Originally Posted by
chaadster
Interesting, CDR. I did a Z2 ride tonight and used only 53x19, 17, & 16, with cool down in the 19, and averaged 202w for 1hr 4min @ 89 avg cadence, 18.9mph avg, and never breaking a hub-indicated 23mph. It was a steady state ride, and I don't think I shifted more than 4 times throughout, so I'd expect the consistent power results to be pretty accurate.
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That's a striking difference from your results. My F2 is many years old, maybe 8, but I don't remember. Could the fluid properties change over the years? How else to account for that variance?
You may have a bit of a leak. I have an older Fluid trainer (first gen) and I thought I was progressing really well (when I didn't have a powermeter). At some point I got on a friend's CycleOps fluid trainer and I was shocked at how hard it was. I warranteed a second CycleOps I had, an e-trainer (mine literally started to smoke, melting wires and such). I asked for just a resistance unit but they sent me a Fluid2. This is what I've been using now, and it's much harder than my prior trainer.
Other than that I'm sure tires have something to do with it. The resistance goes up exponentially on the trainer, and at 20-25 mph the changes are significant. 2 mph and change and power goes up 30%. I realize now that it would be hard to replicate the set up. For example if I reduce roller pressure I think power requirements would go down. I'll experiment a bit when I ride the next time.
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