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Smart Trainer vs. Electronic Shifting Upgrade
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Say you have about $1,000 to spend on some equipment upgrades. You already have a tri bike with a good fit and aero wheels. The bike has mechanical shifting and indoors you ride a CycleOps fluid 2 trainer. What would be more bang for the buck: upgrading to a smart trainer or electronic shifting? (If electronic shifting, the bike already has Sram mechanical, would you do Di2 over Etap?)

My apologies if this has been covered somewhere before, I could not find what I was looking for in search. Thanks in advance for any feedback.
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Re: Smart Trainer vs. Electronic Shifting Upgrade [changums] [ In reply to ]
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I think it is such a personal decision. The big 2 training game changers are probably: power meter, and smart trainer. Electronic shifting will not make you a better biker, but it is buttery smooth and super sexy.

So if it was me: wahoo kickr Core as my first choice. Best purchase I have made in any area in the past 5 years has been my kickr. But it needs a software subscription to get the most. I use FulGaz and Zwift, my friend is all about TrainerRoad. Having one of those is perhaps $100-150 per year, so add that to the cost.

Smart trainer for the win!!!!

But it rains a lot where I live, so garage riding is a game changer.
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Re: Smart Trainer vs. Electronic Shifting Upgrade [Misery] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for response- forgot to mention that I have a PM already as well. I feel like the trainer will make me a better rider but the shifting will be more fun when actually riding outdoors, which is my dilemma.
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Re: Smart Trainer vs. Electronic Shifting Upgrade [changums] [ In reply to ]
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Is this going on a road bike or TT bike?

Shifting on the bullhorns is nice with quick access to the brake levers, but I erg mode is also nice. Tough call.
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Re: Smart Trainer vs. Electronic Shifting Upgrade [kppolich] [ In reply to ]
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TT, specifically an old Shiv.
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Re: Smart Trainer vs. Electronic Shifting Upgrade [changums] [ In reply to ]
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For me it's whichever one will make me faster.

Electronic shifting won't make you much faster, if at all.

Smart trainer opened up the world of Zwift racing to me, and I'm all over it now. And it has definitely made ME faster.

Yes, I know you can race Zwift quite adequately without a smart trainer. But it's just better when that resistance changes with slope. I'm racing 2x a week now and seeing goof FTP progression (and progression all across my maximal power curve). Racing is the ultimate impetus for hard efforts, at least for me, and getting enthused about training is a big deal.

You may also find erg mode improves your trainerroad workouts.

But if you are just going to carry on doing your 2x20s or whatever is slope mode then it's probably not a big advantage.

Smart trainer for me every day. And go 1x mechanical for aero ;-).

Rich.

ETA.. I'm in West Yorkshire, UK, and it's winter so indoor training is properly important for me.
Last edited by: knighty76: Oct 18, 18 14:17
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Re: Smart Trainer vs. Electronic Shifting Upgrade [changums] [ In reply to ]
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Well in that case, if you have a good but dumb trainer AND a power meter, I would get me some Di2. I love mine, just not quite as much as I love my kickr.
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Re: Smart Trainer vs. Electronic Shifting Upgrade [changums] [ In reply to ]
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I paid $225 for my kickr snap generation 2.

GET BOTH!
Get an used Computrainer and upgrade to Di2 later on whenever you can.

Grow with data: Dynamic Sports Data | eBay store
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Re: Smart Trainer vs. Electronic Shifting Upgrade [changums] [ In reply to ]
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Ask Sebastien Kienle for some advice...
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Re: Smart Trainer vs. Electronic Shifting Upgrade [changums] [ In reply to ]
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My vote is smart trainer by far. Electronic won't make you faster but a smart trainer will. I thought I was working hard before on my fluid trainer but now TrainerRoad is kicking my a$$ every session as long as I give it my all on FTP tests. When I got my smart trainer I was already 12 Ironman races deep with a 10:34 PR, so not great but not a couch potato either. Yet after just 10 months, my power is up 30% since I got the smart trainer.
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Re: Smart Trainer vs. Electronic Shifting Upgrade [changums] [ In reply to ]
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Imho electronic shifting is a gimmick and doesn't work any better than all of my previous mechanic groups IF well maintained and dialed in.
The only exception being base-bar shifting for technical courses on a tri-bike. It seems that would be useful, but I don't know since my electronic group is on my road bike...

So yeah, Smart trainer all the way! And a big screen + an apple-TV and a good fan...

if you can read this
YOU'RE DRAFTING!
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Re: Smart Trainer vs. Electronic Shifting Upgrade [knighty76] [ In reply to ]
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Pretty sure October isn't winter, even in Yorkshire ;-)

29 years and counting
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Re: Smart Trainer vs. Electronic Shifting Upgrade [Shambolic] [ In reply to ]
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Shambolic wrote:
Ask Sebastien Kienle for some advice...
That had to come up someway haha.

Like others said, Di2 won’t make you faster.
I live with some hills around and like the comfort and safety to shift in both positions.
You can do you intervals with a powermeter on the Trainer too but I think with a smart trainer it’s more fun (I haven’t used one and even stayed away from trainer last winter cause I decided to get some better shoes and ride outside in the cold)

-shoki
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Re: Smart Trainer vs. Electronic Shifting Upgrade [changums] [ In reply to ]
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Both :-) One now, save money, One later option

I got a Gen1 Kickr in 2014 and upgraded my older LOOK road bike from SRAM Red to etap in 2017.
The Kickr is used a lot because I train indoors weekdays year round with PerfPro (non-subscription application) so I would say it holds more value to me and makes it a bit tolerable to get on that trainer day to day compared to the days I had a fluid trainer. I also have e-motion rollers which are very pleasant to use indoors, but 99% of the time I would rather get on the Kickr and let the program take me through the session. I just let my mind go numb with the music, grit my teeth and get it done. With the fluid trainer I had to keep an eye on the screen (laptop or Garmin) to make sure I did not drift down out of the prescribed intensity level. That's me though. You may do a whole lot better and maintaining intensity based on feel.


I do love electronic shifting though and updating my old road bike killed my desire to buy a new road bike, which would have been a whole lot more money.
On the other hand I bought a bottom end IA16 last year with low end mechanical and I am almost content to leave it for a while. My intent was to upgrade to electronic in 2018. I am just not sure I want to do that yet as the courses I use with the IA are fairly flat to low rolling hills. I really do not shift that much on these courses as I do on the road bike with more technical and tougher gradients. The etap is a beauty coming out of S-curves on to a straight section, hold the paddle shifter down with just a slight bit of pressure and listen to it shift up quickly. Same when you need to gear down fast just lightly hold down the shifter once and it will rapidly go down.

etap vs Di2
I am not a fan boy of etap over Di2. Out of my cycling friends I am the only one with etap. Most of my friends have Di2 and love it. If I get electronic for the IA I may go with Di2.
Last edited by: Felt_Rider: Oct 19, 18 3:51
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Re: Smart Trainer vs. Electronic Shifting Upgrade [Felt_Rider] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks all for the great feedback. It looks like I’ll be going with a Kickr Core. Now I just have to convince my wife why I need to upgrade my perfectly good fluid trainer...
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Re: Smart Trainer vs. Electronic Shifting Upgrade [knighty76] [ In reply to ]
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knighty76 wrote:
For me it's whichever one will make me faster.

Electronic shifting won't make you much faster, if at all.

Smart trainer opened up the world of Zwift racing to me, and I'm all over it now. And it has definitely made ME faster.

Yes, I know you can race Zwift quite adequately without a smart trainer. But it's just better when that resistance changes with slope. I'm racing 2x a week now and seeing goof FTP progression (and progression all across my maximal power curve). Racing is the ultimate impetus for hard efforts, at least for me, and getting enthused about training is a big deal.

You may also find erg mode improves your trainerroad workouts.

But if you are just going to carry on doing your 2x20s or whatever is slope mode then it's probably not a big advantage.

Smart trainer for me every day. And go 1x mechanical for aero ;-).

Rich.

ETA.. I'm in West Yorkshire, UK, and it's winter so indoor training is properly important for me.



Totally with you for road bikes, but for me di2 on the TT rig makes all the difference for hilly or technical courses where I can change gear from the base bar. I reckon there has to be an advantage there although granted probably not as much as a solid years training with a smart trainer!

Personally I went for a dumb trainer that reads power and di2 and I’m happy with it but I always liked logging away on my own with trainer road anyway! I’m based in Otley myself so di2 for the Yorkshire hills is a big plus! I do ride mechanical dura ace on my road bike though as I genuinely can’t see any difference in shifting and I just prefer mechanical!
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Re: Smart Trainer vs. Electronic Shifting Upgrade [changums] [ In reply to ]
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I've got both etap and a Tacx Neo smart trainer... enjoy having both thoroughly but I couldn't live without a smart trainer. I could def live without etap.
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Re: Smart Trainer vs. Electronic Shifting Upgrade [changums] [ In reply to ]
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changums wrote:
TT, specifically an old Shiv.


If you plan to get a new TT bike within a couple years anyway then I say save the $1000 to get a complete bike that comes with Di2 if you really want electronic. It will probably cost less than $1000 to bump up from something like the mechanical ultegra version of a bike to ultegra Di2. And you won't have to deal with the headache of setup and having a bunch of leftover mechanical parts that you may never use again.

If you're the type that likes to buy frame sets and enjoys moving all your parts over then maybe not so big a deal.
Last edited by: Jason N: Oct 19, 18 13:54
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Re: Smart Trainer vs. Electronic Shifting Upgrade [changums] [ In reply to ]
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Do you have a power meter? If not, I'd suggest that before the other two. If used correctly, a power meter will transform your cycling. If you do, go smart trainer.
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Re: Smart Trainer vs. Electronic Shifting Upgrade [changums] [ In reply to ]
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Electronic shifting, without a doubt. You have a PM that will get you by on dumb trainers for now. Di2, especially on a TT bike, is another world all together

the world's still turning? >>>>>>> the world's still turning
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