Does that trainer support erg mode?

With an 11sp cassette on a Kickr, I was able to get my 10sp winter bike to find one of the cogs where it didn't chatter. Then I just rode it in erg mode and would bump the power up / down as needed and just left it in the same gear.

It does but that wouldn't work in Zwift.

10 speed groups will 'sort of' work with 11 speed cassettes. I've tried it with at least 3 sets of wheels. They shift, just not as smoothly and possibly a little noisier. As this is on a trainer i dont see why it would be a problem.

If you know what you're doing you could upgrade your road bike to 11-speed; the latest 105 groupset is fairly cheap and if you sell your old parts on eBay the net cost won't be that much.

If you do go down that route, check if the hubs on your road wheels are 11-speed compatible; if they're not then obviously that's more potential expense.

sure, it works with Zwift -- you just don't put it in the mode where it varies the resistance based on the terrain. (and in any case Zwift is stoopid).

Thanks, I'll have to give it a try.

Trust me, I would love to do that. And I work at a shop so I get great discounts but I just don't think I can afford the cost, no matter how little it might be. I've got 2 11sp wheelsets for my tri bike, so even if my roadie wheels (which suck anyway) weren't 11sp I'd be fine.

We both know you knew what I meant haha

well not necessarily. I have seen people complain about the 'smart' mode, not knowing they could disable it and run in level mode or erg mode. When I used it (during the Beta and shortly after) I never cared for the smart mode. I would prefer to use erg mode (when doing TT type efforts) or level mode and just shift when I felt like it. I didn't see that the smart mode really added a lot.

And actually I turned faster lap times in erg mode. And then all the power and weight dopers started coming on and it got kind of absurd but that is a topic for the "cry like a ..." thread.

Also put preset power workouts from Training Peaks into the Zwift and it will maintain the effort if you are on a smart Trainer. This is how I do 90% of my Zwift rides.

I see.

That actually leads me to another problem I'm having. After being off the bike for 3 months, I've just started coming back and I reupped my Zwift account this weekend but I'm having trouble getting my Hammer trainer to be 'smart'. It's not changing resistance as the road changes.