I am getting ready to complete my review of the new Kicker Bike Shift. Ive got to say. Im a really big fan of it :)

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E-DUB
Chief Janitor @Slowtwitch
Life is short. Dont be mad all the time.

I own a Kickr Bike and love it. I’ve used it for hundreds of hours in the last year and honestly haven’t done a single bit of maintenance. Maybe that’s a problem? But it just works and is always ready. Probably one of the better purchases I’ve made, though admittedly this was my first smart trainer purchase so can’t speak to differences with Kickr.

I have previously used it in a road / gravel setup, but just ordered a pair of clip on aero bars to set it up in TT mode. The cranks only go down to 165 so, depending upon you, perhaps not quite as short as your TT setup. But I’m hoping I’ll be able to set it up easily.

If others have experience using the Kickr bike in TT configuration, would love to hear it!

I’ve had a Stages SB20 for around 18 months now. I ride around 10-11k miles a year, mostly indoors, so having a bike that requires not too much maintenance is nice. I wax my chains, and have a few chains I use, but I was still waxing pretty frequently and also changed out my chainrings and a few cassettes. Less maintenance is the nice thing as well as not worrying about swapping a bike onto or off the trainer.

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I’m in similar situation and holding on until my neo dies (current >50k mile and going strong!)

Aside from the cost of buying a smart bike, I can’t think of a reason not to do it

But my dedicated indoor trainer / bike combo is pretty close to no maintenance, and while working, it’s not worth throwing away and dropping money on something new

Any update as to when your review will be posted. I have a Shift on order but do not have to commit until it arrives. Thanks.

Monday at the latest. Lots going on with the holiday and such.

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E-DUB
Chief Janitor @Slowtwitch
Life is short. Dont be mad all the time.

Excellent. I look forward to it.

Do you have a link to your review?

I second all this poster's comments. Love my kickr.

For the new buyers - do NOT buy a Stages sb20!!!

I recently tried to buy one and they sent me a bike that never worked. That in itself happens, but customer service was absolutely zero. I mean zero - nobody called me, answered my emails, ever, for 4 months. I called dutifully every week to leave messages (that were VERY patient and nice), but nobody ever answered.

Only after I started posting about it on a FB SB20 group that I was fed up and had already gotten my credit card to approve of refunding my money in full, did they have someone who saw the post, call me to set up the return of the bike - they couldn't even offer to fix or replace the bike as they had no parts available.

As far as I know, this problem is still ongoing, so even if it's a solid piece of kit when it works, avoid at all costs for now until other folks are confident that customer service exists, even if it's in the most trivial extent.

I do have a Kickr Gen1 that I've been hoping would die or malfunction at some point, but jeez, the thing is totally solid, even though it lives in a high-condensation garage that's fried the electronics in my treadmill twice, and gets sweated on (I never wipe it, even).

I'll likely buy the non-inclining Kickr bike in the future, esp if there's a sale - the incline sounds fun but most of the problems I've heard about the bike (esp the creaking noises) seem to be due to the inclinable hinge.

I’ve had my Kickr Bike since April 2020. Over 22,000 miles on Zwift. Not a single problem. It’s always ready to go and requires virtually no maintenance. It’s been a great purchase. On a personal note, shortly after I acquired the bike my wife was diagnosed with brain cancer. Needless to say, this bike and Zwift have allowed me to train/ride and race virtually as my IRL riding/racing and the associated travel has been curtailed quite a bit given the treatments and care she has needed. Highly recommend the Kickr Bike.

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"The more you suffer, the more it shows you really care.”

I've heard about this issue with customer service with Stages. An employee posted on another forum that Stages was on its knees and had their entire customer service department was reduced to two people. The Facebook owners group is a mixed bag with some getting service and other not. Wahoo also had a brush with bankruptcy in the first half of 2023, hopefully Stages can also right the ship. Stages' main buisness is commercial spin bikes, so it has some solidity to its business.

For what it's worth, I have had an SB20 since December 2020. I train mostly outside but I use the SB20 almost exclusively in the winter. I have a dedicated workout area in my house with lots of other equipment, so the bike is kept in a climate-controlled environment. My experiences:

I'll start with the bad:
1. The bike used to occasionally lose power during workouts. I contacted Stages and got a new power brick. Newer firmware has since come out. I also cut power to the bike between rides with a remote-control power plug to get a fresh restart every time. The result of this: the bike has been rock solid for several hundred rides. the only faff now is that I have to turn the power on with a remote control, no big deal.
2. I heard a slight knocking sound occassionally when I first got it. Loosening, slightly adjusting and retightening the plastic shrouds solved the problem and it hasn't reoccured.
3. The power meters eat batteries fairly quickly and replacing them is a bit fiddly.
4. The 55lbs flywheels means that erg mode steps take a few seconds to settle. This is irritating on short intervals of 30 seconds or less. Stages in general does not seem to power smooth to the same degree that Wahoo does.
5. The included bars have a weirdly long reach, I'm an average-sized American male and I have to slam the bar adjustment all the way back to get a reasonable fit.

The good:
1. Still looks new after years of sweating on it. It's built like a commercial spin bike so it can take abuse.
2. The power measurement is accurate if you zeroize every few rides. It's using standard gen 3 Stages power meters so it's off-the-shelf, widely used stuff.
3. It's very adjustable and everything locks into place solidly. No creaks etc.
4. It's silent and the ride feel is very smooth.

So I love it after working out a few initial kinks. We'll see what happens with Stages long term...

If you are using the Kickr bike with aerobars how close can you match the TT position on the bike? Anyone tried putting the shifting in on the aerobars? Not sue if that would be possible. I would almost always use in TT postion.

Wahoo brush with bankruptcy is why i have not pulled the trigger on the kicker bike. I don't want a $4000 paper weight. I really love the concept.

I have mine exact……except for the cranks. I use 155 and the bike only goes to 165.

I’m having a crank made now for the Kickr bike that will be 155.

Edit. Answering the shifters in the Aerobars, never even thought about that to be honest. I ride in erg mode nearly every ride. TrainerRoad synced to bike. Zwift from the bike to occupy my mind.

About 18 months ago I upgraded from an old tribike on a Tacx Neo 2T to a Kickr Bike V1. I absolutely love the Kickr bike

A couple of weeks ago while doing the FRR race series my shifters stopped working, so I had to switch back to my old Tacx.... it was horrible, if I set the trainer difficulty to around 35% I was spinning too fast (On Zwift my technique is low RPM standing - I can do 330w like this for well over an hour). If I set the trainer difficult >50% I was changing gear often and the gear changes under full load are horrible - I am so used to full load changes on the Kickr Bike. My power numbers were similar, however, I definately lost an edge in races riding on the Tacx

This weekend, I stripped down the bars and sprayed switch cleaner on eveything, cleaned the contacts and rubbed off the salt. All is working properly again.

The weak point of the Kickr bike is the shifters, lots of people have experienced shifter failures. Hopefully mine are now OK.