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Wahoo fitness trainer. Are they any good?

Looking for some opinions on the trainer.

Currently have a Tacx Fortuis which I've had a for a few years. Looking to get a new machine as its getting a little tired. The Tacx has a virtual cycling section and a real video section so looking for something similar.

The Wahoo unit looks like it fits the bill but wonder if the additional costs of getting video to train on is expensive. Does it come with its own set that you can use, can you use you're own garmin recorded routes easily or at all and can you get training down load session,s?

Any opinions would be very welcome.

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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20 comments

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Dante256 | 9 years ago
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Oh by the way, Wahoo Segments, great FUN - but over priced. TrainerRoad is a much better system. The real benefit to Wahoo Segments though is you can use it to train indoors on routes before a race, so you've an idea as to what it will be like on the day - I tried using a video to train with, and just didn't like it. Segments is much better than a video

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Dante256 | 9 years ago
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Personally I've found the KICKR to be a great bit of kit. I recently fractured my RIGHT olecranon and have been using it for rehabilitation.

Personally I think the best thing about it, for me, is that its bomb proof stable.

It took me three weeks after the accident to even have the confidence to sit on the Turbo, but now I'm doing quite well with it.

I'm writing about the fracture, and the rehab needed, along with bits of kit i'm using along the way at www.titaniumgeek.com.

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upinthehills | 9 years ago
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So far so good. Very easy to sort out once you've got it.
Bought it with the Heart rate, cadence and ant dongle as I couldn't be bothered with fiddling around setting it it up with odds and ends from Garmin etc.
wahoo software quickly picks up everything and you're off. I loaded trainer road which then tests you for out put over a twenty minute time trial and thats it.
Fitting the bike is a piece of cake. I had to swap the ten speed cassette for 11 which is easy enough and the spacer which is provided needs to be set for road wheel spacing. All that took around half to three quarters of an hour.
So far I haven't used the trainer too much but expect to be doing the trainer roads training schedule and see how that goes.

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mikecassie | 9 years ago
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Pepita, my kickr works fine with the 11 speed cassette I fitted but if you need 10 speed, isn't that what it is supplied with?

Can you provide us with info on which bike you are wanting to use on your Kickr and I'm sure someone will give you helpful advice to get you up and pedalling.

Cheers,

Mike

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scarletpumpernell | 9 years ago
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I dont understand that last post. The Kickr supports both 10 and 11 speed cassettes. I think pepita1 is getting confused thinking that a 11-32 and 12-25 signify 11 or 12 speed hen actually it is just the range of gears covered by the cassette. The smallest cog wll have either 11 or 12 sprockets on and the biggest will be either 25 or 32.

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pepita1 | 9 years ago
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I bought a Kickr but am having trouble setting up bike in it. I'm not very knowledgeable about bicycle measurements like axle size so am concerned that my disc equipped road bike will not fit the trainer. Additionally, the bike I'll be using has an 11-32 cassette. The Kickr (on their website) says it accommodates both 10 and 11 speed, but mine came with a 12-25. I've written to Wahoo support but I wasn't happy with their response.

Please can anyone advise? Should it be necessary to buy an 11-32 cassette for the Kickr, I'd be very grateful for advise on what tools I need to buy as well as the procedure. (I bought the Kickr online so no going back to the bike shop. As for where I bought my bike, it's Monday and they are closed, so no info coming from them.) Thanks

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Chasseur Patate replied to pepita1 | 9 years ago
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pepita1 wrote:

I bought a Kickr but am having trouble setting up bike in it. I'm not very knowledgeable about bicycle measurements like axle size so am concerned that my disc equipped road bike will not fit the trainer. Additionally, the bike I'll be using has an 11-32 cassette. The Kickr (on their website) says it accommodates both 10 and 11 speed, but mine came with a 12-25. I've written to Wahoo support but I wasn't happy with their response.

Please can anyone advise? Should it be necessary to buy an 11-32 cassette for the Kickr, I'd be very grateful for advise on what tools I need to buy as well as the procedure. (I bought the Kickr online so no going back to the bike shop. As for where I bought my bike, it's Monday and they are closed, so no info coming from them.) Thanks

You don't need another casette. The kickr provides the resistance not the gear size.

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pepita1 replied to Chasseur Patate | 9 years ago
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Thanks for your response. Unfortunately, a 10-speed drive train is not compatible with an 11-speed so I think there will be issues.

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upinthehills replied to pepita1 | 9 years ago
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Hi

The trainer comes fitted with ten speed cassette. This cassette has a spacer behind the cassette when you take it off the free hub. Once you've done this you can fit a cassette the same as the one which the rear wheel of your current road bike. This means that the chain length that you are currently running will be the same on bike as well as the Trainer.
Only other job is the spacer which allows you to run mountain bike spacing and road bike spacing. I'm not at the trainer now but the road bike is the narrower of the two.
Hope that sorts you out. If not come back.

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scarletpumpernell | 9 years ago
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I am interested to hear how the KickR is going upinthehills

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kostya416 | 9 years ago
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May I suggest Veloreality software http://veloreaity.com . We have highest quality road videos on the market. The software works with KICKR and is free. And we just released beta for people riding together online (our first foray into interactive online services).

The beta can be downloaded from:

http://veloreality.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=95

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upinthehills replied to kostya416 | 9 years ago
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Sure thing. Do you want some feedback. Can do it through forum or by email.

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steve58 | 9 years ago
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Agree, Kickr is noisier than I expected, also don't bother with Wahoo "segments" ios app.....it's £22 or thereabouts and is total junk!!!...it simply doesn't do what it promises. If !!! it can find the Kickr and you manage to find the segment you want to ride, the "elevation" data is so inaccurate, that comparing your indoor ride to a real Strava segment is made a pointless exercise. For me it hasn't worked from day one and the app has had no updates since June 2014, I too use it mainly with Trainer Road...seems to work ok on desktop pc (ant+)....not tried with new ios app (BTLE)

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upinthehills replied to steve58 | 9 years ago
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 1

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wellcoordinated | 9 years ago
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I have a Wahoo Kickr and absolutely love it. I have it hooked up to my iPad running Virtual Trainer. As stated above there are many apps and hardware open you with the Kickr. Some of the other trainers have private Ant+ so you are restricted to that companies ecosystem.

As for noise, I would say that the Kickr is not that noisey. At least I have ridden fluid based trainers that are noisier. I agree with Macrophotofly, head over to dcrainmaker where you can read about the Kickr as well as other trainers.

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macrophotofly | 9 years ago
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I'd get the Powerbeam if you don't mind the extra wear on your rear tire and you can live with only Ant+ or only Bluetooth (it doesn't come in a dual mode version like the Wahoo). If you need both data transmission types (eg using an iPad for the screen part and Ant+ sensors ) then go with the Wahoo, but be aware that the noise is a little bit of a pain. Both are superb and built solid - you'll never regret buying either one  36

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macrophotofly replied to macrophotofly | 9 years ago
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I meant iPad without a Ant+ dongle. You have the dongle, then you can ignore the Bluetooth version in entirely (Powerbeam include a Ant+ Usb stick in their pack for Mac/PC use)

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upinthehills replied to macrophotofly | 9 years ago
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 1 Thanks for the comments. The snow and general miserable weather has forced my hand. Bought a Kickr yesterday and its coming tomorrow. Like the idea of no back wheel.

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macrophotofly | 9 years ago
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The Wahoo is a good machine - 4/5 (I have one and I've removed the point because of noise - I expected a wheel-less trainer to be at least quieter than the Cyclops Powerbeam Pro and it isn't - if noise is a very high priority, go with the Powerbeam)
The Wahoo hardware has a very open architecture so you have a massive choice of software out there that works well with it. Its own software is perfectly fine for the first ride or two, but there are other solutions that have more bells and whistles (such as the video training you want). I use Trainer Road (monthly sub) alongside Sufferfest vids, if I want a video rather than just a normal workout on TR. TR works with lots of other existing downloadable training videos.
For the "real cycling" sensation check out Cyclops Virtual Training (DC has a good review here - http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/02/cycleops-virtual-training-in-depth-re... ). DC has (IMO) the best trainer reviews so it should also help you to choose which device with which software.

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upinthehills replied to macrophotofly | 9 years ago
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Thanks very much for the reply. If you could choose only one what would you're choice be?

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