If all you do is TR workouts, I don’t see the value. I finally bought one and don’t regret it at all, but most of my training is on Zwift and I find longer rides and races much more enjoyable on the smart trainer. Between long winters and kids/work I spent 400hr of my 600hr training indoors in 2019, so not a huge outlay for the use it gets.
Actually the Wahoo Kickr gen1 trainer was released in 2013, not 2014. I still have my original order email from Wahoo, showing an order date of 19 March 2013.
Wahoo replaced this original Kickr in May, 2013, and this 2nd one has been going strong since then (7+ years) with no problems. The only maintenance I’ve done on this trainer is to clean the optical sensor + optical sensor sticker thing.
The place I bought it from had stopped selling products (they were more of a studio that sold trainers), but they somehow validated my purchase to KK, which is what got it through for me. Hope it works for you as well. Might be worth trying to get the Bikeshop to validate the purchase for you if they can (even if they don’t have the receipts)?
I have the original Tacx Neo. 3 Years old and hasn’t missed a beat…yet.
With mine they just shipped a new resistance unit to me and told me to keep the broken one.