Not sure if we’ve already done this, but I just noticed they now have an e-bike category, which presumably should solve the debate over those – anybody logging an e-bike ride as a normal ride is now definitively cheating.

Cheating who?

Fairly sure that it won’t be the first time someone cheats on Strava… 😀

What about someone drafting an e-biker?

Edit: How about sticky bottles?

Who cares?

“I don’t care so much that I have to post to point out I don’t care” prize to slowoldman

What’s the prize money like when you win Strava?

Them gold crowns go for as much as £2.29 on ebay.

You still playing Strava?
I completed it ages ago mate.

Good idea.

simondbarnes – Member
Cheating who?

Mostly themselves

i use strava, its a useful tool to me, as i dont have a computer on my bike and strava lets me know how far ive gone.
it can also tell me (on various sections) how i compare to other people on these sections (im slower).
when i use an ebike (i do use one sometimes) im still slower.
ebikes make unfit people like me faster than unfit people on normal bikes, but they are still slower than a fit person.

If you are worried about someone beating your strava time on an ‘unfair’ bike, you probably don’t have enough to worry about. Get a life, and some perspective chaps.

I’ll have a bite at this one, even though I don’t actually care whether someone on Strava is cheating. But.

When does cheating become acceptable then?

Let’s assume that Strava is a game? At what level of a game/sport does it become unacceptable to cheat? I’d assume that if someone moved from Strava to their local 10mile TT, then the who cares attitude would disappear?

then the who cares attitude would disappear?

It’s the basic love to hate crowd, generally found telling people very loudly how they don’t do Facebook/Twitter/Strava etc.

In Stava terms it’s a very good tool, with the challenges and the rest it can be good, putting an e-bike list up just makes is easy to be honest.

If you are worried about someone beating your strava time on an ‘unfair’ bike, you probably don’t have enough to worry about. Get a life, and some perspective chaps.

Or if you are using an E-bike etc. to set better times etc. you should probably get a life

Before that you’ve got to define what counts as cheating, and this is half the problem. Zwift is great for this, there is a tiny minority who are probably recalibrating their power figures to gain what they believe is an adavantage, there’s a larger percentage who just have miscalibrated power figures, and a vocal subsection who will accuse anyone faster than them of ‘cheating’. But their is no rule that says you need a calibrated power meter. The same with strava, it becomes unacceptable to cheat when there’s a rule that says you’re cheating.

To be fair, I only use it to compare myself to myself.

I’ve ran with both my forerunner 10 and iPhone 5 recording the same route, and found a 20 second per mile difference on the two devices,

A pal who I’ve ran with has some sort of Android phone which gave him almost an extra 0.5 mile over a six mile run for the same time as me. (We ran together, at the same pace)

Or if you are using an E-bike etc. to set better times etc. you should probably get a life

Agreed. Both parties as sad as each other.

The same with strava, it becomes unacceptable to cheat when there’s a rule that says you’re cheating.

Well, Strava themselves make it pretty clear:

Uploading E-bike, motor-assisted or non-conventional bike data to Strava Guidelines

The Segment Leaderboards for cycling are a place for conventional bicycles only, so that the top Segment rankings are not taken by unattainable, motor-assisted times or from fully-faired vehicles(velomobiles).

Uploading data from a car, motorcycle, e-bike, motor-assisted bike, motor-paced ride or any bicycle that includes any non-human propulsion or pedal-assisted force, and categorizing the activity as a “Ride” displaces data uploaded from a human-powered bike, thus conflicting with the fairness and integrity of the Segment Leaderboa

on the accuracy I just compared my last race results with the garmin/strava and it’s 10s different in 2hrs which is probably due to be not being able to press the stop button until after I crossed the line.

On Strava it is so easy to cheat that the best approach is to not give a shit, and focus on improving your own times if that matters to you.

Which is another point we’ve done so many times – it might be easy to cheat, but then it’s easy to cheat at all sorts of other things. Yet most people don’t – at other things, or Strava, because it’s pointless to do so. I’m fairly sure the top of the leaderboards on all the segments around here are genuine – that or the people I know are good are cheating by a tiny amount. Sure don’t take it too seriously, but that doesn’t make the leaderboards totally worthless.

I thought this was a new point which might be interesting to discuss – it’s not compulsory to fill the thread with all the usual anti-Strava BS (from those who’ve never used it or never been in the top 10 on a segment). Though clearly I’m just pissed because I didn’t have my Strava thread bingo card ready.

Those of you who reckon loads of people on Strava are cheating, have you got many KOMs?

Those of you who reckon loads of people on Strava are cheating, have you got many KOMs?

Of course, that’s how I get mine.

E-bike top 10s will looks a bit funny, all at whatever time 15mph av speed gets you with the KOM going to the guy that can pedal a 45lb bike uphill over that speed for a short burst.

I’d be very surprised if those at the top of the leaderboards were on restricted e-bikes. A whole new level of cheating maybe 😉

Of course the question is whether it’s worth bothering with uphill segments on an e-bike as they’re not likely to have any meaning at all, but then I’m sure people will create them, and if not Strava will automatically (I have the KOM for a couple of climbs on XC skis – I didn’t create the segments, and I’m the only one on them).

I’d be very surprised if those at the top of the leaderboards were on restricted e-bikes.

Not ‘restricted’ as such, simply road-legal, also trail-legal .. if they’re over 250W in the UK they need plates and all that, a motorbike helmet – so a Strava category for motorbikes.

..I think it may be more about how far+fast they can go by cunning battery use and fitness combined but I couldn’t resist.

I don’t play Strava terrifically seriously – apart from the occasional fluke KOM on a strange segment, it’s there to see what others are managing and to check that I’m in the top 1/3.

As I’m not riding an e-bike, it’s helpful to be able to compare myself only with others who aren’t riding e-bikes.

🙂

Officially – but who’s checking? I’ve seen plenty of comments on threads on here about getting them desrestricted, or dealers giving a nudge and a wink about how easy it is to derestrict – I’m sure 250W is plenty enough to do more than 15mph (given another 200W from a pair of legs you’re talking Chris Boardman power levels). If you think all e-bikes are road legal, then you’re even more naive than those who think all Strava times are completely legit 😉

ROund here we know all the fast lads and lasses so if someone “new” KOMs it’s going to be picked apart by whoever lost the KOM, and surely a time set on an ebike would be easy to spot from the power/HR data. A KOM with no data other than speed is pretty suspicious and TBH I’d just ignore it. That said, I got a KOM last week with no HR and the power meter battery had just died so…

Its funny how a lot of people seem to think the top part of the leaderboard ia full of cheats. Its as if they think there cant possibly be any other way of going that fast without cheating.

I reckon most of the segments round my way are legitimate.

Surely everyone on the e-bike category will have the same time/ speed of 16mph?

They’re all winners…

It’s one of the rules for Strava threads. I’m not sure some people appreciate that as bob writes just above you, in any given local area the fast boys know the other fast boys and the leaderboards are self policing.

ts funny how a lot of people seem to think the top part of the leaderboard ia full of cheats

A local u23 signed up for strava this summer. He’s good, though rarely troubles the podium. His first ride, he went out and took 3 or 4 ‘prestigious’ KOMs*, which were flagged so the ride was taken down. He hasn’t used strava since.

I teach his team mate, who was with him on the day and he says the times were legit (HR and cadence data, didn’t look obviously fiddled to me), and some other guys I know who race u23 also reckon he’d be perfectly capable of the times.

*Scalping some pro tour riders in the process, but their times were set after 4 hours of racing whereas he just warmed up and hit the climbs

I don’t think you have a to be a full-on Strava nerd to think that mixing data from e-bikes and normal bikes would be pointless, a little bit irritating and, basically, just not on.

Its funny how a lot of people seem to think the top part of the leaderboard ia full of cheats. Its as if they think there cant possibly be any other way of going that fast without cheating.

pretty sure the 60mph kom on an uphill switchback on my commute is dodgy. Mind you, iirc the whole top 10 is >40 so looks like it could be some sort of GPS Bermuda triangle thing.

My kom on the “cat4 climb” at the end of my (pan flat) road is somewhat dubious too.

Yes, there’s definitely some dodgy data in there at times.
There’s a small road section near me where everybody’s VAM is in the tens of thousands!

Officially – but who’s checking? I’ve seen plenty of comments on threads on here about getting them desrestricted, or dealers giving a nudge and a wink about how easy it is to derestrict – I’m sure 250W is plenty enough to do more than 15mph (given another 200W from a pair of legs you’re talking Chris Boardman power levels). If you think all e-bikes are road legal, then you’re even more naive than those who think all Strava times are completely legit

Who’s checking? No-one at the moment but pretty sure anything not meeting EU EPAC regs is potentally an unlicenced motorbike as far as the law goes. The rider’s call on that. I don’t think they are all road-legal, like I don’t think all cars are taxed and insured. Nothing to do with naivety. Posting your use of an illegal road vehicle online may be naive or stupid though, not that anyone will follow it up. Or that I care : )

250W road-legal cuts out the power over ~15mph so it’s not additional to your legs. I can ride one up a proper-steep hill here at the 15mph power/speed limit but to hit 18mph is hard work and I can’t hold it there.

It is if it’s derestricted – I was just clarifying in case the 250W limit (which is harder to change) was seen as some sort of limit.

Somewhat different to untaxed and uninsured cars – at least nowadays with ANPR – as it’s impossible to tell it’s derestricted until you ride it and get it above 15mph, and even harder to prove. I would be very surprised if anybody has ever been given a ticket for that, and I reckon it’s unlikely ever to happen. Thankfully they’re also less of a road hazard than illegal cars.

To come back to my original point on this, I’d be even more surprised if people didn’t use derestricted e-bikes on Strava. I’m sure I’ve seen mention of people using non road legal ones at trail centres, where I think the legality is more of a grey area.

A KOM with no data other than speed is pretty suspicious and TBH I’d just ignore it

None of my KOMs have power or HR data as I don’t use a device that records it.
The only cheating I do is cheating myself by using a single-speed.

Of all the segments I am in the top 10 of there is only one where I would question the leader. (2 minutes ahead of me on a 6 minute segment where my best time was with a massive tailwind and perfect ground conditions and running the perfect gear)

so don’t think cheating is a big thing where I am.

A local u23 signed up for strava this summer. He’s good, though rarely troubles the podium. His first ride, he went out and took 3 or 4 ‘prestigious’ KOMs*, which were flagged so the ride was taken down. He hasn’t used strava since.

I’d have gone back out and made a point of getting each KOM by a larger margin this time…