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So I’m getting a bit bored taking my Dolan GXC on and off my turbo trainer - I tend to do one commute and 2 x turbos a week. Keep getting little scratches / scrapes in the beautiful purple paint etc.
I like my Kickr Core so thought I’d have a look at the kickr bike. New they’re mental money at £3500 - even at the £2600 for a reconditioned one it would be £600 cheaper to buy another Dolan GXC full bike to go on the trainer.
Realistically if I want one I’d have to go secondhand and even then £1800 is the cheapest one anywhere near me….and should something go wrong with that then I’m not sure if it’s realistically fixable (given the weight to ship it anywhere to be looked at) either.
Not really for any questions - just a bit of a mini rant!
Wattbike Atoms seem cheaper - but the only wattbike I’ve used ( at David Lloyd gym) was terribly crap vs my road bike on the kickr core with a trainer road on my phone.
Decent direct drive turbo and an old road bike is the answer 👍.
I’ve got a decent direct drive trainer so just a cheap ish road bike is probably the answer. Preferably bolt through rear hub as that seems more secure than qr. Would ideally want it a similar fit to what I have now - but the spec of the bike really wouldn’t matter at all.
Or a cheapish hybrid.
Next time the Carrera 9-speed hydraulic brake folding bike is on offer, I'm tempted to get finally get one and maybe leave it set up on the H3, removing it only for times when a folder would be handy outdoors.
No, no, no.
The answer is to put your existing "good" road bike on the trainer full time and use that as an excuse to buy an even gooder road bike 🙂
Oh yes, sorry misread core for snap.
Qr can be fine on a turbo. I had mine slip early on but after doing it up tight it's never slipped again.
I don’t think they have any kind of support on the road, and given I’m on my fourth Kickr it would be too big a hassle to have to strip it to send it back, and then no idea how much to repair after the warranty period ends.
if I was going down this route I’d probably only consider a Wattbike for that reason.
Kickr, Neobike, Wattbike and Stages SB20 are the four options. Of those the Stages SB20 looks to be the most robust/solid. Zwift forums regularly feature Kickr bike issues but that might just be because they are more common than the others?
Just been having a look at wattbikes - I reckon the ones they have at David Lloyd are the wattbike pro. Which would explain why they aren’t that good.
I use ERG all the time essentially - with trainer road workouts. Going to read up on whether the Atom is any good with erg / apps.
DC Rainmaker also has this:
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2019/10/smart-shootout-wahookickrbike-wattbikeatom-tacxneobike.html
I reckon am officially reconditioned wattbike atom might be the way to go looking online. Cheaper than most of the secondhand ones.
Having another look at this as I’ve got a sharesave scheme coming out at the start of November - plus after commuting home in the pouring rain last night I didn’t enjoy wiping the bike down and putting it back in the turbo trainer still a bit wet and whilst I was soaked.
Im thinking Wattbike Atom v2 is probably the answer here - rather than any of the other smart bikes or getting a secondhand bike to go on my existing turbo.
Thinking a Wattbike is going to feel more solid sprinting on Zwift races and I don’t have to worry about picking up a bike that needs tlc on the gears etc. although I have seen a few Planet X London Roads for about £300 that may do a job I guess.
Has anyone on here gone from turbo (Kickr Core is what I’ve got and it’s pretty quiet) to Wattbike (or other smart bike) - and how did you find the change?
Interestingly since I started the thread I’m not doing much ERG - and using the gears a lot in racing instead. I do intend to work out another way to do some zone 2 in Zwift (either erg or pedalling round some of the landscapes trying to focus on keeping power in the right area) but it’s less of an issue now then it was.
Genuinely interested in people's thoughts on this: what is the advantage of a Kickr bike or similar over my current approach of summer/winter road bike on a direct drive trainer (attached full time and rotated depending on the season)?
We have a wattbike atom V2. Main reason for us getting was that me and my wife share it and I got fed up of swapping bikes on the previous trainer. Now it's just adjust the control points which takes about 30 seconds. It's a smaller footprint than bike on a trainer too so is a bit less obtrusive.
The atom is a bit noisier than our previous elite direto but not annoyingly so. We bought a reconditioned one direct from WB during COVID. At the time they did an NHS discount which helped, it was cheaper than the silly prices people were asking on Facebook etc.
We've had it 3 years now, very happy, no reason to change.
Who’s going to be the first work from home IT consultant to claim a Wattbike Atom on C2W?
I'm lucky enough to have two Kickr Core bikes at work to use. Over the past few months we have had faults on the shifters, with both being sent back for replacement.
Apart from that they have been no hassle, apart from some numpty stripping the drive side 175mm pedal setting threads.....
I prefer the Watt bike to the Atom IMHO.
Unless you're regularly swapping riders, I can't see any huge advantage to a Kickr / Watt bike over a direct drive trainer with a dedicated second (third or whatever) bike on it, unless you're a fan of spending lots of dosh. You don't even need a full bike, just a frame, fork, front wheel, cockpit a drive-train elements - no brakes or rear wheel necessary. If you already own a half-decent direct drive trainer, it seems like a no-brainer tbh.
If you're sharing with someone else who's a significantly different size, it's maybe a little different, but for one person it's a shedload cheaper to just cobble together and additional bike and leave it permanently on the train.
I guess a smart bike gizmo might look more swish if the pain cave inspectors call round though 😉
I won’t regularly be swapping riders hopefully - wife has no interest in it and I don’t want her out poking round my gym telling me I need to clean it more often.
I’m just thinking it might be a more solid base for hard efforts plus it can be setup to mirror my current setup on the Dolan bike I use on the road. To do that with a cheapie 2nd hand bike I need to find a similar frame then potentially change stems etc
If you do go for the atom, use their bike fit tool, really helpful for matching existing bike positions https://wattbike.com/pages/bike-fit
Channel your inner rishi - get a Peloton.