2020 Civante Review, Initial 100 mile Impressions

I don't know how much has changed on the Civante vs the older bikes but...the bluetooth communication seemed lacking and it was not clear what apps could be used to read the cadence and power data. I've only played around with it very minimally and out of the 10 or so that I tried, only the Wahoo app seemed to read it. But I've not played with it on an actual ride. 🤓

View attachment 62998
RTG Cycling also reads the Power. I’ve used the Civante on Wahoo, Zwift, Rouvy, Ride with GPS, to name a few
 
Hey Oski, can you talk a little about the connectivity stuff re the Wahoo or RWGPS? This has sort of gotten past me but it sounds interesting. Pretend you’re talking to an idiot.
 
LoL Dave, I’m new to it too but basically Wahoo and RWGPS are like the bike computer (Display X) that we have on our bikes. But, Wahoo, RWGPS and Kamoot add a Navigation component (using either an app on your phone or a Garmin/Wahoo device) that you can mount on your bike. They’re not just for Navigation, they also give you data that our Display X isn’t giving us (like elevation gain, avg heart rate, calories burned). Apps like Rouvy and Zwift add a gaming component to riding a bike. Rouvy tracks my ride but on the display it shows me pedaling in some carton world on my phone. You can compete on Zwift with riders from all over the world. It really is a complicated set of phone apps and devices. Some apps don’t register the Power transmission on my ebike while others do. Some include heart rate data, while others don’t. I know I’m making it sound confusing and that’s because they all overlap now a days. Some apps like Strava used to just track your rides. Now it also lets you plan rides like Kamoot does. Rouvy actually lets you go on a virtual ride of some (maybe all) of the Tour de France stages. I like that better because it’s not a cartoon. They actually use real Google Maps-like footage so it feels more real on my big screen 4K TV. What do you specifically want to know Dave? The picture is of the Wahoo app on my phone (just for you to see)
 

Attachments

  • 9E7F1751-2BAC-431C-9F43-EBB430C70DB6.jpeg
    9E7F1751-2BAC-431C-9F43-EBB430C70DB6.jpeg
    76.2 KB · Views: 318
Last edited:
I didn't write the question very well. I've been on RWGPS for several years, used as my bike computer on my iPhone. I'm buying a Wahoo Roam currently for this year to see how that stacks up against the iPhone, and this discussion of feeding data from the Civante to these things caught my eye. That's the part I haven't waded into yet.

However, looking at your answer, I wandered into the other side of the basement where my Civante is sadly waiting out the winter, turned it on, and played with the Sensors setting I found in RWGPS, and lo and behold, I see that I can get the cadence from the bike onto my computer screen, so that's great. I need to learn some more about getting power numbers onto the Wahoo and what is involved with that.

I've been happy with the iPhone's implementation of RWGPS, especially the mapping, the smoothness of the map rendering and the excellent voice nav cues. It seems like some of that will go away with a Roam or Karoo, but on the other hand I will gain gradient as a metric, which I cannot get on the phone, and that is a biggie for me. Much better battery life and the phone can just go in the handlebar bag where it belongs.

Always fun playing with the technical stuff! Thanks for the response. I cannot wait to get that bike back in business again fairly soon now.
 
A few questions for you guys...I also use RWGPS and isn't gradient shown on their phone map readout as a standard element? When you talk about "power" readings are you referring to a program that actually can show a power measure (watts) on a blue tooth connected display on the Civante? That would be cool... thanks
 
A few questions for you guys...I also use RWGPS and isn't gradient shown on their phone map readout as a standard element? When you talk about "power" readings are you referring to a program that actually can show a power measure (watts) on a blue tooth connected display on the Civante? That would be cool... thanks
I attached a pic of the readout for Strava which shows avg power (watts)
 

Attachments

  • B864E17F-C28B-4BBE-9CE3-1A54063D0AFD.jpeg
    B864E17F-C28B-4BBE-9CE3-1A54063D0AFD.jpeg
    308.2 KB · Views: 327
  • 0FA7640B-02CF-4DB3-ADCF-226D962CBF12.png
    0FA7640B-02CF-4DB3-ADCF-226D962CBF12.png
    147.7 KB · Views: 325
I didn't write the question very well. I've been on RWGPS for several years, used as my bike computer on my iPhone. I'm buying a Wahoo Roam currently for this year to see how that stacks up against the iPhone, and this discussion of feeding data from the Civante to these things caught my eye. That's the part I haven't waded into yet.

However, looking at your answer, I wandered into the other side of the basement where my Civante is sadly waiting out the winter, turned it on, and played with the Sensors setting I found in RWGPS, and lo and behold, I see that I can get the cadence from the bike onto my computer screen, so that's great. I need to learn some more about getting power numbers onto the Wahoo and what is involved with that.

I've been happy with the iPhone's implementation of RWGPS, especially the mapping, the smoothness of the map rendering and the excellent voice nav cues. It seems like some of that will go away with a Roam or Karoo, but on the other hand I will gain gradient as a metric, which I cannot get on the phone, and that is a biggie for me. Much better battery life and the phone can just go in the handlebar bag where it belongs.

Always fun playing with the technical stuff! Thanks for the response. I cannot wait to get that bike back in business again fairly soon now.
I attached a pic of the app Cyclemeter where is shows elevation. The 2nd pic is from RWGPS which shows gradient (the iPhone version of RWGPS shows gradient). Komoot also shows gradient.
 

Attachments

  • 48542086-BFF3-4878-B13B-166692DC7726.png
    48542086-BFF3-4878-B13B-166692DC7726.png
    258.6 KB · Views: 318
  • CF14DD3A-3093-48FF-A818-7F3744D677D5.png
    CF14DD3A-3093-48FF-A818-7F3744D677D5.png
    742.4 KB · Views: 309
Last edited:
I didn't write the question very well. I've been on RWGPS for several years, used as my bike computer on my iPhone. I'm buying a Wahoo Roam currently for this year to see how that stacks up against the iPhone, and this discussion of feeding data from the Civante to these things caught my eye. That's the part I haven't waded into yet.

However, looking at your answer, I wandered into the other side of the basement where my Civante is sadly waiting out the winter, turned it on, and played with the Sensors setting I found in RWGPS, and lo and behold, I see that I can get the cadence from the bike onto my computer screen, so that's great. I need to learn some more about getting power numbers onto the Wahoo and what is involved with that.

I've been happy with the iPhone's implementation of RWGPS, especially the mapping, the smoothness of the map rendering and the excellent voice nav cues. It seems like some of that will go away with a Roam or Karoo, but on the other hand I will gain gradient as a metric, which I cannot get on the phone, and that is a biggie for me. Much better battery life and the phone can just go in the handlebar bag where it belongs.

Always fun playing with the technical stuff! Thanks for the response. I cannot wait to get that bike back in business again fairly soon now.
The Wahoo app shows Climbing data (like VAM (Velocità Ascensionale Media) and Cadence. See attached pic
 

Attachments

  • 8D70C589-44CD-495A-9E66-7F0606E0FEA8.png
    8D70C589-44CD-495A-9E66-7F0606E0FEA8.png
    174.6 KB · Views: 306
RWGPS shows gradient data after the ride, but I am looking for it during a ride, not necessarily on a planned route. I need to know as I am climbing which swear words I should be using, and at what volume.
 
Grade is one of the myriad fields garmin devices can display, along with every combination of elevation you could want. I don’t think they can display a hill profile for an unplanned route, but when I’m following pre-planned tracks it will display a full elevation profile as well.
 
Why did you choose the Wahoo roam, Dave.. what added benefits over RWGPS on the cell phone?
I don’t use the device but I use the Wahoo app because I like using Komoot to plan my routes but Komoot doesn’t send routes to Strava. If I send my rides from Komoot to Wahoo, Wahoo will send my rides to Strava.
 
Good question! I don't know, so I thought I'd wade into the bike specific computer world and see for myself. Not a Garmin fan generally, and Wahoo seems to have a loyal fan base.
 
Did you need to do anything special to sync your Yamaha Bluetooth with Strava for power and cadence?
I run Strava on my Apple Watch. Doing this transmits my heart rate to Strava. In order for Strava to calculate Avg Power, it uses the data it gets from my Apple Watch (which has an always on altimeter, a heart rate monitor, speed sensor, distance, heart rate cool-down monitoring after the ride, oximeter for oxygen level data). Strava uses some (or all) of this data to calculate average power. On the RTG Cycling app, I transmit my Yamaha power data directly and the app uses that data to calculate speed/cadence. Each app is different with regards to what it likes to use to calculate speed/cadence/power. When I use the Wahoo or Ride with GPS apps on my iPhone, I connect my Yamaha ebike to transmit speed/cadence data. Wahoo and RWGPS then sends the data from my ebike to Strava to calculate average power. I post my rides on Strava because my friends follow each other on Strava. I hope this helps.
 
Last edited:
Back