How to use 520 with different bikes

Like you, I have one bike with the old GSC-10 senor and one with the new sensors and I have not had a problem getting the correct sensors picked up by the 520. I do make sure not to move the other bike once I have the 520 switched on. Did you move your other bike - the one with the new sensors on it? This would be enough to wake the senors up get them connected to the 520.

The other bike is hanging on the wall, so 100 % sure it didn't move! I'll try to do some other tests this weekend. As mentionned : only turning on the edge when already outside the garage box.

You can't. The Edge 520 does not have bike profiles; it recognizes sensors, not bikes.

Or at least you can't on the device itself. In Garmin Connect, you can add "Gear" to an activity.

I have a major problem with the sensor pool concept versus bike profile concept.

Say you have 2 bikes, one with 175mm cranks, and one with 172.50mm cranks and you have a pedal based powermeter that you change between bikes regularly (-> same sensor).

With bike profile, you can configure the crank length in the bike profile (along with other info, as wheel size and weight). With the sensor pool, you need to change the crank length on the sensor every time you switch bikes.

Ok, I realize that this is only a problem for people in my situation, but it's rather annoying. I didn't find a workaround either. It just feels like a step backwards in user-friendlyness.

Any suggestions for a workaround are welcome. BTW, same goes for 920xt.

How about if you are not using sensors?

I have a more basic question: I have a new 520 and a road and mtb. what is the best way to insure that the miles/rides I put on both bikes are properly attributed to each bike? At present, the method I have found is to have two bikes loaded in the gear section of garmin connect and then change which bike is the default bike in my mobile app prior to a give ride on either bike. Any tips welcome!

I pick up my bike from the basement and switch my Garmin on only then when my other bikes are out of sight for the Garmin. I also renamed all sensors to self explaining names so that it is quite easy to see if the Garmin is connected to the correct sensors.

I have a more basic question: I have a new 520 and a road and mtb. what is the best way to insure that the miles/rides I put on both bikes are properly attributed to each bike? At present, the method I have found is to have two bikes loaded in the gear section of garmin connect and then change which bike is the default bike in my mobile app prior to a give ride on either bike. Any tips welcome!

I had this same concern... road bike, mountain bike, and leisure bike. The solution I found was to set up an Activity Profile for each bike, each of which will track mileage separately. I'm basically using Activity Profiles as if they were bike profiles. The nice thing about Activity Profiles is that you can change the data fields that are associated with each. For instance, my road bike has cadence, but the other two don't... on the Edge 500, the cadence field would be dead space when riding the other two bikes. I can also pick other fields that I only want to use with certain bikes, and can set Glonass to be active only with the MTB (figuring that with tree cover, it needs all the help it can get, but no need to waste the battery power when riding the other bikes in the clear).

I have several riders who use one set of Powertap P1 pedals on bikes (TT, Road and Track) with varying crank length's. Will they need to set a new crank length each time they use a different bike?

Yes they will.

Seriously Uncool

The more I get my bikes -- road, touring, commuter -- decked out the way I want the more the lack of a "bike profile" sucks. I understand the appeal of a "sensor pool" concept, and especially for people who move sensors around, but why not make it so different "bike profiles" can share sensors? I keep my bikes in my den (and sometimes I sleep with them :D ) and often wind up waking up a bike moving it around. That means I have to get out into the street so my Edge doesn't decide I'm using the wrong sensors. Or like tonight my road bike was in the garage, next to my touring bike as I was working on it, and it kept turning the lights on and off on my road bike each time I came back into the garage!