dmanthree

I'm swapping the Kickr bike for the Tacx Bike Smart. Why? Not sure why, but I never felt comfortable on the Kickr bike. The old George Costanza line comes to mind, "it's not you, it's me." I think that I got too familiar with the feel of my Neo 2T and just couldn't make the transition.

Getting it set up, hoping to ride when a little flu goes away.

PeteHski

What's different about the feel? I've never ridden a Neo, but I was under the impression they are very similar.

dmanthree

First thing I noticed was the ramp up when starting out. The Neo, again probably because I was used to it, just felt more natural. The Kickr would offer higher initial initial resistance, but actually felt like less resistance climbing. I finished setting up the Bike Smart, took a brief ride, and just felt at home again. And the climb feature, well, I shut it off. Never cared for it. And downhills never felt right on the Kickr. Resistance varied when it shouldn't have.

FWIW, I did update the firmware, so that wasn't an issue.

Yeah, i'm old and set in my ways.

PeteHski

Climbing resistance depends entirely on what App you are controlling it with. If I'm climbing a constant gradient it feels very consistent to me, as reflected in the power and cadence data. Maybe yours had some fault?
The climb feature is obviously personal preference, but that's how your bike attitude actually changes in real life, so for me it's a very important feature for my alpine climb training.

Anyway hope you have better luck with your Neo bike.

Barry2 

Had my Wahoo Kickr Bike since Dec 2019.
If I could keep just one bike, it would be my Kickr Bike due to it's versatility.
Too hot, cold, wet, dark, windy, or I just don't enough time for an outdoor ride, the Kickr bike is sitting there ready to go.

My app of choice (Fulgaz) seems to be very representative of outdoor riding in the felt resistance dept.
It's quite immersive. I find myself slowing for road junctions and attempting to lean into corners. 8-)

Sorry to hear you didn't get along with yours, I guess I should never ever test drive a Tacx.

Barry

spelger

funny what you say about slowing down. on my first or second ride with Rouvy i came upon a roundabout with a big truck on my right when a pedestrian stepped out into the cross walk and i immediately slammed on my brakes. i had a big laugh at that.

dmanthree

I've been using Rouvy to compliment Zwift and find my self flinching every now and then, as well.

"It's only a movie."

:-D

dmanthree

Well, so far so good. Like I said it's likely just me, and what I was accustomed to. But it's nice to have choices.

Ed Wiser

sounds like you never set up the gearing on your kicker bike. Mine always starts at a 34-32 combo. As it defaults to this when you set up your gearing.

PeteHski

I have my Kickr bike gearing set up to match my road bike and it defaults to the third lowest gear on start-up.

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.

PeteHski

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.

dmanthree

Like I said it's likely that I was just too accustomed to the feel of that mechanism after riding on a Neo 2T for a few years. The Tacx bike is smoother and quieter, for sure, and that's what I preferred. I'm indoors only now, and really like the bike.

PeteHski

The Kickr Bike is noisy for sure. It has a strange metallic sounding resonance. I've got used to it, but it's not as quiet as many direct drive trainers and certainly one of the things that could be improved. I have another indoor gym bike that is completely silent.

dmanthree

Definitely not as quiet as the Tacx bike. I didn't hate it, but just wanted the feel of the Neo drive unit. And based on my last two weeks, well, it was a good choice. Such a nice unit. Nice to have choices.