it uploaded correctly so I’ll try again with my next ride on Saturday the 23rd after ensuring the date is correct. I’ve used my Apple watch for the last two rides and will until they get it fixed.
I have a Polar V650, and did same thing, if i choose GPS clock, the activity and the clock sets back to 2006
If you go under settings and disable “use gps time” the V650 saves rides in the present time again. I tried with one, synced with the computer and it uploaded to polar flow and strava as “today”.
Hope that helps!
I just noticed this issue midride when loading my route for the last part, which I wasnt sure about the correct roads. well it simply did not work at all. Later on of course the struggle with the file and workout not showing up.
Than fixing the time… but GPS data of the file is still garbage… segments not matched etc. not nice if you went for several efforts as I did that ride :D
Anyway. As a developer this is insane… how can you use such low amount of data regarding especially weeks instead of whole timestamp? Wtf. First I thought that’s some issue with recent update and the newer devices handle the new feature but old ones are not. But in fact it’s rather a data overflow and connected to a concrete date. This is quite shocking. But good thing that their pre-checking o firmware on old devices with tests etc. is working fine.
I like the approach of Wahoo to even upgrade “old” devices and not just like GARMIN just leave the old crap as it is and not bothering to upgrade those, because especially of such possible incompatibilities.
GARMIN takes there the easy way: Get a new device if you want some new features…
As I am unemployed at the moment I would love to deal with that issue and solve it really badly :D #OPENFORWORK :D
The week thing is GPS specific as I understand it. Once the 10bit (2^10=1024) week counter (which is a firmware/software thing) has reached its max (with 10bit counter after 1024 weeks) it rolls over to zero, which is 1024 weeks back and starts again. Today my Roam V1 saved my ride: 2006-01-06 which is 1024 weeks and two days ago and hopefully explains the roll over. Look for GPS roll over if you want dive deeper.
A solution is obviously a 13bit counter. No idea if this is hard or easy to implement.
I have a triplet of Lezyne Y10 Enhance Super GPS units all showing the same device and firmware versions in the Info menu. The one that gets regular use shows the correct date. The other two which I dug out of a drawer show the 2006 date. Not sure what this means. Could be a fluke or maybe a different chipset in the one that’s still working.
Also, glad to see a handful of other Lezyne users out there. There are dozens of us!
There’s a new patch on the Lezyne site:
link to support.lezyne.com
I haven’t had time to test it yet, I’ll check that tomorrow.
Given that Lezyne hasn’t updated their GPS devices since 2022, I’m surprised and impressed that they patched this.
As an aside, I see they’re also referring people to the fitfiletools site for short term fixes. I hope the person behind that site is seeing a little bump in donations this month.
Just as a general heads up, I asked Wahoo about the reports of 2nd gen (and other) units being impacted, and they said that they’ve seen no confirmable cases of that.
Specifically, they stated:
“Wahoo have investigated the support tickets coming in for Wahoo Generation 2 bike computer devices, reporting similar issues to those reported on Generation 1 devices. So far they have ALL been misidentified and are actually a Generation 1 computers.”
They also provided this link, which can help folk determine exactly which unit they have: link to support.wahoofitness.com
I decided today to go into my Wahoo export folder and delete all of the old FIT files that were inside it. Since doing this, my last two rides that I recorded today (8/21) both uploaded to Wahoo and Strava with the correct date. Not sure if this is a freak occurance or they fixed the bug today.
Check the route that was recorded and see if it is accurate or not. For me, the date itself was hit or miss. My ride on 8/17 recorded as 1/1/2006, 8/18 recorded correctly, but then 8/19 recorded as 1/3/2006. So, it was a little inconsistent. However, for all 3 rides, the recorded route ranged from being way-off (i.e. it looked like I was riding off road and through buildings) to somewhat close but still not on the road.
My Bolt V1 updated itself yesterday but I still have the issue as of yesterday after this update – 21st August. Speed goes crazy and vanishes from display. I can ride my bike at 122 mph apparently and from UK I rode into the middle of the Atlantic. What a ride!
A bad time to have this issue when trying to be doing my Season PB in late summer!
Yeah there’s no fix yet … most recent Bolt v1 update was released in May link to support.wahoofitness.com
It won’t be reliably fixed without a firmware update ftom Wahoo … you can’t work around it. Mine saved the right date yesterday but GPS unreliable and 10% below actual distance (I dual recorded with a phone app)
Yea the GPS accuracy is not as good as it used to be. The unit still has issues dropping GPS connection during rides, which then looses info like speed and distance. Only thing that has been “fixed” by deleting all the old FIT files has been that new files are recorded on the correct date, so it syncs back to strava automatically without having to use the Fit file tool.
So no update for nearly 2 days. I find that a little concerning.
On todays run was the date correct but all other metrics were way off. I hope they reach out with some good news.
I bought my Bolt 4 years ago. And that is not old. Not for a 300€ bike computer.
guys, just wait for the update.
If the updates comes too fast without proper testing you’d complain again.
Just wait a few more days.
Last night I went for my usual group ride, and my workaround ended up work well:
Put my Bolt V1 in “Indoor” mode and Ran Setup to correct the date & time. This recorded my HR/Power/Cadence with the correct timestamp.
Used Strava on my phone (no ANT+ support) to record the ride independently.
When home, downloaded both “original” files auto-uploaded to Strava, deleted them from Strava, and used FitFileTools to combine the files.
The re-upload to Strava was perfect. Obviously it doesn’t fix on-device mapping, but it allowed me to record my ride & data as usual. No speedometer either… but then again, I got several PR’s, so maybe the speedo was slowing me down?!
That’s stretching it as a workaround! The steps take longer than the ride!! lol
There’s a phone app (Wahoo Fitness) that you can use instead of Strava+Elemnt … it supports power meter and Strava upload
It didn’t really take very long. Two downloads, merging is almost instant, and a re-upload. Maybe 2 minutes once you know what buttons to click?
I think the Wahoo app would yield similar results, but as my phone doesn’t support ANT+ I don’t believe there’s a way to connect it to my power meter, etc. Besides, even if I could do that, I’d lose have power display during my ride (phone is in pocket) which I use for pacing in a group.
It’s rare that power meter doesn’t support Bluetooth. I bought a £15 unit to mount my phone to my handlebars so I could use the Wahoo App as a temporary replacement (it shows live power data) but yeah it’s not ideal.
Funnily enough though I was considering going to phone on my next upgrade cycle because the latest apps (e.g. Cadence) are as or more fully featured than bike computers these days
Just went for a 5 mile ride and the data looks good on the Wahoo Bolt. Past week I have been in 2006 but now I am back in 2025!!! Uploaded to Strava no problem.
Yesterday and today I also used the Wahoo app and it was all over the place when it comes to GPS route. Probably just my S21 GPS problems but I am glad and hope the wahoo issue is resolved.
Wahoo have announced this is a firmware bug and a fix is under testing
Either you’re on a v2 or you’ve been lucky so far but I wouldn’t rely on your device to be accurate until it’s patched
I think I got lucky on yesterday’s ride. All week it’s been bugged obviously. Tomorrow is a race so I’ll use the bolt for HR and Strava for maps. Their app is just not as good as tracking the route on Strava.
My Elemnt Bolt V1 misbehaved similarly to all the other reports here on Aug 17 and 19, including Jan. 2066 date. Today, the unit worked perfectly to guide me on my route, yet still had the wrong 2006 date. Bizarre to say the least, especially since I have the latest firmware release, dated back to May 2025 (i.e. no change in firmware).
Looks like they found a firmware solution and testing will take at least three days. Can’t wait!
Fix is comming
I just did a ride. Here are my findings to my Roam V1 (thought it was a v2 but was wrong):
– MPH and Gradient all work.
– Elevation looks correct as I was riding in a familiar area.
– GPS worked. I did not see any difference now and before the glitch
– Routing worked. All navigation turns, etc were as before.
– I did not follow my route and the GPS accurately depicted the ride.
– When I re-entered my planned route later, it realized and went back to normal.
– The date is still wrong so I had to use fitfiletools before going to Strava.
– I also recorded the ride on the Wahoo ride just in case. The phone app had my ride at .5mph higher so thought about using that instead, lol.
All of this w/o any firmware change so it looks like much of this is server side.
I don’t think it is server side as everything is calculated on the device. When you upload, Strava just ingests the raw GPS data from the device. Given all the different things people are seeing, it just looks like “weird stuff can happen…or maybe not”.
Hopefully the testing over the weekend goes well. Obviously they want to get it out fast but can ill afford to release something that has some new weird issue. Dealing with super old code can be very tricky.
Totally aside, but respectfully disagree about the image generation. Image generation has disproportionate environmental impact from the massive data centers working on these models. And if that’s not bad enough, it’s built on the works of millions of creatives all around the world, without their consent and certainly without compensation.
(I mean, older-school than a 2016-2019-era device)
Perhaps we should begin to treat the unintelligent peasants who have to change their electronic devices every year as what they are.
Thanks for destroying the world with your scarse intelligence!
Thanks for not understanding the enormous pollution you created and the subsequent destroying of complex ecosystem.
Perhaps we should stop justifying ourselves for doing the right thing:
maintaining and fixing what we have especially when it works ok.
There’s literally no part of that comment that’s poking fun at the people who ride with those devices.
But you know that, as always, you’re just leaving troll-like comments.
Me parece una vergüenza lo que está pasando en wahoo. Yo desde luego espero que lo solucionen y den una compensación a sus clientes. De todas formas a la hora de cambiar cuando toque este momento va a pesar en la elección del siguiente ciclocomputadora.
I think you make a good point. Yes they will fix it and that’s great but a lot of goodwill has been lost now. I’d be torn myself, I mainly prefer Wahoo for the integration with ridewithgps which is superb route planning software especially for UK trails. I will still be seriously considering a switch to Garmin after this when I can afford it.
In fairness Garmin had a similarly big FUBAR earlier this year too!
I’ll stay Wahoo for now but seriously considering going back to phone-based app now the latest crop have same or better functionality than the devices, on next upgrade cycle
Can we take to calling this the W1K Wahoo bug (W for week and 1k for the number of weeks before overflow)? It seems appropriate to make an allusion to the Y2K class of bugs.
Woo Hoo.. A fix is in.. here’s hoping it works for my ride tomorrow!! Just in time.
Sucks that it happened but I appreciate the efforts Wahoo made to resolve the issue as quick as they could.
It’s all good now. 50 mile ride navigation normal, date correct.
Yup.. did 140km ride this morning and didn’t have any issues….thank you Wahoo!
This is a mess. I’m glad they are fixing it as I love my roam gen 1. I do, however, very much so dislike the new element software and all the info asking for a subscription. I despise all these subscription fees. Gotta be a rich fellow just to operate a bike these days.
Mine is still not right. Does not detect my wahoo speed sensor. Gps takes forever to load or just says gps off. I have to reboot it to get it online. Most stats just say N/A. No speed, elevation, distance, or ascent. Only shows time of ride and correct date. I did a factory reset and it helped, but it’s not right for sure. I will reach out to Wahoo to see what they say. It stinks as I love this old Roam v1. I really don’t want to buy a new very expensive computer.
I works again as before
Just got an email this morning from Wahoo. They’ve released FW updates for the Bolt V1 and Roam V1:
ROAM 1 – WR24 – 17055
BOLT 1 – WB17 – 17055
My Bolt is going through the update as I type this. Hope it works!
if your phone app is also on and connected during this update it will ask you to toggle the on/off switch for your phone’s bluetooth to complete the update. I didn’t do this initially and just eagerly checked the settings on my Bolt and noticed it was still stuck at 2006, so I manually changed it on the head unit. Perhaps the bluetooth cycle on the phone would have done the same thing. In any case I power-cycled the head unit and it’s no longer resetting to 2006. Haven’t done a ride with it yet but it looks promising.
Just a heads up to anyone trying the update: put your Elemnt Bolt/Roam into “indoor” mode before trying to download the firmware update. It seems if it gets GPS and screws up the time, it causes the download to fail. It failed about 15 times in a row for me until I realized that, then it downloaded quickly with no problem once in indoor mode.
I had to do the indoor, the WiFi and the Bluetooth to get something to eventually download and INSTALL. Sitting really close to the WiFi router may have helped as well.
The device claims to be up to date, but it’s only at WB17-17025…. It was on WB15-17025 before.
How to get to 17055 next?
To add:
I notice it will start downloading something and then just quit at like 17% and claim “up to date”.
Several tries later I’m finally at the latest version. Let’s go for a ride…
I rode on Sunday and today and my trusted Elemnt Bolt was back to its perfect self! Kudos to Wahoo for id’ing the problem, finding a solution and rolling out an updated firmware, all in one week!