Strava service changes

[MattyB]

Probably not huge news here compared to what it will mean to many of our roadie colleagues, but Strava are shaking up their service and going all in on subscriptions to try and become profitable...

We’re betting on our athletes

Our founders, Mark Gainey and Michael Horvath, on the way forward.

www.strava.com

Strava changes: Will you be paying the price?

So, Strava has scrapped its Premium/Summit packages in favour of making the majority of its features a paid-for service. There are also API changes that look set to wreak havoc with third-party app access. But how will these changes affect the average Strava user? And should you be coughing up...

road.cc

Segment leaderboards and route builder are going from the free service, whilst the bucketed Summit subscriptions are being ditched in favour of a “get everything for £4 a month” model. Definitely going to be controversial for those of us who’ve found the free version or one of the cheaper Summit buckets meets all our needs.

Where’s that popcorn smiley...

 

[Zimmerframe]

As a tight arse, I was a bit concerned at first.

You still get ranked as a free user and segments all work as normal. So they've not stripped it out.

They are a small company I guess, with less than 180 employees.

I don't think free users can see the full leader boards now, only the top 10, so that's just a good reason to go faster?

 

[spinny25]

As a tight arse, I was a bit concerned at first.

You still get ranked as a free user and segments all work as normal. So they've not stripped it out.

They are a small company I guess, with less than 180 employees.

I don't think free users can see the full leader boards now, only the top 10, so that's just a good reason to go faster?

The way I read it the other night was more or less everything stops working apart from route tracking and you are unable to get on to compete for leaderboards ,challenges and so on if not a paid member
My opinion on it was that whilst most of world has been going through this pandemic they will have a seen a large surge in free subscriptions as I have never seen so many bikers /runners out for there daily exercise in the uk and strava now has 55 million subscribers All the free subscribers will be costing them ££ to manage with no real return so now is the time to get people hooked at only £4 a month which is also not correct as it is a annual contract one off payment of £48 so in a nutshell even if only 20% are paid subscribers they making A killing
But that said I did sign up as I am using the app as a tool to help me lose weight while on lockdown and I can’t go to the pub every weekend

 

[Shifty]

I just won’t bother using it. Leader boards are not that important to me on a restricted e-bike. I’m going to stick to my Garmin watch software which is brilliant. I know its only £4. But having so many monthly subs now for online stuff and magazines I decided to cull them all. Too much free stuff and open source anyway.

 

[Zimmerframe]

So far, I've not seen any issues with the change (maybe it's not been applied ?)

I don't use route builder though, because it just never worked properly for me (or more accurately, I never used it properly..... )

It still records my rides. They still count towards leaderboards. I still know where I am at the bottom of the pecking order. I can still add pictures and make comments. I can still spam other users comments - what more could you want

I'm not sure if it's the way it was originally interpreted and reported, or if they did it like that on purpose to panic people into subscribing - unlikely as they're more likely to scare people off. But, when I first read it I thought, well that's out .. until about an hour later when I thought maybe it wasn't so bad price wise for something which gets used most days, is also a social platform and isn't full of adverts.

 

[Zimmerframe]

I don't think free users can see the full leader boards now, only the top 10, so that's just a good reason to go faster?

They could advertise as "Strava, making the poor faster !"

 

[davosaurusrex]

If they would replicate existing segments as ebike segments I may well be tempted to stump up the cash. If not, meh. They've not shown any sign of being interested in doing it so far so I'm not holding my breath

 

[Paul Mac]

I don't know if they haven't changed it yet, but all seems the same to me?

 

[Zimmerframe]

If they would replicate existing segments as ebike segments I may well be tempted to stump up the cash. If not, meh. They've not shown any sign of being interested in doing it so far so I'm not holding my breath

It would have been nice. Probably too late now though as they'd clash with all the new ebike segments. Would be nice if you could add ebike segment, duplicate xyz segment.

Still, it's no biggy to make segments.

 

[Paul Mac]

It would have been nice. Probably too late now though as they'd clash with all the new ebike segments. Would be nice if you could add ebike segment, duplicate xyz segment.

Still, it's no biggy to make segments.

Zimmer, you can duplicate regular segments for e bike use, theres a guy on here that has created an add on which works on strava?

 

[ImSundee]

£4 is peanut money, more than happy to spend that to support a company doing great things and adding awesome tools to help me train and ride better.

Think thats 2 coffees a month its nothing in the grand scheme of how much our bikes cost.

 

[iXi]

I don't think the change has gone through yet. I thought once it went through no more leader board's except top 10. Also can't compare rides etc, guess that means no charts with all your times. No loss I won't be subscribing and no doubt in Aus we'll get screwed and it'll be $10 month. I'm slow as shit anyway and nowhere near anyone in the leader boards. I only go on there to keep tracks of rides but I'll be able to see them on trail forks and garmin so all good.

 

[Zimmerframe]

I'm slow as shit anyway and nowhere near anyone in the leader boards.

They always say "There's always someone going to be faster than you" ..

So I work on the theory that must also work the other way round, so there must be someone slower than me ... like many theories, it's sometimes difficult to prove though ....

 

[iXi]

They always say "There's always someone going to be faster than you" ..

So I work on the theory that must also work the other way round, so there must be someone slower than me ... like many theories, it's sometimes difficult to prove though ....

Fortunately there is a couple but they are few and far between. I just put it down to me being a fat bastard, definitely nothing to do with skill level or so I like to believe. Who am I kidding its lack of skill and that extra 30kgs ?

 

[aarfeldt]

I don't care what Strava does

We're using Garmin devices (watch + Edge130) integrated to Endomondo.
Both works great for me and me eBuddy's and has for many years

 

[MattyB]

As a tight arse, I was a bit concerned at first.

You still get ranked as a free user and segments all work as normal. So they've not stripped it out.

I don't think the change has gone through yet. I thought once it went through no more leader board's except top 10. Also can't compare rides etc, guess that means no charts with all your times.

I am a bit confused at the moment - my free subscription looks like it always did with leaderboards intact, but the change was supposed to go through on May 18th. It seems pretty clear though that at best this is a stay of execution - quite soon free users will have very little functionality at all beyond ride tracking. I am still pondering whether to subscribe given I am doing a fair bit of road riding these days, but I if was solely an MTBer I don't think I would bother.

 

[Zimmerframe]

Mine has just changed. I can now only see top ten and it says subscribe to see full leaderboard.

 

[Mcharza]

Mine has just changed. I can now only see top ten and it says subscribe to see full leaderboard.

I can see my own....oh wait..I'm in the top 10

 

[iXi]

I am a bit confused at the moment - my free subscription looks like it always did with leaderboards intact, but the change was supposed to go through on May 18th. It seems pretty clear though that at best this is a stay of execution - quite soon free users will have very little functionality at all beyond ride tracking. I am still pondering whether to subscribe given I am doing a fair bit of road riding these days, but I if was solely an MTBer I don't think I would bother.

Yep mine just changed this morning and what do you know $10.99 a month for Aus.

 

[R80]

F**k Strava. Just enjoy your ride.

 

[Paul Mac]

Yes mine has now changed.
Do you know what, u might use this as an opportunity to stop using it.
I keep a record of my rides on Garmin connect away

 

[jsharpe]

I only use it to record my rides, hikes, snowshoe, skate ski outings, etc. for my private personal use. I have no interest in segment tracking, KOM's, or any of the social/following/sharing or training stuff. So for my use the free version still works fine.

I like that my data is in the cloud but that I can download it if I choose. On the downside, I'm definitely not the target user for their service since all the stuff they value most highly is of no interest to me so I'm basically just zero revenue drain on their resources. While I would certainly like to see them get to a sustainable revenue stream, I can't justify the pay version for features I wouldn't use. On the other hand, if they had some [much] lower pricing tier, maybe with better eBike support, I wouldn't mind paying a smaller "support their business" fee.

 

[B-man]

They need to transfer the bike segments to ebike.

 

[spinny25]

If they would replicate existing segments as ebike segments I may well be tempted to stump up the cash. If not, meh. They've not shown any sign of being interested in doing it so far so I'm not holding my breath

To replicate existing segments you just log on your ebike where you have rode a existing non ebike segment
Click create segments

copy the segment and rename it and make it public by unchecking the private box then it may say check out original but usually doesn’t as it’s non assisted then click create mine and it put it in your segments and checks if anyone else has rode that segment to create leaderboard if no one has you are KOM

this process takes a minute or so hardest thing is thinking of catchy title
Give it a whirl

 

[Zimmerframe]

To replicate existing segments you just log on your ebike where you have rode a existing non ebike segment
Click create segments

copy the segment and rename it and make it public by unchecking the private box then it may say check out original but usually doesn’t as it’s non assisted then click create mine and it put it in your segments and checks if anyone else has rode that segment to create leaderboard if no one has you are KOM

this process takes a minute or so hardest thing is thinking of catchy title
Give it a whirl

That sounds cool ... bit I seem to be too dumb to understand the process ..

Find an existing ride. Edit the ride and change it to e-bike and private so it doesn't show up while you work on it.

Select Create Segment ... then I get lost .. you have the ride and the set segment start and end points, but no "copy segment" ?

This is basically what I do to create segments for e-bikes or if I've ridden on the e-bike, change it to "bike" to create segments for bikes at the same time... never noticed a copy existing segment option though .. that would be nice especially as the pointers dont' move exactly the same every time so it's difficult to make exact duplicates.

 

[MattyB]

Having done a (totally unscientific) straw poll of ~15 friends who currently use Strava about 75-80% say they are going stick with the free version or stop using it completely (mostly because the functionality they get from their Garmin or Wahoo is more than sufficient). The remainder already subscribe and will be continuing.

Precisely nobody said they currently have the free version and will start paying! Doesn't sound very promising for Strava to me...

 

[spinny25]

That sounds cool ... bit I seem to be too dumb to understand the process ..

Find an existing ride. Edit the ride and change it to e-bike and private so it doesn't show up while you work on it.

Select Create Segment ... then I get lost .. you have the ride and the set segment start and end points, but no "copy segment" ?

This is basically what I do to create segments for e-bikes or if I've ridden on the e-bike, change it to "bike" to create segments for bikes at the same time... never noticed a copy existing segment option though .. that would be nice especially as the pointers dont' move exactly the same every time so it's difficult to make exact duplicates.

Sorry I meant physically copy it using the arrows I find zooming the map in a bit and using the forward and back buttons for start point and end point it makes it more accurate

please note I do all this on a laptop not sure if possible on tablet or mobile app

 

[Zimmerframe]

Having done a (totally unscientific) straw poll of ~15 friends who currently use Strava about 75-80% say they are going stick with the free version or stop using it completely (mostly because the functionality they get from their Garmin or Wahoo is more than sufficient). The remainder already subscribed and will be continuing.

Precisely nobody said they currently have the free version and will start paying! Doesn't sound very promising for Strava to me...

When I thought I was loosing everything but basic tracking, my first reaction was screw them, I'll delete the 100's of bike/e-bike/run segments I've created - why should they profit from my work ..

Which is a bit twisted as I'm happily profiting from their work

For what it really gives in real world terms for most people, €7 a month seems a bit steep. If it was priced more like the forum subscription at €6 a year, I'd definitely be in . I can get a mobile phone contract with 2 hours free calls to europe/us/canada for €2 a month . I'm not paying €80 a year just to see that I'm the 49,628 best rider on a segment.

 

[Zimmerframe]

Sorry I meant physically copy it using the arrows I find zooming the map in a bit and using the forward and back buttons for start point and end point it makes it more accurate

please note I do all this on a laptop not sure if possible on tablet or mobile app

Cool ! I feel better now I thought I'd missed some super easy way and was about to cry.

Doesn't work on Android, not sure about iOS

 

[spinny25]

They need to transfer the bike segments to ebike.

Do your ebike ride log on to strava and create them yourself it’s easy I mentioned it in another post on this thread

please note not sure if you didn’t know how to do this or you meant you wanted strava to do it for us
So apologies if you did know