I've taken a convoluted path to finding a new bike trainer. I have an old 1Up USA trainer. I wanted to upgrade. I had a good deal on an Elite Drivo, and I demoed it. I liked it, but it still vibrated the floor in an upstairs spare bedroom bothering my wife, and thus I'm relegated to the garage where I've been for years. In so doing, I decided to forego a smart trainer (I have Quarqs on both bikes) and get a LeMond Revolution. I love the "feel" of the LeMond, but the noise bothers me. The best solution are Bose noise cancelling earbuds ($250), and I still hear the trainer; lesser priced noise-cancelling headphones are even more bothersome; I haven't bought the earbuds yet - only tried them out.

And then I rode a 24-hour trainer fundraiser event last weekend. I rode a Kickr. The road feel is not as nice as the LeMond Revolution, but acceptable. And I like the rear wheel off approach to trainers; I don't want to go back to a rear wheel. But what I really noticed when I returned to the LeMond after the event was the noise. I didn't wear headphones during the event, and we had over 20 Kickrs in the room. I really didn't notice how much the noise affected me until I returned to the Revolution after the event. The lack of noise with smart trainers is very nice.

So, even if I am in the garage where the noise of the LeMond Revolution doesn't bother my wife, if seems to bother me - a lot, even with excellent noise-cancelling headphones. I also really like the lack of a rear wheel for a trainer. I'm pretty sure I can sell the LeMond for what I bought it ($250), and if I don't buy the Bose headphones (another $250), then that's $500 towards a smart trainer.

My LBS owner thinks he can get me a good deal on a Cycleops Hammer - his favorite smart trainer. From what I read it has a big flywheel and is fairly smooth - not like the LeMond, but at least as smooth as the Kickr. The Kickr is another option, and so is an Elite Direto. The Drivo is another option (I did like it), but the discount won't be as great as the Hammer or Kickr.

So, how "smooth" is the Hammer? I'm probably heading in that direction. Thoughts on the Hammer for the other smart trainers?

Michael

Wow. Very polar points of view about the Hammer's road feel.

Michael

It's smooth, it's quiet, but it does not have the same road feel as outside. There is simply no way I can match my outdoor rides on the same course using the Hammer. I'm going to be 1-2 mph slower on the trainer because it DOES spin down faster. That's not a complaint, just an observation.

I do get the resistance lag when riding routes in Rouvy. I would say it is about 3 seconds and I've learned to push beyond the crest for those few seconds before I feel the resistance drop.

As to watts dropping to zero on a gear change, I've never experienced that.

As others have said, there are enough documented problems with Neo and kickr users and zwift dropouts, so I wouldn't be unduly worried about that.

I don't use zwift so its a non issue here, but not had any dropouts connected via BT or Ant+, or both at the same time.

As for accuracy, compared to other powermeters, i'm finding it more than acceptable, PROVIDED i'm very careful with the spindown calibration. See attachment for comparison with p2max run concurrent. Slight time line adjustment due to autopause on TR, and not on my garmin.


It's very easy to shoot over the top limit so to speak when its saying keep pedalling and your speed is increasing, but the resistance is reducing. You have to keep a tight rein on it.
It seems worse in trainerroad if I do spindown from there. I've had it reading 40w over and its taken multiple calibrations over 30-40 minutes before it gives sensible data.
If I use TR on my laptop but calibrate from rouvy on my phone, then it seems much happier.
(Currently liaising with the good folks at TR and doing some tests to see why this has been happening).

When its working bob on, its a great piece of kit, and boy is it solid!

Thanks for the information on the persnickety calibration protocol.

Michael