Clythio

Hello - I'm used to spend a big part of my training, indoor, even when I was only on the road racing (up to 2016).
I have a nice roller (last gen InsideRide eMotion) which I use for recovery, endurance or heavy gear seated efforts (road things), and a dumb (not "smarted") Kurt Kinetic Road Machine permanently equipped with a fixed alu bike, for standing starts (I have a hub powermeter on this old alu bike).

But I need a direct drive/smart trainer for all other kind of efforts, since it's rock solid, accurate on power measurements, and capable of holding real standing sprint efforts - simulating flying sprints, lets say.

Putting aside things like SRM bikes, Cycleops spinning devices (I know Carleton advices, but it's impossible to find here in Brazil), and Wattbike (costs like $4000-$5000 here), and considering I want to keep "a bike" connection - real handlebars, frame, seat feelings, etc., I'm thinking about these Elite, Wahoo, Tacx, Cycleops on the market.
The Tacx Neo is too flexible (read lots of reviews and watched videos), Wahoo I've read a lot of problems, from Elite I had two other models, and a lot of problems with calibration, interface, power values accuracy, etc.,... and I'm looking toward to the Cycleops Hammer, that seems to be very solid and reliable on power values - I'm a Powertap user since 2005.

Any suggestions, of personal experience reports, are welcome.

1incpa

I have a Cycleops Magnus. It's been reliable for the 3 years that I've had it.
I had to build a wooden frame screwed to the wall to keep it from walking across the room when sprinting. It does ok for standing start efforts, but I can tip it over if I go hard enough.
My wife has had the Hammer for as long as I've had mine and its also been reliable. She doesn't have any trouble sprinting on it. I can make it move, but it's much more stable than mine. I haven't done any standing starts on it.
Hope this helps!
Paul

Rvair

The Canadian National Track team all use Wahoo Kickr. I have used it for 4 years and it has been 100% reliable.

topflightpro

I've been using my wife's Kickr the last few weeks. It works pretty well, though I did have to put some bags of concrete on the legs to keep it from lifting on starts.

Velobike makes adapters for many direct drive trainers to put your track bike on there. If you want a cheap option, try to find a used Lemond Revolution.

Clythio

Strong guys... screwing on the ground or walls, putting concrete bags.. :-)
Thanks for the suggestion about Lemond Rev - will check here but it's very hard to find the brand here in Brazil. I think they never had a seller here.

brawlo

I 100% would not bother chasing a Lemond if you already have the KKRM. The Kurt with the heavy flywheel was one of the best trainers prior to the smart revolution and is much much much quieter than the Lemond. I’ve done literally thousands of standing and rolling full gas efforts on my KKRM. I retired it to upgrade to a 2nd gen Kickr and would 100% recommend one of those too. The kickr has a toothed belt (not sure if they still do) which eliminates slippage that other trainers may have with their v belt on high resistance efforts, plus the Kickr had the highest resistance at the time IIRC

topflightpro

I tried a Lemond recently with a Velobike adapter. It is very loud. But, they are pretty easy to find near me and the going rate is about $200-$250, which is a lot less than a Kickr.

I've used a KKRM but with the normal freewheel. It's fine, but wheel slippage has been an issue for me. (I hear trainer tires, knurling the drum or the heavier flywheel can help with that.) There is no slipping on the Kickr. The manual resistance settings are nice for starts, but I found that with that, once I get the flywheel going, the power required to keep pedaling plummets. I often just plug it in and use it like a regular trainer and avoid the manual setting options.

Morelock

Speaking of Kickr's, anyone's experience with the original (2014) model?
One locally at a fair price, but I know the way of measuring power and flywheel changed after the original. Not really a deal if it's immediate buyers remorse, but my computrainer is getting a little long in the tooth.

topflightpro

My understanding is they made some substantial improvements between Gen 1 and Gen 2. I think we have Gen 2 (maybe 3?). If you plan to put a Velobike adapter on there, I think some of the older Kickrs work better/are easier to set up, but you'll have to double check that.

Morelock

thanks, yeah wasn't sure but I remember the OG ones having some issues although I heard firmware had helped.

I will probably hold out for a later gen or just suck it up and buy a new/refurb

Clythio

Adding some info here.

1) I have a KKRM with the heavy flywheel, with a "permanently attached" old alu Fuji Track frame on it, TT handlebar/setup, for standing starts only (sometimes I take the bike outside, it has brakes, safe for non-velodrome standing starts accelerations sessions on other kind of places).
Found that with 48/15 it simulates very well the power/cadence acceleration curve that I get with real race gear 51/14.
Had some slippage problems, solved with.... large tire on rear training wheel - with a 25mm "soft rubber" tire (Vittoria Rubino), the contact area gets larger and eliminated slippage (since I have only 1300w peaks usually). First I turn the bolt, then I pump to 120psi. It's working well and I'm just asking myself why I didn't think on a larger tire earlier...

2) Bought a Saris H3 and after a month of tests, I'm already selling it... it was intended to replace my Elite Drivo, for use on many different kind of training, like flying efforts high cadence, heavy gear low cadence, etc., with a geared road bike on it (geometry setup similar to the track bike).
Reasons to give up and get back to the Elite Drivo:
a) No Saris Campy compatible free-hub conversion available (still using 10sp, there's a difference between Campy and Shimano, shifting never gets ok);
b) No resistance curve if not controlled by apps like Zwift - taking time loading app just to make some "flat terrain" efforts - and sometime getting annoyed by the circuit profile variation inducing some resistance variation during a high cadence sprint.. (the Drivo offers very nice "real feel" resistance curve only if plugged on power, no app link required);
c) Power accuracy below pair, if compared with reliable Vector 3 on same bike. Drivo was always 1-3% below the pedals, very reasonable, but Saris H3 floated up to 5-10% deviation range, too high even considering the transmission power loss.
d) The "axle" contact pieces holding the frame on H3 aren't knurled as it's on the Drivo (on the left side) and in a real rear wheel axle. On the Saris H3, it's made of very well polished aluminum, allowing vertical frame slippage when sprinting. Even with a "carbon braking" tight rear skewer I had a bad event, almost braking a carbon frame during a seated, 100rpm 1000w sprint effort;
e) H3 is said to be one of the most "silent" trainers, much better than previous Cycleops Hammer H1 versions, etc... Ok, true. IF AND ONLY you do not stop pedaling.. never! If you stop, the cle cle cle cle loud sound will fill all the room space for long seconds (heavy flywheel) and even my wife came from the other end of the apartment to ask "what changed on your training device?".