Kickr 2018 in 2020

All warranty replacements come from their refurb stock so I ordered one of them and will ship back the old one to wahoo. Not as nice as when they were doing expedited preshipment but it gave me a couple days to ride outside and test outdoor workouts

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Well that’s disheartening. Honestly the market sucks right now. My H3 experience has been poor, even though otherwise functionally its probably the better trainer on the market, if it wasn’t for the stupid pulley situation. The NEO2T is too aggressive in ERG for my liking, and that’s where I spend most of my time. And then the Kickr 18 seems to be yet another roll of the dice. Granted the Kickr is probably the best selling out there, so bound to have more faults. It just makes me feel like I need to find a second hand H2

My LBS only carries TACX and Wahoo. The NEO is out completely, so all I have left is the Kickr, or dealing with another website and lackluster service. My LBS owner is a great guy and said most of the issues he’s seen regarding Kickr trainers sold by him is regarding noise. He said they used to sell Cycleops/Saris but stopped due to having too many issues reported by customers.

I realize the people who have problems will always be more vocal than those who don’t, myself being an example that if someone asks about an H3, I will likely bring up my personal experience with it. Not to say that they are all bad, but I’m sure there’s more people like myself who had Kickr issues, and are vocal about it, than those who have had no issues and just ride their devices.

Right now I just need to give this trainer a shakedown and decide if this is something I want to get involved with

So if you are buying a replacement, do they explicitly tell you you have to buy a refurbished unit, or you can buy a “new” one just the same and just ship back in the same box?

From Wahoo Agent
“Thanks for your patience and for providing that information. Unfortunately, due the high rate of product not being returned, we are no longer offer the option of shipping replacement product until the damaged product is confirmed as being in transit back to Wahoo.

The other option is to purchase a certified replacement KICKR (using the link below). Once you receive the purchased trainer you would provide the Wahoo Order number. Once this order number is provided, you will be provided a shipping label to return the damaged trainer to Wahoo. Once the damaged trainer is confirmed as being received by Wahoo, we would provide you with a refund for the recently purchased certified trainer. Please note, we are unable to refund expedited shipping costs.

I can definitely shoot them an email and see what they say if I wanted to purchase a new one instead of certified refurb. But probably won’t get a response for several days as they seem to be very back logged

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That’s a shame. I doubt they would let you get a new one seeing as they explicitly say to buy a certified refurb using a special link. I mean it sucks for the consumer, but if I really think about it, it does make sense that they wouldn’t send you a new unit to replace a used one. I could see them making an exception if you had one defective out of the box, otherwise it only seems fair.

FWIW I have been satisfied with my purchase. Purchased in August 18. First replaced in April 19 and again in April 20. I have also moved a couple of times so who knows how that knocking around could have shifted something just a little.

Interesting, I assumed that you had a year warranty from original purchase so if I bought let’s say May 2020, I’d have until May 2021 to get as many replacements as needed and then it’s done and they only offer to help with a discount on a replacement. Does each unit come with a fresh 1 year warranty?

I should jot them an email to find out the process.

I had an issue with an older out of warranty kickr, and they offered to sell me a refurb (of the same vintage) kickr for $300 along with returning my unit.
Not terrible, but not great either.

How far out of warranty was it for curiosity sake

About a year out of warranty I think.

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I have always gotten them to put it in writing that the replacement unit has its own 1 year warranty it also seems that they are taking care of the consumer pretty much push back as opposed to other companies

I should add this replacement unit would come with a 90 day warranty.

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Ever get any pushback on that “hey please put it in writing for me” thing? I should also call AMEX apparently if you buy stuff with their card you get a 1 year warranty extension on some products

I guess that’s not too bad for being a year out, I’d expect to be told to pound sand at that point. Was there a service resolution possible or it had to be a replacement

I ended up living with the intermittent accuracy problem until I replaced it with an H3 on sale this fall. My problems were well timed for the yearly trainer sales. I was skeptical of paying $300 for someone else’s problem trainer that may or may not have been fixed. I figured I could still sell my kickr with full disclosure for a few hundred $, and with that the difference in price between a refurb kickr and an H3 on sale was pretty small. So far I am very happy with the H3, but I know you had a different experience.
I still have that kickr, so I need to dust it off and get it up for sale while trainers are in high demand :slight_smile:

For me having power pedals I would take crappy power accuracy from the trainer if everything else got some of the extra attention. Hell I’d say don’t give me a power meter at all, just make everything else bombproof.

Then again what is built to last a lifetime anymore? Nothing. And chances are I’d only keep the thing a year or two till a better one came out, I just want that year or two to be fairly trouble free and I’m not gonna get that anywhere

Going slightly off topic here, but may I also suggest a Kickr Core ?
It offers 90% of the more expensive model and I am yet to hear anything negative about it.

I’ve had mine for close to a year now and find its power accuracy to be very consistent with that of the Quarq PM I use on my bike.

Just a thought.

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The CORE had its own teething issues too. It’s interesting but since it shares the same guts it’s prone to have similar issues, and I don’t like the design as much. It doesn’t fold up as neatly, I’m trying to stay with the high end stuff hoping it will be more reliable and of higher quality.

Really just interested in the 18 for now

Never had any push back on it. I just asked, “so on my warranty replacement, it has a 1yr warranty correct? Because I don’t want to be out of luck if in a couple months this one has the same issue and I’m past my original purchase warranty.” Having worked in customer service this puts them in a look like a jerk or say yes position which is advantageous to you. You can even add in “and if this happens in the future the 1yr warranty will restart for each of them”

As far as the AMEX warranty extension just make sure you touch base with card member services so you are on the same page with them on the interpretation.

I watched @tariqhali video on the 18 and he’s got many trouble free miles, unless something has changed in the last year or so in his experience. It’s kind of a mixed bag though, I threw up a poll on Zwift Riders on FB and so far there’s this

21 no issues
10 replaced once
12 replaced more than once

Not a great ratio but this isn’t accounting for the fact that some (or maybe most) of those replacements ended up fixing the issues for good

And again, maybe I’m and anomaly for H3 users and maybe some others are for other devices. Hard to know without hearing from people who have racked up some hours on theirs and have good reports