I’m thinking of getting a tacx Bushido. Are they any good?
Wiggle looks to have a load going cheap on their eBay outlet (tri-sport_resort).
Would you get one? Would you get one if it was £200?
If not, why not?
I have the bushido smart (not sure if there is a non-smart version). It is the only smart trainer I’ve ever owned, and it has worked well for me. I have no intention of dropping it for anything on the market currently. At those prices, I may pick up another for the wife.
The Tacx Bushido was my first trainer. It served me well for a couple of years but I now upgraded to the Kickr.
Why did I upgrade?
- I got better at cycling and noticed wheel slip when I was sprinting. Annoying when doing workouts with sudden power change or zwift races.
- I got tired of having to adjust the roller contact to get the right feel and consistant
- I had the money.
With that said, at that price point, it is a great entry to smart trainers. It’s robust and simple. I still have it and use it as a second setup or as a warm up trainer prior to races.
I think tacx have now dropped the bushido, in effect replaced by the flux. Therefore if you get one, make sure it’s cheap.
I have a Bushido Smart - I paid £160 for it secondhand about a year ago. There are a few things you need to be aware of:
- Minor wheel slip (while you wind the power up) if you have a sprint interval
- Lack of flywheel effect compared to dumb trainer, so a bit harder to be smooth
- Power floor is dependant on gearing. Because it’s self powered, you need the drum to spin at a reasonable rate. If you try to use it in a big gear (eg my TT bike is 54x15), then you can’t get under 120W or so.
That said, it’s solid, it’s cheap, it’s smart enough, and it doesn’t need power so you can use it anywhere.
Do you have a power meter? I have a Tacx Vortex, which is a lower model than the bushibo and has been fine for my use. However, both the Vortex and Bushibo use virtual power which can wildly vary dependant on temperature or tyre pressure and so it hard to get consistent power values from it. If you do not have a power meter then i would suggest the flux or direto which i understand are a lot more accurate as they are a direct drive rather than wheel off trainer like the bushibo or vortex.
I have one and I’m happy with it, but I do have a power meter which I use for power match, so can’t comment on its measurement accuracy. I also got it from Wiggle for around £200, a few months ago.
It works well in erg mode and generally holds a good power, takes around 5-15 seconds to reach the target. As others commented, wheel slip might be an issue. Especially when there’s a sudden increase in erg power, like going from 150W to 300W. It’s noticeable for one or two pedal strokes, but I haven’t noticed it for prolonged periods.
I use mine with Zwift and it responds very well to gradient change. I think it ‘feels’ better in sim mode than erg mode. Has a max simulated gradient of 15% so can do most hills in Zwift, if that’s a concern.
Overall, it’s not gonna rival a high end trainer, but then it only costs a fraction of those. Probably one of the cheapest wheel on smart trainers you can get, especially since it’s constantly discounted on Wiggle.