won't read right

[Straightup1]

Hello all, this is my first time here. My Sense two will not read steps while I bicycle in place (GPS can't read if I'm not moving I guess) but it adds multiple steps when I ride my motorcycle. Can this be changed to do the opposite?

[DramaQueenDiva]

I don't think it can be changed, but I think I might have some insight as to why that may be happening.  When on the stationary bike, the device isn't sensing movement.  Due to the motor on the motorcycle, when you ride that, it picks up the vibrations from the bike as steps.

[LZeeW]

Hello @Straightup1 and welcome to the Community.  If you go back to Fitbit's beginning (2009), all Fitbits were pedometers and didn't have any ability to track exercise from the device.  When Fitbit added exercise tracking, it made a decision that "steps" are one foot in front of the other walking, hiking, etc.  Fitbit says any biking is a non-step based activity and doesn't intentionally count steps.

First, the recommended shortcut for bicycling in place is Spinning.  Upright, recumbent, your outdoor bike on a trainer, whatever, please use Spinning.  Second, the steps when you ride your motorcycle probably come from road irregularities that trigger a step.  I often get steps on my outdoor bike, depending where I ride. The accelerometer sees what it sees.  So there are reasons why every Fitbit can overcount or undercount steps.

There are two camps when it comes to biking, steps, and Fitbit.  One camp says that any motion that looks like a step should count as a step and they wear their Fitbits on their ankles on a bike.  I'm from the other camp, that a Fitbit is an advanced fitness tracker and never put it on my ankle when indoor biking.