Kickr Bike Experience - it broke

I’ve just received my 3rd handlebar set. Plugged in and all working. However, this time i am going to try placing a couple of polythene food bags over the trigger housing. They fit a treat. Cover all the trigger, brake housing levers and wrap round the the drops on handlebars. Everything is still functional, easy to use with them in place. Its to hopefully stop any moisture getting in. Bags can be removed, replaced as necessary. Its a crime that we need to take to these measures for a 3k bike! But, feel i have no choice.

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Nice job that. I placed some polyurethane spider couplings between my top tube on handlebar set. The internal dimension on the couplings is the perfect interference fit. They are approx 20mm thick. So, just add or takeaway to vary heights. Also, being rubber does not scratch any parts.

We replaced our Tacx Neo 2T with the Kickr as we have 3 riders and it was easier to do the Kickr than swapping bikes or 2 additional trainers. Other than 2 seat quick releases breaking (I went to a bolt) it’s been awesome. We’ve put about 6000 miles so for on it. However, I miss the Tacx. I liked it much better. I loved to hear the freewheel and the road feel!

Quick release of the saddle is apparently not just me then. Thing just broke and seems quite weak to begin with. I tightened it a lot as otherwise saddle was slowly dropping. Putting it tight fixed that but trying to change height it snapped. Ouch. Having a simar issue with my steer though, that keeps dropping as well but at least hasn’t broken (yet). Will need to look for a bolt now. Which foregoes a benefit I assigned to bike (quickly changing height) to some extent. Now still will need tools…

Only have it since October. Love the thing but first one was broken (loud noise and cadence overreading) and now this. Bit of a let down although it’s great when it works.

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Wahoo has been super supportive of their Kickr bike for us. Yes, we’ve had some issues - but they have replaced it with a refurbished one (within its warranty period) and they delivered and picked up with Kitzuma which was a very nice experience.

The new bike had different stack and seat clamps - that didn’t require the super duper gorilla strength of before! I bet these quick releases will last much longer.

With three of us riding in the same pain cave, having an adjustable bike is wonderful. We trashed a Cannondale on a trainer by using it as an exercise bike that didn’t fit anyone correctly. The sweat was hard on it, and it felt that it was tweaking the chainstays being on the ground instead of suspended like a normal bike via the tires. Being able to program the kicker for our different groupsets is an amazing plus.

What is the difference in quick release ? That would be a definite improvement. Now just created my own bolt but that looks a bit crappy for a 3k bike :slight_smile:

We used a bolt too! That monster thick cast steel clamp that the weak thin quick release was trying to squeeze? They made that clamp thinner so it bends easier.

Ah. That sounds like an improvement !

My second kickr bike creaks a lot, I don’t think it is the saddle, maybe the cranks. Not sure how to go about solving that.

See my post above, 28 Dec

Hello, everyone! I have seen a lot of shifting issues in this thread.

Since the most recent firmware update I’m also having troubles shifting. When I’m in Zwift, I can shift gears for around 10-15 minutes but then suddenly the shifting of my Wahoo KICKR Bike freezes and I cannot use the virtual shifting nor the steering anymore.

When I unplug the Wahoo KICKR Bike and plug it in again, it starts working again but only for a couple of minutes again.

Is someone having these same issues?

I did not change the setup, regularly clean the jacks and try to avoid interference from other devices.

I think the handlebars are not really broken because I can still use them at the beginning of every ride and after unplugging but they always disconnect and freeze.

Does anyone have a solution?

Sorry to hear you are having trouble Laurens. Unfortunately shifter problems are too common. I own one of the first production bikes and it has functioned perfectly until the recent f/w update. So a couple of years of heavy fault free use.

Recently my left shifter went out, then right. After shutting down power overnight they both began working for a time but then the left one went out again only to come back to life a short while later. They both have been working now for about a week without failure. These symptoms all started after the f/w update.

Given the intermittent failure I contacted support and they are sending me a refurbished replacement bike requesting a $1000 deposit to be refunded once they receive my broken bike. In total it has taken about 2 days to settle the logistics with wahoo. Support has been very responsive. It has been a week now and I already have the boxes for the return and the replacement bike is on the way and expected next week. They provide all shipping labels and tracking information. They also sent me a set of bars with controls but that is not the problem. Because I’m able to use the bike I don’t foresee any down time between receiving the replacement and boxing up my faulty bike.

I’m afraid root cause of failure is unkown and will probably remain a mystery to the customer. Wahoo has probably seen so many of these types of failures that I’m sure they know what the problem is but not sharing that information. I suspect that the problem lies in the base (flywheel/crank assy). If so, it’s too bad wahoo doesn’t just ship the base assembly. This would greatly simplify the repair process.

KICKR Bike Disassembly For Return

Thank you for the information, @brumohr!

Did you change something so that the shifters currently working again?

No Laurens. As explained the condition is intermittent. In summary: f/w update, controls intermittently malfunctioning, then magically they started working and have remained working.

I did experiment with gear configuration changing from a 1x mullet to SRAM AXS to Shimano DI2 while making changes to chainring and cassette teeth number. All configurations are working without issue.

At this point I do not think the f/w update is related believing instead that my controls failure occurring after the update is simply coincidental. Too many other owners have had control failures prior to latest update.

Shifter Issue
I began experiencing shifter issues on the Kickr bike back in late November 2021, that was similar to what many have described. At first the right shifter stopped working after 30 minutes of riding. Unplugging and letting the unit sit for an hour or more before plugging it back in, everything worked fine for a few days.

During my next workout, the right shifter stopped working after 15 minutes and a few minutes later the left shifter stopped working. I tried several things over the next few days like cleaning the connectors, creating a new profile and trying a new power adapter. No luck.

Wahoo support sent me a replacement handle bar set at no charge even though the unit was out of warranty. The replacement handle bar assembly arrived on Dec. 17, 2021 and was working fine for 30 days. Now I have the same issue again. The right shifter failed followed by a failure with the left shifter. Stuck in one gear.

Waiting for a reply from Wahoo.

I don’t think the handlebar/controls are the cause of this largely intermittent problem. I also believe the problem self corrects in some cases. After my initial failure ( much as you have described yours) mine started working of it’s own accord and has worked without issue now for about 2 weeks of continuous use. Sending handlebars is an easy (low cost) first approach appeasing the customer but my guess is that Wahoo knows the problem can be intermittent and self correct (until it fails again).

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I’ve got about 10k miles on my Kickr Bike from October of 2020. It has been rock solid in that time but I haven’t updated firmware for the last 8 months with the apparent conflict with Zwift with the last coupla updates. I’m supposed to be able to get back on the trainer in the next day or so (IRL crash took me off everything for two months and still another two for IRL and motorcycle rides) and I’ll try the old and then update to see if there are any changes.

My shifters have never missed a beat, other than the annoying inability to program them for a straight 22 gears with no need to shift chainrings with the overlap. For some reason Wahoo wants to make them like a real bike when it’s not a real bike.

At any rate, I haven’t had any problems with them but that MIGHT be because I have the sweat triangle and I always have a towel over the bars so none of my sweat gets on the bike, bars or shifters. Are you guys doing anything to protect the shifters from sweat? Yeah, I know one would think Wahoo would make these things sweatproof…

This would be an interesting datapoint if you’ve been using a towel or sweat catcher. I started doing that from the beginning with a bike and trainer combo.

I have a Headwind fan that blows directly onto the handlebars & display console keeping the area relatively sweat free and I periodically pat the handlebars down while riding. However, I believe the problem to be in the electronics embedded near the flywheel and the failures a result of heat. During sustained high power efforts I have detected an odor that smells like burning electronics from the flywheel housing. It is faint but detectable.

Sorry to hear of your accident- hope recovery continues okay. My thing is just to put a small towel over the bars.

I also have a 450mm industrial fan blasting away so sweat isn’t much of an issue.

Yes, me too for that matter. Even though my ~900w max (at 59kg) isn’t much.

Hi Maarten - I just found this thread, and I am so pleased I have. I am on KICKR Bike number 4, and I have had 18 replacement handlebars from Wahoo over the past 18 months. And still I am having shifter failures. Wahoo have in fairness been fantastic, but I am still very frustrated as each bike/ new handlebar set only last on average 4/5 weeks.

I too have found that fiddling with the 3.5mm jacks seems to work, and on my last set I had elastic bands trying to push the cables tighter to the console - which seemed to work.

I keep my KICKR in the garage, and of course gets cold in winter. But I am so looking for a solution that works - I can’t believe I can’t keep my kickr in the garage.

When you say you remove the plastic on the console - what have you done if you dont mind me asking, and has it still been working for you?

Thank you for you help.