I recently had to make the same decision as you. I went with the Tacx Flow. I have been using this for several months now and don't have any complaints. Unit works great and is relatively quiet.

A tiny bit more than $400, but a quantum jump forward. What about a Cycleops Hammer for $500?

https://forum.slowtwitch.com/..._Kickr_Snap_P7141783

I have a kinetic dumb trainer with the inride attachment. So buy one used, and then $40 for inride. Pretty cheap in my opinion.

So far its working great. I don't zwift but I use trainerroad. Only downside I have is focusing my target FTP. For example the workout shows I need 200 FTP at 90-95 RPMs. Well for me that's between two different gears. You shouldn't have that issue if your just zwifting.

I do not think a direct drive trainer suits my needs right now, sadly lol. My wife doesn't need the advanced functionality, so the cost just isn't justified for me. And if I wanted to be cheeky and use it myself, our bikes are different speeds so I'd be changing cassettes every time and would need to buy additional cassettes to put on the trainer, my wife doesn't have the bike tech knowledge or willpower to change cassettes if I'm not around...

I appreciate the suggestion though.

If you could to to $500 you could get the 4iiii Fliiiight. Sounds like it would be perfect for her as the main limitations of it seem to be higher power intervals. At under $400 though, I'd say just find a Cycleops Fluid 2 or Kurt Kinetic and speed/cadence or the inride. To be clear, I've never ridden on a direct drive (would love to but don't have one) but I just can't imagine it's worth spending more than $100 unless you're going all the way.

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Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
Deals on Wheels - Results, schedule, videos, sponsors

 

For a few dollars more (great name for a movie) you can get the Tacx Vortex:



https://tacx.com/product/vortex-smart/


You can probably find new ones online for less.


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Once, I was fast. But I got over it.

One of my favorite movies.

I got a Cycleops M2 on sale for 400. It's worked fine and I like it. REI has them, not sure when their next 20% off sale is, but that would make it $400 from them.

Found a Kurt kinetic rock n roll on Craigslist for $140. Thinking about adding the smart control unit to it, but haven’t pulled the trigger.

I’m buying a direct drive soon and looking to sell my Cycleops Magnus (now a Saris M2).
It has worked flawlessly and matches my crank power meter very closely after calibration.

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Alex Arman

Strava

Chinese wahoo kickr knockoff works exactly the same for me.

https://www.aliexpress.com/...0.0.0.2a722e0einkzHh

Interesting. I never thought of going the chinese route for a trainer.

What's the noise level comparable to?

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Strava

Honestly is was pretty much the exact same as the Kickr was. I was shocked how similar it it is. Suckers like paying full price for everything though ;)

Everything you need to consider is here: https://www.dcrainmaker.com/...inter-2019-2020.html

I would also be careful about buying a used smart trainer. On one hand they are something people buy use once and two years later decided to offload. On the other hand a ton of smart trainers, in fact pretty much all of them, had issues when they were first released. The issues varied by brand and model and due to the cost of shipping not all companies required trainers be returned as part of the warrantee/recall process. The net result is a surplus of dodgy like-new trainers which are difficult to identify until you use them.

Turbo trainers are items that get put on large discounts when new models become available so the prices are always floating. I would expect to be able to find trainers with $500-$600 sticker prices for $400 when the model years are released.

This one?
£219.99
https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/...rainer/rp-prod125671

 

Yes.


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Once, I was fast. But I got over it.

Find a used KK road machine. Bulletproof. Can always sell it later and upgrade.

A little off topic...

It looks like zwift can control the Tacx Vortex with a smartphone (Galaxy 9); has anyone here done it?

I'd go for a Wahoo Kickr Snap. I have mine since late fall in 2016 and it is working great. No issues. You can get used, but they are $500 new. You really don't want to go the dumb-trainer route and add any kind of external power measurement - as all that does is transmit power and doesn't control the trainer. To me - having the trainer simulate terrain is what makes indoor training (inclines, declines) semi-tolerable. If I didn't have it, I surely would NOT be convincing myself to ride 4 days a week indoors over the winter. Zwift and the smart trainer make things much more fun. Plus- while you say she's not competitive or serious - maybe she will be a convert once she experiences it!

 

I have Tacx vortex and use trainer road or the Taxc advanced software that I bought along with it. I use the real world courses and the virtual reality on a desktop computer. I guess these are similar to Zwift but not sure. It does increase resistance for inclines and reduces resistance for declines but there is a lag time of several seconds. More of a nuisance that anything else for me.

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Once, I was fast. But I got over it.

Thanks

used computrainer

Got the Tacx Vortex and don't think that I'm gonna need anything else in the near future. Use it with Trainerroad over my phone and works perfectly most of the time. Basically no experience with Zwift and the Vortex, not a big fan of Zwift

I picked up a Tacx Vortex used last year for about $200.
It's nothing special or fancy, but just what I need.
It is essentially a mag trainer with resistance that can be controlled by Zwift.
The Tacx software is free for your phone and the spindown calibration takes 30 seconds.

The good- it's cheap, it works, and it's built like a tank. It's stable, folds up and out of the way and syncs with both my phone and my PC almost instantly. ANT+ and BT.
The bad- Incline only goes to 7 or 8%. No big deal. It can only handle about 1000w. But I'm not gonna kid myself and pretend that that matters. It is quiet-ish. Quieter than 76 trombones marching through your living room, but not as quiet as some of the more expensive options. The only thing that really bothers me is that is sometimes lags a lot. The resistance won't kick in until several seconds into a hill and it won't let go until several seconds after the end of a hill. Or if I'm not in ERG mode, it won't register the start of a sprint for several seconds. You get used to it and can plan for such things, but man, it's irritating sometimes.
I haven't ridden anything but this as it's my first smart trainer, so I don't know if the lag is my computer, my trainer or a combination of both.

Look on Facebook, Slowtwitch classifieds, etc.. and get a used one.

For $200 I got a pretty nice trainer that will probably last many years.

Here's one vote for cheap used.