These days, I find myself getting all Judge Judy-like when I see folks riding without gloves… Not the person though, but totally the bike…
Very happy SB20 user here. We went for it for the easy adjustment between 2 users and absence of drive train maintenence. They’re built very solidly and pretty cheap second hand.
I had a cheap aluminum Specialized Sirrus on a Kickr as my dedicated Zwift setup before getting a Kickr Bike. I have 13,000 miles on it now, I’ll never ride a frame on a trainer ever again.
Most of the pros and cons have been accurately commented on here, but I have to add two that I really appreciate.
I have a couple of family members that ride indoors occasionally, and completely changing the fit for them and getting them riding takes about 30 seconds. No bike switches needed. In fact, they don’t even have bikes. We have a chart next to it with everyone’s Kickr Bike settings after I did a formal fit for them on it (they think I am a total dork).
The other thing I love is programming the shifting and easily changing gear setups. I have it setup to mimic SRAM shifting action, and I have three different chainring/cog combos that I can switch between on the app—one for climbing, one for crits, and one for all-around riding. If I’m riding the Alpe with friends, after picking a good climbing bike on Zwift, I setup the KickerBike with my super-low climbing gears.
For someone considering the Kickr Bike, I love it and suggest it. The only issue I have had is the stock bottom brackets only last about 5,000 miles, but I have a Shimano threaded BB in it now which has been great.
Last year, I faced a similar choice between rebuilding an old bike as a dedicated indoor bike or going with a Zwift Ride (bike only).
In the end, I opted for the Zwift Ride on my existing trainer, which is compatible with Zwift’s virtual shifting. And I didn’t have an old frame or spare parts.
The big pro of this is that the Zwift Ride is really solidly built and comes ready to use with their purpose-built levers/controllers.
The con, is getting the fit dialed in. While the Ride is highly adjustable, if your optimal position falls outside of the middle of the bell curve, then some mods are necessary. The biggest issue for me is that the Ride’s stack is still on the high side in its 'lowest’ position, and the seatpost and clamp design favours bigger people who want a lot of setback. In contrast, I’m the opposite — very far forward, with a lot of drop to match my exact road set-up. I got as close as I could by replacing the saddle with an Ergon that has long rails and replacing the stock bars (round and two wide) with a narrow, flat-top (aero) drop bar.
If I were to do it over, I’d build up as others have mentioned, but perhaps adding Zwift controllers to go with virtual shifting. The 1x and no rear derailleur setup is hassle-free and even quieter.
We have Zwift Ride for last 8 months or so - my wife and I share the trainer and it’s used most days of the week. The Zwift bike was amazing to remove the need to constantly change bikes out, it’s not a difficult process but I managed to ring out the threads on a through bolt on my wife’s bike because I was rushing. The cost of the Zwift Ride would be worth avoiding that guilt!
Similar experiences to everyone above and all their pros and cons - ultimately it’s incredibly convenient but can be difficult to get fit bang on and for me the lag in gear shift time on the virtual gears takes away from the real feel of the setup.
If, like us, you want this as mainly a training setup, will be mostly in ERG mode, and there’s more than one person using it, it’s a great option. If there will only be one person using it and if you want to closer emulate a real bike feel with shifting and setup/comfort, an old alu bike is the best way forward.
I ride the trainer barehanded, but I drape a towel over the bars first. Shifting through the towel is no worse than shifting with long gloves on, and it’s not an issue in erg mode. If the spot under my hands gets damp I just move the towel a few inches.
Not on your list and unsure if available in your region.
Wattbike Atom
very good works with all the platforms and quite a bit cheaper than Kickr
If you do get a Kickr Bike, keep in mind the quality control is horrendous. I bought a Shift and I had 4 of them that had problems. They finally sent me a Bike V2 instead and it creaks when sprinting/climbing and it makes this really annoying vibration at cadences below 80rpm.
I’d get a Zwift Ride but the lack of real adjustment for saddle fore aft is a huge oversight in my mind and one of the things that the Kickr Bikes get right. If you aren’t picky about fit, it’s probably fine.
There’s just as many people who say this is awful as say it’s good…
I actually own one, it’s not awful or I wouldn’t suggest it.
I picked up a v1 Kickr Bike a couple of years ago and honestly couldn’t be happier. No QC issues with mine, and zero problems (aside from the whrrrrr sound when cadence is around 75). Having a truly dedicated setup that I can swap between Zwift and other platforms and sweat on without worrying has been a huge win for me. Are there cheaper options out there? Without a doubt. But it’s a great choice.
Do you get just a sound or do you get a vibration at lower cadence around 75rpm?
This is what mine sounds like and it is felt through the pedals pretty strongly.
I think you’re misinterpreting… I didn’t say you were lying about having a good one. I said that I’ve heard just as many OTHER people say it’s awful…
While your setup looks really cool, aren’t you concerned about corrosion (due to sweat)? There is a reason why aluminium is usually painted or anodized.
It’s a bit of an experiment, to be honest. My thinking was that any corrosion would be visible and easily noticed, rather than the previous corrosion which was semi-hidden under the paint. Maintenance should just be a wipe over and a little Mr Sheen from time to time, probably just whenever I remove the chain for waxing.
I’m open to suggestions if anyone has done similar before. My track bike is also a stripped aluminium frame, but it’s outside and not being ridden for long at any one time.
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I have a Kickr Bike v2 and I really like the tilting feature. Breaks up the monotony of riding indoors and activates muscles differently on the climbs. The Zwift bike didn’t exist when I bought it. I could have gotten 3 zwift bikes for the price so I probably would have ended up on a zwift bike if it existed at the time.
If i was going to choose between the kickr shift and zwift bike I’d probably just go zwift bike because it’s half the price. The Zwift ride has a standard 31.8 stem so you can swap handlebar. They have adjustable crank arms for the zwift ride now 160-175. You can purchase them on zwift’s website. Cheers.
I’ve had my V1 Kickr bike since January 2021. I’ve put 772 hours on it so far. Prior to that I was using the original Elite Direto and taking my bike on and off the trainer. After getting tired of doing that I decided to get a cheap dedicated bike to just leave on the trainer for a few years.
I’ve been happy with the Kickr bike and it has been worth it for me. I do like playing around with fit adjustments (stack and height, crank length). The tilt is fun when riding in vertical worlds and I also find it useful when doing intervals (to match the grade of the local long climbs I do).
I really like not having a chain and all that maintenance and mess that goes with it and worrying less about sweat in headset bearings and what not. My wife has used it a couple times and it’s pretty quick to adjust it to her fit - I have a different saddle for her that I keep on a send cheapo seatpost
I did have two warranty issues. One occurred in the first month and it was long enough that I can’t remember exactly what it was. But Wahoo sent me a box and prepaid postage to send the bike back and I got a new one a week or so later. The other was maybe a year ago when one of the shifters stopped working. I got around it by reprogramming what buttons shifted what until wahoo sent out the replacement bars. Wahoo support has been good for me.
Hey. Does yours get a substantial vibration at below 80rpm like mine does? Wahoo said it was “normal” for it to make a loud noise and vibrate at lower cadence…
This is what it sounds like: iCloud Photos - Apple iCloud
Not that I have noticed. I just went and pedaled for a bit to see. If I am really low cadence (in the 40- 60 rpm) then I was getting a little vibration that could feel through the saddle. But no noise like you had in the video. Sometimes I lower cadence I will get different sounds (more high pitched). But they come and go and I usually am not pedaling a a cadence where I hear them (typically I’m at 70+ rpm)