Wahoo Confirms the ELEMNT Problem We All Knew About

Or did we?

This article covers a serious issue with Wahoo ELEMNT first-generation bike computers, plus other problems that may affect newer devices or those sharing the same technology that may (or may not) share a common root cause.

 

 

 

Wahoo’s First-generation bike computers (ELEMNT, BOLT, and ROAM) have been affected by a problem that disrupts GPS data accuracy and ride recording. This all started around August 17, 2025, with widespread reports escalating.

Went out for a short ride with a Bolt v2, worked fine as it did Sunday. XXXXX rode with a Bolt v1 and it had her in the middle of the English Channel doing 70km/h at one point. [Friend(s) of mine]

This is a technical glitch not dissimilar to the Year-2000(Y2K) bug that spurned an entire industry, the root cause being when a 10-bit technical component runs out of counters to log a new day. Meaning that after 1024 weeks, Wahoo has no days left to allocate. Wahoo’s internal reference point is January 1, 2006, and once the 1024 weeks are ‘full’, timing is rolled over and starts again at January 1, 2006.

To complicate matters, the device’s time is correctly set from the GPS signal on each ride, leading to knock-on issues such as incorrect time/date stamping, intermittent GPS signal loss, inaccurate speed/gradient readings, and corrupted or incomplete ride files during uploads.

What you Experience

The incorrect date stamp most obviously impacts the recorded date of the workout – you can’t find today’s workout as it is stored 19 years ago!

Further, the GPS confusion between the date in the signal and the ‘corrupted’ 10-bit date Wahoo works with probably has knock-on effects. These impact the track recorded, and, for those of you without a speed sensor, the GPS speed could also be wrong during your ride.

Wider Reports

A few reports have surfaced that are linked to Lezyne devices. The customer base there is much smaller than Wahoo, and we don’t know if the Lezye devices share the same errant component – it’s quite possible.

Other owners of Wahoo Gen 2 devices are reporting related symptoms, albeit in far fewer numbers. Their reported issues include unusually inaccurate GPS tracking, date offsets, or syncing failures, though these are less consistent and may stem from secondary effects.

Another friend of mine has a Gen 3 Roam and is experiencing current workouts being saved to May, and I’m having issues with some. Still, not all Wahoo devices/apps are syncing to Dropbox, eg Kickr Core recorded on the Wahoo app does not sync despite Wahoo’s Dropbox service now being good (it has been down this week)..

The Fix

We’ve seen from the statement above that Wahoo is working on a fix. Let’s say it’s fixed tomorrow, and then everything is hunky dory. Right?

Well no. What about that important ride you did last weekend, now languishing in 2006? Does Wahoo expect you and hundreds of thousands of its customers to download Fit File Repair Tool (I have it, it’s good, but it’s not free) to change the date? Even then, will that work? What about those who did a few rides but want to share them on Strava with those they were riding with? What about those of us who use workouts to record load; load is cumulative and once you miss a 1-5 hour ride out, the missing power/heart rate affects your cumulative load scores (CTL/ATL) for several weeks…in fact up to a month.

If we each spend one hour correcting data, that multiplied by Wahoo’s customer base will equate to hundreds of thousands of unproductive man-hours of work foisted onto humanity. Whereas with a couple of weeks of coding over and above fixing the core problem, Wahoo could perhaps finesse a wider solution to return all the misplaced data to its correct place.

It will be interesting to see what they do. I expect them to fix the core problem promptly. But the rest? I’m not so sure.

Blowback

I’m very positive about Wahoo’s products and their generally hassle-free operation and ease of use. I’ve managed to get my entire weekend riding group to switch to them. All have been happy for several years, bemoaning their previous experience with Garmin (lost rides and the like). The sentiment has definitely changed, specifically with this issue but also for those upgrading to Gen 3, issues with moving to the new Wahoo app and all that entails or is missing.

Current Status

This page shows the current status.

 

Further Sources and Related Resources

•  Trainer Road Forum – one of the earliest reports
• Wahoo Support: https://support.wahoofitness.com/hc/en-us/articles/28876447336210-ELEMNT-BOLT-1-and-ROAM-1-GPS-data-and-ride-recording-issues-August-17-and-later
• Wahoo Forum (August 17 onwards)
• dcraimaker comments and article
• Wahoo Roam 3 review
• Wahoo Bolt 3 review
• Wahoo ACE review

Last Updated on 29 January 2026 by the5krunner