Reasonable Price Smart Trainer Anywhere?

[DanB7290]

I dipped my toe into the Zwift world at the beginning of the year thanks to furlough and cold temperatures. I thoroughly enjoyed it but haven't been on lately as it has been outdoor cycling weather.

However with winter coming up, and the constant worry about covid isolation (currently isolating awaiting PCR result), I'm thinking its time to up my Zwift game.

As it was an initial test run, I bought a dumb trainer from the bottom end of Wiggle's pricing, and stuck a speed and cadence sensor on my road bike. It worked to start off with, but I was always left wanting for more. Ideally what I need is a wheel off smart trainer, but the pricing is ridiculous. The Wahoo Kickr is over £600 in Rutland Cycles (but they have plenty of stock) the cheaper Kickr Snap is £300ish but is wheel on.

eBay isn't much help either, with people asking retail prices for their 2 year old equipment. Is there anywhere I can find a wheel off smart trainer, Zwift compatible, for c£300?

Thanks

[Dannbodge]

DanB7290 said:

I dipped my toe into the Zwift world at the beginning of the year thanks to furlough and cold temperatures. I thoroughly enjoyed it but haven't been on lately as it has been outdoor cycling weather.

However with winter coming up, and the constant worry about covid isolation (currently isolating awaiting PCR result), I'm thinking its time to up my Zwift game.

As it was an initial test run, I bought a dumb trainer from the bottom end of Wiggle's pricing, and stuck a speed and cadence sensor on my road bike. It worked to start off with, but I was always left wanting for more. Ideally what I need is a wheel off smart trainer, but the pricing is ridiculous. The Wahoo Kickr is over £600 in Rutland Cycles (but they have plenty of stock) the cheaper Kickr Snap is £300ish but is wheel on.

eBay isn't much help either, with people asking retail prices for their 2 year old equipment. Is there anywhere I can find a wheel off smart trainer, Zwift compatible, for c£300?

Thanks

Won't happen.

They're in demand still and everyone much like yourself are looking for them cheap.

You may pick something up second hand on eBay/facebook marketplace but they have a habit of going wrong, so I wouldn't want one without warranty (Although saying that my Neo is out of warranty now)

[JayRidesBikes]

I've seen a few of the Wahoo Kickr / Kickr core models on facebook market place for decent prices lately, I think they are starting to come back down in price a bit after last years madness.

[Harpoon]

Wiggle have the Noza S reduced to £449 at the moment

https://www.wiggle.co.uk/lifeline-xplova-noza-s-sm...

Reviews show accuracy can be a bit iffy though

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/reviews/turbo-traine...

[Voguely]

DanB7290 said:

Is there anywhere I can find a wheel off smart trainer, Zwift compatible, for c£300?

Thanks

As above, the answer to this is pretty much certainly no. Something like the Wahoo Kickr Core are normally more like £700, so if you can get one for £600 then that's already a quite good deal (is that for a refurb'd one?).

Definitely worth stretching to a direct drive if you can afford to do so, they run much more quietly than wheel-on types, and are more accurate too generally.

[Jacobyte]

I got a Thinkrider X7 Pro last October form AliExpress. It looks like a Kickr, but is a copy, I wouldn't be surprised if it's made under the same roof. Well under £500 incl postage. I wanted a Kickr but there was no stock available for months, so I took a punt which seems good so far.

Mine's been perfectly reliable, I've used it on Rouvy, RGT, Zwift, Sufferfest and a few others when deciding which app I preferred. It came with various adapters for boost, QR, etc.

They have upgraded it since mine was made, plus they have a lower cost option called the A1 - worth a look?

[dvshannow]

Just bought a kickr v5 and the auto height kom bundle seemed worth getting the bundle at 10% off

Waiting for it to arrive this week so looking forward to it

Reason got is I had a v old dumb cyclops fluid trainer which doesn’t really give that great a feel and is very noisey

Hoping a modern one will be a lot less of a compromise when weather/season not good for a proper ride

Will report back , anyone with this have any tips on setup?