Musickjr

Recommendation for inside stationary bike equipment. One that I put my bike on. Thanks

caloso

Wheel on? Direct drive? Smart?

Are you interested in training platforms like Zwift, Trainerroad, Rouvy?

Ed Wiser

Wahoo Kickr Version 5 is the most common smart trainer. Best to get a smart trainer you will get more long term enjoyment out of it. Don’t get a wheel on model you will end up with dealing with wheels all winter long.
I upgraded to a Kickr bike when I retired. Love it not bike chains wheels or gearing to mess with. Love the ability to have endless gearing setups.

Viich

I have a Kickr Core, which is a quality budget direct drive. I previously had a Kickr Snap, which IMO is one of the top wheel-on trainers. The Core was a significant upgrade in reliability, 'road feel' and convenience over the Snap.

kcjc

I have a gen 1 Drivo. Elite is still the only trainer make that uses a real power meter and the most accurate. Haven't need a firmware after leaving the factory. Response is not as fast as other trainers in erg. Neo is probably the best overall but recent design changes makes it more difficult for repairs and being own by Garmin now makes logistics questionable. Heard a lot of good reviews for Hammer 2 and it's probably has the quickest erg response. Wahoo is my least favorite (still can't forget them for the middle finger given to everyone not using apple). Gen 5 seems to have shaken off all of the QC and design faults for now. Only took 8 years and feel bad for the unlucky beta testers. Lots of praise for their support but I would rather have a product not needing any. Got to given them credit for innovation but not sure if there's anymore game changers left (a static to full rocker option with a foot mount would be nice) and others are starting to offer better mousetraps.

spelger

budget implies low cost. i would not consider the price of the core to be low price. lower than the kicker sure, but in the grand scheme of things not a low price to me.

i have the kicker and i got it at less than the core price during the summer back in '19 when no covid was flying around. sat in the garage until winter. i ride the heck out of it now.

spelger

i don't know how power measurement works in my kicker, what makes it not "real" compared to the Elite?

kcjc

I would not say Kickr power estimate is not real (except in erg by default), it's just they have not used a physical power meter since the initial release (gen 1 in 2012 that they never got it to work and subsequently bypassed with firmware updates). What they have is an optical sensor that measures flywheel speed and use that to estimate power. Elite also uses a optical sensor to measure power but it measures the deflection of fins in the power meter (imagine a jet turbine) to estimate the power output. All power meters I know of uses strain gauge deflections to estimate power output. Neo is only one that uses electromagnetic resistance to estimate power (aside from "spin" bikes). Accuracy of the Drivo and Neo is certified at 1% but the accuracy really shines is where you have instantaneous spikes. Kickr's power estimation is very good now but it just cannot compete and is just slower to register compared with a physical deflection or EM resistance change because you have to spin that big flywheel. You don't need to do a zero-offset with the other two but a must with the Kickr . Also it's a good ideal to do a advance spin down, basically a full calibration, each month. It doesn't exist, necessary, with other trainers. Well, technically Elite recommends monthly zero-offset (Hammer also) but I have only done it a few times after changing bikes or changing in the power output setting to adjust the trainer's resistance response when using erg. I really should do after I wash my bike but getting to lazy because it really doesn't need it.

The one unforgettable thing that only Wahoo does is to lie about you power output when using erg. Every maker have some kind of "smoothing" to make the trainer more responsive but only Wahoo gives you that fake output and not what it calculated during the effort. For a long time you didn't have an option but now you can (default is the fake output). If you are smooth, it might not matter but most need some work to get there. Not know doesn't help. It does makes a pretty graph.

spelger

i think your use of the word "estimate" is disingenuous here or unwarranted at best. from the little research i have now done nothing is estimated. power is just calculated differently using measurable quantities and plugging into formulas to determine power. the only "power meter" i know of that you can say estimates would be that power pod thing using wind, speed, grade, and probably some other things like rider and bike weight.

i have not heard about the wahoo erg thing you wrote about. will have to look into that one too.

tempocyclist

Depends on budget, but if you can stretch to a direct-drive model...

Wahoo KICKR
Wahoo KICKR Core
Tacx NEO

Otherwise if your $$$ don't stretch that far, the wheel-on KICKR Snap is a quality trainer also.

Yes, early Wahoo units were a little lacking in quality control, but that's all in the past and anything new will be rock solid. There's a reason the KICKR range is the most popular choice.

kcjc

Then you haven't done enough research and being disingenuous yourself. You can easily use Kurt Kinetic's virtual power curve out on the road (yes, second by second readout). Heck that's what Strava is basically doing for the post ride evaluation. The estimate provided by the power pod is better than KK because it controls for more variable. Same goes with Wahoo and other "smart" trainer indoor because the resistance provided is known. But, we all know it's not that easy or else Wahoo wouldn't need 8 years to refine that "power curve". And note, I did post that it's pretty good today but that 8 years span wasn't because the design had changed. The only major change they did was to eliminated the real strain gauge power meter because it didn't work. The rest is cosmetics.