Hi, i’ve recently bought a second hand Wahoo Kickr and its making a very loud ‘whirling’ noise like a jet engine taking off, getting louder the faster/harder i pedal
I’ve asked a couple of people who have similar turbo trainers and they’ve said its 100% not right, i was just wondering if anyone had had the same problem or might know what it could be?
I’ve recorded the noise and sent it to Wahoo support via email but not heard anything back
I’ve undone the belt and took it off and put it back on a tensioned it up good , but it makes no difference
I had spilled water all over my kickr and it got very very loud in subsequent rides. I took it apart and had a look at the internals, everything looked fine but it was obvious the bearings had gotten wet. I popped them out and brought them to my local autoparts store and they were able to match them up with some new ones, running silently to this day.
i think the early generation kickrs before 2018 were really loud in general. but if it’s a bearing issue then the pedal stroke will probably feel off, if that feels fine then the belt is probably done. kickrs use a pretty cheap and common timing belt, find out what the part number is for your generation of kickr and you can probably find a new belt for like a tenner somewhere
might as well regrease the bearings anyway too. they probably aren’t actually worn out, but shouldn’t be too hard to find the right size if you need to replace those too
i tried everything to no avail. to be honest, i’ve just got used to it (or it has got quieter)
i spoke to Wahoo at lenght, backwards and forwards endlessly and they were beyond useless. absolutely no interest in helping me or advising me in anyway, probably because the unit is so old they wanted me to buy a new one. i asked them over and over ‘how do i change the bearings, its out of warranty, i just want to carry out basic maintenance to extend its lifespan etc…’ and they simply refused to offer any help. i thought they may have had a workshop guide on how to replace bearings but they said that only approved Wahoo technicians are allowed to work on the units etc… and they can’t help me blah blah blah. i changed the belt (it was obvious how to do that) and messed around with different belt tensions, but other than that i couldn’t work out how to get at the old bearings without risk of damaging the unit, so i just got on with it. the Wahoo reps were pretty rude to be honest, a very bad customer experience for me so i’ll not go to them when i eventually buy a new Turbo
sorry for the lack of help here. if anyone can advise how to change the bearings i’d love to know!
Check what gen your kickr is by looking at the serial number (where the barcode sticker is on the unit) and the last two digits i think should tell you what generation it is. 14, 16, 18, 20 etc. 14 is gen 2, 16 gen 3, 18 gen 4, 20 v5 etc. then you can find the appropriate guide on youtube. the bearings themselves will have the size written on the seal probably if you need the part number/dimensions to replace them, I suspect they probably just need greasing though
early gen kickrs are just loud to begin with though. if the drive belt is toothed then it’s an early kickr. in that case, that’s just how they are
yeah it is toothed. i think its the 2014 model, GEN2 if i recall correctly
i remember at the time scouring the internet for a guide to change the bearings, and couldn’t find anything. i opened up the unit to try and work it out for myself but was too worried about damaging it as it wasn’t obvious. thats why i contacted them directly
if anyone can link me to a tuturial, either a video or a guide, i’d very much appreciate it.
well, the first thing to note is that early kickrs aren’t quiet like the newer ones, so look up a youtube video of someone recording the noise level of a 2014 kickr (i’m sure someone will have done one) and see what to expect and how yours compares to it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45x2zamskhw this is for a gen 1 kickr but they’re all pretty similar. once the freehub shell is off the bearings can be accessed through there
they could just need a bit of lithium grease or something, but i think 6003-ZZ-C3 is the bearing size if you need to replace one. (ask around though, i have a modern kickr so i’m not familiar with the early ones) they can be found for less than a fiver. NTN or SKF make good bearings, but they’ll all fit as long as they match the part number
if you need to replace it (on an 8 year old trianer, i probably would anyway) the timing belt part number with the correct tooth pitch, width and length is, i think, 850-5M-15, which can also be found for about a fiver, no need to buy the wahoo version
tutorials for performing bearing and belt replacements should be on youtube, you probably don’t need a wahoo specific one. most direct drive use some sort of belt drive so the process is similar for all of them
I just want to emphasize this point… If you can expose the bearing seals, pry them off with a knife or pick and squirt some grease in there. Anything lightweight will be fine - no automotive bearing grease but most others will be OK. If the bearings are the issue, noise should go down when you do that even if the bearings are shot. If there’s no change then it’s likely that the problem is elsewhere.