Can I use an old Lifecycle with Zwift?
12-17-18, 01:38 PM
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Can I use an old Lifecycle with Zwift?
I have an old Lifecycle 6500 that works great! It has a plastic housing , which when removed, exposes a flywheel in the front. I'm trying to figure out how to get it to work with Zwift. I can attach a Garmin cadence sensor to the crank, and a speed sensor to the flywheel. Assuming i can set the proper circumference in my Garmin Edge 520, is there a way to get the info from my 520 to my laptop so I can use Zwift? Or should I just watch cycling videos this winter?
I realize there won't be any resistance feedback, and that's ok with me. Thanks. I'm going to try to post a picture of the 6500.
Tom
Last edited by Tpcorr; 12-17-18 at 01:55 PM. Reason: content
12-17-18, 02:13 PM
#2
Senior Member
How would Zwift determine your speed?
12-17-18, 02:41 PM
#3
Senior Member
I think Zwift needs your power output more than speed or cadence. If you can put a powermeter crankset or pedal on there, then that could work as long as you can crank up resistance on the flywheel to bump the power up when you need to.
12-17-18, 02:44 PM
#4
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Doesn't look like its on the list of supported trainers https://zwift.com/hardware#ready
12-17-18, 04:23 PM
#6
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Thanks for the input. If I use a powertap pedal, how would that data get transmitted to the zwift app? Sorry if it's obvious, but I;m not that savvy about this stuff
12-18-18, 05:17 AM
#8
Senior Member
You can do it - I have ridden Zwift from Lifecycles or equivalent on bikes in my local gym and in hotel exercise rooms.
Buy a Powertap Powercal heart rate monitor/power "estimator" and run Zwift on whatever you want that can communicate with the Powercal via Bluetooth and voila, you are zwifting on anything - Lifecycle, rowing machine, just running down the street...
Full description here.
The downside I found: it is kinda hard to really go all out on those gym exercycles, never really get in the upper zones of heart rate and my time in the gym is usually limited, so end up with kinda slow and short rides - they upload to Strava for getting "credit" but not really worth it. Marginally less boring than watching the gym TV or reading the old magazines in most hotel gyms.
Buy a Powertap Powercal heart rate monitor/power "estimator" and run Zwift on whatever you want that can communicate with the Powercal via Bluetooth and voila, you are zwifting on anything - Lifecycle, rowing machine, just running down the street...
Full description here.
The downside I found: it is kinda hard to really go all out on those gym exercycles, never really get in the upper zones of heart rate and my time in the gym is usually limited, so end up with kinda slow and short rides - they upload to Strava for getting "credit" but not really worth it. Marginally less boring than watching the gym TV or reading the old magazines in most hotel gyms.
12-18-18, 06:14 AM
#9
Senior Member
Thread Starter
You can do it - I have ridden Zwift from Lifecycles or equivalent on bikes in my local gym and in hotel exercise rooms.
Buy a Powertap Powercal heart rate monitor/power "estimator" and run Zwift on whatever you want that can communicate with the Powercal via Bluetooth and voila, you are zwifting on anything - Lifecycle, rowing machine, just running down the street...
Full description here.
The downside I found: it is kinda hard to really go all out on those gym exercycles, never really get in the upper zones of heart rate and my time in the gym is usually limited, so end up with kinda slow and short rides - they upload to Strava for getting "credit" but not really worth it. Marginally less boring than watching the gym TV or reading the old magazines in most hotel gyms.
Buy a Powertap Powercal heart rate monitor/power "estimator" and run Zwift on whatever you want that can communicate with the Powercal via Bluetooth and voila, you are zwifting on anything - Lifecycle, rowing machine, just running down the street...
Full description here.
The downside I found: it is kinda hard to really go all out on those gym exercycles, never really get in the upper zones of heart rate and my time in the gym is usually limited, so end up with kinda slow and short rides - they upload to Strava for getting "credit" but not really worth it. Marginally less boring than watching the gym TV or reading the old magazines in most hotel gyms.
12-18-18, 11:27 AM
#10
SuperGimp
You can do it - I have ridden Zwift from Lifecycles or equivalent on bikes in my local gym and in hotel exercise rooms.
Buy a Powertap Powercal heart rate monitor/power "estimator" and run Zwift on whatever you want that can communicate with the Powercal via Bluetooth and voila, you are zwifting on anything - Lifecycle, rowing machine, just running down the street...
Full description here.
The downside I found: it is kinda hard to really go all out on those gym exercycles, never really get in the upper zones of heart rate and my time in the gym is usually limited, so end up with kinda slow and short rides - they upload to Strava for getting "credit" but not really worth it. Marginally less boring than watching the gym TV or reading the old magazines in most hotel gyms.
Buy a Powertap Powercal heart rate monitor/power "estimator" and run Zwift on whatever you want that can communicate with the Powercal via Bluetooth and voila, you are zwifting on anything - Lifecycle, rowing machine, just running down the street...
Full description here.
The downside I found: it is kinda hard to really go all out on those gym exercycles, never really get in the upper zones of heart rate and my time in the gym is usually limited, so end up with kinda slow and short rides - they upload to Strava for getting "credit" but not really worth it. Marginally less boring than watching the gym TV or reading the old magazines in most hotel gyms.
Do you have to calibrate the power output though, and if so, how do you do it without a power source?
12-18-18, 02:32 PM
#11
Senior Member
The Bluetooth unit I bought has no calibration procedure, I think for the ANT+ version you can contact support@powertap.com and they can tell you how to calibrate it. I doubt it is very accurate but in my use on my road bike (I don't have a power meter) it was at least consistent. Or, I guess my heartrate must have been consistent...
