So, you’ve upgraded your Garmin and you’re ready to conquer your next spin class? That’s fantastic! Like me, you might be eager to see all that juicy data from your Technogym Spin Bike syncing with your shiny new Garmin Forerunner 265. I recently made the switch from a Vivoactive 4 and was thrilled to discover the Forerunner 265 not only tracks cadence and speed like my old watch but also power output during my spin sessions.
When I first looked into connecting my watch to the Technogym bikes at my gym, I couldn’t find a straightforward guide specifically for this setup. Many gyms are kitted out with Technogym spin bikes, often the models with the basic screens that broadcast ANT+ signals for speed, cadence, and power. These bikes can also pick up your heart rate from your watch via both BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) and ANT+.
Here’s how I figured out how to connect my Garmin Forerunner to these Technogym spin bikes and get all your workout data in one place.
Getting Your Heart Rate Connected
If your gym uses bikes connected to the MyWellness app (look for that little WiFi symbol on the bike screen), you can actually pair your phone to the bike. However, for Garmin connectivity, you’ll want to focus on broadcasting your heart rate directly from your watch.
- Enable Broadcast During Activity: On your Garmin Forerunner, start an indoor cycling activity and ensure heart rate broadcasting is enabled in the activity settings. This saves battery compared to always-on broadcasting.
- Activate Heart Rate on the Bike: Once you start pedaling, press the heart symbol on the Technogym spin bike screen. Press once for BLE, and twice for ANT+. In my experience, ANT+ provides a more reliable connection.
- Pair Your Watch: Keep your watch close to the bike screen until it displays your ANT+ ID. The bike automatically connects to the heart rate monitor with the strongest signal. You should see your heart rate displayed on the bike screen.
Connecting Bike Data: Speed, Cadence, and Power to Your Garmin
Now, for the really cool part – getting speed, cadence, and power data from the Technogym spin bike directly to your Garmin Forerunner. To do this, you’ll need the ANT+ ID of the spin bike itself. This ID isn’t readily visible on the bike or in any menus, which is where a little bit of detective work comes in.
Finding the Technogym Bike’s ANT+ ID
This is where I had to get a bit geeky! I couldn’t find the bike’s ANT+ ID anywhere obvious, so I took matters into my own hands after a class. My gym conveniently numbers the bikes, which is a big help.
- Identify Bike Numbers: Note down the numbers of the bikes in your spin studio.
- Scan for Sensors: With your Garmin Forerunner in sensor pairing mode (Settings > Sensors & Accessories > Add New > Search All Sensors), go to each bike one by one.
- Activate Bike Sensor: Turn the pedal of each bike to wake up its sensors.
- Record ANT+ IDs: When a sensor appears on your Garmin, note down the ANT+ ID and associate it with the bike number. I created a simple table on my phone to keep track of bike numbers and their corresponding ANT+ IDs.
Now you have a handy list of bike ANT+ IDs for future spin classes!
Pairing Bike Sensors to Your Garmin Forerunner
Once you have the ANT+ IDs, you can pair the bike’s speed/cadence and power sensors to your Garmin Forerunner.
- Go to Sensor Settings: On your Forerunner, navigate to Settings > Sensors & Accessories > Add New > Search All Sensors.
- Find Bike Sensors: For each bike, you should see two sensors with the same ANT+ ID. One will be for cadence and speed, and the other for power.
- Pair Sensors: Select and pair both the cadence/speed sensor and the power sensor for your chosen bike.
- Disable Auto-Connect (Optional but Recommended): After adding the sensors, I recommend turning off auto-connect for these sensors. This prevents your watch from automatically connecting to different bikes in subsequent classes, which can lead to data from the wrong bike being recorded.
Naming Your Sensors for Easy Identification
The Garmin Forerunner allows you to name sensors, which is incredibly useful here. I highly recommend naming each sensor with the corresponding bike number. This saves you from having to look up the ANT+ ID every time you want to connect to a specific bike. For example, you can name them “Bike 1 Speed/Cadence” and “Bike 1 Power”.
A Note on Backward Pedaling and Power Spikes
One quirk I’ve noticed: if you pedal backward during your spin class (like I sometimes do to engage different muscle groups), the power meter on the bike can go a bit haywire temporarily. You might even see the “x10” label pop up because your power reading spikes over 1000W! While it can be momentarily satisfying to see those huge numbers, be aware that your Garmin will also record this skewed data. Generally, though, I’ve found the power readings to be accurate during normal forward pedaling.
Dealing with Bike Sleep Mode
Another thing to be aware of is that if your cadence drops below around 30-35 RPM for too long, the Technogym bike might go to sleep (it usually flashes a warning first, unless the bike’s battery is low). This can be annoying, especially if you’re on a high resistance and taking a brief break. If this happens, the sensors will automatically reconnect, but you’ll need to press the heart button on the bike screen again to re-establish the heart rate connection.
Spin Smarter, Track Better
Connecting your Garmin Forerunner to a Technogym spin bike unlocks a wealth of data and provides a much richer picture of your indoor cycling workouts. By following these steps, you can seamlessly integrate your Garmin with your favorite spin bike and take your training to the next level. Enjoy your next class with all your data synced and ready for analysis!
