Yes, for the 4th time in 11 years, I’ve got a new bike trainer for indoor riding in the wintertime.
- Kurt Kinetic non-smart hydro resistance trainer
- Wahoo Kickr Snap wheel-on smart trainer
- Wahoo Kickr Core wheel-off smart trainer
- Wahoo Kickr v6 wheel-off smart trainer
There are a few reasons why I bought this, but it boils down to letting Ian have my Kickr Core. He’s been using the old green Kurt Kinetic for a couple of years, doing Apple Fitness cycling workouts from time to time. He’s also been riding to school through the winter again this year. But I think he was starting to think ahead to the Bow Cyclist season and the Ronde van Cowtown is only about two months away. He knows that last year he was doing fine but he didn’t have the endurance early in the season to complete it. The goal is to get him to join in a couple of Zwift rides per week with the club.
The Kickr Core was still working great, so it should do Ian just fine. Tammy’s still happily using the refurbished Kickr Snap. Last summer, I let her try the Core, but she didn’t like the feel of a wheel-off trainer.
I got everything set up just in time for the ride tonight. I reached out to Kurt at Bow Cycle to ask about ordering a Kickr this afternoon. A week ago I’d asked Daniel at the shop and he said he’d need to order one in for me. So I was expecting that, but then Kurt said they had exactly one in stock. So I checked with Tammy and then scooted down to the shop to pick up the trainer. Brought it home, had a quick supper, and then got to work setting up.
First I had to take my bike off the Core. Then I had to remove my 10-speed cassette off the Core. The bike I use on the trainer is my 2013 Norco Valence and it has 10 speeds, while Ian’s Cube has 11, and the new Kickr came with an 11 speed cassette installed. The next step was setting up the new trainer. It was a no-tools, no-fuss experience. If i didn’t have to change the cassette, that would have been the end of the story, near about. But no, I had to remove the 11-speed and install the 10-speed. Then I had to connect to power and use an app to connect to the trainer and update its firmware and connect it to the Wi-Fi.
The ride was good. The Kickr allows more side-to-side motion of the bike when riding which was welcome. But it was not a major difference from the Core. It’s the same manufacturer, and a very similar resistance unit. I didn’t really go any faster, of course. But it was nice and new, and now there’s a trainer ready for Ian to hook up to tomorrow. I got him to install the 11-speed cassette on the Core, so he’s done that now.
It might seem excessive to have bought four trainers in that time, but:
- Three out of the four will still be in regular use by Tammy, Ian and I, and
- Did I say regular use? I put on thousands of virtual kilometers every winter and hundreds of hours of saddle time. It’s a great investment.
