Ordered 

My Elemnt Bolt has started to show signs of wear.

The rubber cover that goes over the power button has started to peel away.  Concerned about this, I wrote Wahoo support and asked if there was a way to repair this.

They told me "no." and asked to see some pictures to check on the warranty.  I did so.

While waiting, I took some clear glue and seemed to glue it back in place.  No idea how long it will hold.

Then they got back to me on the warranty issue : "Thanks for getting that information to me. It appears that you're outside of our one-year warranty period. However, I can provide you with a "crash replacement" discount that would give you 40% towards the purchase of a new unit in our web store."

40% of $250 is $120.  I guess that means I'd have to pay $130.  It's not bad, but a bit disappointing.  Not sure if I should get it or skip it.

Thoughts?

Ah bike computers! even the best ones suck.

I think we got our Bolts around the same time, mine seems to be holding up, but wondering if this is my near future too.

If you're pleased with the functionality, I would suggest pulling the trigger and get the replacement.

It is what I would do if I was on your situation, basically, I would chalk it up to maintenance, and make sure to have what I need to keep rolling/training/racing, rather than a breakdown mid ride.

-- yes, the computer should last longer, and generally will last longer, look at in the same way as any other piece of gear. We ride tons, so sometimes we break stuff, sometimes we have bad luck. For example, I had tubulars last 3 or 4 seasons, but then also cut a sidewall on a tubular only 2 rides old. Frustrating AF. We maintain, keep, and ride our gear further than most, at the end, it averages in our favor. Fix it, keep pedaling, and let's go ride bikes!

Well said Eloy. My current gear frustration is batteries dying on power meters. I suspect it's because sometimes when I charge my Garmin I forget to turn it off, and it may be talking to the power meter overnight. I now have a chart written down of replacement dates. This is how low I've fallen....

I'm leaning toward getting it and then seeing how long it takes for the rubber cover to come loose again.

I like the Bolt overall, though this is a bit of a disappointment.  For reference, when I damaged my first Edge 500, Garmin sent me another one for $85 or so, provided I sent the first one back.  Allegedly it was refurbished, but it acquired satellites faster than the first.  When I damaged my Garmin heart rate watch, they sold me a refurbished upgrade because that model was no longer available.

I'm not going to admit (even under oath) how long it took to dig this one out of the interwebs...

Courtesy of everyone's favorite CX Bike maker Edwin Bull

Heat acclimatization... keep talking to me

https://youtu.be/CbeX_ruKt3k

^ So many gizmos. Find my Garmin and bike alarm is nice, so is sub $300.

so.many.featurez.

Speaking of a wahoo Bolt, after I arrived in Europe this week I realized that I left mine at home. <insert dope slap here>. 

Does anyone have one they are not using? I figure it’s a long shot, but perhaps someone could give one to Jeff or Anthony to lend me when they arrive on August 8th. I’ll bring you back some chocolate or TdF swag 

-- just a suggestion, could someone mail your bolt to you? or to Jeff or Anthony? from here to August 8th, there enough time.

PatrickGrehan said:

Speaking of a wahoo Bolt, after I arrived in Europe this week I realized that I left mine at home. <insert dope slap here>. 

Does anyone have one they are not using? I figure it’s a long shot, but perhaps someone could give one to Jeff or Anthony to lend me when they arrive on August 8th. I’ll bring you back some chocolate or TdF swag 

Patrick,
     Almost two weeks without a meter?  Sure you can make it?

I have a Garmin Edge 500 I'm not using, if that could help.  Let me know.

Wahoo Users, I'm encountering a problem.  

Seems that my kilojoule count has suddenly exploded.  I think I have a decent sense of how many kilojoules I use on my typical rides, and in the last two rides, I"m seeing a number almost 2x what I'm used to seeing.

Interestingly, when I upload the rides into WKO, the numbers are about where I'd expect them to be.

Any idea what's happening with my Bolt?  

@mugwump I just switch to a bolt this week... I noticed the same things too.

YTD ride was 3.5 hr moving
NP 205 Avg 148
Wahoo said 2928 calories... Way off! 

People said roughly 275 = 1000cal/hr

So say 1 watts about 3.6 cal

If calculated with 3.6 calories burned for 3.5 hrs be
NP 2583 cal
Avg 1864.8 cal

My TR said the closes about 1994.

Maybe they based the calories burned for the whole durations... And it'll be 5 hours with the stop and going which would make the most sense. 

Kevin Man said:

@mugwump I just switch to a bolt this week... I noticed the same things too.

Maybe they based the calories burned for the whole durations... And it'll be 5 hours with the stop and going which would make the most sense. 

I had about 4000kj reading on the Bolt today, but when I uploaded it, it was a bit over 2000kj.  Last week, the kj was much lower, so something changed on my unit.

I'm running both a HRM and PM, so the KJ should be based on power, but something is off.  Wonder if there was  a recent firmware update that's the source of the issue.

I have a question to their support people.  I expect it will be answered tomorrow.  I'll let the list know.

Got a message back from Wahoo support.

TL/DR: They don't know what's going on.  They're working on figuring it out.  It will probably be resolved in a firmware update

Karli (Wahoo Fitness Support) 

Feb 24, 1:34 PM EST 

UPDATE

Wahoo updated their firmware a few days ago.  

I've been running a speed sensor on my road bike and it's paired to the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt.

I've been considering taking off the speed sensor because, well, I figure that satellite pickup has gotten much better than it was when I first started using GPS bike computers.  Back then, it could take three minutes, occasionally longer, for the computer to find the satellites, so I had the sensor on to make sure there were no drop offs.

yesterday, I rode on different wheels, and the speed sensor didn't evenly pick up the magnet as I rode through Manhattan and The Bronx.  I'd be going 20 than 10 then 0.  Then I stopped, moved the sensor in Yonkers, and it seemed to be accurate for the rest of the ride.

On the download, my Bolt had 3.7 miles less than my Strava readout.

So, wondering what other people do and experience.

Anyone go without?  Do you need to wait to make sure satellites are synched before riding?

I might write Strava to see what their support people say.

I stopped running my speed sensor on my wheel a few months ago (coincidentally switched wheels, and forgot to move it). I've generally been perfectly fine with just gps. By the time I get out of my building and walk around some of the scaffolding that's outside to the street it's picked up the satellites and coverage is pretty good. I'll have a randomly high reading every now and then (speed will spike up to like 70 mph for a second and then go back to normal), but otherwise it's consistent.

Same, stopped using a speed sensor years ago. Ultimately GPS based speed can be a little inaccurate at the tick by tick level, like you'll see a slow speed when the satellite is obscured and then a high speed to compensate

-- basically, the computer tries to figure out how you got from point a to point b, and adds speed for a quick moment

At the end of the day, the avg will be totally accurate with the distance/time you rode. We live in 2020, unless you have some specific application, like time trailing, GPS speed is the only speed you really need. 

#ymmwv

I work in midtown and every time I leave my building and turn on my Bolt, it takes several minutes to get a gps signal. I usually just ride while it's searching until I get to the Queensboro bridge where I finally get a signal. (About a mile away). But other than built up areas in the city, I find the signal almost immediately.

Having said that, my road bike has a speed sensor. A hold over from yesteryears, but otherwise forgo it on my other bikes. Sometimes I think the speed is off when I'm just relying on GPS (mostly too slow), so if I'm really concerned about having accurate speed and distance (like never), I can always use my road bike.

But JP, it's added weight, and it's all about marginal gains, right?

Ok, another Bolt issue has been dogging me for the past few weeks.

My Wahoo Tickr HRM transmitter hasn't been communicating well with my Bolt.  I tried updating the firmware.  Didn't do anything.  Had a several-days long (like 8) back and forth via email with Wahoo support.  They eventually sent me a new Tickr.  Arrived yesterday.  Updated the firmware, took it out on a ride today.

The problem persists!  The Bolt isn't picking up the Tickr until more than an hour into the ride.  

Strikes me as a Bolt issue now.  But I don't understand what could have gone bad.  

Anyone have this issue before?

Going to call Wahoo on Monday and see if talking is faster.  

Have you been wetting the nodes before putting it on? I had a similar issue with connecting to Zwift and contacted Wahoo about it. They said the new Tickr is more sensitive than prior generations (I haven’t had problems since) so without pre-wetting connection and reading will be iffy at best

Matt Budofsky said:

Have you been wetting the nodes before putting it on? I had a similar issue with connecting to Zwift and contacted Wahoo about it. They said the new Tickr is more sensitive than prior generations (I haven’t had problems since) so without pre-wetting connection and reading will be iffy at best

I thought I was sweating enough.  I did try dabs of saliva.  Maybe I need to try soaking.

turn off bluetooth on your phone, JP — in all likelihood your HR monitor Bluetooth signal is being caught by the phone, and your wahoo is looking for the BT signal instead of ANT+

eloy said:

turn off bluetooth on your phone, JP — in all likelihood your HR monitor Bluetooth signal is being caught by the phone, and your wahoo is looking for the BT signal instead of ANT+

Could be something else, but give it a shot.

Interesting thought.

But I haven't been riding with my phone.  

Buy a new bike with a new computer then.

@mugwump yeah I think it needs more than a dab of saliva to start off. I usually just wet my hand in the sink and drip a good bit of water on and it's fine