Thinking about getting a Wattbike Atom, what should I know ?

A cheap bike and a nice smart trainer might well be cheaper and give you more options.

^^ I have wondered about that, I have a couple of nice road bikes, too good in my mind to be on a trainer, so anything I bought would be for indoor use only.

I have an Atom and if you can afford it I’d say go for it. I considered some of the other available smart bikes, but at the time the Atom was the cheapest reliable option. Built solidly and has run faultlessly for me. Easy to set up, use and adjust for different sized users, something which as an occasional coach I kind of wanted.
I had a Tacx Neo beforehand with a bike permanently set up on it. But it always seemed like a waste of a bike and felt, to me, like a temporary bodged together solution. With an interest free deal, which wasn’t available when I bought, it would be a definite yes for me.

We had the same predicament a good few years ago when the Atom came out and Zwift / Smart trainers were in their infancy.

I had typed a load about my progression from wheel on smart trainer to the Tacx bike I have now but, bottom line in my opinion is if you can afford the trainer bike - be it Wattbike, KickR or Tacx - do it and leave outdoor bikes to the outdoors.

Happy to post more of the middle waffle and reasoning if needed.

I’ve got one and love it, it doesn’t get much use this time of year but takes a hammering in the winter or when the weather’s less clement.
The reason I went for the atom rather than tacx or similar is that wife and kids can use it easily if they want (sadly they rarely do once the novelty wore off) adjusting saddle height/ reach is a doddle!

We bought an atom at work and I have to say its utter crap. Very difficult to adjust (easily worse than a bike), horrible feel from the flywheel, slow to adjust in erg, uncomfortable bars...

It's cheap tech rammed into a fancy box. A kickr core is a hundred times the experience. Spend the rest on a bike, TV, fans, a new tablet, a bike holiday....

I love mine (1st gen) although Erg is crap on Zwift. Just don’t bother, turn it off though and it’s great. Don’t really agree with the above re adjustment, but then it’s just me & the mrs, so no issues there. Seamless with an iPad, I’ve never felt the need to cast to tv. Don’t forget the friend referral 😉

Use Wattbike Pro + road bike on a smart trainer.

If you can afford the Wattbike go for it. Much more solid platform without the need to take off wheels, change tyres, mess around and grind up your groupset. With trying all modes before making up mind I.E trainer, pro, atom etc..

Pretty convincing 😁, thanks all.

I’ve had a go on one at David Lloyd a few times and was quite underwhelmed. Not sure which atom bikes they’ve got but the adjustments weren’t very nice and it seemed clunky changing resistance.

My road bike on a Kickr Core feels much nicer tbh. I’d just pick up a decent direct drive smart trainer and a cheap road bike and permanently install it on there. I use my iPhone with trainer road but an iPad or an Apple TV and monitor would be good with Zwift if you want W more interesting trainer experience. I think Trainer Road is a more flexible training experience but Zwift gives you more entertainment to avoid boredom.

^you sure DL have Atoms? The Clubs I’ve been to only have the standard Wattbikes. Resistance is only changed by using the app on an atom. Not clunky at all imo. Only saying as my local dl are a bunch of useless pricks and refused to get even 1 Atom. Not a member anymore.

I have a couple of nice road bikes, too good in my mind to be on a trainer

When I bought my kicker I thought I’d pick up a cheap eBay bike to put on it, but I just use my 'nice' bike. There’s no reason not to, if you get a spare cassette then it’s a 5 min job to swap the bike from trainer back to bring a real bike.

I haven’t noticed any kind of accelerated chain/gear wear at all - yes you put miles on it but it’s clean, dry and quite a constant load too.

I got one when I realised there was more than one person in the house needing to ride indoors.
Made life easier with permanent set ip.
Not the most reactive but a good solution

^you sure DL have Atoms? The Clubs I’ve been to only have the standard Wattbikes. Resistance is only changed by using the app on an atom. Not clunky at all imo. Only saying as my local dl are a bunch of useless pricks and refused to get even 1 Atom. Not a member anymore.

I could be completely wrong - they were definitely Wattbike but maybe crap ones in that case. Not nice at all!

I like mine a lot. Like others I got it so that it was easy to adjust for my wife to use (she hasn't), but also it takes up much less space than a turbo trainer + a real bike, which was important for us.

They used to have an outlet that updates stock on a Monday morning IIRC. I couldn't find it in 30s of Googling. You may have more luck.

Never used one in anger, but mates who have them rate them highly.

We take delivery of our £500 Decathlon spin bike on Friday, it’s not a smart one as such but there’s loads of YouTube vids where you can just adjust your cadence accordingly based on what the screen says. Better than nothing especially in the deep of winter after she’s given birth 😂 and hoping being able to get riding easier will bring down my fortnightly road TT times too 💪

Have been very pleased with my atom. It's very stable due to the 4 points of contact with the ground Vs a bike on a turbo

I have a Wattbike Atom V2 and for the money it is excellent. I used to have a Saris H3 Smart Trainer with my bike attached but having a 3k bike in such a rigid position all the time just felt like an accident waiting to happen ! The moment you try and stand up for big power you could sense the frame being under strain. Hence i purchased a Wattbike Atom and it's a miles better indoor training experience. I subscribe to Rouvy and the options of routes on there are endless.
If you can afford it then just get one and you will not regret it and save your bike for its intended purpose of riding outdoors.

so, Wattbike Atom being delivered today. Have joined their FB group and got some initial ideas. Will get started on the Wattbike hub initially I think, then dip into Zwift !

iainc, that's what I did. The hub isn't too bad, workouts are good. I joined zwift for winter and fair enjoyed it too. When biking meant back outdoors I paused the membership then eventually cancelled and use the hub again. Debating whether to zwift again this winter or try something different. Fwiw my wattbike by and large has been ace, I had one software issue and the common fault of the seat adjuster failing. Wattbike sorted them out fairly quickly. If you do ever need to contact them use live chat.

^^^ good to know, thanks

I’d recommend trying other services than Zwift too, most have some sort of free trial period. Trainerroad, Wahoo (former Sufferfest) etc.

Hi, been mulling over some form of stand alone trainer, as my wife and I both use a Tacx Flux.
The problem is we both need sized different bikes and hers is thru-axle.
She has issues with arthritis and can't change the adaptors over, so if my bike is on there and I'm out she can't use the trainer.
Do the new Atoms still struggle to use ERG mode in Zwift, as i imagine they'll be it's main use?

^I recall from DCRainmaker review of newer Atom that it is improved in ERG mode but still way behind best smart trainers.

I have 1st gen Atom and second seatpost for it for the Lady of the house, adjusting saddle is just too slow and annoying on Atom. Bar height is fast with quick adjust and virtual stem length is easy to change with hex key.
Compared to bike on trainer the whole system is much more compact, has no sharp parts and dirty chains.

I've only ever used zwift with the atom and used erg mode. I don't find it troublesome but have nothing to compare to.

When you buy and atom you get a load of codes for free trials iirc.