… he company says it’s adjustable from a size 49cm to a 64cm frame, which is pretty good. You can see on the front handlebar that they’ve got two adjustment points there. One for forward/back, and one for up/down…
I clearly have trust issues 
as it’s unlikely I’d consider a gen 1 smart bike from a company that has exactly zero history of developing smart bike trainers of any kind.
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sure, that’s my problem too or Wahoo brings a v2 in this direction?
if I was truly ready to purchase a smart bike right now I’d choose the Kickr bike as it seems like it’s the closest to an actual road feel with some lateral movement and the climb. And it would fit on my Kom rocker plate which I just bought.
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I’ve been using a kickr bike for 4 months. I bought it locally from somebody who tried it a few times and realized it wouldn’t work for him. I had a issue with handlebar slippage which I was able to solve. Other than that, it’s been really solid. I actually think it’s overkill for my use (trainer road only so I don’t really need or use the tilt functionality) but it works really well and I can’t complain.
Actually I do have 1 complaint. I wish it were about an inch narrower. I move it out of our guest room when we have family visiting and it can be a very tight fit through a couple of doors due to the angles/layout of my house.
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Just under 9 months use on our Kickr Bike and it’s been pretty fantastic. I’m also only a TR user now so some of that functionality isn’t getting used but I wouldn’t want to go back to using a road bike on a standard smart trainer. This thing locks into ERG better than anything I’ve used before, it’s so good for that. I also share with my wife and we have a 8 inch height differential and it works well for both of us and talks around 30 seconds to change over. We used to swap bikes on our wheel off trainer which was not ideal for us even if it works for many. Between the two of us we have a few hundred hours on it and other than an occasional signal glitch where it stops providing ERG resistance for a moment, it’s pretty much spot on.
If doing it again, I’d buy the same one.
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The big benefit I’m interested in in a stand-alone trainer is the sealed system and long-term durability. A regular bike on a smart trainer is an open system that has to be lubed and maintained like a regular bike - and that means wear to parts and the potential for grease and such to find its way onto carpets… assuming you don’t dry wax your trainer-bike chain every 10-hrs of use… I’d expect a belt-drive, closed system would be more durable in the long run too (Tacx issues aside). If I’m doing 5-6hrs/wk indoors on average, that’s a lot of hours per year going into a bike (6,000mi/yr equivalent at a minimum).
Or maybe I’m just trying to justify shiny new things. I’ve been known to do that.
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I’ve been using my Kickr Bike for a few months now and it is living up to expectations. I do a lot of climbing simulations, so the tilt function is a must-have for me. I haven’t had any issues with seat post or bars slipping, but you do have to clamp them really tight. I’m 80 kg, so no lightweight. I did have an issue with my shifters intermittently failing, but Wahoo just sent me a complete new set of bars/shifters and these have been fine so far. Overall the bike is very impressive and a big step up from my previous Direto X.
If Wahoo brought out a V2 I wouldn’t be that bothered at this point. There is nothing else I want or need on a trainer. I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that it remains reliable. But the warranty and support seems good, so I’m not overly worried. I was on the fence before I committed to it, but not regretting the purchase so far. It’s actually better than I expected. I’m looking at this as a 5 year investment in my indoor training. If there is something clearly better in 2027 then I might upgrade. If not then I’ll just keep on using this one. It all looks serviceable and I doubt the frame will ever wear out.
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I would keep a VCI in the frame somewhere if possible.
I have had my KICKR bike since March 2020 - so nearly two years. It was the floor model at my local LBS and so i could actually test drive the bike i was getting. It has performed almost flawlessly over the two years with almost 25,000 km. The only issue I have had was the well described crack in the crankarm at the pedal insertion point - after 22 months of use. Wahoo sent out a replacement crankset immediately, no questions asked, and at no charge, 11 months after the warranty had expired. Wahoo customer service is second to none, in my opinion. I clean it daily to wipe of sweat and salt stains and cover the hoods with a towel during use, so perhaps that’s why i haven’t had some the the shifter problems that others describe.
I have used it across Zwift, Fulgaz and Wahoo Sufferfest/Systm with easy integration on these different platforms using an ipad initially and now Apple TV4K. It has made COVID bearable and allowed me to make significant gains in my cycling fitness that would have been difficult with my old “dumb” cycleops bike. If my KICKR bike was to implode any time soon (fingers crossed), I would buy one again - it has been worth every penny…all 350,000 of them.
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Well I’m assuming it won’t implode and will last many more years as personally I’d be super annoyed if it only lasted say 3 years after paying $3500 for it. IMO their warranty should be more than a single year for that price.
Kickr bike is on my list to consider for the future. and it does seem that overall it will last. But I’d hate to have something I pay $3500 for crap out at like 3-5 years.
If you have a bike that stays indoor on a trainer, you realize where drivetrain wear and tear comes from: road dirt. I leave my old road bike on the trainer permanently, and I do a drivetrain job every two years.
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Yes. I agree the warranty should be longer than a year. But at least based on my experience, while in principle it is a year, in practice it has been longer (ie. the crankset replacement at almost two years). To be clear, I don’t anticipate it imploding any time soon, and expect many more years of use. If I had looked at the comments on the KICKR user facebook page before i bought it, i would have had second thoughts - but it has worked flawlessly for me.
In the US, I believe the warranty is one year - outside the US it is longer. See below from their website.
LIMITED WARRANTY POLICY
Wahoo Fitness expressly warrants products to be free from defects in materials and workmanship for the original purchaser under normal use for one year from the original date of purchase.
My mistake. It is one year regardless if new or refurbished.
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Ah 2 years seems fine then. Good to know. Thanks
I’ve looked on all the smart bike fb groups just to get a sense of any common issues. All smart bikes will have some lemons like everything else. Most common for the Kickr bike seems the handlebar and seatpost slippage which is not great but it seems, for the most part, correctable. Not a ton of exploding bike situations.
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I wouldn’t worry about the slipping post issue. It’s not really as big an issue as reports suggest. You do have to tighten the clamps more than you would initially expect, but then it’s fine. Maybe they updated the clamps at some point, because mine don’t slip at all.
However I did have both shifters fail (intermittently) on my first set of bars, but the replacement set has been fine (so far). The failure definitely wasn’t from sweat damage as I was keeping sweat away from the electronics and all the contacts were clean and dry.
I don’t think rust will be a problem on this bike. The powder coating on the frame looks to be of high quality.
Yeah, the slight lateral flex you get makes it feel pretty comfortable. I wondered if it might feel a bit flimsy, but it doesn’t. It just feels similar to a real road bike. The climb function is great too. That was the deal-maker for me over the other smart bikes. 3 months in now and I’m very pleased with it. It was a bit disappointing to have the shifters fail within 2 months, but Wahoo were very quick to sort it (they just shipped me a whole new bar assembly in a couple of days).