Tacx Neo Smart Bike (dedicated bike)

Never go full MTB on the trainer :wink:

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I didn’t say it was the best options, I just pointed out that there are options … and why make a big thing out of duct tape when there are loads of cheap options out there, and is done in tri a lot, and theres no need to bodge it on. They should have put a second or third bottle cage on there, but there are lots of cheap options $10 one from Tacx

When it comes to deciding which smart bike to buy I woudn’t be worried about a second bottle cage, and it wouldn’t be duct taping it on (unless of course that was forum bullying)

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In general that video makes it sound hideously loud. It’s not. It’s just the mics doing funky things in a concrete box that is the studio. :slight_smile:

On the cadence, yeah, it’s like the 2T - crazy quick. Having not warmed up for that, my legs did a solid WTF when I shifted.

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“Forum Bullying” ???

I used to design certain things so have a low opinion when folks get what I see as the basics wrong in their designs.

There are lots of obvious “workarounds” for holding additional bottles - such as a table for instance - which most of us will be quite familiar with, none of which would be as necessary had the designers not omitted such an obvious, inexpensive and basic feature that nearly all regular bikes possess…

As a design decision it fails the “Make things as simple as possible, but not simpler” test.

The fact they didn’t include one on the Neo Bike, when it’s such an obvious thing to do and there appears to be space to include one, makes me wonder whether there’s more to this than meets the eye? Probably not, but you never know…

Sorry, I took the “duct tape it on”, when as as you say “that are lots of obvious workrounds” as a form of forum ridicule, my bad wrong end of the stick, appologies

Whats interesting is none of them appear to have 2 water bottles, and being smart bikes, it doesn’t really matter where you put them, so they all have space for them, to be honest the downtubes is the least convinent place to put them, as you have to stop pedaling in order to get to them, which is why I always put the water bottle on the table beside me, even the tacx tablet mount gives you a third bottle on the handlebars which is handy

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Given Wahoo and Tacx both only have one bottle mount, I have a feeling there is a reason that goes beyond the surface.

Clearly it would have been one of the first things brought up during internal feedback and I doubt that them not including a second is ignorance, malice, or laziness.

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Reaches over to side table and grabs 2nd or 3rd water bottle

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The Wattbike Atom has two bottle cages, but I don’t want to buy one of those… :wink:

The obvious reason that some of the bikes don’t have them is because the “frame” shapes are unconventional vs. regular bikes, while the Atom (& Neo) can accommodate them, so makes sense to include them.

I’m guessing you mean that seat tube (not downtube) cages aren’t that convenient for withdrawing a bottle, requiring you to maybe stop pedalling briefly, but what I always do is empty the downtube bottle first, then swap the bottles over, so I only need access the seat tube cage the once.

I’m looking to replace a Neo/bike combo with Neo Bike at some point (moving the the Neo/bike combo to another place where I train…), and giving me a neater and cleaner trainer setup. Having only one bottle cage would require some workaround or other, probaby fitting a shelf alongside or something, avoidable if they could just have fitted a 2nd cage in the usual place.

Clearly, first world problems and all that, fully acknowledged, but most consumer gripes are just that, so no apologies for me preferring X to Y when I’m paying the big bucks. IMV, the omission’s a design misstep, but obviously opinions vary! :grinning:

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I was thinking the same thing.

I can’t imagine why they can’t fit two water bottles, but for both companies to overlook it seems somewhat unusual…

The only rationale I can apply is a comment from Eric Minn @ Zwift. In an interview a couple of years ago, he said the majority of Zwift rides and workouts there were 1 hour or less.

The number of people going longer was a small number overall. If true, I could see companies choosing 1 cage since 1 bottle per hour is common.

That may be a reach, but it’s hard to understand why they overlooked something so simple.

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Tacx twitter account posted an “AVAILABLE NOW” graphic
https://twitter.com/tacx/status/1172547990457745408

The website linked says the contrary in my region however.

He doesn’t have a clue.

I added the DCR review in the lead post. Here it as well for easy access:

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Given Ray’s review, I’ll be keeping my pre-order, which should be shipping any day now. I imagine that Tacx will get the firmware issues sorted out soon for Erg mode and will report back when they do.

I’ve been doing most of my indoor training in resistance/sim mode anyway so this shouldn’t really cause me any issues.

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Can’t wait to read your comments. Good luck on swift shipping :smiley:

Welp, time to order :grinning:

Added the following video to the OP:

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11 months and 2 days after I pre-ordered, I finally have a shipping confirmation and tracking number!

source

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image

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Me too! Should be here Monday.

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