Hi, want to get into Zwift and will only really be doing indoor cycling. Live in a city with deadly traffic! Also new to the sport. Looking to get into it but trying to find ways where I am not breaking the bank.
There is limited availability in my area, this are some of the options I have found:
I ride with the Tacx Blue Motion since Nov 2018 on Zwift and it works fine.
I donāt need to shift my gears on climbs cause the dumb trainer donāt simulates it.
If you have a smart trainer, itās nearly the same, except you have to switch gears
How about Wahoo Kickr Snap? Cost more than the Tacx Vortex abroad but cheaper here in Thailand. Or maybe Magene Gravat 2? Probably the cheapest smart trainer but kinda well supported here.
Hi John,
if youāll take a decision to go with a classic (dumb) think about taking only those trainers that comes with integrated powermeter and speed/cadence sensors. Example of those kind of trainers: Kinetic trainers with Inride3 sensor. And surely do not forget to check first if the trainer is supported by Zwift.
Since, in case if later youāll decide to see your rating of races in zwiftpower you could be disqualified for riding with ZPower.*
*ZPower - calculation of the power by Zwift based on your speed/cadence sensors on the bike or trainer.
For the whole āsensationā of the ride when speaking about classic vs smart trainers:
well āon the paperā, different reviews and so on, you could read a full list of advantages about those amazing virtual sensations of smart trainers etcā¦etcā¦etcā¦, but the reality is slightly different.
Most of the riders with their latest 1000+++$ trainers having almost the same ride experience as those with simple classic trainers.
How come? ) Apparently, one thing is to have those technologically advanced features, totally another thing is to use them ). So many riders just disabling the trainer difficulty at all or placing the difficulty between 0-25. By the way, this is even advised by the ZwiftInsider website on their article about races advises.
With all this, a reasonable question should rise: so what is the real advantage of the smart trainer then?
In my own opinion:
_- Cannot see real difference between wheel-on classic trainer and wheel-on smart (with scenarios when the usage is made without trainer difficulty). Maybe the ERG modeā¦
_- The real advantage could be with direct drive trainers. Less things to do before the ride (no need to check tire pressure, to prepare it, to ride 10 mins and calibrate etcā¦). Also another big advantage with the direct drive trainer is the sprints. Since in the wheel-on trainers there be always a slip of the tire during the very fast change in the pace due to the type of physical connection of the tire to the trainer: as example, when going from 300 watts to 800+ watts within a few seconds.
As a summary:
If you are really tight in the budget: get yourself a second-hand supported classic trainer with integrated power-meter sensor. (if even this option is out of your budget - just get any classic trainer supported by Zwift and get speed/cadence sensors on your bike - this way is better then nothing)
If you have a little bit more in your pocket, get a smart wheel-on trainer.
If you can afford it , get a direct drive trainer.
Hi, the Gravat 2 can be found by searching for Onelap Thailand in Facebook. They have prices and stuff. Itās a lesser known brand but DC Rainmaker wrote a detailed review a few months ago, and since itās lesser known they seem to be willing to give demos, but they always use their own software. Wahoo trainers with clearly marked prices can be found at TSM. As for second hand, try searching in thaitmb.com or kaidee.com.
I think the prices you wrote on the top post seem a bit high, but I donāt really have experience with a lot of trainers. As you said, deadly traffic. And oh, Iām not affiliated with any of these brands.
I want to register with thaimtb but its all in thai and when I use google translate I can understand but there is a spam question and it says what year is it and when I write 2019 it give me an error so I canāt register.
I would like to register to ask if anyone is selling second hand smart trainer.
The cheapest I have found is this one: 2018 : Elite Qubo Digital Smart B+ for 15200 Baht so 424 eur more or less.
The Kickr Snap is a little pricierā¦20000 baht
Between those two which one does everyone recommend also working with zwift.
The Kickr Snap is better cause the reported power should be quite accurate.
The Elite Qubo has to be calibrated with a power meter or it reports your watts with +/- 50%
The Kickr Snap is here at 599ā¬, the Elite is at 250ā¬.
I got my Blue Motion for 80ā¬, so plus speed and candence sensors I paid 100ā¬.
If youāre really on a tight budget, think about it, before getting a smart trainer.
Also you can buy the cheapest bike, if youāre really not riding it outside.
