Inside Ride Kickr E-Flex Trainer Motion System

That was a lame post (group of posts really, when you look back a bit) on his/their part and quite shady indeed. I saw it and appreciate that Ray finally called out the questionable posting. It has no place coming from a manufacturer.

I left any mention of that out of my review, but the taint that has from a broader perspective does color my overall take on the company’s practices.

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Lama, your reviews are trusted and well worth every minute. Chad did an AWESOME JOB on this, he’s always been a rocker guy and “the MAN” on the Forum. I still think you should review one. Two or more heads are definitely better than one.

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This won’t be happening.

Wow that required all of lunch to read! Great stuff.

For those looking for more of a bottom line, as a “never had a rocker plate” guy I’m going to amend my earlier review and give updated impressions:

  • prior experience was putting inflatable balls under feet of Kickr, didn’t like that and removed them
  • unable to make time to build my own rocker plate due to family, home projects and training
  • E-Flex was easy to setup, ride, and store
  • its kinda like riding outside, kinda not
  • short adjustment period, and no learning curve
  • forward/backward motion helps identify sloppy pedaling
  • my butt still gets sore after 60 minutes on the trainer
  • E-Flex makes riding on the trainer better, but nothing beats outside and I live in California so trainer has been put away until a rainy day comes along and my butt is happily logging 8+ hours/week outside
  • would I buy again? Yes to both E-Flex and Kickr 2017 direct drive

I was really happy with InsideRide until seeing @GPLama post today about the pissing match (yes, I went and found it).

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Chad, you mind posting some pics of some the of the mods you did? Curious to try them myself. Removed the front “spring”, but couldn’t figure out the side to side mods you did. Sounds like you just removed the “springs” and put s hooks onto them thereby reducing the tension on them? Thanks.

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Here is what I can add quick. I can go into more detail later, and happy to answer questions, and catch a video in the near future.

20200410_195616

1" x 2" x 28" board to close the open “C” shape of the lower frame.
2x PVC pipe mounted with hose clamps to create a new fulcrum.
2x closed-cell foam rubber stacks for leveling springs.

Any recommendations on the best thru axles to get to use with this? (i.e. easy to screw in and unscrew)

I’m using a Robert Thru Axle and long hex wrench.

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Should get my eflex next Friday going by tracking. Wonder how it will change things for me

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First impressions.

Was expecting a small box based on the above. Got a very well packed box bigger then the kickr box. Way lighter then I thought it would be. Setup wasn’t so bad and seems like the instructions improved since chad’s setup based on what he complained about.

Should have listened to bbarrera as I got the thru axle they recommended instead (DT-swiss ratcheting lever) which is a much nicer thru axle then what came with the bike and I’ll use it when I attach wheels but a pain to use with this. They could easily fix this by having a cut out in the thing the thru axle goes through in the front so that you can use your finger to keep it from spinning in the direction you don’t want when trying to screw in or unscrew.

Getting on the bike the first time felt slightly unsteady but figured it out pretty quickly by just using both hands on the handlebar.

First actual riding it? Felt weird. The front and back movement was nice though. The weirdness turned into feeling a bit asymmetrical, not in a feeling like I’m leaning to one side but more that one side was doing more work then the other. This I think is from not being very careful about how I setup the device. Normally when setting up the kickr you don’t worry about how perfectly aligned the front wheel is when you get started where a degree or two off center is fine because it will get aligned as you bike. With the eflex your handlebars will get aligned but that slight shift in the handlebars will also lean it bike a small amount leading to asymmetry. Did attempt to fix this during the ride

Standing on the kickr feels so much easier now. Before it was always so hard to do so generally ignored TR when it told me to stand.

By the end of the first ride (45 minute Scott Peak so mostly z2) my butt felt so much better then before after a trainer session. So much more comfortable in that regard. But my knees on both sides felt a bit sore, sort of in the area where the vastus medialis meets the knee (medial side on the top side of the joint). Not exactly sure what is hurting, thats just to describe the location. Its not a bad pain, but felt like a soreness that could get worse. Not sure if this is a sign of something bad or stabilizer muscles getting engaged for the first time as the only riding I’ve done since March was on the kickr.

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Thanks for the detailed post.

To the pain, I think you may be right about using more body and muscle than recent work on the rigid trainer. Give it a ride or two more and see how you feel.

Make sure to “take control” of the handle bars and actively ride the bike. Not doing that is a common issue with new rocker users. Get active on the bike now and it should make the ride more controlled.

Keep us posted and let me know if you have setup or use questions. Happy E-Flexing. :smiley:

This I think is from not being very careful about how I setup the device.

I had the engineer/owner of InsideRide build my E-Flex and install my KICKR at their headquarters. From what we discussed during setup, the important things to be careful with initial setup are: 1) the measurement of the center leg of the KICKR, and 2) which direction you choose for the silver leaf spring (correct direction depends on which model year KICKR you own)

As far as getting the front wheel straight, I like to lift my handlebars just enough to pick up the entire front wheel E-Flex frame and align to make sure my stem is perfectly straight under zero load before putting it on the ground and riding to avoid that asymmetrical feeling you described @enki42. My front E-Flex frame is very close but not perfectly square to the rear frame because of the tension bands, but if I align it under zero load as described above, it operates as if it were square or parallel with the rear frame of the E-Flex and KICKR.

I’m happy to hear you share your experience regarding feeling unsteady or what many people fear regarding tipover. I really hope more people weigh in on that as I find it very unfortunate that Ray planted that seed for many folks. If tipover were an issue, we would be hearing about it here and in the DC Rainmaker review comments. I haven’t seen any reports of people falling over on their E-Flex, but I’ve read multiple people asking about a redesign. I love the small footprint of the E-Flex and still feel a larger footprint or stability redesign is a solution looking for a problem.

:+1:t3::+1:t3::+1:t3:

Really stable and I’ve left it unlocked. Only once have I felt like it might tip over, when reaching for something to my left.

Absolutely agree. I forgot about that as I have NEVER tightened that nut and feel it is completely unnecessary.

Absolutely. Just got on the bike like it’s not on a trainer.

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If you want to get really OCD on setup, here’s mine:

  • Detach fork from front Eflex, and lock the front so it doesn’t rotate
  • Put a tape mark on the side of the front Eflex, so you know exactly where front / back neutral position is
  • Connect fork back to the front Eflex - the front left / right should still be locked out
  • Pickup the front of your bike, and carefully place it down so your stem is in alignment with the rest of your bike, and the fore / aft of the front Eflex is at the neutral point you marked
  • Now loosen the front left / right on the Eflex

This OCD procedure, in addition to making sure your bike is vertical, should ensure that the front of the E-Flex is aligned with the rear in a neutral position

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If the measurement of the center leg is so important why the instructions should be worded different.
"Kickr should extend approx. 3.5” (90mm) from the front saddle. "
Don’t use the word approx, Say 90mm
The leaf spring is black on mine.

I don’t understand your directions for getting the wheel straight.

Align and straight in which direction? Easy to do straight up and down but the handlebars rotate too easily to know what is perfectly straight ahead. So if your handlebars are rotated slightly to the left and you put it down the bike will be asymmetric. Do I need to mark my bike so I know when its pointed straight ahead? Just a tiny rotation of the handlebars moves the saddle a nice amount in the rear so it seems like it would be very sensitive.

As to tipover, assuming you have the balance to ride a two wheel bike outdoors tipover shouldn’t be a problem for you. Well and lean that you can’t just mount the bike by stepping on the pedal close to you and only the handlebar close to you. A bit more work but not that hard

See my OCD alignment procedures, where I include a procedure for aligning the stem / front wheel

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I bought one of these a few months ago. Have done plenty of long 4+ hr rides in Zwift using it, and really like the feel.

The point folks are making on alignment is that you can’t just line up the frames of the E-Flex, because that won’t align the front tire of the bicycle as if you’re going “straight”. You actually have to ignore the E-Flex frame alignment and actually line up the front tire (handlebar and stem included) as if you’re going “straight”. So connect everything, lift up the front of the bicycle (with E-Flex frame attached to it), align the stem to point dead ahead, then slowly set the front end of the bicycle (with E-Flex frame attached to it) back down on the ground. Most likely, the front and rear frames of the E-Flex will not align with each other (mine are probably 5-10 degrees out of alignment), but as long as your bicycle tires are aligned, you’ll be balanced.

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yup, mine don’t align. Use handlebars to pick up and lower the front end. Results in proper alignment. For OCD reasons I have to ignore looking down at the front and rear frames :rofl:

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