Hi All
I’m debating if I should swap my current setup for a Zwift Ride bundle… this is my reasoning.
I currently Zwift most days, at least 6 times a week and often race for fun so fair to say I Zwift often.
My current setup is a Tacx Neo 1 (the original version) plus my road bike which is a Felt AR1 with SRAM Red, whilst this works perfectly well I’m thinking should I really be riding quite a nice bike on a trainer all the time or do I buy the Zwift ride bundle as its fairly cheap in comparison to my road bike getting hammered on the trainer. All of this is connected to a permanent laptop and 65 inch TV so I don’t use a tablet.
Fortunately I have a gym at home so the ride would be setup in there so space isnt a problem which then means I can stick the back wheel on the Felt for outside use… .I live in Ireland so outside use isnt often as the weather is not great 
Also I’m in no rush so if there are rumours on new kit coming out in the near future I can wait for that but guess thats always largely unknown.
Ive looked into it and from what I can see the kit seems well recieved and it would simply take the place of my current setup, any thoughts or insights appreciated if I should get it or if anyone has done something similar what went well and not so well.
Thanks in advance
I like it, though I was satisfied with a road bike on a Kickr Core with Play controllers. It doesn’t make me a better rider but it’s nice. It is not really a bicycle in the sense that you can’t maintain it like a bicycle other than cleaning it and servicing the chain. Most parts on it are proprietary. It is very stiff and heavy which is good or bad depending on what you want.
There are affiliate links you can get for a 10% discount. You can find them on YouTube channels such as Benji Naesen, Ryan Condon, and others. The discount codes are specific to the market you are in (US, UK, or EU only AFAIK).
The OG Neo is a pretty nice trainer and I’m unsure if you will think of a Kickr Core as an upgrade, but the Kickr Core 2 does have some more modern features such as WiFi pairing and HRM bridging.
I went through this same thought process when the Kickr/Kickr Core sale at the end of December.
I picked up the Kickr over the Core as, right or wrong, I believe the Kickr to be a bit heavier duty due to the higher level of specs. I will never reach the limits but keeping the trainer in the lower half of spec is, in my mind, is better for longevity.
I do like the virual shifting much more than anticipated. The Clicks are much more easily replaced than that big chunk of electronic plastics so I picked up a spare set and cog on a recent sale.
I felt that riding a bike that felt the same on trainer as the road would be better. Also, I can get spares on my bike more easily than the Zwift bike.
If you are worried about the wear on your good bike, get a used bike, a Kickr/Core with Cog/Clickr2 and you have a permanent setup. Although I agree with @Paul_Southworth that your current trainer is one of better ones even if getting older.
I will say the Kickr seems to run a bit hotter than my H3 did…but maybe I am pushing it more/stronger. LOL!
appreciate the insights Paul, I just dont want to use my Felt indoors as I find im doing about 1000km a month so i’d rather have a static thing with little to no maintenance and this could tick that box. I also like the ride ons and all that and think the functionality of the Ride may be something I like.
As you say I think the exprience may be similar and I dont think it will be an upgrade more fir for purpose as a static piece of kit in my gym.
Thanks again
Thanks Chris, seems a bit of a dilema for me then, I just did a ride in the FRR tour series and got 5 sensor dropouts which was annoying, not sure why and its happened a few times lately with no changes im aware of. Not sure if teh Ride would fair better.
My Neo connects via ANT+ but assume the Ride/Core is WiFi so possibly more reliable?
I primarily connect via BT. With the H3 I had lag (2-3 seconds) on gradient changes. BT had better response. I also double record (Zwift records via BT and my Wahoo Bolt via Ant) just for comparison. I also use my Quarq chainring PM as the source. All these connections and using DC for the Kickr caused some connection confusion.
I seem to be in a stable place if I follow a connection protocol (Zwift/Kickr first and Wahoo once on the route) that I have not gone back to connect the Kickr via DC for Controllable. For sure I would use the DC if I did not double record.
Your Neo supports Bluetooth so it might be worth testing that. Since you are using ANT+ I assume you are on a PC or Mac. The built-in Bluetooth service on Macs is usually quite good. On PCs it varies a lot from good to horrible so if it doesn’t work well, adding a modern Bluetooth dongle (eg, TP-Link UB500) often helps a lot. ANT+ is extremely sensitive to radio frequency interference due to its fixed broadcasting channel, but Bluetooth and WiFi can both be more reliable. Whether WiFi is better for you than Bluetooth is an open question - I see reports of problems with both of them and sometimes unreliable pairing via WiFi can be worked around by switching to Bluetooth.