Yes, having read it again, I agree it is more likely just referring to the shifters (rather than additional satellite shifters) ā¦ shame! ā¦ Iām just digging to find all the possible little things out about the new model.
ā¦ My Next Gen is already ordered so Iām just interested to see what improvements are being added to the new model.
ā¦ One question I see cropping up is āIs the Next Generation Atom any quieter than the 1st Gen?ā, I havenāt seen Wattbike directly respond to this yet, but I suspect it wonāt be as the appear to be using the same chain style drivetrain mechanism. I have also seen a Instagram story from DC Rainmaker who was riding the Atom X, and this sounded very similar to the current Atom (certainly not quiet like the Kickr bike).
Device is around 16 months old, but Iāve been the owner for about 4 months. Still have balance of the warranty though.
Clocked up around 100 hours in the last 4 months, so been using it pretty regularly in that time though. Much more than my new car
So for me it wonāt be a swap, Iāll need to buy the new one, wait until close to delivery and then sell mine to someone.
Ive tried wattbike and they are giving pretty shitty customer service at present. Ive had mine about 10 weeks and they have knocked me back for a upgrade path.
There was no mention of new āhomeā level devices on the horizon when I spoke to them when purchasing so its not great from then.
I was always a fairly big wattbike advocate previously as ive used the pro bikes for about 4 or 5 years but the way this has been handled doesnāt sit right with me,.
Iād rather go down the upgrade route, but itās not to be.
Whilst people were making a profit on them during lockdown, as soon as v2 got announced the price fell. There was one up on the Facebook user group for sub Ā£1k last week.
Iād rather not wait the weeks without a device aswellā¦
Its difficult when any new product is announced I think, especially with hardware like these.
If you bought a brand new bike, and then they announced a new model 2 months later that was āfaster, lighter, more aeroā what would happen then? Or a new car model coming?
It would be nice to trade it in, but reckon it will be better financially to sell privately closer to the time when the new one is due to arrive!
I asked Wattbike the same question. They are offering everyone on the waiting list for the V1 Atom a discounted price on the V2 (Ā£150 addition to the V1 price), but the downside is you have to wait 12-15 weeks. I passed as I wasnāt willing to wait any more than the 9 weeks I already have.
Iām at the end of my tether with Wattbike. I think the Atom V1 that arrived is going back. Iāll buy the missus a road bike and she can share my Drivo, which has been faultless for 3 years.
Hi folks, as we are all Wattbike owners I thought Iād float a suggestion here. It wouldnāt be beyond the realms of possibility to find some young, keen designer with access to a 3D Printer to design a new shaped shifter for the atom that adds proper gear levers but utilises the existing Atom shifter circuit boards. If might even just be a clip on device that has sprung levers to press the shifting buttons. If someone designed and created one Iād buy them. So question then, anybody know anyone with those types of skills?
Not sure the exact setup, but Iād be more inclined to see if I could hack the Atom stuff and connect to a real shifter like a Shim Di2 or Sram Etap shifter instead. May be easier for a smart electrical wiz to make modded connecting wires from the regular shifters to the smart bike gear.
Thatās the āeasierā direction IMO while taking advantage of the great ergos and reliability of those existing designs.
Hmmm, not sure Iād say that was easier, and it certainly wouldnāt be cheaper. Lifting the circuit board out of the levers and dropping into a new designed body wouldnāt be too hard, and having clip on levers would be dead simple. But that said, I would love a pair of SRAM eTap levers on my Wattbike (plus a decent set of handlebars). Oh incidentally on handlebars Iāve found the Deda Piega bars to be excellent.
I find it suprising that anyone has found the original wattbike Atom a good pairing to Trainerroad. I had a tacx neo and it was superb with trainerroad. I thought i was upgrading when i bought the atom so spent the first months trying to adjust various things to get it to work āappropriatelyā. One of the best things about trainerroad is that it sprinkles drills through all of the training regimes. This breaks up the sessions and adds to the training effect,(coached in addition to a sequence if power profiles to follow). This means there are elements of quickish transitions irrespective of whether it is base training or race specific training. I.e. lift cadence, drop cadence, stand up, sit down, quadrant or single leg drills, etc. Within these there may be cadence jumps or power jumps or just āless than smoothā pedalling due to ability or fatigue. The atom cannot cope with these. For me the issue is erratic oscillation after power or cadence jumps resulting from over compensation. My interpretation is that the lag is not actually the issue and that changes to the software algorithm could solve this but this maybe wrong. It is worse with cadence jumps where there is an overcompensation for cadence lift with far too large a resistance drop. The user is left spinning loosely whilst the power rebounds, often too high, and it eventually settles down. Sometimes the user has to stop pedalling awaiting the bike to catch up. So you have an erg mode where the user is trying to nurse the bike through the session, ironing out the bikeās propensity to oscillate, instead of the bike smoothing out the changes. The tacx neo managed transitions smoothly and effortlessly whereas the atom was all over the shop.
Welcome Jim, are you on the latest firmware? The Atom is much better since the last upgrade. I have found that after a while you get the knack for using the WBA in most situations, although the ability of the Atom to cope with short high power intervals is terrible.
Hi Baz, it was a while ago so you are probably up to date. Do you have the option to go 1x11 speed in your options? If you do then you are on the latest version.
Yes, I tried it for a bit but didnāt like it. I think itās probably something that someone with big watts might find useful but itās not for me. That said, when I āraceā in Zwift I usually find a tempo workout in TR and raise or lower my resistance as I need to based on the race.
AS I say Iām surprised Jim, as both my wife and I use the Atom for TR and find it works very well for intervals longer than a minute. However, it will not be as good as the Neo with quick changes. They have very different motors and I hate to say it but the Neoās is better at dealing with resistance fluctuations.
There is some lag on shorter intervals on the Atom but weāve found you can prepare for it and most of the time just about compensate. If youāre finding it a real issue then Iād get back to WB. Their customer service isnāt too bad.
In summary though I think you canāt think of the Atom as a ābike on a trainerā. It isnāt, itās something different. Itās not really a bike, itās a tool for indoor riding and it acts and feels different to a Turbo trainer and bike. Weāve grown accustomed to it now and accept itās different but coming from a Neo with itās real bike feel I can understand your disappointment and can only say it wonāt get any better than it is.
ā¦ shame! ā¦ Iām just digging to find all the possible little things out about the new model.
