After a 1,5h train outside yesterday, I was looking forward to trying and comparing the old fashion Monark LT2 and driving it against TrainerRoad (TR) training programs.
To make it work, I realized that a new receiver with bigger screen and better BLE so I also bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab A10.1 Reader with Ant + (Pulse/Cadence Meter) and BLE (Power Meter) and a stable holder for the galaxy plate. As well as mounting the cadence sensor that was available as double-sided tape and also bottom band mount.
The entire connection went very smoothly and in practice just plug in and run.
There are adapters for QR and Thru shafts in both 130/135/142 / 148mm width and no worries there.
An advantage of the tabletop against a small smartphone is of course that the screen becomes much clearer and the mount was actually really stable.
Another clear advantage of the tablet is that I could finally download updates to the powermeter Quarq in a better way.
For some reason, this has not been completely stable with smartphone (Samsung Android)
Concerning that the power path now delivers fairly equivalent power figures between the Quarq Eagle XX1 Power Meter and the Wahoo Kickr Gen4, but too early to say something about driving a passport, we'll see.
The important thing is that all my power meters Favero Assioma and Quarq Eagle deliver equivalent numbers and hopefully right.
According to reviews Kickr Waahoo Gen 4 has proved to deliver accurate power values and so even Quarq and Favero Assioma iaccording to DC rainmaker and Bike Radar.
Comparison with the Monarch ergometer in the Background
Can drive against 3rd part programs that control the resistance!
This is the future and Monark does not make it happen, that most people will probably buy a lower-priced smart trainer and instead of the monarch for this reason.
More precision in training!
Regardless of cadence, TR controls the effect of the smarttrainer and it is always the right intensity regardless of the cadence.
Additionally, you can vary the effect in an interval which becomes more natural.The power steps come soft and it goes wonderfully quietly.
Should you adjust the effect in Monark, you can manually handle it yourself with the resistance or the cadence.
With the smarttrainer i can decide which cadence I want to train.
Better position to work out!
Felt a bit strange to sit on the outdoor bike inside but i realise that i soon goona adapt to this habit.
Will use my hardtail MTB and even the Racer.
Thinking that can be a definite advantage is to practice the bike with geometries that match anatomically with the tool what I want to perform on.
Higher reliability!
The reason is that the potentiometer measures only the braking force in the friction belt that surrounds the 20kg heavy flywheel. Acceleration is not measured, which gives a lack of dynamics in the measurement, for example at speed changes and maximal cadence exercises from, say, 50-120 Rpm to high resistance.
The electronically-steered flywheel measures more directly and accurately can handle effects up to 2200W in the manual.
Better feeling with the monarch!
The Monark Ergometer certainly gives the same training effect, but it is relatively stupid that it works best if you drive with some resistance and even cadence.
However, the Monark is very easy to drive and gives a more natural bicycle feeling and certainly has a reproducibility and reliability with the exception of what I describe above.
But you compare primarily with yourself and differences should have the same effect, but for sure you want to measure the power you can deliver and compare with others in a more reliable way.
It's so stable and does not mess a mm if you do not want it.
Is the bike damaged by stuck in the train?
Canyon claims this and the frame warranties cease, pivotal forces against the bracket in the trains may create abnormal breaks.
But on the other hand, it is rare to hear something about this and if it were a significant problem.
Most breakouts appear to be crashes or too much violence against the frames.