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How to use 520 with different bikes

Former Member
Former Member over 9 years ago
Friends,

I just graduated to a 520 from a 510 and can't figure out how to program the 520 to use with two bikes. I have two bikes with different tire sizes and ANT speed/cadence sensors on each. On the 510, I created different bike profiles for each bike. I know that the 520 did away with bike profiles, but I can't figure out how to set it up to use with two separate bikes. I found the manual to be . . . less than helpful.

Thoughts?

Thanks!
  • 0 over 9 years ago
    The wheel size is now an attribute of the speed sensor. If you go down in to the details for each of the sensors you should so an option to manually set the wheel size for that sensors. By default the will use automatic wheel sizing.
  • 0 over 9 years ago
    To expand on this just a little more, the concept of the bike profiles and needing to tell the 520 which bike you're using is gone now. You just go to the "Sensors" menu and add every sensor you have for every bike you have, plus any heart rate sensors, to the 520's "Sensor Pool." Then when you start the 520 it will select any sensors from the pool that are active and use them. In event of a conflict (power from my smart trainer and my bike's Quarq both being present, for example) the 520 will ask you which one you want to use. No bike selection necessary since the sensors on the bike you're riding will be active but the ones on the other bike won't be. It's a nice improvement, IMO.
  • 0 over 9 years ago
    To expand on this just a little more, the concept of the bike profiles and needing to tell the 520 which bike you're using is gone now. You just go to the "Sensors" menu and add every sensor you have for every bike you have, plus any heart rate sensors, to the 520's "Sensor Pool." Then when you start the 520 it will select any sensors from the pool that are active and use them. In event of a conflict (power from my smart trainer and my bike's Quarq both being present, for example) the 520 will ask you which one you want to use. No bike selection necessary since the sensors on the bike you're riding will be active but the ones on the other bike won't be. It's a nice improvement, IMO.


    It sounds great but what about battery life?
    Will it continue with searching for sensors after it found some. So in other words would it not safe battery when you only have 3 sensors that are already found so it does not continue to search?

    Thanks
  • 0 over 9 years ago
    It stops searching for additional sensors a few minutes after you start the timer.
  • 0 over 9 years ago
    To expand on this just a little more, the concept of the bike profiles and needing to tell the 520 which bike you're using is gone now. You just go to the "Sensors" menu and add every sensor you have for every bike you have, plus any heart rate sensors, to the 520's "Sensor Pool." Then when you start the 520 it will select any sensors from the pool that are active and use them. In event of a conflict (power from my smart trainer and my bike's Quarq both being present, for example) the 520 will ask you which one you want to use. No bike selection necessary since the sensors on the bike you're riding will be active but the ones on the other bike won't be. It's a nice improvement, IMO.


    Not so nice if you swap sensors between bikes.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 9 years ago
    I have a warm up bike with powertap that a use on a turbo then swap to race bike which has a Quarq, I used to have different profiles which the helped the 510 identify which bike was beeing used. Can we name the power the different senors as they only come up as numbers.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 9 years ago
    Can we name the power the different senors as they only come up as numbers.


    Yes the sensors can be renamed. Settings -> Sensors -> Select required sensor -> Select Name ->
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 9 years ago
    To expand on this just a little more, the concept of the bike profiles and needing to tell the 520 which bike you're using is gone now. You just go to the "Sensors" menu and add every sensor you have for every bike you have, plus any heart rate sensors, to the 520's "Sensor Pool." Then when you start the 520 it will select any sensors from the pool that are active and use them. In event of a conflict (power from my smart trainer and my bike's Quarq both being present, for example) the 520 will ask you which one you want to use. No bike selection necessary since the sensors on the bike you're riding will be active but the ones on the other bike won't be. It's a nice improvement, IMO.


    I'm not sure that this feature works for 100%. I've got 2 bikes : one with the factory sensors on it and a secound bike with the old garmin speed-cadance sensor on it. I went for a ride this afternoon with the secound bike, the other being in the same garage box when I turned up the garmin. He didn't ask me anything, but when on the road, I noticed that he was not connected to my speed-cadance sensor. I had to go in the settings and connect it manually!!

    I'll keep a eye on this and see if, when I use the same bike for a few rides, he will connect to the correct sensors. I doubt it to be honnest!! Solution : only turn on the 520 when outside and far away from the garage box. Not cool:mad:
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 9 years ago
    I'm not sure that this feature works for 100%. I've got 2 bikes : one with the factory sensors on it and a secound bike with the old garmin speed-cadance sensor on it. I went for a ride this afternoon with the secound bike, the other being in the same garage box when I turned up the garmin. He didn't ask me anything, but when on the road, I noticed that he was not connected to my speed-cadance sensor. I had to go in the settings and connect it manually!!

    I'll keep a eye on this and see if, when I use the same bike for a few rides, he will connect to the correct sensors. I doubt it to be honnest!! Solution : only turn on the 520 when outside and far away from the garage box. Not cool:mad:


    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.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 9 years ago
    I'm not sure that this feature works for 100%. I've got 2 bikes : one with the factory sensors on it and a secound bike with the old garmin speed-cadance sensor on it. I went for a ride this afternoon with the secound bike, the other being in the same garage box when I turned up the garmin. He didn't ask me anything, but when on the road, I noticed that he was not connected to my speed-cadance sensor. I had to go in the settings and connect it manually!!

    I'll keep a eye on this and see if, when I use the same bike for a few rides, he will connect to the correct sensors. I doubt it to be honnest!! Solution : only turn on the 520 when outside and far away from the garage box. Not cool:mad:
    You are correct, the 520 doesn't handle the selection correctly when there is a mixture of type speed only and type spd/cad in the sensor pool. It connects to the first one it sees and doesn't look for the other type. So you need to avoid waking the sensor on the other bike or wait until out of range before turning on the 520. Another option is to disable the other sensor in the menu.