Tacx Bushido smart trainer

[Johneed]

Hi. Cannot seem to get the software to see the trainer under Ant+ devices. Any advice please? HRM has connected okay. (I am pedalling to activate trainer).

[rncrowhurst]

Hi

I think your Bushido Smart firmware is the issue as you can pick up your HRM. Did you perform a firmware update to your Bushido Smart?

I have two Tacx Bushido Smart and one Vortex Smart. All came from Tacx mid year without the firmware update that updates the unit to let it communicate using ANT+ FE-C which is needed to use either TTS4 and VRide software. Otherwise the units just have BlueTooth "out of the box". The purchaser needs to do the firmware update (or at least when I bought ours mid year this was the case). Without the firmware update the Bushido Smart can not communicate out of the box using this protocol and thus will not be seen by TTS4, VRide or any ANT+ device.

If this is the problem then the solution is covered in http://www.tacx.com/service/analyse/wha ... t-included under FE-C ANT+ open protocol and described in http://www.tacxdata.com/files/support/U ... ainers.pdf.

WIth the Bushido Smart (as you know) you have to keep pedaling the whole time the update is installing. You need to install the Tacx Utility App on your phone or iPad to do the update or take your unit back to your Bike Shop for them to do it. I did all three of our Tacx Smarts - it takes about 5 minutes. You need internet connectivity so make sure you do it in range of your WiFi router.

If you have already done the firmware update then the next thing to check is the placement of the ANT+ sensor. We needed to have it within 30 cm of the Bushido Smart and as the computer was in front of our bikes we needed 3 m USB extension cables to plug the ANT+ sensor into so as to get it as close as possible to the Bushido.

One other little bit of advice. If you have two units at any time only power one on (Vortex by turning on power, Bushidos by pedaling) and then use search on VRide to find it. If you have more than one "powered" then Vride will pick them all up during a search. This is very annoying if one is being used for a ride while the other is being detected - it happened to us and the units gets confused as it suddenly starts getting signal from two computer. Only Search/Detect on powered one unit at a time. Only an issue of you get more than one unit so not really relevant to your current situation.

Anyway, not sure if the firmware update is the reason for your problem but check the firmware version number via bluetooth from your Android or Apple phone using the Tacx Apps for either and then check that against the latest firmware from Tacx (the App should tell you a firmware update is available).

Hope this help

[admin]

Thank you so much for your help. this forum is finally getting to be what it should be

[rncrowhurst]

Here are a few more tips on using your Bushido Smart with movies. These may or may not be helpful to you.

Once you have your new firmware updated you will need to calibrate your Bushido Smart trainer. You may already have done this using an App or TTS4 software if you have it. I have found using a hand held device works best (Android phone with Tacx App installed or iPad with Tacx App and Tacx Utility installed). If you do not calibrate your Bushido trainer then you may experience interesting effects like spillage when riding, erratic pedal resistance – all disappear if your Bushido is calibrated.

Both TTS4 and VeloReality’s VRide allow you to calibrate the trainer but using the hand held device connected via Bluetooth is easiest in my opinion. Then just recheck your calibration in VRide.

An important difference between the Bushido Smart and other trainers is that the Bushido Smart rider powered. If you do not turn the pedals there is no power. No power means no communication which is sought of obvious but low pedal cadence also equates to insufficient power with the Bushido Smart (hmm that was not in any manual I read). TTS4 warns you of low voltage and that your pedaling rate is too slow (this is somewhat annoying when you are grinding up the Tourmalet and you cannot go any faster with the gearing on your bike!). However, VRide does not appear to warn you. So it is important to not let your cadence drop too much on a Bushido Smart no matter what software you use. I have found that it works well with cadences above 53 rpm but below that the Bushido will not be turning fast enough to generate sufficient power to keep communicating with your computer (at least this is our experience with two Bushido Smart trainers). When it happens you will get intermittent signal loss. You will know this is happening as your back wheel will start slipping and skidding as the Bushido looses connectivity and free wheels then reconnects and instantly hits you with 11% gradient (or whatever your were doing) repeatedly and it’s no fun. This tends only to happen with steep gradients (8% plus) and low RPMs. On the Bushido Smart the ways around this fall into two categories (physical and virtual solution). Physical solutions include:

1. Get stronger and pedal faster (yeah not going to happen for me!)
2. Fit a cluster with a 30/32 on back (but don’t need this low gearing when on road in my region) to suite the movie

Your Bushido Smart is reasonably realistic in gradient emulation. For example riding the last 6 km stretch of Ventoux in real life this year and an month later in VR using VRide was within 1.30 min of each other time wise.

Better options are to use virtual solutions which involves changing your gradient settings in VRide and its a really nice feature of this software!. The default gradient reduction is something like 5% to 10%. I use 9% to 15% for many of my films but 7% - 13% for the challenging climbs (I am about 84 kg). My wife uses 7% to 13% generally or sometimes 5%-13%). If you find your cadence on some of the long climb movies is too low and the Bushido is playing up as a result, then play with the gradient reduction (see the VRide manual) as it allows for “virtual gearing” in a sense.

Next – tire choice: we have found that some road tires squeal badly when used on our Bushido Smarts. Old Vittoria Rubino Pro tires off our road bikes make little if any sound where as a Specialised Mondo Pro makes an unbearable squeal while a Specialised Roubaix Pro tire makes no noise. If your tires make too much noise on your Bushido try a different one – it can make the world of difference to riding pleasure on the Bushido Smart.

The Bushido Smart is a nice unit but being rider powered means its not quite as simple as other electric powered trainers. Hope these insights may be of help to you with your Bushido Smart.

[Johneed]

Many thanks for such a full reply. I am new to this so will chew over the broader advice you have given. I terms of pairing the Bushido I have it hooked up now. I had updated to the latest the firmware via the Tacx utility but I don't think I was pedalling hard enough and maybe a bit too far away from the Ant+ usb - although only 3m. Thanks again for the advice I'll have a play around tomorrow with the demo.

[Daniel]

Received a Bushido a few weeks ago and tried the VR software demo. I checked the Bushido firmware, installed a ANT+ USB stick on a laptop, had the laptop in front of the bike and everything paired with no issues (mind you I removed the battery from my Garmin speed and cadence sensor). Hope you get yours to work properly.

[jmaiquez]

Hi everyone. I've followed the steps to update the Tacx Bushido Smart firmware, and VR does seem to recognise the trainer, but it does not show up in the "Resistance Trainers" section of VR. That defaults to "User defined trainer", and the Bushido Smart is not listed. Should it be?

Also, in the "Ant+ Devices", it is listed as ID 2437. The PWR and S/C indicators stay red, but it does update the values for power and cadence when I pedal. The speed value does not update (it stays at .000kph).

Any ideas?

[admin]

Hi everyone. I've followed the steps to update the Tacx Bushido Smart firmware, and VR does seem to recognise the trainer, but it does not show up in the "Resistance Trainers" section of VR. That defaults to "User defined trainer", and the Bushido Smart is not listed. Should it be?

You have Smart computer controlled trainer. Resistance trainers section is totally irrelevant for your setup.

Also, in the "Ant+ Devices", it is listed as ID 2437. The PWR and S/C indicators stay red, but it does update the values for power and cadence when I pedal. The speed value does not update (it stays at .000kph).
Any ideas?

1) Do you have separate ANT+ speed and cadence sensors. If you do they should turn green when you start pedaling.
2) If not those ID's you have there might be left overs from your previous state (before updating firmware). Click "Search" button to let the software flush all previous data and pair to you current ANT+ devices. If your speed/cadence sensor IDs are marked as grey it means their values are taken from the trainer itself.
3) Speed reported by trainer shown as zero and ignored. We do our own speed calculations based on power reported by trainer/powermeter and input parameters such as current road grade, weight etc

[jmaiquez]

1) Do you have separate ANT+ speed and cadence sensors. If you do they should turn green when you start pedaling.

No, I don't.

2) If your speed/cadence sensor IDs are marked as grey it means their values are taken from the trainer itself.

I see what you mean- the bars next to the actual values in the main area of the screen are indeed gray. I guess the thing that was throwing me was that the icons at the bottom left of the screen were red (for both PWR and S/C).

3) Speed reported by trainer shown as zero and ignored. We do our own speed calculations

Ok, got it. I tested the demo video and saw the speed values in action. Thanks for explaining!