Any Zwift Ride Users?

Pros: easy to adjust, play controls, bike like, cheap
Cons: zwift lock in (mostly), 2 plugs, 2 bluetooth connections can be annoying on apple TV

Works for us as a house with multiple users and limited space

I've just bought one to replace a worn out Tacx Neo 2 a broken Stages SB20 and an annoyingly squeaky Tacx Flux

First impressions are that its unbeatable for the money. You need to spend at least double to get a comparable smart bike. I'm not sure how much i will use the buttons and steering as I mainly only do erg workouts but its good they are there.

Pluses for me are

Easy adjustment between family members.

Fast response between resistance changes.

No bike needed.

Negatives

Not as quiet as I expected. Still very quiet just not as quet as the neo or stages.

The neo is the trainer gold standard and the Zwift bike it not far off and for most people I don't think the differences will matter. The neo is more accurate for racing and definitely quieter but after about the equivalent of 25000 miles on zwift the resistance has gone and the fans run constantly on mine (if anyone knows how to fix this let me know) plus the plastics on the bottom have started to crack so its not really worth spending much to repair. The stages is unbelievably smooth but resistance changes are so slow that short intervals are nearly impossible. It takes about 20 seconds to go from around 250w to 500w meaning that by the time its stabilized the interval is 1/3 done. Its also really slow to react to cadence changes, again its probably about 20 seconds to go from 70rp to 100rpm. Its currently sat waiting for an engineer to come out and repair.

I would definitely recommend the Zwift bike for most people. Save the hassle of using your own bike.

I'd have a very good read through the Zwift forum before committing. I know that we only ever hear bad feedback but the number of issues is frightening; damaged frames (in unmarked boxes), bent chainrings, poor components and lack of standard parts amongst them. Zwift support are struggling under the backlog of problems too so folk are experiencing long delays.

We've got one and have been very pleased with it. It's really easy to adjust, so everyone in the family has been able to use it. I was a bit concerned about being tied into Zwift, but you can control the Wahoo Kickr through the Wahoo app and still have a functional trainer. It also feels really solid to ride. Negative points would be that it's a little bit noisier than I expected. The saddle isn't overly comfortable, but can be swapped out for a personal favourite. Our seat post is slightly stiff to adjust, not bad enough to justify returning. I've removed the post and nothing obvious is preventing the movement. The twin USB connection for charging the smart shifters isn't very well thought out. It's a shame they didn't include cranks with multiple or adjustable pedal threads so you could change the crank length.

Was about to start a thread on this but found this in the search.

Been tempted by a smart trainer for a while, wanting something that can be easily adjusted for two riders at 5'6" and 5'11".  And ideally something fairly compact compared to a full bike and that doesn't need two people to move it from the house to garage etc.

I'm not tied to any platform yet but Rouvy sounds more appealing than Zwift, partly as they have a Duo account option.

So would the zwift bike still be worth it for use with Rouvy or would it be an expensive ornament with redundant features? Could possibly create a DIY version from a spare frame with a fake fork to keep it compact, and swapping out a bar/stem combo to adjust the fit?

So would the zwift bike still be worth it for use with Rouvy or would it be an expensive ornament with redundant features?

The Zwift bike uses virtual gearing with Zwifts own implementation. I don't see how it would work with Rouvy or any other system.

I'm looking seriously at the Wattbike Proton for very very similar use - 2 people of different sizes and wanting something compact.

It's currently £200 off with interest free terms if you want them. The super adjustable step through frame and very small footprint is a bit of a winner for me. The downside is the saddle rail - it does not take a standard seatpost so if you want to swap saddles (we would) its currently a bit of a faff. Customer support say a spare saddle assemble is planned as a purchasable accessory but no planned date for release yet. I could probably weld and 3D print something up but it'd be a faff. The DC rainmaker review was pretty good.

In terms of app - I just didn't gel with Zwift. Currently use TrainerDay which is just numbers and graphs but I'm happy with that and some tunes or netflix on easier sessions. It's mostly like Trainer Road but much much cheaper. Mildly Rouvy curious. I suspect Mrs C might like something a bit a peloton spin class like without the 'merican puke inducing vibe. I guess a youtube vid and manual slope mode would do that.

The only reason I've not bought it over the festive break is the delivery fee. Free delivery for most - but £180 for us as apparently we are not in 'mainland UK'. Don't recall crossing a bridge or taking a ferry. It's a frequent issue, but not normally a £180 issue!

I'm following with interest. My trainer (Elite Suito) isn't currently supported but sounds like it will in a few months. Having my main/only road/gravgrav bike on the trainer is a bit annoying and almost impossible to adjust for my wife. Think the frame would solve a few issues.

My main concern was how the virtual shifting compares. Any insights?

Unfortunately, it seems Swift don't deliver to Canada, so I'd have to ship it to somewhere in the states and drive down to collect 🙁

The downside is the saddle rail – it does not take a standard seatpost so if you want to swap saddles (we would) its currently a bit of a faff. Customer support say a spare saddle assemble is planned as a purchasable accessory but no planned date for release yet. I could probably weld and 3D print something up but it’d be a faff. The DC rainmaker review was pretty good.

are you sure, as DC Rainmaker seems to suggest it's an easy swop :

On the saddle itself, it uses a standard saddle rail system up top, though a slightly tweaked one to attach to their moving rail down below. That means you can easily attach your own saddle if you don’t like the one included.

Zwift's virtual shifting is fine. Very minor lag if connected through app but still responsive enough. Shows the gear in game. Can configure but haven't bothered, default is same as SRAM axs in synch mode.

Issue is the gear change to the wahoo is only via the game and game controls so you are locked to zwift.

Apparently erg mode works in other apps but not tried.

So would the zwift bike still be worth it for use with Rouvy or would it be an expensive ornament with redundant features?

Somewhere in between as I understand it. It will work - as designed - on Zwift using virtual shifting, but because physically it's effectively a singlespeed with no facility to change gear, on any other platform, it'll be a non-adjustable singlespeed, which probably isn't what you want. However, it should work in erg mode where the software is setting the resistance and the gearing is mostly irrelevant, so you could do interval-type sessions using pretty much any compatible app/platform - Wahoo X, TrainerRoad etc

The trainer component, the Kickr Core, would work as a standalone smart trainer with any bike you decide to sit on it once you've fitted a cassette to the trainer, but then that sort of defeats the object of the Zwift Ride in the first place.

I guess there could be some sort of monumental bodge potential where you'd get someone to weld a mech hanger in place and fit a shifter and rear mech to a Zwift Ride and use it with a cassette. That would be a bit nuts unless you could do the work yourself or get it sorted cheap by someone who knows what they're doing.

You have to think that there's a market out there for something with the ergonomic adjustability of a Zwift Ride, but with manual gears fitted, but I can't think of anything offhand. If it's just for one person, you could build one yourself from an obsolete frame, fork, front wheel, stem, bars and rear drive train. but it'd be more of a single person option unless your partner / family / visiting people are pretty much the same size as you.

Does anyone do a geared equivalent of a Zwift Ride? Just curious.

Just returning this thread to say that we went for the Zwift Ride in the end and so far have been really happy with it.

Building it up and getting it set up to match my gravel bike was easy enough and swapping between riders is straightforward as well.
It’s much quieter than the same turbo trainer was with a bike on there according to my wife.

The shifting with the Zwift Cog is pretty good, the only thing that’s a bit crap and seems pointless is the steering controls and the braking. The braking I’ve not figured out when/why I need it and the same goes for the steering with the added benefit of the steering being almost impossible to accurately control.

Overall though, we’re happy with it.

are you sure, as DC Rainmaker seems to suggest it’s an easy swop

Sorry, wasn't clear. Yes - it's easy to swap the default one for your own.....in the way it's easy to swap one saddle to another on any bike with tools. In this case a couple of spanners. Then fine tune the tilt etc. so say a 3 min job.

But I'm talking about a tool free swap in a couple of seconds - slide the whole saddle assembly off the rail and pop the spare one on. All tilt angles pre adjusted at initial setup and off you go.

I know 3 or 4 mins is not that long but I think it would get old very quickly if doing twice a day and enough to put you off.

On the Wahoo I 'think' it takes a standard seatpost so you could just have two saddles attached to two seatpost and do that quickly too. But I like the idea of the step thru frame of the wattbike from my better half.

^^^ aha, got you.  I don't know about the Proton but one of the main criticisms people have had with the Atom is the bolts being made of cheese, so even with 2 seatposts with saddles permanently attached, the clamping assembly wears quickly.  I do think they have improved this on recent models though.  Mine is 2 yrs old and it's only me on it, so it is never adjusted, just a bit of a grease annually.

If anybody needs to address the apple TV 2 Bluetooth connection limit, consider getting a Viiiiva HRM from 4iiii - this will pick up multiple Bluetooth devices and amalgamate them into a single channel that the apple TV can deal with.

Its not as cheap as other HRMs, but it just works

I'm in a bit of a research frenzy at the moment, realising how naive I am regarding indoor training!  Having watched some intro's to Rouvy, I think I'm probably going to be more engaged with Zwift despite the subscription price.

So if I take the various options ranging from merely expensive to very ouch, are they all going to essentially give the same experience on Zwift but with reducing faff levels for two riders?

1) Jetblack Victory £400 direct drive with Zwift cog (and swapping two bikes depending on who is using the trainer)

2) Zwift Ride £1200

3) Wattbike Proton £1600 (I assume the sub free Hub training is just solo training and nothing like group riding in Zwift?)

4) Tacx Neo £1900 (£300 extra for fans and vibrating road feel?)