I’m trying to minimise decisions and be a bit more efficient with my time. I want to jump on and turn on TrainerRoad/Zwift, and when I’m going out, I want to cut down on the steps taken to get the bike ready. That said, I’ve come across a few training bikes at a decent price point on FB marketplace.
The options are:
Zwift Ride (bike only)
Kickr Bike V1
Kickr Bike Shift @ 20% off (brand new)
Given that the Kickr bike is more expensive than the Zwift Ride, is there any value in getting it? My reasons for not going with the Zwift Ride are that the setup is entirely different to my road setup, i.e., 165mm cranks and 38mm handlebars. What are your recommendations?
Bit more hassle initially, but my vote is an old frame stripped back. You can fit whatever crank length, bars, etc. you want, and thanks to Zwift Click you only need the STI levers for a hand position, so they can be old/cheap ones that you won’t care about if they start to corrode due to sweat. Better for the planet too.
Thanks. That’s definitely an option too! I have a beautiful CAAD8 sitting in the garage waiting to be polished and updated. The two young kids (under 4) are giving me minimal time for anything fun
FWIW, I’ve also got an older bike permanently mounted on a trainer (Tacx Neo 2T). That said, I don’t have any of the newer, fancy bits like a Zwift Click or such, as I wanted to keep things real, since I do ride the bike now and then…
But like @JC1979 said, you could really mount any bike you wanted on it, even that CAAD8. If the shifters aren’t working, as a temporary solution, you could just get by in ERG mode, if your trainer supports it, until you’ve managed to sort out the shifting.
I’m currently having some issues with my trainer but I’ve had an old bike that’s indoors-only for a few years. I recently stripped it back to make it as durable and simple as possible. Stripped paint, full length housing, 1x.
Another option I’d consider is [Cavework’s Rivet](https://caveworks.co), a special frame that you can fit to any trainer and that takes (for the most part) standard bike parts. This way you can update the trainer whenever you want and have an easier time troubleshoot issues.
I’ve got the v1 Kickr bike. As you probably know, its party trick is that it tilts back and forth to simulate grades when you’re in SIM mode on a climb or descent. It also has a forward-driven flywheel so you can coast on descents. Whether that’s important is for you to decide. It’s very solidly built and hasn’t given me a lick of trouble. It’s also pretty easy to resize if you’ll be sharing it with someone else. It has belt drive, so that’s one less chain to maintain.
Previously I had a Saris Hammer with a 90s-era beater bike on permanent trainer duty. This was a much cheaper option all around and was OK.
So I have a KICKR Bike SHIFT, it honestly is pretty good and could recommend it! Maybe even over a V1. Specifically because it supposedly quiter and cheaper.
However, I bought mine before the zwift ride existed, and frankly I think that that is a cleaner solution. The frame looks pretty okay and not too bulky, which I find important in an object that is always on display in the house. Additionally, if for some reason you have to move it temporarily, you can easily transport the trainer and frame seperately. Doing that with the KICKR bike is a nightmare (don’t ask me why I know).
All in all, I would go for the Ride because of pricing and convenience. Personally I would prefer it over an old frame because of styling, and the ease of use, but that is super personal.
I personally don’t see the value in an indoor bike like the Kickr Bike or the Stage SB20. Very heavy, cumbersome and getting service (if ever required) is a massive PITA.
I would recommend either the Zwift ride or a dedicated trainer bike. I am using a late 90’s Schwinn aluminum frame with a 9spd drivetrain as a dedicated trainer bike and it works great.
If my trainer (Saris H3) supported it, I would be very tempted to get a Zwift ride. Hopefully they add that functionality eventually, but I have low hopes for it.
I have a dedicated trainer bike I bought used for cheap. I just checked that the stack and reach were roughly the same as my “real” bikes before buying.
Being able to jump on the trainer without any setup has eliminated one more excuse to not ride.
do you know of any walk-through articles or helpful tips for setting something like this up? I have been using my gravel bike for indoor workouts and the hassle, maintenance, and general tedious nature of setting everything up is limiting my riding as I have a garbage work schedule right now. I have an old alloy frame, a direct-drive trainer, but I don’t have Zwift.
I’m a big fan of using this excuse to upgrade your current bike to something new and shiny, and use your current bike for indoor training only. Any excuse for a New Bike Day!
I sometimes do intervals in TT position, when training for individual pursuit. Because there are no levers on the handlebars I can switch from drop bar to TT cockpit in seconds (I have 2 bar/stem combos, also 2 seat post/saddle setups)
Another vote for an Old bike. Aluminum frame for corrosion resistance. I have an old Allez, old 10 speed SRAM. No brakes. Mated to a Wahoo. Works well. Got the frame cheap 15? Years ago. Built it up with old crap parts.
I rode an old frame on a Tacx Neo 2 for multiple years accumulating over 10K virtual miles (I had a couple of recoveries from major injuries that necessitated lots of indoor miles), and switched to a Wahoo KICKR Shift within the last year (a little over 1500 miles to date). For consideration:
Dedicated Frame on Direct Drive Trainer (Tacx Neo 2):
Pros: relatively cheap, with the right frame and component choices can accurately duplicate your outdoor riding position, can better replicate the physical sensations of riding a real bike a bit more with some give (rocking) inherent in the Neo 2 design, and more side-to-side motion possible if you want to go down the rocker plate route. I also enjoyed the surface simulation (e.g. simulating riding on gravel or dirt in Zwift) but I don’t consider that critical for training.
Cons: if you use the setup a lot, consider the frame and drivetrain components as disposable - sweat can be really corrosive, and pulling the bike off to wash on a regular basis kind of runs counter to having a dedicated “set and forget” indoor bike (especially when our setup is upstairs in the rec. room and I’d need to carry the frame downstairs, through the house to the garage to do a good cleaning)
Dedicated Indoor bike (Wahoo KICKR Shift):
Pros: much easier to accurately switch position setup between riders (my wife wanted to use the indoor cycling setup as well), eerily quiet (especially with the virtual gearing), with a sealed drivetrain there is no maintenance other than wiping down.
Cons: more expensive, does not replicate the road “feel” quite as well as the Neo 2: the virtual shifting is a little funky taking a literal second or two to settle into a new (virtual) gear, and similarly, when doing erg. workouts, the Wahoo seems to not settle into a new power setting quite as quickly as the Tacx did. Going the rocker plate route gets more complicated (larger size of the rocker plate needed)
Note that we went for the KICKR Shift v. the original KICKR bike with the tilt - the climbing/descending simulation of the KICKR bike seemed fun, but like the surface simulation that Tacx does, doesn’t really affect the training that much. OTOH, we heard the KICKR bikes get creaky over time and seemed like a potential long term failure mechanism on a very expensive purchase.
Just so everyone in here is fully informed, aluminium won’t corrode as much as steel, but it does corrode. The paint on my bike in the picture above was bubbling in certain spots due to sweat/corrosion; I stripped the paint to the bare aluminium so I can just give it a wipe over and not worry about hidden issues. The same story with the bars: they have some large chunks eaten out of them from sweat that I discovered on removing the bar tape after listening to a Ronan warning on one of the podcasts. No more bar tape on the indoor bike.
Trainer bikes are subjected to a lot of sweat and hence corrosion regardless of material. I take mine apart once a year to try and mitigate this and keep the seatpost, stem, and headset becoming permanently “integrated” with the frame.
