Annoying trainers

Spoke to Garmin, 2 year warranty so send it back and they will send me another one, no quibble, no debate.

Hopefully, they’ve got some slightly more Chinese fans now!

I read up on dismantling it here;

so if it happens again, when it is out of warranty, I’ll simply replace the fans, looks awkward but not impossible.

Not quite as good as I had hoped!

I went through the faff of returning it prior to Christmas (and paying the not inconsiderable postage which for some reason, I am liable for), I did expect it to be back with be by now but figured Christmas break etc. Anyway, nothing has turned up and the Garmin site still has the same status, return received, replacement item not yet been shipped so I was forced to ring them up.

“Ah, yes, we’re expecting stock on 21 Jan, sorry about that”

A month to fix a fan.

My Flux 2 (with ~5 minutes use) is due to go back on Thursday for warranty replacement, Q1 2021 was all they can say in terms of shipping the replacement.

The Flux 2 was a replacement for a Genius that failed twice as covered under another thread (first time the wheel size bracket snapped, second time the roller outer detached itself from the inner).

The Genius was a replacement for an Elite Direto that was faulty from new (after the Directo failed I tried to get a Kickr but they kept putting back the delivery date, the Genius was all I could buy back then).

Totally agree that for the amount of money the kit being produced is terrible.

When the new Flux arrives I would happily sell it and buy something else if knew it would be reliable - but pretty sure that doesn’t exist at the moment.

Kickr was not very good but they did get a new one out to me super quick when it first started clicking, I mean literally within a few days. When it failed again, they offered a full refund or replacement, my choice. As it was nearing end of warranty, I went for the refund - kind of wish I’d bought a new kickr at that point!

Oh and unlike Garmin, I didn’t have to pay for the return postage!!!

Sending the Genius back cost me an absolute fortune with the right amount of insurance, this time around they paid. Feel lucky as it is over 2 years since I first bought the Genius, either they taking the warranty since supplying the Flux or it’s a goodwill thing.

Either way I haven’t bothered with TR, Zwift or anything else having all the downtime before. Not sure I would do anything annual either given I can’t afford to replace a trainer again and having no faith in the product.

I am not sure the status elsewhere but here in the UK Garmin have closed the customer service phone lines and disabled webchat with support staff.

The trainer I returned is not yet showing as received, I had this with the previous one until I called to chase (then they updated and confirmed when the replacement was being dispatched whilst I was on the call).

Any new trainers on the roadmap for this or next year?

Well, my status got updated pretty much straightaway to received, it was actually the day after they received it which is fair enough.

I rang them (Garmin UK) on Jan 5th and they were answering the phones with only slight delay so no complaints there either.

Coincidentally, I found the original paperwork and I read up the warranty this morning. It is clear, 2 years return to base warranty with me liable for the return. Also states that in principle it will be repaired or replaced within 30 days of receipt. Which would be re-assuring if they hadn’t put in principle in there!

Best avoid them for a few years so you know if they’re reliable or not :smile:

2 Likes

Updated they have marked it as received now, but no indication when replacement will be dispatched and all forms of contact appear turned off bar social media. Have tried messaging Garmin via Facebook and will see what happens.

Yep, I now have an annoying trainer. Elite Suito, 3 months old, now sounds like a knackered old engine. The LBS suspect a bearing or belt issue. They sent a video to Elite, who have (provisionally) agreed to replace it, and said I can hang on to the old one, which (noise aside) should be ok to use until it’s replaced… likely in March.

My question now is do I see if it hangs on, or splash out and sell the replacement as an unwanted warranty replacement when i get it?

+1.

Wheel-off, electromechanically braked ergometers have been around for 125 years.

Commercial, wheel-on versions have been around for over 40 years.

You’ve probably looked at it but mine was making a racket until I tightened the large silver clamp opposite site from the cassette.

After a period of relative silence it’s making an annoying clicking noise around 103rpm + however. I am associating that with my cleats on ERG mode my previous training would mostly be 90-100rpm and non ERG :thinking:

I hoping its nothing more than that, I got it in October 2019 and the warranty could be out before this thing is over :thinking:

1 Like

Yep, checked that, had the cassette off, freewheel out - nothing obvious. Shop couldn’t spot anything obvious either.

The shop has cleared it for a very likely warranty replacement, but have warned me not to hold my breath. My decision is do i cross my fingers it holds on, or buy a replacement and sell the warranty model when I get it?

1 Like

Replacement Flux 2 arrived today, actually been a quick turnaround - now to decide open it up or just sell it ASAP

No progress on mine… no stock until 21/01.

In the interim, I’ve bought a 2nd hand neo2 because I am sadly addicted to my plan and taking a whole month out just does my head in!

So when mine returns, this gives me three options,

  1. Sell on one of the units, I think the 2nd hand unit has been used significantly less than my original so the choice depends if I get mine back with replaced fans or a new replacement.
  2. Keep them both so I always have a backup and as they are both the same, when one fails I have spare parts.
  3. Sell them both and get something that is actually reliable.

Option 3 is flawed as the reliable trainer doesn’t seem to exist!

I’d be genuinely interested if there is a model/brand that satisfies this criterion. Just about every popular model seems to have a high failure rate (internet complaining bias notwithstanding)

If reliability is the key desired feature, the Kinetic Road Machine is the right choice.

  • Sure, it’s a wheel-on, dumb trainer with all that it includes (wheel slip on sprints and no ERG or SIM control in apps), but it will almost never fail.
  • Coupled with a bike based power meter (or even Virtual Power via speed sensor) you have something that practically can’t fail or malfunction. It’s a better option if you also want/need a trainer for travel or race warmups.
  • There is a reason I still own one, and will never sell it, even though I use it only on rare occasions these days. I suggest that as a first trainer (along with a power meter) and then keep it even if you upgrade to a smart-controlled trainer in the future. It is a great backup that you can trust.
7 Likes

I do wonder what data TR have! No idea if data such as trainer serial number is available, I could find oput but even if it was, would they bother to consume it? It would be fascinating to see even an approximation of average hours for each trainer, for example!

I’m sure if they had it, they’d not make it publicly available as it’d cause too many problems but you’d think it was the sort of “in field” data that the manufacturers would be begging them for!

Last summer I killed the fluid resistance unit on my OG Kurt Kinetic (10-11 years of intermittent training, with a really consistent year round bit the last two years). I had a warranty resistance unit on my porch within four or five days of calling their warranty number. Took me about 5 minutes to swap resistance units. I think I missed only three workouts because of the malfunction, and I was out of town riding open roads when the unit arrived. (oh, and if I’d been relying on a bike mount PM, the only real annoyance would have been the magnets banging around inside the resistance unit, an awful racket, rather than unreliable data).

Even if I “upgrade” to a smart unit, I’ll always have this fluid unit and a trainer tire in accessible storage so it would take me less than 20 minutes to swap from an unreliable “genius” back to “ol’ reliable.”

I guess what I’m trying to say, is, thank you for confirming my decision NOT to upgrade, yet, and thank you for being the guinea pig for the top end resistance unit.

2 Likes