New FW and SW

[Velocomp]

We have just released OS 4.00, which includes a radically simplified setup procedure, and the elimination of Tilt Cal.

If you'd like to try the new setup procedure, simply select an unused profile. You'll need to pair your sensors, then follow the instructions attached.

ALSO: Isaac 2.1 is also available. This software makes connecting between your Newton and computer brain-dead simple.

Also, Isaac 2.1 allows you to open ride files, profiles, upgrade keys, and calibration files simply by double clicking on them.

The new SW also includes an update of instructions for OS 4.0.

This is also summarized in the instructions attached.

Enjoy!

[donnybike]

John, it is amazingly simplified now!
I like the new way of cal ride.

Tilt cal is gone!
How about wind cal?
Is it gone too?

[Velocomp]

John, it is amazingly simplified now!
I like the new way of cal ride.

Tilt cal is gone!
How about wind cal?
Is it gone too?

Wind cal has always been optional with the Newton.

[Clydeone]

Would you still recommend a windcal prior to doing coastsdowns?

[Velocomp]

Would you still recommend a windcal prior to doing coastsdowns?

It's personal. If you know what you're doing and you live in extreme temperatures, then a wind cal is ok.

Otherwise, I would skip this step.

[dgf]

After a ride last weekend, I plugged in to download the ride and got a message to install updates...so I downloaded/installed them but didn't pay any attention to what the updates might have been. Yesterday, I jumped back on the bike to go for a ride, went into Setup, did a wind calc, tried and tried to do a Tilt Cal but cripes, Tilt Cal was totally gone!! WTH!!??? I rebooted, reset, cussed, swore, then cussed, etc. - nothing worked. Thought maybe a quick Cal ride would do something but when I went to Cal Ride it gave me different prompts than I'd ever seen...dang thing was totally screwed up!! I went for a ride anyway, no power readings at all - occasionally on an uphill I saw a couple spikes to like 60 watts but generally it just read 0 - irritated me to say the least. I've just spent the morning pondering abandoning the IBike ship, looking at other power meters then logged in here to see what units the IBike head unit might be compatible with. What's this?? The new download I did has done away with Tilt Cal?? A new Cal Ride procedure? Well dang, wish I'd have read this yesterday before my ride!! I'll try the new Cal Ride startup procedure when I get home, see if I can generate more than 0 watts today.

Just so I'm clear...all I need to do is put the unit on the bike, turn it on, make sure the sensors are paired, select an unused profile then go for a Cal Ride??? If that works then that profile is forever selected for that bike? When I switch bikes, I do the same thing again to set a second profile?

Thanks much!

[Velocomp]

Just so I'm clear...all I need to do is put the unit on the bike, turn it on, make sure the sensors are paired, select an unused profile then go for a Cal Ride??? If that works then that profile is forever selected for that bike? When I switch bikes, I do the same thing again to set a second profile?

Thanks much!

Correct. Ride out five minutes, then turn around and ride back until it says "Cal Done". There's no need to do a Tilt Cal any longer...

Whenever you go to a new profile, repeat the setup procedure.

[Drissmalet]

Wow
I was pulling my hair out and emailed tech support yesterday as I experienced the same thing
Really odd behavior, no watts, very low watts, crazy high watts in descent and thought I had a defective unit
I will try the above and see if it fixes it. The ibike was working flawlessly before I did the upgrade them after the upgrade it went bananas
Thanks for the sanity check

[Velocomp]

Wow
I was pulling my hair out and emailed tech support yesterday as I experienced the same thing
Really odd behavior, no watts, very low watts, crazy high watts in descent and thought I had a defective unit
I will try the above and see if it fixes it. The ibike was working flawlessly before I did the upgrade them after the upgrade it went bananas
Thanks for the sanity check

When you updated the FW, did you change profiles afterwards, or do something else?

This update should have ZERO affect on existing units, as long as you don't change profiles.

Please let us know if your experience was different from this.

[racerfern]

I've seen various comments about issues with the latest cal ride process so today I took my existing good profile and proceeded to do a cal ride anyways just to confirm the process.

1. Outside for about 20 minutes to acclimate to the temp, then did a wind cal even though it showed almost at zero. I also set the elevation.
2. Rode to the start spot about 3 miles away.
3. Entered the cal ride screen and proceeded. At just over a 16mph avg I get to turning spot on the river trail just at the 5 minute mark so it works out nicely.
4. Finished the cal ride and then did the same ride as just an out/back.
5. Rode home and download the data.

Notes:

After getting home I connected Newton, clicked on Device > Setup Device and followed the prompts by putting in my height, weight, etc. Then I confirmed I wanted to Keep the previous calibration ride results since I had just completed the cal ride.
Finally I clicked on Send Profile to iBike. As a confirmation I went to the Edit > Edit Profiles screen and clicked the box "Extract from iBike". I think this last step is important because you now have the same profile stored in Isaac as you have in the Newton, otherwise if you send a profile to the Newton you're not going to have the final result in your computer. This should be done for each active profile for various bikes.

The actual cal ride is useless as a data ride because the cal ride process does some kind of crazy start point then levels itself out in order to figure out the actual profile. So if you look at a cal ride you will surely scratch your head, however the resulting profile was spot on with my previous results from back in January.

Both my original cal ride and today's final result have tilt at -.5. The January cal ride has WS at 1.067 and today's was at 1.060 which is less than a 1% difference.

Finally, I'm lucky in that I have a near perfect paved river trail to do a cal ride on. I've seen quite a few files with crazy terrain for cal rides so I suggest finding the calmest wind (I was up bright and early for this since I live on the Pacific Coast) and the most level terrain possible. It's worth throwing the bike into the car just to find a better locale. After all, we're talking a one time setup.

I've also seen a lot of people try to do a check calibration just because a ride happened to be an out/back. Unless you're in a controlled situation there are so many variables that doing check calibration on any out/back ride will usually just confuse people and make them wonder if a profile is legitimate.

I feel confident that if someone follows the procedure as laid out they will have excellent results. My 2 cents plus opinion.

[dtrousdale]

Fernando,
I see you did your Cal Ride before Device/Setup Device rather than after. Is there some advantage to that? Does it make a difference? One can do it either way, right?
I tried creating new profiles yesterday and today, but I did Device/Setup Device before the Cal Ride. I noticed both times that the profile in my Newton before the Cal Ride was no different than the profile after the Cal Ride.
One thing I'm wondering about is that I see a folder called "calibration rides" in my "iBikes Rides" folder. The last Cal Ride recorded there was 3/24/13. I've certainly done at least 4 Cal Rides since 3/24/13. Does this indicate something is wrong that my recent Cal Rides are not stored there? I do not see anything in the instructions about purposely storing them there. Is this supposed to be an automatic function? Or are Cal Rides no longer stored there with the new functionality?
Thanks,
~DT

[racerfern]

I'm inclined to do the cal ride then the device setup since it should be modify a known good profile. The new cal ride only establishes WS and tilt, the rest is by the device setup step. As I think and type I suppose it doesn't make a difference because if you send the personal and bike data to the Newton the cal ride if done afterwards will still only calculate the WS and tilt. You should end up with the same result.

Assuming every cal ride will have some difference (WS 1.000 vs 1.001 for example) the result after a cal ride should be different than the result before a cal ride. You can only confirm this by extracting the profile from the Newton before the ride and after the ride.

Cal rides are not stored as cal rides any longer. In fact, cal rides are only useful to the Newton. As I said previously the download cal ride is crazy looking data.

[dtrousdale]

Assuming every cal ride will have some difference (WS 1.000 vs 1.001 for example) the result after a cal ride should be different than the result before a cal ride. You can only confirm this by extracting the profile from the Newton before the ride and after the ride.

OK. You've given me a clue, and I think I've got this, and it does make a difference whether you do the Cal Ride first or the Device/Setup Device first...soft of. I just tried it your way--Cal Ride first--and it worked: I found the new Quick Start profile in Edit/Edit Profiles, and it was, indeed, different from the profile that was previously in the Newton.
However, if you follow the steps listed in the Newton Quick Start guide or choose "No, I want a fresh start" in Device/Setup and then do the Cal Ride (this is how I've been doing it), I believe several critical steps are not mentioned anywhere, not in the Newton Quick Start guide nor in the Isaac Software Instructions. Here are what I believe to be the missing steps:

• 1. When you get back from the Cal Ride, open the new profile you created before the Cal Ride in Edit/Edit Profiles.
  2. Click on the Advanced tab.
  3. In the Tilt Cal area, click on Get From iBike.
  4. In the area for Aero Calcs and Friction Calcs, click on Get From iBike. Now the profile is updated with the result of the Cal Ride.
  5. Click Send to iBike.

What do you think? I'll try this again tomorrow.

[racerfern]

@dtrousdale

It doesn't make a bit of difference if you do the Device setup stuff first or last. However, by doing it first you immediately have a usable and complete profile the moment you finish your cal ride. Then when you do the out/back that John recommends and is what I consider invaluable, your check calibration should yield virtually no change at all.

If you choose to enter the Device Setup info after you get home you'll have to extract the profile and apply it to the out/back ride which can complicate things a bit. You need to be careful what you're extracting when. Make sense?

I do think too many people are over thinking what has been nicely simplified. The process I used works because it's what is recommended by Velocomp. Nothing less, nothing more.

Lastly, assuming you follow the process please be sure to get the profile from the Newton to save on your computer otherwise if you load something back it won't match and I think that's where some confusion is coming into play.

[andrep]

Some more questions:

1. After I made the FW update there is a new screen in the setup display "On/of xy" - it is between wind cal and cal ride. WHAT IS IT FOR? What can I switch on and off here?

2. Am I right that I have to create different profiles (cal rides too) for all different wheels and cloth? For example on my TT Bike I wear in spring totaly different cloth from a triathlon in Summer. And I switch between a HED H3 and a disc ... So would you recommend to create different profiles for each setup? And/or do you recommend coastdowns?

3. I still have the problem, that when I drive (fast) on bad roads, my watts are going deep down. E.g. I drive 40k on a good road with 220 Watts and go than on a bad road by keeping the pace but the watts are going on 130-160. Is there a way to "repair" it (during the ride)
-> 4 days ago I wanted to do new fit test and came from a very good road to a very good road that had a very little road irregularity every 10 meters (very regular). So my watts came down from 260 to 170/180. That was frustrating after 12 Minutes killing myself ... and I aborted the test. Any comments on this?

[dtrousdale]

1. After I made the FW update there is a new screen in the setup display "On/of xy" - it is between wind cal and cal ride. WHAT IS IT FOR? What can I switch on and off here?

That's on/off for Fast Recording. See "Newton Instructions," p. 42. This mode is for those who have purchased PowerStroke, and it uses up your battery much faster. I was advised to turn it "off" since I do not have PowerStroke. I also just found out that if it is "on" when you save or update a profile, it will keep coming back on whenever you load that profile.

[andrep]

thx dtrousdale - I switch it of!

Hope to get answers from Fernando or ibike on my other questions too ...

Here one more: I wonder - after looking on "power stroke" - if you are working on a tool to show the difference between power output of the two different legs. From my unsophisticated point of view it should be possible to analyze it with the collected data (and would be very very interesting to me - because I know, that my right leg is resting a lot )

[racerfern]

Hey guys, FAST REC does not use up the battery any faster as far as I can tell. However, it does gobble up available memory a lot faster.

[Drissmalet]

Sorry for the late reply

But I had done a new cal ride went home and THEN updated to new firmware
After that things went south
I got an email from tech support, and now that I have the new firmware, I will go and do another cal ride and let you know if that fixes things

Thanks again

[Drissmalet]

er

[Drissmalet]

Sorry for the late reply

But I had done a new cal ride went home and THEN updated to new firmware
After that things went south
I got an email from tech support, and now that I have the new firmware, I will go and do another cal ride (post firmware update)and let you know if that fixes things, which I have the feeling it will hopefully

Thanks again

Wow
I was pulling my hair out and emailed tech support yesterday as I experienced the same thing
Really odd behavior, no watts, very low watts, crazy high watts in descent and thought I had a defective unit
I will try the above and see if it fixes it. The ibike was working flawlessly before I did the upgrade them after the upgrade it went bananas
Thanks for the sanity check

When you updated the FW, did you change profiles afterwards, or do something else?

This update should have ZERO affect on existing units, as long as you don't change profiles.

Please let us know if your experience was different from this.

[andrep]

Would be nice if someone answer my questions above.

Beside this I like to ask the experts again, if they can check my calibration. I have the feeling, that the shown watts are a bit low - but I you can have a look. Especially when I have little decents (for example 1-2%, it is nearly impossible to keep my watts) It is a TT Bike and I ride it with two HED H3. I did the cal-ride with long cloth and a wind-west. I know that Fernando recommend "do the cal ride and keep the fingers away from the unit" - but I like to know that the watts are ok.

Second question, Fernando: If you think the calibration is ok, then I have not to do a new cal ride - even not after the fw-update, haven´t I?

[Velocomp]

Your ride file looks just fine.

This appears to be an out-and-back ride, so the Tools/Check Calibration feature is an easy way to see if anything is out of control. NOTE: FOR REALLY LONG RIDES, SUCH AS THIS ONE, WHERE WIND CONDITIONS CAN CHANGE, THIS FEATURE MAY NOT BE 100% RELIABLE!!!

The needle is in the green range, so you appear to be in good shape. I would not adjust the profile, because your ride was so long...

There's no doubt but that, when riding downhill, it's more difficult to maintain the same wattage. Downhills quickly reduce the amount of power required to maintain a given speed.

Most important: once you've got your Newton dialed-ing, THERE IS NO REASON TO DO A NEW CAL RIDE!

The new FW is intended to assist people who have never set up a Newton before.

[dtrousdale]

Most important: once you've got your Newton dialed-ing, THERE IS NO REASON TO DO A NEW CAL RIDE!
The new FW is intended to assist people who have never set up a Newton before.

What you mean here is that there is no reason to do a new Cal Ride per profile unless something changes, right? Like riding position, Newton location, etc.?

Also at one time, Cal Rides were saved as independent files. That is no longer the case. Does this mean that we have one Cal Ride saved in the firmware at any given time and embedded in any new profile unless we opt to do a new Cal Ride when creating a new profile? And then that new Cal Ride replaces the previous one in firmware?

I'm not asking you to give away any secrets. Just trying to understand how to make choices when changing profiles or making new ones. I have multiple bikes and multiple wheel sets, etc., so multiple profiles are important to me.

[Velocomp]

Most important: once you've got your Newton dialed-ing, THERE IS NO REASON TO DO A NEW CAL RIDE!
The new FW is intended to assist people who have never set up a Newton before.

What you mean here is that there is no reason to do a new Cal Ride per profile unless something changes, right? Like riding position, Newton location, etc.?

Also at one time, Cal Rides were saved as independent files. That is no longer the case. Does this mean that we have one Cal Ride saved in the firmware at any given time and embedded in any new profile unless we opt to do a new Cal Ride when creating a new profile? And then that new Cal Ride replaces the previous one in firmware?

I'm not asking you to give away any secrets. Just trying to understand how to make choices when changing profiles or making new ones. I have multiple bikes and multiple wheel sets, etc., so multiple profiles are important to me.

Correct--there is no reason to do a new Cal Ride unless something changes, such as riding position, Newton location, or bike.

When you do a Cal Ride, the measurements generated from it are stored in the current profile you've selected for your Newton. Any rides done afterwards will use the measurements from your Cal Ride.

Of course, you can still have multiple profiles; select from them using the Set Prof command, and import them to your software using the Edit/Edit Profiles/Import command.

[andrep]

Now I have a difficult question:

On sunday I will have an Ironman 70.3. But till now I did all my trainingsessions with long cloth, a windwest and Trispokes. I always planned to create a new profile for the race setup which means Rear-Wheel "Disc" instead of the trispoke and a triathlon-suite instead of typical bike wear. But - I haven´t got the time and at least we haven´t had the right temperatures here in germany .... So - here the question: In the normal cloth and setup I have an FTP of 240. That means, I would go on the 70.3 with 204 (85% - lets say 205 watts). Do you think it would be fine to do it with the race-setup with 10 more watts (5 for the disc and 5 for the more aerodynamic suite)? What would you recommend? Its my first race with the ibike ...

Many thanks!!!

[racerfern]

These two articles should help you decide. I assume this is the same bike you've been riding but now you'll be with better gear for you and the bike.

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=3099257

http://cyclingtips.com.au/2010/04/bigge ... equipment/

[andrep]

thx fernando,

yes, it is the same bike - only the rear wheel and the cloth will be changed on sunday! And yes I looked for similar infos like yours (found this in german - interesting, you´ll understand the chart: http://www.1a1b1r.com/files/www_1a1b1r_ ... rotest.pdf). I will work with this 10 watts I thought about. If I have the feeling after 40-50km on the bike that there is too much energy left, I can push a bit more ... will see. After the race I will have a lot of good informations ...