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

[cppatrik]

No doubt it will be to do with testing and consistency with the API calls against their servers. They will develop a new version of the software and possibly make modifications to their servers to accommodate the changes. There is no guarantee an old version of the application will work with the current server software and it will need a lot more testing resources to check if that was to be their policy.

Understand that completely, but in this case i moved the trainer from my "cave" near to my wifi, hocked up my android tab, installed previous fimware and it worked. problem is that i can not have my trainer inside appartment as my neigbours will "tar and feather" me I just wanted to see if it would work. I'm wondering about getting "lan over electricity sockets" so that the tab can have internet conectivity in my "cave".

 

[ashworthacca]

when using the IOS app there is at least a 20 second delay before the app responds to anything. If I start pedaling it is not recognized, if I stop pedaling it still thinks I am. It is totally unusable as it is for me. Any idea when an update to the app will be issued?

 

[horusgm]

I bought a Kickr Snap. stated as Bkool full compatible.

The trainer is very nice and quiet. It does work very well with Zwift but I couldn't pair it with BKool Cycling Simulator.
Actually during Bkool session the link ( the Snap is linked to a PC by an ANT + Key) seems to fall down. Then a pop up appears asking me if I want to close session, then, if I continue the session starts again until next crash...and so on. Also the gradient % shown in program doesn't match to what I feel on my bike, or easy easy or strong as 10% and over.......(I've already done the firmware update and advanced spindown....)
I've already written to BKOOL. They told me to switch off all wireless devices next PC, and put the kickr snap next the ant + dongle.
I did it, but, nothing changes.
It starts, then it stops...And then it resumes.
The gradient % is almost never paired to trainer strenght.
I like BKool Indoor as I think it is the most interesting Cycling simulator program.
Will BKOOL able to Fix this issue?

 

[jewbs]

I bought a tacx neo and subscribed to bkool simulator free trial. I assumed it would automatically carry on into the premium membership as i signed up for unless i cancelled during the free period which i haven't. The trial period has finished and i now just have a free membership not a premium one which is very limited. When i look at my orders it has my original sign up order , then my order for premium subscription which is cancelled and another order made on the following day for premium subs that says pending , all have different order numbers. I have left it for a couple of weeks as i have been undecided about carrying on with bkool, i'm a bit disappointed with the choice of routes (with video) in areas i like but have decided to stay with it for a year and see what happens. Do i have to just sign up to premium again or has something gone wrong with my membership?

 

[uclown2002]

I bought a tacx neo and subscribed to bkool simulator free trial. I assumed it would automatically carry on into the premium membership as i signed up for unless i cancelled during the free period which i haven't. The trial period has finished and i now just have a free membership not a premium one which is very limited. When i look at my orders it has my original sign up order , then my order for premium subscription which is cancelled and another order made on the following day for premium subs that says pending , all have different order numbers. I have left it for a couple of weeks as i have been undecided about carrying on with bkool, i'm a bit disappointed with the choice of routes (with video) in areas i like but have decided to stay with it for a year and see what happens. Do i have to just sign up to premium again or has something gone wrong with my membership?

Have they not responded your email?

 

[RJKflyer]

Just to add I too am mightily frustrated with the 2.541 breaking the pairing with the 'Trainer' signal for Kickr.

Like others I seem only able to get to read signals 'from' devices (including power from Kickr) but no longer control the Kickr.

 

[gos]

My trial period ends in 2 two days. I've decided to stay with Bkool rather than going Zwift like most people seem to be doing these days. There are pros and cons. Pros are for example a lot of variety in routes and I do like the simulator itself. Some nice features and the presentation is pretty cool in many ways. The cons are mostly with the website and its interface and navigation for example:

-The fact that you cannot delete or modify anything is mind boggling to me. Turning everything into a route results in a lot of substandard, possibly incorrect routes (since you can't even modify or delete bogus rides)
-The session search is very inefficient. Looking for routes for a particular country for example is difficult - the search only seems to use the title field in during search.
-How about adding to the search criteria - max gradient, climbing distance etc ?
-After searching I click a route to look at details - then go back and the search criteria is reset to defaults.
-Why can I only see top 50 ranking cyclist in each route (I suck so hardly make any list and therefore have no idea where I stand in the grand scheme)?
-I would love to be able to delete/hide things in my activity feed.
-If someone writes a comment on my activity I get an email - not a notification on the site itself (small icon at the top right)
-Adding a route to favorite results in an event on my calendar?
-As I write this the synch between bkool and strava is not working (is this common?)

The interface is not very intuitive and navigation is not straightforward but there is something cool about bkool and its community and I'm gonna stick with this until summer when I will ride outside. I would really love to see bkool succeed but in order for that to happen I believe they must listen to their users and be reactive to their comments/complaints and suggestions. Come fall we'll see how this stands.

Peace and progress.

Gos

 

[borchgrevink]

I would like @Bkool to comment on these things...

 

[uncle_adolph]

I would like @Bkool to comment on these things...

Any time anyone has a go at their product BKool seem to scarper.

Shame, really. It's only by taking on board what for the most part is very valid criticism that it will improve.

 

[jewbs]

Have they not responded your email?

I don't seem to be getting anywhere with bkool, not impressed so far with their customer services. I emailed them with my problem and explained that they had cancelled my order and then set up a new order the next day that is still pending and in response they have said they haven't cancelled my order, they cannot tell me why my order is pending and maybe its a problem with my credit card. They then added a link to take out a new premium subscription.

I wrote back saying they had cancelled my order and set up a new one and that i wasn't happy about paying a new premium subscription whilst i had one pending. I have not heard back from them yet which i think is pretty poor.
Their willingness to help resolve a customer problem seems to be very lacking.

 

[jewbs]

An update from yesterday. Bkool had not responded to my reply so i sent them another email asking for help to sort out my orders so that i could get a premium subscription. I asked if they could at least cancel the pending order so that i could take out a new one. They did reply and said they have cancelled the pending order but looking at my orders page this morning it is still pending and not cancelled.
I'm really getting fed up with bkool now, this surely isn't rocket science to sort out.
I am now starting to wonder whether to bother with bkool anymore. Does anyone have any suggestions for other simulators that will work with my mac book and ant+, i like riding to videos.
Shame bkool can't get their act together.

 

[gos]

Hi,
I had about 800m left on a 33 km ride (bornholm part 1) when my computer crashed. I mean the power went off (and this is a laptop with a new battery). Probably due to overheating - very dissapointing :-) Any way - is there a dumpfile somewhere on the computer or does bkool keep a file of what I had ridden?

I would love to have this data, the kilometers, hr and more. If bkool does not store any data at some intervals (every 100-200m or some other predefined intervals (like strava and more apps) it would definately be a good feature to have. Something like - "Do you want to continue with this ride" type-of-thing.

Gos

 

[uncle_adolph]

So I wonder how BKool are getting on with the forum which, back in November on page 2 of this thread, they promised us at "the beginning of next year"

 

[aguppy]

Can they remove the obvious "bogus" times from the rankings......some of the KOMs are just a joke!!.....and what is the point of slope reduction

 

[bridgy]

My trial period ends in 2 two days. I've decided to stay with Bkool rather than going Zwift like most people seem to be doing these days. There are pros and cons. Pros are for example a lot of variety in routes and I do like the simulator itself. Some nice features and the presentation is pretty cool in many ways. The cons are mostly with the website and its interface and navigation for example:

-The fact that you cannot delete or modify anything is mind boggling to me. Turning everything into a route results in a lot of substandard, possibly incorrect routes (since you can't even modify or delete bogus rides)
-The session search is very inefficient. Looking for routes for a particular country for example is difficult - the search only seems to use the title field in during search.
-How about adding to the search criteria - max gradient, climbing distance etc ?
-After searching I click a route to look at details - then go back and the search criteria is reset to defaults.
-Why can I only see top 50 ranking cyclist in each route (I suck so hardly make any list and therefore have no idea where I stand in the grand scheme)?
-I would love to be able to delete/hide things in my activity feed.
-If someone writes a comment on my activity I get an email - not a notification on the site itself (small icon at the top right)
-Adding a route to favorite results in an event on my calendar?
-As I write this the synch between bkool and strava is not working (is this common?)

The interface is not very intuitive and navigation is not straightforward but there is something cool about bkool and its community and I'm gonna stick with this until summer when I will ride outside. I would really love to see bkool succeed but in order for that to happen I believe they must listen to their users and be reactive to their comments/complaints and suggestions. Come fall we'll see how this stands.

Peace and progress.

Gos

@gos - the automatic sync to Strava has randomly stopped working about once every 6 weeks or so since I've been using Bkool from last November. It stops working for a few days and then magically begins to work again. I just upload the rides to Strava manually when the sync is down (it doesn't duplicate them when it starts working again).