Can I make my spin bike "smart"?

[veggieburger]

Another question.

I have a spin bike set up in the spare room. In the winter I’ll hop on there for a bit and watch an episode or two of The Office on the ipad.

Curious if I have any Zwift/virtual options with a spin bike.

I’m very low tech, but could get a friend to help me set it up. Anything I can attach to my crank that will speak to my ipad, for egs?

[Dekonick]

Originally Posted by veggieburger

Another question.

I have a spin bike set up in the spare room. In the winter I’ll hop on there for a bit and watch an episode or two of The Office on the ipad.

Curious if I have any Zwift/virtual options with a spin bike.

I’m very low tech, but could get a friend to help me set it up. Anything I can attach to my crank that will speak to my ipad, for egs?

Power meter pedals? Won't that work with Zwift?

[kramnnim]

you may be able to add a power meter, which will send a signal to Zwift/Trainer Road/etc, but you can't add anything to make it "Smart" enough to do ERG mode or adjust the resistance.

[veggieburger]

Originally Posted by kramnnim

you may be able to add a power meter, which will send a signal to Zwift/Trainer Road/etc, but you can't add anything to make it "Smart" enough to do ERG mode or adjust the resistance.

Sure, sure....but I would be able to see myself on the Zwift screen.

This is more for the mental side of things. I love watching The Office etc, but I don't think I ever really speed up or slow down....I just sort of zone out.

[Spaghetti Legs]

Probably the easiest thing is a set of power meter pedals. If the power meter is Bluetooth compatible it will be able to talk to Zwift on the iPad. If it is not (ANT+ only) then it’s more complex. Before the Zwift iPad app, I used an ANT dongle on a long USB cable to my Mac and mirrored Zwift onto my TV.

Zwift also supports some “dumb” trainers (maybe spin bikes too?j by making a estimate of the power output but I forget how they link up.

[kramnnim]

Originally Posted by veggieburger

Sure, sure....but I would be able to see myself on the Zwift screen.

This is more for the mental side of things. I love watching The Office etc, but I don't think I ever really speed up or slow down....I just sort of zone out.

Yep, your little dude on the screen will go faster when you push harder.

[kramnnim]

Originally Posted by Spaghetti Legs

Zwift also supports some “dumb” trainers (maybe spin bikes too?j by making a estimate of the power output but I forget how they link up.

You would need a speed sensor. Might be able to rig up something with a magnet and a Garmin GSC-10. GSC-10 isn't Bluetooth, though, so not as iOS friendly.

[cash05458]

I set my wife's lemond revmaster up to work on zwift for her...took a toilet plunger handle and gorilla taped it on like a down tube or fork etc down to flywheel...added a wahoo blue tooth speed thing and magnet...and she is fine on it...no smart tension of course...but it works fine...they even have the flywheel size on zwift so its fairly ok...or thereabouts enough...this was my answer to not blowing money on a peloton thing and so far has worked in that capacity...both in keeping her happy and not giving money to the peloton people...

[adub]

PM pedals, cadence and speed sensor

[fmradio516]

Curious about this as well. What is everyone using for iPad stands? Any benefit to hooking up to an actual PC?

[veggieburger]

Originally Posted by cash05458

I set my wife's lemond revmaster up to work on zwift for her...took a toilet plunger handle and gorilla taped it on like a down tube or fork etc down to flywheel...added a wahoo blue tooth speed thing and magnet...and she is fine on it...no smart tension of course...but it works fine...they even have the flywheel size on zwift so its fairly ok...or thereabouts enough...this was my answer to not blowing money on a peloton thing and so far has worked in that capacity...both in keeping her happy and not giving money to the peloton people...

Amazing!

[kramnnim]

PC has the potential to have much better graphics.

[Brian Cdn]

Kinetic has two accessories if you have one of their machines. Allows you to connect to a variety of apps (Zwift etc..)

https://www.kurtkinetic.com/inride-p...de-sensor-only

https://www.kurtkinetic.com/inride-p...3-power-sensor

[schwa86]

I have the wahoo sensors for speed and cadence (BT), no power meter. About $60? I have a cycleops fluid trainer. That has allowed me to use the Rouvy app (I forget what it used to be called) which I think is similar to zwift. As others have said, it doesn't allow auto adjusting of resistance. That said, I have defaulted back to watching movies/shows.

https://rouvy.com/en/

[schwa86]

also dependent on your video setup you can of course screen cast this stuff to a TV if you have something like apple tv, roku, or otherwise connected to it...