Wahoo Fitness KICKR Core Smart Trainer, Black

Product Information

You also can’t easily fold the legs away for storage – something to consider if you’re not able to leave your indoor trainer setup at home. All of which is anecdotal of course – but seems to point to at the very least a notable proportion of disappointed customers, and at worse – a systemic issue. The Flow Smart from Tacx strikes a great balance between connectivity and budget, allowing you to link it up to platforms like Zwift, TrainerRoad etc and enjoy the auto-changing resistance without the big price tag. Then you can start building it. It’s really just a case of attaching those two legs. You’ve essentially got a 25% chance of getting it right. That’s because you could (try) attaching the leg to the wrong side. But you could also try attaching the leg in the wrong orientation on the right side. Again, just look at the outside of the box.

Wahoo Kickr Core review | Cyclingnews

With my bike bolted on to the trainer, the unit was ready to use, and initial ride feel was good. What was instantly noticeable, and stands out, is how quiet the Core is. This is thanks to the neat belt drive which offers almost silent pedalling. To be honest, the bike’s transmission makes more noise. We've ridden and rated the top-selling smart trainers below, using Zwift as the virtual testing ground, taking into account their user-friendliness, functionality, features, and price for an overall score. Simulation Mode: Simulating a specific outdoor grade – i.e. 5% incline. In this mode, it’s just like outdoors in that you can change your gearing to make it easier or harder. Wattage is not hard-set, only incline levels. Smart trainers use an app to automatically control the resistance on your trainer - for example, to simulate climbing uphill or if you start an interval in a structured training session. The two-way communication between the app and the trainer works through ANT+ or Bluetooth and makes the indoor training session more like an outdoor ride. Direct-drive turbo trainers offer a significantly smoother and more realistic ride experience than traditional magnetic or fluid trainers.I would still be interested on your thoughts to see if you have noticed this and if it is “normal” – this is my first experience with a direct drive trainer after all. We recommend using Bluetooth to connect all of your hardware together, but if you have ANT+ accessories (such as an older power meter or a heart rate monitor) that you also want to connect, then you’ll need an ANT+ dongle for your laptop or tablet. In general this is pretty good. Not the best ever (an award Elite with their Drivo 1 still hold), but solid. You’ll notice slight variations from interval to interval, which is mostly based on me getting into a better gear. In fact, TrainerRoad gives you a little warning before a workout that putting the bike into the small ring up front will produce better results for most trainers. And that’s true. You can see the middle intervals were much more smooth than the first few, as I shifted for those. The last two I was just simply getting tired as this was the second workout in a row I had done. The legendary flywheel technology and tested algorithms emulate the power and experience of riding outdoors, especially when using virtual training platforms like The Sufferfest or Zwift.

KICKR Core Smart Bike Trainer | Cycle Trainer - Wahoo Fitness KICKR Core Smart Bike Trainer | Cycle Trainer - Wahoo Fitness

The only other niggle is that the trainer doesn’t fold up for easy storage – the legs are simply fixed in place with bolts. This won’t be a problem if you have a dedicated pain cave, but if you need to be able to easily stow it away, this might be a dealbreaker. To be fair, this wasn’t an issue when pushing higher power and cadence numbers (around 270w and 90 RPM), but the 180w and the 70 RPM that I was having these problems at aren’t ridiculously low. Even the most powerful riders ride around that level when recovering between intervals – and for others this will be within their training zones.

If you are totally new to indoor training, our beginner's guide to indoor cycling has everything you need to get you up and running. The max power is 800 watts, and max incline is 6% which will be enough for most riders, although some stronger cyclists may well find they max it out during a full pelt sprint, or find it slightly wanting on a climb. The Peloton bike is an alternative for those of you without a road bike as is the CAROL Bike that I reviewed a couple of weeks ago. Fun Facts & Annoyances

KICKR CORE Smart Trainer - Trek Bikes Wahoo KICKR CORE Smart Trainer - Trek Bikes

The simple more open design is great, you can tell the engineering on the core is very well thought out. It is also a very compact trainer, and saves a fair bit of room for tight spaces such as mine. Powerful connectivity: Multiple Bluetooth connections are now supported to ensure a trouble-free start to your workout

Ride. Train. Connect.

That said, it’s not so hard to overcome that weight of flywheel on any kind of acceleration once you are already spinning, or at least it wasn’t for me. So it’s fine for an average Jo cyclist. As to whether or not it simulates an exact road feel then I’m never quite sure exactly what that means. It feels reasonable to me and the accelerations and changes in resistance seem plausibly similar to some real-world conditions, albeit on lovely smooth road surfaces in South East France! The neighbours? Shhhh. Overall, if you’re looking for a direct drive smart trainer on a tight budget, the Pinnacle HC Turbo Home Trainer is well worth consideration. Once you are linked to Zwift or Wahoo SYSTM then that app controls the resistance levels on your bike. All you have to do is pedal and enjoy your chosen ride type. Note: One Wahoo element ran out of battery at about 18 minutes so the replacement recording device started at that time. Years of testing, trial, and error, have led them to their current designs which features incredible flywheel and integrated technology, making them some of the quietest and most capable trainers on the market.