Ok. Though looking at the (bad quality) pictures, it looks like the bike version anyway could be built so that the handlebar assembly could swivel (but not actually turn the fake wheel). Not saying it has been built this way, and probably is buttons, but this design looks like it could be engineered to do this.
I donāt see how the previous sentence mitigates that at all. I wonder if you misunderstood my point, which was that Zwiftās credibility in trying to sell a brand new product on the basis of āless bugsā is close to zero.
I would assume Zwift track what equipment people are currently connecting to Zwift with so they know the percentage of their user base that use things like the steering and the climb. Maybe they have decided itās just not worth it.
If they are using it to go after predominately new users then I would imaging cost is a major factor. If I wasnāt a cyclist and was looking at home fitness options I wouldnāt consider dropping $3k on a kickr bike or similar when there are other cardio machines (spin bikes, elliptical, treadmills, rowing machines) for under $1k. Again if they are thinking of luring in new users with the fitness aspect how much would they care about steering and tilting up and down.
Thatās my point though, if theyāve decided against certain features to get the complexity and price down (not a bad thing) with a view to price being a major factor in attracting new customers, then does the overall design make sense given that it only really means anything to existing customers?
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perhaps evey one who has a torn can buy with drops ive 13 million !
Does any new companies design mean anything to new customers? I would say it looks different enough from current spin bikes (and smart trainers) to at least differentiate them and making it look similar to an in game bike does maybe help them create a specific look for the brand going forward.
Fair comment. Iām dubious that itāll appeal, but presumably thatās why Iām not in marketing for a living.
Steering with a thumbstick or buttons? I think an analogue thumbstick, like on a console, would be fine. Steering with the handlebars of a real bike feels unnatural and clunky to anyone who actually rides a bike.
Iām more inclined to think Iād miss the prospect of elevation. While I havenāt got a Climb or Rizer, they appeal to me more than āterrain feelā for example. I have āroad feelā on my Neo, and I never use it. But I guess complexity and cost are big factors there.
As for it looking cool, Iām not sold on it. I donāt really see the point of making something that ālooks like a bikeā. Especially at the front end, where it will require more space where one might otherwise put a fan or something, but the whole length of the unit is necessarily full size bike-sized. Iād prefer a more compact unit overall.
The LED wheels are cute, but I doubt Iād ever be looking at them. My Neo casts a light on the floor, but Iāve almost never looked at that while riding. More for people looking on than anything else I guess. This could be pitched at the prospective future where IRL Zwift eSports happens in an arena, and the wheels light up with peopleās efforts, the powerups theyāve dropped or something as a show for spectators or viewers online.
Iām a fan of the adjustable crank lengths though. Iāve never been able to experiment with shorter cranks, and if I had one of these Iād be able to do that easily.
Iād like to be able to use brakes, as that can open the way to a much more immersive experience (washing out on a corner taken too fast perhaps?). Even more so with elevation simulation, but we canāt have everything. They could lead to more of a tactical race experience too.
I like the idea of a rear unit that can be later upgraded to a full adjustable bike.
I doubt Iād use the bottle holder, favouring a table beside me.
So, good and meh. I donāt see anything particularly bad in these screenshots. I do get the 80s movie point, and get a similar vibe. Maybe itās a deliberate lean into the whole āTronā thing.
Depending on the price and just what the details of the brakes and game controls are, thereās a good chance Iāll buy one. =)
I was wondering if the price point was for the āupgradeā part, and had to be added to the ābase unitā part. So Ā£900 + Ā£1,700. I guess that would add up to far too much, so maybe the Ā£1,700 is for the whole thing.
Steering via a thumbstick or buttons?
Thatās a step too far into the gaming world for me.
According to the comments section on DCR, Ā£1,700 was the full price. So presumably upgrading would be somewhere in the middle of the two purported figures (noting that other people have been shown different figures).
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Looks like it means you use a add-on controller for shifting rather than your actual physical shifters:
Lots of other little extra bits of information on the page, including the prospect of using the front bike section with your existing trainer. Zwift Ride & Zwift Wheel: a Sneak Peak of Zwiftās First Hardware Concepts | Zwift Insider
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At least itās now clear that these are what those people in the Neokyo arcade are riding. 
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The virtual gearing is interesting to me. Iād guess itāll be optional. Either you can put on a cassette and use your bikeās own gearing system, or you just put on a single sprocket as if youāre riding a singlespeed* and use the virtual gearing instead.
Best of both worlds, and certainly opens up options. I used to ride Zwift on a 6-speed 52/42 from the 80s. Now I ride it on a triple, but neither match my road bike.
And hey, if we have virtual gearing to adjust, we can finally move away from the notion that ātrainer difficultyā is a gearing adjuster. Yes, I went there. 
* I guess for safety itād still be best to have a full cassette on there, in case you inadvertently shift using your bikeās own gearing
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I was thinking the same thing: nice foreshadowing/easter eggsā¦ but the Neokyo arcade handlebar set-up seems identical to the other in-game Concept Z1 bikes:
in contrast to the necessarily pragmatic cockpit of what weāre seeing in these first images. 
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Yeah, I was being flippant. 
But they can always update the in-game model. 
Fully understood, Daren. And I was exposing my dorkiness, because, well, I just canāt help myself. 
As much as I love the design of the Tron bike in Zwift from an aesthetic standpoint, the front end always struck me as ergonomicallyā¦ challenging. It tickles me to imagine someone working on this project starting off with the neon dream of making this smartbike just like the in-game Tron, before running into the stark realities of bike fit issues and then the annoying need for adjustability on top of that.
By the way, you mentioned being interested in experimenting with crank lengths. I have done, and find shorter cranks work really well for me (very limited hip range), so encourage others to see what works for them and not just go with whatever came on a bike.
DC Rainmaker says in todayās video that the Zwift Ride is aimed at people ranging from 5ft to some upper limit. Thatās great but, like Wahoo with their smartbike, theyāve bottomed out at 165mm crank length. Plenty of fitters suggest much shorter for people of 5ft (Iām 5ā4" and like riding 160mm). These multi-option proprietary cranks remain limited, by their nature. Of course, they cannot cater for absolutely everyone, so I know Iāll always prefer the freedom of putting a real frame and my own choice of parts on a direct drive trainer.
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Given the whole high-end trainer market cant be that big particularly with well established brands already out there, I just dont see a big return on investment here for Zwift unless they expand the target audience in a meaningful way.
One thing that initially occurred to me with the design is that given the whole lack of software dev since the mythical re-write of ~2 years ago, that they are targeting the peloton/fitness crowd (which seems to be a bigger market). What have the devs been doing the past 2 years apart from minor enhancements around the edge of the core app?
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Ah, interesting! Iām 5ā7" (171cm) and all my cranks are standard 172.5mm. Iāve always wondered if Iād be better off with shorter ones, but they donāt come as standard, and itās an expensive experiment.