Originally Posted by BTinNYC

Huge. Depends on what you enjoy.

The peloton bikes are designed for spin class - type exercise. You change resistance with a knob. Similar to a wheel-on dumb trainer.

The smart trainer bikes are designed for riding in a virtual world. The resistance is managed by the application, going up a steep hill on Zwift (or other) the pedaling gets harder, downhill easier.

Originally Posted by surak

In addition to automatically changing resistance, smart bikes like the Kickr Bike have shifters. Unique to the Kickr Bike is the ability to tilt to reflect gradient changes when riding.

Smart bikes, like smart trainer but unlike the cheaper spon bikes, also measure power accurately so you'd actually be traveling at believable speeds given effort.
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Originally Posted by rm -rf

I had a Kurt fluid trainer for many years. It worked ok: the fluid simulates wind resistance, so a faster wheel spin increases the resistance. Shift to a harder gear, or spin faster, and the resistance increases realistically. Good.
But it rolls on the bike's tire, so the trainer roller needs to be adjusted so that the tire doesn't slip. Even my expensive road bike tire was slightly uneven, so there's a vibration. Not too loud, but noticeable. The tire didn't get damaged when I sat and pedaled at moderate power, but would slip if I tried to sprint -- I didn't want to crank up the clamping force too much.

In the winter, my bike was on the trainer, in front of the TV. And I still found excuses not to ride.

Now I have a Kickr, but haven't tried Zwift yet. It's easy to put the bike on the trainer, take the rear wheel off and use the cassette that's on the Kickr. There's a phone app to control the trainer in different modes, either simple 1-10 resistance levels, target watts, simulated hill grades, or interval sessions. It's very quiet. I can do easy pedaling or all-out efforts. It's good.

I still don't use it that much. I should try Zwift this year.