At the weekend the tensioner bolt came out on my Genius. Took it apart and the part used to select wheel tension is broken - no surprises as it’s tiny plastic lugs with open gaps. A browse online suggests a number of Tacx trainers wheel on trainers use the same or a similar part and I am not alone in them breaking.
Tacx used to sell this part for 5 Euros but it’s been discontinued. Tacx/Garmin no longer sell it.
The part number is 1981.22 or S0010, I can’t find it anywhere in the world.
I have tried to find the Vortex version (is grey but was hoping it was the same shape) but no luck, part numbers are T2171.07 / S2180.04
Looking at it this is a terrible design given the amount of tension these run - at the least it should have inserts in the spare holes to stop the plastic lugs taking the strain, better still have metal inserts each side for all the slots
One obvious fix is put a metal insert to replicate where the old 700c slot was but I’d ideally like to replace the part if I can get it!
Any other tips welcome. It is less than 2 years old so here in the EU technically covered by a default 2 years guarantee required of all products but this doesn’t sit well with UK selling laws and I want to avoid having a battle like that (potentially it would end up being a legal claim). I am waiting for a reply from the vendor, have given them the opportunity to source the part as a first step.
Thanks but that $5 part becomes $40 by time it is shipped from the US to the UK- I don’t mind doing that so much I bought 3 or 4 of them and can share with others in UK, but they only have one in stock.
Some progress - Evans Cycles, who I bought the trainer from, have said to bring it in. As it is within 2 years old they said they will do what they can.
I did check out On 9 Bike and a few other websites showing the parts as available and they are all recently launched websites with impossibly big ranges - everything about them suggests ‘scam’!
Evans called today to say it is back and ready to collect.
I’m paranoid now that the part may go again, isn’t available to buy, and my 2 year warranty is up next month.
I’ll certainly be making up a spacer or two to fit inside the unused slots to avoid the plastic lugs from snapping, but if it was worth more I’d probably sell it.
I used to have Genius. My opinion about purpose of those slots, those are for guidance for right position and tightness of screws is then holding whole thing in packet. So keep screws thigh and you don’t need that spare.
Yes the slots locate the position of the wheel clamp. No matter how tight the screws are the direction of the force is the issue for sure. The screws were perfectly tight when I took it apart.
Unless you are running the biggest wheel size the tension is against a small plastic lug with a gap the other side. The tension for accurate power measurement on this trainer is high. Road 700c or 650b settings are therefore compromised as the plastic lugs cannot take it.
It’s not just the Genius that uses this setup, Bushido and Vortex are similar.
I’m going to shim the empty 29er slot before using as cannot afford to replace the trainer and warranty is up next month.
It’s still (just) inside warranty so I’ve called Garmin. They asked for a photo (sent them a video as thought might be more useful!) so we will see what they do.
They did say it’s not a model they make parts for and they don’t have a huge inventory of spares.
Great idea. What size allen key did you use?
