I have one of these and it's superb. It's a quality piece of kit. I use it all year with the Zwift cycling sim (using a cheap Decathlon bluetooth speed and cadence sensor). Bike fits easily, it has excellent resistance through the fluid unit and is very quiet when used with a proper turbo tyre. I can use it in the next room to the wife watching TV without any complaints. I've done a couple of thousand miles on mine and the rear roller has nothing but a black line from the tyre. No sign of wear at all. RRP actually says £199.99 but mine was £149.99 when I bought it and I think that's a more realistic price.
For not much more than a Mag trainer (which can be loud) and a trainer that is in Zwifts supported list, this is an amazing deal.
6 comments
Scale70
25 Jul 17#1
A couple of people have asked how I use this trainer with Zwift. There are various ways of making non-smart trainers work with Zwift. First off you'll need a speed and cadence sensor for the bike. I use this one from Decathlon but there are a few. If I were buying now I'd probably buy the Wahoo speed and cadence sensor as they don't need magnets, but the Decathlon one works perfectly well and was cheap (<£15). Decathlon Speed and Cadence Sensor
Secondly you need a way of those sensors talking to the Zwift software on your pc/laptop/mac. Some people use an ANT+ USB dongle but a slightly less documented feature is that you can use the iOS Zwift mobile link app to act as a bridge between your bluetooth sensors and the Zwift software. Essentially, the sensors talk to the mobile app via Bluetooth and then the app relays that to the Zwift software over WiFi from your phone. Sounds complex but actually works very well and reliably. It's what I do.
And as Zwift has this trainer in its list of known trainers, it has a reliable power curve for it and can therefore estimate its wattage power output very accurately.
You can also link Bluetooth sensors direct to your iPhone/iPad and run Zwift directly on those devices but I have no experience of that.
Obviously in Zwift itself, when you reach a hill, the Zwift will automatically slow down your on-screen avatar based upon that incline, knowing the wattage you are outputting, so its quite realistic.
souljacker
26 Jul 17#2
Very tempted to upgrade my cheap magnetic turbo for one of these, is this one a lot better than a magnetic one
Rhettdwarf
26 Jul 17#3
Nice offer, but dont forget to factor in a training wheel if you dont have one already, or you're fond of replacing your rear tyre every couple of months.
Scale70
26 Jul 17#4
I use a £10 Halfords turbo trainer tyre. Works nicely and doesn't seem to be wearing.
jhsmith87
31 Jul 17#5
Or buy a Wahoo Kickr Snap off gumtree eBay :relaxed: (I've loaned a friends for the summer but plan to get the new Elite Direto during Black Friday)
rmvt to jhsmith87
14 Aug 17#6
which will cost at least (even used) double what this one costs...
Opening post
For not much more than a Mag trainer (which can be loud) and a trainer that is in Zwifts supported list, this is an amazing deal.
6 comments
Secondly you need a way of those sensors talking to the Zwift software on your pc/laptop/mac. Some people use an ANT+ USB dongle but a slightly less documented feature is that you can use the iOS Zwift mobile link app to act as a bridge between your bluetooth sensors and the Zwift software. Essentially, the sensors talk to the mobile app via Bluetooth and then the app relays that to the Zwift software over WiFi from your phone. Sounds complex but actually works very well and reliably. It's what I do.
And as Zwift has this trainer in its list of known trainers, it has a reliable power curve for it and can therefore estimate its wattage power output very accurately.
You can also link Bluetooth sensors direct to your iPhone/iPad and run Zwift directly on those devices but I have no experience of that.
Obviously in Zwift itself, when you reach a hill, the Zwift will automatically slow down your on-screen avatar based upon that incline, knowing the wattage you are outputting, so its quite realistic.