Wahoo KICKR CORE Trainer with Zwift Cog/Click MTB

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1

Hey everyone, quick one.

I’m wanting to get into Zwift and looking at buying the Wahoo KICKR CORE Trainer with Zwift Cog/Click.

I’m more of a mountain biker than a road cycler.

I already have an old MTB I’m thinking of using. Does it make any difference using a MTB instead of a road bike with that trainer and the virtual shifting?

If it does I may look at getting a second hand road bike to use with it.

Thanks

Mark

2

It should be fine. You create a straight chainline and it just spins in that same gear and you change gears with the click.

There is a slight difference in feel between using the big ring or small ring (as the real gear) Zwift advice is to use the small ring but I think the big ring gives a better feel (and so do most of the people I’ve seen reviewing it)

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Since you’re open to the idea of getting a used road bike, it seems low risk to just try it with the bike you have and get the road bike if you feel the need. It should be fine. If the MTB has suspension you’ll probably want to lock it out if that’s possible.

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Thanks, just want to make sure I’m not negatively affecting the experience by using a MTB.

5

Hi @Mark_Fisher2 welcome to Zwift forum.
Shuji at Zwift HQ. The short answer for you is you can use your mountain bike because of the way virtual shifting works in Zwift.

On a trainer that supports Zwift virtual shifting + a Click/Play controller there’s a sub-feature called Real Gear Detection that works invisibly when your avatar first spawns in the world you select. It does not happen on the Zwift home screen, or the pairing screen for that matter.

While you pedal during the ~10 seconds or so after you spawn, the trainer will read your cadence and its own flywheel velocity to calculate what physical gearing is on your bike, then set your virtual “12th gear” in game. That is right in the middle of a virtual 24 gear range.

This is to say that if you have road bike with a 53 / 39 double crank or a modern 1x mountain bike with a 30 tooth front ring, that virtual 12th gear will produce a similar feeling of resistance.

The real gear detection happens only once per ride, when your avatar spawns.