I believe JetBlack plans on shipping their new Victory smart trainer in September or October. Will there be a JetBlack Victory + Zwift Ride bundle soon?
Simon Says… No
Zwift and Wahoo just made up and became bff’s, do you really think there will be any other partnerships other than Wahoo for the forseeable future?
I don’t know any of the history. Especially what Wahoo does for Zwift compared to any other smart trainer company.
A year ago they were suing each other
That much I heard, though not over what exact patent infringements. Maybe something to do with the Cog that JetBlack developed for Zwift?
The patents allegedly infringed were related to the JetBlack Volt trainer, and by extension the Zwift Hub trainer. JetBlack quickly agreed to stop selling the Volt in the US. Zwift and Wahoo argued for a while but ultimately settled and the Zwift Hub was removed from the market, to be replaced with the Kickr Core in the typical Zwift bundles, and Wahoo adopted Zwift’s virtual shifting in the firmware for some of their trainers.
Now it looks like the JetBlack Victory will be offered in the US. Either they addressed the patent infringement by changing the trainer, or licensing, or perhaps they will be challenged again. I have no idea if Zwift will get involved in selling it. I imagine they don’t relish being undercut by a lower-priced trainer that has more modern features than the Kickr Core, which is quite ancient now (though it’s still a decent trainer, just not very competitive on features, and currently more expensive).
Ahh, thank you for explaining some of the history. I am still interested in the Victory and wonder how much the Ride will be sold for when it is unbundled.
Did you not see the JetBlack Victory reviews? - all with a new Zwift component. Zwift are aware that they have to be friends with as many of the smart trainer makers as possible.
… or by Wahoo becoming sensible to the fact it was in a fight with the market leader in training platforms that help drive customers for smart trainer sales (don’t kill the golden goose).
A key point to remember is that the Wahoo that went to court was deeply in trouble with repayment of some very large loans. The lawsuit ended after Wahoo’s original owner bought back control of the company and presumable banged some management heads, reminding them that talking and making deals is often cheaper and leads to more revenue than paying lawyers.
1 Like
The part of my comment you quoted referred to JetBlack, not Zwift. Zwift are clearly still working with JetBlack, but we’ll see if their trainers show up in the Zwift retail store again. Nothing has been shared but it’s possible that Zwift have an exclusivity agreement with Wahoo that will expire some day, or be renewed. The recently announced “Zwift Ready” certification program has already approved the JetBlack Victory, which is a good sign that they are not simply pushing Wahoo at the expense of all others.