Owners of first generation Wahoo cycling computers have reported significant issues with their devices since the weekend, the tech company apologising and saying it is working to fix the problem.

Online forums have been full of cyclists reporting data and ride recording issues with their first generation Wahoo Elemnt, Bolt and Roam computers since the weekend, some seeing the wrong date of activities, others missing parts of their ride or not able to record at all.

Wahoo Elemnt Bolt GPS bike computer.jpg
Wahoo Elemnt Bolt GPS bike computer (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)

On Monday, Wahoo first acknowledged the problem and has since provided an update stating it “now fully understands the root cause of the issue” and is “working around the clock on a fix so that users of these devices can continue enjoying riding with them again”.

There’s a certain irony in Wahoo saying it is “working around the clock”, considering the issue appears to be that devices are resetting to the year 2006 because the older devices use a “limited 10-bit system to track GPS time”.

As one reply on a Wahoo forum speculated, “GPS time is counted in ‘weeks’ starting from January 1980, but the counter is only 10 bits long, so it rolls over every 1024 weeks (~19.7 years). If a device’s firmware doesn’t handle that correctly, it can suddenly ‘think’ it’s back in 2006 (1024 weeks before today). Because the device thinks it’s 1st Jan 2006 it’s struggling to lock on to the GPS satellites.”

That would certainly explain why some users’ rides were dated 1 January 2006, others reporting being unable to use their computers at all or missing sections of their rides.

Wahoo Elemnt Roam Best easy to use cycling computer
Wahoo Elemnt Roam Best easy to use cycling computer (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)

One Norfolk based user said their Roam V1 “went into complete meltdown” and kept losing satellite lock. “[It] told me the time was an hour earlier than it actually was and ended up showing 1st Jan 2006 on the finished ride,” the rider reported.

Another UK-based user replied: “I also ran into issues today with my Wahoo Elemnt Bolt v1 (bought in 2020). Same observations: date of my activity was set to 01/01/2006, current time was one [hour] earlier than it actually was, GPS tracker failing to register traces, so no registration of the actual trace, speed and gradient. Location was Belgium.

“I reinstalled the app on my smartphone completely. I did a factory reset of the device but nothing helped. I also think it’s something related to the latest device version. Fingers crossed it gets solved with the next system update.”

Other owners of the brand’s first generation computers reported dodgy GPS data, such as rides in England being tracked to Ireland, Scotland and other far away locations, as well as the aforementioned date and time inaccuracies. In some cases, users said their devices had become completely unusable.

Wahoo Elemnt Bolt GPS bike computer - screen.jpg
Wahoo Elemnt Bolt GPS bike computer - screen (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)

Another British-based rider said: “Everyone had issues yesterday. My ride told me one section was 90 miles from where I was, and the other side of the English Channel, and my max speed was 197km/h! I didn’t know my sprint was that powerful.”

In a statement issued last night, a Wahoo spokesperson responded to the reports and suggested it “now fully understands the root cause of the issue”:

We deeply apologise to our valued customers for the inconvenience experienced over the past few days with the first generation Elemnt, Bolt, and Roam bike computers. We now fully understand the root cause of the issue relating to older first generation devices, which use a limited 10-bit system to track GPS time. We have been working around the clock on a fix so that users of these devices can continue enjoying riding with them again.

Given the age of these devices and the several upgrades to our product platform since, we are testing the firmware update to ensure it runs smoothly and hope to release it to users soon.

Thank you for your patience and understanding so far. Customers should keep an eye on this web page, which will be updated regularly.

The problem appears to have been widespread, affecting hundreds, if not thousands, of Wahoo’s customers. While there doesn’t appear to be much that can be done other than hope the promised fix is coming soon, one affected rider did share a way they managed to get their dodgy activity uploaded to Strava (if you can’t live without the kudos).

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“Find some way to download the fit file (find your activity from Strava, or download directly from the device, or whatever). I plugged the Wahoo into my computer, it showed up as a drive and I went to the ‘exports’ folder. Then I found the file named ‘2006-01-01’.

Wahoo Element GPS Bike Computer - on bars.jpg
Wahoo Element GPS Bike Computer - on bars (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)

“Delete the activity with the incorrect 1/1/2006 date from Strava. This is important — otherwise step 3 will get flagged as ‘duplicate’. Use fitfiletools.com to change the date, then I re-uploaded back to Strava.”

Have any of you experienced issues with your first generation Wahoo devices this week? Let us know in the comments and we’ll be sure to keep you updated with any news from Wahoo as soon as we have it.