I struggle to see the value in this when I could buy a kickr, a sick cross bike or whatever as a second bike, and a climb if you really want that thing.
Sounds right to me. Thatâs a ton of money for a bike that doesnât move. Get a Kickr and E-flex base. The Climb featureâŚnot all that useful IMHO.
Thereâs a difference between having the warranty available and it being executed well unfortunately⌠
Judging from the feedback on the forum, Wahoo seems to replace / fix stuff without making too much of a fuss.
Noted, if the product is good from the start they wouldnât have to.
Added video #3 from GP Lama in OP and here.
Added video #4 from GP Lama in the OP above and here.
Seems like @gpl is in love. I am curious how it compares to the Tacx bike in his estimation.
What about flex? Did you notice more flex than with an ordinary bike on a trainer?
That was something that I wondered about watching Lamas vid, that there seemed to be more back and forward motion than youâd get on a standard bike and trainer setup. He didnât mention it so might be just one of those things you might see in a vid but donât actually feel or notice when riding
That was it, on the vid there looked like there was some rocking, not much, but not something youâd have on a regular setup. I thought itâd be as you said, not something youâd notice on the bike, more something that youâd notice when looking at a side view .
Added Rayâs final review above, and here for quick access:
Initial observations after build and first couple rides:
(1) Bike is very very easy to put together. My guess is that 90% will assemble solo like I did, though Wahoo will never recommend this.
(2) Fit wizard didnât really work for me. In the end, I just replicated my position the old-fashioned way: with a plumb bob and tape measure.
(3) Ride is amazingly smooth. It may spoil me for actual outdoor riding, even with a well-tuned Dura-Ace Di2 drivetrain.
(4) I do get a bit of thigh rub - for me itâs more like Vastus Medialas (VMO) rub. But itâs not every pedal stroke and so slight that it almost feels like a little tickle by the cold steel of the âtop tube.â And itâs almost always my right leg and I only noticed it when riding easy at something like 120-180W. So for me, NBD.
(5) I did get a bit of heel rub, again almost exclusively on the right side. Due to the increased Q-factor of the KICKR Bike vs a Shimano drivetrain, I used some Speedplay pedals that I had on hand that are a bit narrower than the (wider than stock) spindle I ride on the road, so maybe I was a little too narrow. I do plan on measuring Q-factor and may go with a slightly wider spindle, which may well eliminate the heel rub (and perhaps reduce the thigh rub as well).
(6) The buttons on the inside of the hoods are very easy to press inadvertently - they donât do anything at the moment and Iâm sure I could get used to gripping the hoods without triggering the buttons, but something to be mindful of when the buttons are given a use.
(7) I hear a slight rotating metallic noise that matches my cadence. I only hear it when riding without a fan and without headphones, which is pretty atypical for me, but itâs there. For me, NBD.
(8) If there is ONE thing that give me pause, itâs the fore/aft ârockingâ or âslipâ that occurs when you significantly shift weight rear to front (more pronounced) or vice versa (less pronounced). For me, this is most noticeable when moving from out of saddle back onto the bars. The weight on the bars causes the whole unit to rotate on its axis a bit forward (so the bars move a bit down). Itâs as if the motor controlling the tilt mechanism canât hold the unit at its exact incline and has some âplayâ built in. As much as I want to love the unit, and so far I do, itâs hard for me to call this a âfeatureâ and not a âbug.â If I could eliminate the play, I certainly would. For the easy ride I did this morning, it fell somewhere in the range of âmildly distractingâ to âNBD,â but I think it may be more annoying under harder efforts, with more pulling and pushing on the bars and hard transitions in and out of the saddle.
(9) Looking forward, the shift feel is pretty subtle, and I would like to see an option to get more of a âthunkâ when shifting. And it seems pretty clear that if Wahoo can mimic a shift feel through stuttering the electromagnetic engine in the unit, then they can mimic road feel like Tacx does with the NEO. I am curious whether this is a firmware feature that will be added down the road or whether Tacx has patents in this area that will preclude the KICKR Bike from adding this feature. Itâs the one thing I miss the most from the NEO.
Any updates on your thoughts/opinions now that youâve had it for a few months?
@refthimos Iâve been having a lot of issues trying to ride in resistance mode using the TR app on my iPad Pro; as in it simply doesnât work properlyâand almost not at all. Changing resistance has no affect, changing gears has no affect in low gearing combos, and marginally as I shift up through 4th/5th on the little ring. Once in the big ring, resistance in more noticeable when shifting, but still unaffected by changing the resistance slider in the app. I hate ERG mode, so this has become a major frustration for me. Have you noticed any of these issues?
FWIW, I donât have any of the thigh or heel rub issues. Maybe its a function of anatomical frame size? Iâm 6â and like a 154mm saddle with my 35" waist.
I got mine just before xmas, so I have spent a considerable amount of time on it.
I have had zero problems with it in terms of the quality, me and the gf switch between setups on it daily and itâs still just as firm and solid as the day I got it.
Itâs definitely louder than my tacx neo, there is a metallic whine at certain RPMs that is a touch annoying, but itâs less noticeable above 85rpm. My gf rides before work and the first couple days it woke me up from the other room, but now it doesnât.
The firmware sucks. It doesnât broadcst ant+, so you canât track across multiple devices. I can still do zwift and TR (or sufferfest) at the same time, one in bluetooth and the other ant fec, but canât also then get the data on my edge.
The shifting is shit, it doesnât feel at all like a real bike, the watts spike way too high and then it gets too easy, I dunno really how to describe it, but itâs not right. There is also no âthunkâ or feedback, so depending on the terrain sometimes you arent even really sure if you switched gears, and the way the display is, if you have a towel on your bike, you canât see it.
It doesnât work correctly outside of ânormalâ RPM ranges, below 65 rpm the pedal stroke isnt smooth, and above 125rpm it will ramp the power up, regardless of what gear you are in or if you are in ERG mode. So high cadence drills are a no go.
My thighs rub, but it doesnât bother me at all, so I donât really care about that.
I definitely would say it is not worth the price, and it doesnât work as good as my neo, I would only recommend it specifically if you donât care about the money and you only have room for 1 trainer but want to be able to easily accommodate more than 1 rider, otherwise it would be foolish to get this. You can get a trainer that actually works better and an entire race caliber bike that you can ride outside on for the same price.
Sorry, canât help you there I do all of my TR workouts in ERG mode. While itâs no help to your situation, I should note that Iâve had no issues with TR in ERG mode - works flawlessly.
Most hotels I stay in you are lucky if you get a 20-year-old recumbent bike with one pedal missing! 
Everything in my initial review stands, though with the change in pedal spindles to match what I use on my road bike, I have no heel rub. I might get my thigh to very slightly rub every once in a while, but itâs so slight and the KICKR Bikeâs âtop tubeâ is so smooth that it is hardly noticeable. No issue at all for me.
I think the shift feel is as good as it gets for âvirtualâ shifting, and works just fine for me to know there has been a shift.
I wear headphones during my workouts and so while there may be some slight noise at specific RPMs, I simply donât notice it. My KICKR Bike is also in the garage so whatever noise it is making is not heard by anyone else in the house, even at 4:30am. Even without headphones, I think my fans make more noise than the KICKR Bike. I have zero noise complaints.
The biggest issue for me remains the fore/aft âslopâ in the tilt mechanism. Itâs very binary - the bars move forward and then âlockâ when moving your body forward and pushing on the bars, and then the bars move back and then âlockâ when moving your body rearward (e.g. when getting out of the saddle). Itâs NBD for steady-state efforts, but during very hard efforts (end of ramp test, Zwift Crit City sprint, etc) it does bother me. It does make me wonder if the NEO Bike would have been a better choice. If you get a KICKR Bike to do a lot of sprint efforts, like Zwift racing, I would definitely try before you buy.
Iâm sure its good, but if i had $3500 burning a hole in my pocket Iâd be buying Madone frameset and riding my forever broken H3 trainers.