Wahoo Adds Native Power Broadcast to KICKR ROLLR: Hands-On Test

Wahoo first teased the KICKR ROLLR in 2021, and then rolled it out in 2022. However, it’s always had a bit of a quirky use case, primarily due to the lack of power estimation (or even measurement). Meaning that unlike all the other Wahoo trainers/bikes, this actually couldn’t broadcast power to apps or other devices. Instead, you needed an external power meter on your bike. Then 2023, they added integration into RGT & Zwift, to effectively providing a virtual power estimate. But it didn’t follow any broadcast standards otherwise, those were integrations with specific apps.

Today though, Wahoo has released a firmware update that adds in that power data broadcasting, akin to what their other units do. I gave it a whirl over the weekend, to see how it works, and how it compares.

First up, you’ll need to get the firmware updated using the Wahoo mobile app. That takes just a minute or two, and is akin to any other firmware update.

Once that’s done, you’ll notice an option for how it broadcasts power. You’ve still got the old option to pair up to an existing power meter, or now, you can yolo-it with the built-in estimate.

Armed with my built-in estimate, I went to Zwift to pair it up, first as a power source, then a controllable trainer.

In my case, I was doing a structured ERG mode workout, simply because it makes it easier to see power variations. On this bike I had both a SRAM RED/Quarq power meter, and a set of Favero Assioma RS (dual-sided) power meter pedals.

With that, I set off to do my workout:

Immediately, things didn’t feel right. The warm-up started off around 180w, yet my power meters were showing me putting out ~250w, give or take. Meaning, it was under-reporting my power by 50-70w, depending on the moment in time. That effectively made this workout *far* more difficult than I had signed up for, because the ROLLR was thinking I was only doing 180w.

In any case, I…err…let it roll. And just did the workout anyway. It was also doing this weird oscillation thing you see above. I asked Wahoo about that, and they haven’t seen that before, but are digging into it.

As I was going through it, it became clear that at higher wattages, it seemed to get much closer in wattage. Sometimes about 15-20w offset (like below). I toyed around with differing speeds/gearing combinations/cadences, but it didn’t really seem to meaningfully change the power variations (after a brief moment of stabilizing each time).

During each set, it was clear that lower power values were a challenge, while higher power values were vaguely in the ballpark. And remember that Zwift, in this specific configuration of just pulling from ROLLR, isn’t any wiser. It’s being told I’m at 284w (with a set point of 285w), so it thinks life is great.

The challenge with rollers and accuracy is that there’s no sensor here to measure pressure or strain. Instead, it’s just math. Except, math is tricky because the variables are constantly changing, and more importantly: Unknown. This isn’t unique to Wahoo, and is the exact same challenges that many other roller companies in this space face, including Elite, Tacx, and more. All of which are basically in the same boat.

The following impacts accuracy:

– Pressure of the tire
– Rolling resistance of the tire (e.g. MTB vs road)
– Your body/bike weight (which increases downwards pressure)
– Whether or not you’re seated or standing/sprinting
– Whether or not you’re leaned forward pressing on the handlebars, or sitting upright
– If you had burritos last night for dinner

And the problem here being that Wahoo literally knows none of the above. They might know your body weight, but that doesn’t matter if they don’t know your bike weight, water bottles, and everything else.

In fact, this is *precisely* the reason three years ago when Wahoo introduced the KICKR ROLLR that they stated in media calls that they weren’t going to include power, it simply wasn’t accurate enough, with far too many variables.

Now however, Wahoo says that more people are using the KICKR ROLLR to get into the indoor space (due to how easy is it so mount the bike), and they wanted to make it easier for them to experience indoor riding, even if the power isn’t accurate. Further, Wahoo says they’ve specifically errored on the side of underreporting, such that it won’t cause crazy high power overages that events/races/etc hate. And to be fair, that’s been the case for me. No overages. Just substantial under-reporting.

I thought this tidbit from Wahoo was notable, with one of their product managers saying:

“This is not an attempt to replace a power meter, but to get new users without power moving in virtual training and riding platforms. If and when a user does upgrade to power we are hoping they see a power boost vs a decline. Often when using virtual power and upgrading to a power meter users see a decline in power, which can be disappointing.”

That’s a fair way of looking at it.

Ultimately, for people who want power meter-level accuracy, this won’t replace that. But equally, it will at least give options to those without them, as ideally, an interim step up to power meter goodness.

With that, thanks for reading!

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