Today we look at the latest firmware
revision release from Wahoo for the
original kickr units so firmware
version one point five point six eight
was released at this time last week now
it's troublesome talking about
particular versions because next week
it'll change if there's a few features
included in this revision that will be
from here on in and definitely worth the
upgrade so this is specifically for the
original kicker units released in 2013
not sort of kicker 2 or kick a snap kick
it to over here so it's these two units
we're looking at today I've updated this
one last night and got some numbers will
run through updating this firmware on
this and we'll go through the spin down
process as well and what it all means so
the number one reason why you want this
update on your kicker is because it
converts these original units to almost
the kicker - let me explain the way in
which the original kicker measured power
was this disc here you can see there's a
slight movement that's actually the
strain gauge exactly the same as the
strain gauges in other power meters on
your bike and as that turned this disc
II got pushed forward a little bit and
it was that measurement that reported
your power looking over here on the
kicker - that disk doesn't move it
calculates power based on the braking
performance and resistance and power and
speed and temperature a lot of other
calculations into the flywheel here so
no strain gauge back to the original
kicker that strain gauge there becomes
obsolete let me show you how so the
original kicker can measure power in two
ways now strain gauge mode the original
mode or model mode which is exactly how
the kicker - works model mode is said to
be as accurate as a calibrated strain
gauge more reliable and has faster
responsiveness now faster responsiveness
is another key feature as well that you
want ins whiffed that means going up
hills will kick in sooner over the top
and cresting hills and also in Ag mode
you'll have quicker response time so
that's a big win right there
so I've updated this one let's run to
the process of updating the firmware on
this unit here so using the wahoo
fitness app this is my iPhone similar
procedure for Android selecting my
yellow kicker you can see there are
texts for firmware automatically because
it has an older firmware and one five
six eight comes up
here update now I'm sped this up a lot
it takes a few minutes
okay firmware update done we have to
turn the Bluetooth off and back on our
phones we also power cycle the kicker
reconnect and we scroll down to the
bottom there one five six eight latest
firmware we now have the option for
advanced spin down on the spin down menu
so clicking on that and again I've sped
this process up so prior to the three
minutes that makes you do I did 10
minutes as well just to be sure just to
make sure the system is warm and let's
spin down the beard accurate as possible
so after the three minutes those
familiar with the standard spin down
procedure we'll know what this was all
about you spin up to 36 kilometers an
hour you're hearing miles it may show
something different but here we are in
kilometers we slowly bring the speed up
to 36 kilometers an hour and as soon as
it says stop you stop pedaling wait for
the system to drop the speed it'll then
ask you to do it again so it's something
different about the advanced bend down
there's two spin down again slowly
bringing it up and dropping your cadence
to zero this one's a bit quicker and
we're done
give you a break strength value one
point one eight and now in sensitive
info as well you'll see the brake
strength loads there we go one point one
eight so once that's done it
automatically switches the unit to
modern mode from strain gauge mode there
is a way to switch it back we won't
cover that today so there we have it the
firmware update process completed on
here and the advanced spin down which
that first ten minutes I think is pretty
important to make sure everything is
warmed up and as accurate as possible
and just bring that power up to that 36
K an hour stopping your pedaling waiting
for it to come down just follow those
instructions on the screen and you'll be
spot-on so some data from last night
putting the white kicker one up against
my power tap p1 pedals it's all looking
pretty good there arrghh mode versus
Pebbles
as a human we're never perfect that's
why a bit of jumping around there but
the most important one he
you mean max power of a certain duration
so these numbers here are brilliantly
aligned one minute we're looking that's
three eighty three eighty that's
absolutely beautiful down here 316 317
five minutes we've got a separation of
about what two-and-a-half three watts
same for ten minutes
same for twenty minutes and thirty
minutes so this is probably the closest
I've seen two different power meters
match so quite impressive there that's
the kicker one in egg mode with the new
firmware up against the power to p1
pedals model mode was first included
with the firmware revision back in
February so this is the second revision
of that and I think it's pretty stable
as we've seen here on this unit those
numbers were pretty good so in wrap-up
if you're an original kicker owner pull
the phones out update straight away and
spend that 10 minutes or so doing the
advanced spin down to get more accuracy
more reliability and better
responsiveness out of your unit post the
update if you find your power numbers
are a lot higher or a lot lower than
they were in the past you may have fixed
an underlying problem that's always been
there or you may have introduced a new
problem how to know that's a tricky one
you'll have to get a bike with a known
good power meter and run some tests the
tests I run with the power tower pedals
against this in model mode that was
spot-on so super happy alright we'll
leave it there
pull your phones out inside updating see
you soon
you