Originally Posted by
dmanthree
Uh, no. I set up the Kickr bike to match my road bike initially. Trust me, it wasn't the gearing. It was the feel of the resistance unit. And now that I've spent a couple of weeks in the Tacx, well, it has only reinforced my decision. Love the feel of the Tacx resistance unit. YMMV may vary, of course.
I have noticed that the resistance feels a bit notchy at very low cadence (<60 rpm). It's not super-smooth for sure, but I think it is pretty realistic. In the more typical cadence range of 70-90 rpm it feels pretty smooth, but not super-smooth like a gym spin bike. There's a slight underlying roughness to the drivetrain, which is not unlike what you get on a real road bike riding on pavement. I don't know if they were aiming to simulate a road feel or whether it's just a characteristic of the belt drive. Anyway I'd be curious to try the Tacx bike to feel how it differs. I do have an Elite Direto X direct drive trainer which feels quite similar to the Kickr bike.