Good afternoon I’m after a bit of advice. I’m looking to start with Zwift mainly to get fitter and lose a few pounds. I’ve been offered a Carrera virtuoso road bike. It’s 24 speed 3 front 8 rear. The bike is a nice fit for me. I’m looking at getting a smart trainer elite Zumo. Would this combo be …

[image] Tony: elite Zumo Thats not a great trainer. If you can afford to get a kickr core that would be much better, check the used market where you live too. The bike you have picked will be fine for training on Zwift. You might want to also invest in a set of play controllers for using on…

When I started on Zwift, I was going to buy a cheaper trainer(can’t remember what it was), the guy at the bike shop suggested that I don’t cheap out on the trainer. So I spent a little more, and got a Saris H3. Didn’t take long and I wore that one out. So I bought kickr v5. A great trainer. My wife …

[image] Doug Ox: Long story short, if you can afford it, buy the best trainer you can. That way you won’t need to upgrade, in the near future Solid advice… “buy nice or buy twice”

Sounds like you might be UK based judging by the bike you have, if it helps refurbished Kickr Core direct from Wahoo with standard warranty is currently £299 which seems like a bit of a bargain (very tempted myself!) [image] Wahoo KICKR CORE Certified Refurbished Smart Bike Trainer Buy …

Hi @Tony_Goble , welcome to the forums! I’m Francisco from Zwift Support Awesome to hear you’re jumping into Zwift to kickstart your fitness journey! Lots of folks start with similar setups. The Elite Zumo is an entry-level smart trainer; it’ll get the job done. That said, as other members, if you…

[image] Tony: I’m looking at getting a smart trainer elite Zumo. Get a really good smart trainer to start, otherwise you’ll end up spending more in the long run when the first one either fails or ends up being not reliable enough (or not accurate enough).

The elite Direto XR is available for £350 in halfords right now too which seems like a decent deal, it is a bit old but was Elite’s best trainer when it was released. Just need to be careful as I’m not sure it is compatible with 8 speed drivetrains

Should be fine with 8 speed, with a 1.8mm spacer under the cassette. Far better than the Zumo, and supports virtual shifting as well.

very much not newbie help but…do you think it would be better to get the refurbished kickr core or the Elite Direto XR brand new? with postage there is only £30 between them. i’m kind of torn between the two

My experience with a refurbished Kickr Core is that it showed up in new condition. I don’t know how common that is but for example the freehub never had a cassette installed on it before I got it, all the accessories were new in the bag, no scratches or any signs of wear on it. It has a full warrant…

Newbie help

General Discussion

Chris_Holton (Chris) April 30, 2025, 6:33pm 12

Not that anyone probably cares but I went for the Kickr Core in the end, mainly because I took too long deciding and the offer for the other one ended!

So expect a new kickr core to be announced any day now

New Kickr Core 2 and Kickr Bike Pro

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