Has anyone got a video of a Zwift race sprint with a steering unit?
I know id be in the wall
Race Mode looks pretty cool. Would love to see this update in older gen Kickrs but I think this is a WiFi vs Bluetooth thing.
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- Per the BikeRumor article I linked in the dedicated topic, the last line has a bit of hope:
Wahoo has also added a new ‘KICKR Race Mode’ to its indoor trainers. This mode broadcasts power up to 10 times faster than standard trainers, giving riders an advantage at critical race stages. Race Mode is available on the new KICKR Smart Trainers with built-in WiFi and will be available on previous versions of the KICKR with the use of the KICKR Direct Connect WiFi adapter.
- I do think they have a minor error with the 2nd mention of “WiFi”, but it seems Race Mode should be coming to the V5 Kickr since it offers the DirCon cable option.
NOTE: KICKR Direct Connect is ONLY compatible with KICKR v5, KICKR V6, KICKR ROLLR and KICKR BIKE V2. It is NOT compatible with previous KICKR editions, KICKR CORE, KICKR SNAP, and KICKR BIKE V1.
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Well, happy new year to you 
After seeing the new product launch, i feel very sorry for Wahoo…After seeing the Elite Sterzo, as a good product, not get that many users and interest on zwift, a steering product would be the last one i would concentrate, even if my company was earning money.
the wahoo management did many rooky mistakes and they keep on doing it.
It is clear, that every product they sell brings some cash, but also the high possibility of costs, because of the quality issues on several products.
With loosing margin you keep on producing a certain percentage of costs with every sale.
Seeing Europe as their biggest and most important market…the management and sales team is far away from professional.
They came up with a B2B system last year, before that, excel sheets were distributed for dealer orders…compared to the level of other companies, it looked like amateurs.
They have deinstalled their LHS Salespersones last year, now a new “poor” guy was introduced to focus on the local hobby shops?
They still do not understand how european markets work. You cannot diss LHS and sell cheaper than they buy and now try to get their help back again. I have found many US companies who could not see clear about their european staff and the quality of the management.
The new steering product is not going to save them from nothing, it just shows the market how desperate they are, i am sure , marketing wise, it destroys the final trust , as CEO keeps promising revolutionary stuff…when is it going to hit the market?
It would have been better to just ditch the product and safe costs, they will not sell many anyway, there is no market…the product is just expensive and excludes the biggest community (zwift)…and you cannot even steer, you just have to hit buttons? wow…i think the lack of money made the product a compromise, as they need to be able to trigger the climbr users and installing real steering is tricky if you have a climbr setup.
i am very anxious who is going to buy wahoo and uses the brand afterwards…elite is on my list, rock solid company with good italian designers…
we will see!
RIDE ON
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Well, everybody knew that, we sold alot of sterzo units, but only to early adaptors…after 3 month sales were lower than low.
But all customers love it and they still use it.
so hitting this micro market of wahoo shows the management quality at its best?
Elite had an exclusiv contract on steering in the beginning and zwift did not allow any other company to come up with usable hardware …you are correct, there are very few users using steering…
I am on my second Elite indoor trainer. I like that a lot of their parts are compatible across generations. E. g. I could take the XDR adapter off my Volano and bolt it on my Suito. 
Why did Zwift agree to that? It isn’t in their interest if only one company makes steering hardware, they should aim to be manufacturer agnostic.
Well, it has been a long time and this was great news for elite and many of us bought a complete set. in these times, wahoo was strong selling and i think it was a sign, that elite came up with this first, not wahoo or tacx.
i think it was only 6 month or so, but these 6 month represented the main time frame for EU - indoor season…with this move, elite secured their market position, established their inventiv marketing picture and kept out others with this idea, as the market is very small.
Knowing all this, it makes it even worse, that wahoos solution shows up now(3 years later) and is it badly engineered, too…
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I wouldn’t even say it is badly designed, from the outset it is a bad product idea: from what I can tell Zwift is the only game in town and Zwift hasn’t really done much with it. For sure, it is not a “must have” feature — which is also a problem for Elite. Elite’s steering solution is by all accounts mechanically very well done. But that’s worth little if Zwift doesn’t make that feature appealing.
With the caveat that I haven’t used it, I actually think Wahoo’s take on steering is better than the Sterzo. I have noted the issues with the Sterzo before (toe overlap, cable tension causing unintentional steering / drift, exaggerated amount of steer required, etc)
Just because we use the steering axis IRL doesn’t mean we need to utilizize it indoors. IMO, the idea that we need to replicate outdoor riding inside is fatally flawed.
So if using two paddles give me the ability to steer in one of the programs, I’m all for it vs. turning my wheel.
Now, how Wahoo executed the concept, IMO, seems a bit wonky. I don’t want to have to use my phone to access the feature. Hell, I could have done that w/ the original Zwift steering launch.
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Steering on Zwift predates me, but from what I’ve read and seen it seems like it was set up to fail. Anything conceived and released like that has a hard uphill battle and unsurprisingly that hasn’t happened and it’s effectively nothing. There’s some people who seem to like it, but few.
It feels like Wahoo is taking it more seriously - whether that really amounts to anything remains to be seen.
@jcolp I have used steering in RGT and think it works well. They probably need to sort out whether it is always on or optional but overall I think it adds a lot to races and rides. I also really like the radio feature.
Which is kind of sad because I, probably in the minority, think RGT is a better platform than Zwift. Better graphics, way better racing dynamics, and a visual draft number to name a few plusses. Plus the magic roads thing is pretty cool riding previous routes and endless possibilities that we’re seeing now with the Echelon Racing League using real world races and recreating them in RGT. Zwift in my mind has only one advantage right now and that’s participation numbers, which I’ll give them, is a huge advantage.
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I wonder why that is, besides them being the “main name” within indoor cycling. The gamification aspects - that is the drops and levels? Is it the added social aspect (I HATE THAT EVERYTHING HAS TO HAVE A SOCIAL ASPECT NOW)? Is it the more gamey graphics?
I can say that the most stupid thing that I like about doing my workouts in Zwift is that arch for the next interval (when it shows up … if you ride through the volcano you know what I mean).
It is ironic because their main advantage is not due to anything proprietary, which in theory makes them vulnerable.
But in reality, it makes them extremely formidable and almost impossible to dethrone.
First mover advantage and no one can come up with a compelling alternative. RGT and others are fighting on specs, not the experience (which is closely linked to participation numbers).
Two examples…one recent and one fairly distant in time:
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Twitter: that place is a hot mess right now and nearly everyone hates Elon…but despite the massive dissatisfaction, it is proving to be almost impossible to pull people away. Mastadon and Post.News both saw a massive influx of members (relatively), but still twitter dominates. Why? Because that is still where everyone is. The overall experience (partiicaption / engagement) kinda sucks at the other platforms.
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iPod: There were better digital music players (based on spec) than iPods…and many of them allowed you to use free music. Apple upended everyone by delivering a superior experience via iTunes. Not only did they get everyone to adopt their ecosystem, they got them to actually pay for stuff they could get for free from other systems. That was a massive sea change…but iTunes made it simple and intuitive to get digital music.
Zwift still has the best overall experience (based on participation) and no one has been able to come up with a compelling alternative experience.
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Without turning this into a Zwift thread, here’s my thoughts. I felt like the gamification was cool for a bit, then I lost interest. Drops and levels have less use once you unlock the Tron bike and Alpe du Zwift (I think it’s still level 6 locked). I don’t need to spend the drops because the Tron bike is pretty much the fastest bike you can ride. And levels don’t really matter because I don’t need to unlock any gear. Powerups, for me at least, are too gamey for races. I just want to race and have it be about the race rather than the luck of getting a certain powerup. I like the no powerup races better.
RGT has the visual draft representation which is cool, but more importantly, they do a much better job of getting you into the draft. So many times I’ve been behind another rider in Zwift, but the game won’t move me into the draft so I stay off to the side rather than right behind. The race series that RGT has are pretty cool, too. I did the Joe Martin stage race a few weeks ago, and before that they had a ToAD race and an Intelligentsia Cup race. It was fun racing real races, albeit in the Magic Road so the scenery wasn’t real.
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You nailed it. I get on Zwift for the group rides and racing. The calendar is packed, and junk miles or not, riding with others gets me to ride more.
To me that is the issue Wahoo needs to attack if they want to compete. They need to attract the ride and race organizers over. Address the issues Zwift ignores that frustrate them, give them a platform to promote their events, and users will hopefully follow. Of course that sounds like something that needs a marketing budget, which is tough or impossible in Wahoo’s current condition.
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What you see on screen is not always 1) what others see on screen (individual riders positions are not represented the same) and 2) indicative of where you sit in the draft. Pay attention to your riders position on the bike. If they are sitting up on the hoods, you are in the draft.
But if you are using the Tron bike, you have no idea since their position never changes (not even to “stand” when your cadence drops).
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Another advantage to RGT showing the draft value.
Which is 100% of the time.
S-Works Venge w/ the Zipp Disc / 808 combo…fastest setup in Zwift and you can tell when you are in the draft or not.
Win-Win!! 
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