Bkool - issues and ideas - what do you want to tell Bkool?

[bobinski]

Drafting.
I would like clarification on if and when it works. It seems to work with live riders but perhaps not so with ghosts.
Also, if it uses an algorithm to calculate the beneficial impact of drafting I wonder if it would be possible for bkool to show the time benefit?

 

[Paulf1566]

While the topic of other software has come up. I tried Virtual Training software on iOS and it's so much more stable than the Bkool app I haven't had any crashes which I was suffering on the Bkool.
The speed on Virtual Training is more accurate I believe, I noticed my watts were about 25-30 less than on Bkool which I think most people have said tends to read higher than a power meter, that's on my Tacx Bushido.

I do think Bkool have the best platform for leagues, their ghosts and 3D options are excellent, but they could learn a lesson or two on functionality from some of the other softwares. One example is its a lot easier to find rides.

 

[JLaw]

Signal strength indicator for the sensors. If you can't get strength directly, then some way to show dropouts in real time.

It appears that if you have too many league rides scheduled, then you can't see them all in the simulator. One more reason to allow removing scheduled rides.

 

[Bkool]

Would really appreciate if you could hold us updated on the progress of these things.

We do try to keep our users updated with the most important updates, check our Facebook page as we normally publish the most important updates there. Thanks!

 

[Bkool]

Would be great if we could finde/filter members in more ways so we can add friends. Filter by age, country, email, etc etc. Possibly add from Facebook friends etc.

We are currently working on the website to make it more user friendly. Great ideas, we will share them with the web team! Thanks!

 

[Bkool]

For me there just isn't the support there at the moment and if you look on YouTube there isn't that much out there on Bkool. I've got to say that it's an excellent bit of kit but I'm confused about how it works and videos how to do simple stuff would help immensely. A dedicated forum will be a great boost.

Examples
Scheduling sessions. Why and how? How long do the scheduled sessions last? I know it's basic but I don't really know.
The scheduled sessions will stay in "Scheduled" for 24 hours, unless you press set-up and change the date.

Adding ghosts. I found out yesterday that if you slide the time scale it allows you see more ghosts closer to that time. Can't I just see all the ghosts then I can see what is an average time?
You can filter the ghosts, or if you press ALL you can add everyone. We are currently working on making this page more user friendly.

I also find the user interface far from friendly or intuitive and you cannot schedule a session from an iPad, or at least I can't!
We are working on this, any ideas you have would be more than welcome!

Also... The times that appear on Strava seem to include warmup which kind of defeats the object really, or is this something else I'm missing?
We've sent this to the tech department, we will look into this.

Can we have a mouse arrow that disappears as well during a session? I find I'm looking at the riders with an arrow hovering above their heads if I forget to move it to the top of the screen and it's very distracting.
Thanks for the suggestion, we will pass that onto the tech department as well!

Again it's a great system I don't want you to think it's all negative but these are issues for me.

We want everyone to share with us anything we think we can improve. We can promise we will implement everything, but we want you to know we're here and listening!

 

[Bkool]

A dedictation tutorials section would be great as everyone who starts off on Bkool is slightly overwhelmed at first and there's no official help/guidance given.
Great idea Rick, we will are going to think about how we can implement something. What do you think is more user friendly? A website page with pictures or video tutorials?

the times always including warm up and cool down is quite annoying. always have to click into the ride to get just the main section details.
Someone else has already mentioned this, we have already emailed the right people to see what we can do to fix this.

Agreed, its a great system and I dont like to be harsh but for so long now it has felt we were being ibnored and so many having problem with their trainers and set-ups!

As we've said before, we want to hear everything - that way we can make the user experience much better!

 

[Bkool]

My scheduled rides aren't showing up, nor are my favourites etc. So at the moment I'm having to choose out of the live routes and pick one I like from there.

Hi Gurt, have you logged into the website and the simulator with the same account?

 

[Bkool]

It should be possible to list my created routes with just one click, and also delete the ones I don't want to save.

This is a common question, we've already emailed the right people regarding deleting sessions. Thanks!

 

[Bkool]

A better approach to achievements and rewards
Can you expand a little? Tell us what you want to see!

More race information - not just limited to riders around you, rotating to other riders times and positions (especially friends).
What information would you like to see?

Window in window view of other parts of race
Good idea, we've written it down!

More meaningful responses from Bkool

Ok, we will try and give you more meaningful responses from now on

 

[gbrown]

A dedictation tutorials section would be great as everyone who starts off on Bkool is slightly overwhelmed at first and there's no official help/guidance given.
Great idea Rick, we will are going to think about how we can implement something.
What do you think is more user friendly? A website page with pictures or video tutorials?

Personally, I much prefer a page with pictures, as they can be read at any speed, and referred back to for a quick reminder of any points!

Video's only go at one speed, and are very difficult to dip in and out of, I hate the fashion for YouTube video tutorials for everything as they are just so laborious to plough through, and need to be constantly paused, skip back, skip forward, etc.

A nicely laid out web page with pictures to illustrate is the best way to get most things across!

Geoff

 

[Bkool]

I'm still on my trial period and I like the software but using the Tacx Bushido and not having the decending option of the Bkool trainers makes me wonder if I need to look elsewhere with the Tacx. I have to push hard downhill just to keep from losing too much time on anybody on the Bkool, the problem with this is you can't recover on the downhill sections so over a full course you have pushed so hard on the downhill you pretty much have o ease off somewhere to recover

Hi Neil, this is something we're looking into and hopefully have resolved soon.

 

[Bkool]

Personally, I much prefer a page with pictures, as they can be read at any speed, and referred back to for a quick reminder of any points!

Video's only go at one speed, and are very difficult to dip in and out of, I hate the fashion for YouTube video tutorials for everything as they are just so laborious to plough through, and need to be constantly paused, skip back, skip forward, etc.

A nicely laid out web page with pictures to illustrate is the best way to get most things across!

Geoff

We will see what we can do!

 

[g00se]

Just to re-iterate a previous request, currently, there seems to be a bug in the Bkool's firmware implementation of ANT+ FE-C's ERG mode. That means it's difficult to use a Bkool trainer with Zwift and TrainerRoad (The Bkool simulator doesn't have an ERG workout setting). I know this doesn't effect your simulator software but it does mean that when looking at other simulators, the Bkool Pro is at a disadvantage compared to the budget Tax Smart trainers - and this seems to be the main reason the Tacx machines are recommended over the Bkool Pro.

Some more details here in the comments:
http://support.trainerroad.com/hc/en-us/articles/201697324-Bkool-Electronic-Trainers?page=3#comments

 

[Bkool]

Definitely urge you to checkout the cycleops vr software if you have an alternative trainer. Seems to run on pretty much all devices and after the 14 day premium trial you can pay in the week little euro
Let me know your findings.