So I pulled the trigger on a Kickr Bike yesterday with the sale Wahoo is offering. I had a chance to ride one when they first were released. As I wait for it to arrive, I’m wondering if anyone has any special insight into their setup.
Have you mounted clip-on aero bars?
Do you use the Wahoo fan (which seems a little extravagant)?
How do you like the saddle they provide?
Any other accessories or connectivity aspects to consider?
i have aero bars on mine, but i cant get the front end low enough to match my bike. no biggie really, but i may at some point get a drop stem to get lower.
i do have a wahoo fan. i do like it. the bluetooth speed control is nice. its a luxury item for sure, not necessary.
throw the seat that comes with it in the trash immediately and get whatever saddle you normally ride on your outdoor bike.
I got mine a few weeks ago. I mounted clip on aero bars and use my own saddle…the one it came with literally gave me a saddle sore on the second ride. In terms of aerobars, my position on Kickr bike is a bit further back than my pure tri aero position. Its more like a cross between my road bike position and tri bike position where the saddle is further back from tri bike and bars further up, keeping the same hip angle in the aero, which is all that really counts.
Note that indoors you don’t have wind at 25-50kph holding you back in your saddle when aero and forward and low. So if you replicate identical aero position as outdoors you end up with more pressure on elbows and shoulders and neck than you do outdoors. So that’s why I always ride with a mid roadie position with closed up hip angle indoors so I am not falling off the front of the bike all the time
Note that indoors you don’t have wind at 25-50kph holding you back in your saddle when aero and forward and low. So if you replicate identical aero position as outdoors you end up with more pressure on elbows and shoulders and neck than you do outdoors.Hmmmm. I never thought about this factor.
I have been thinking about jumping to a smart bike, but one of the key factors to me is that I actually prefer to ride my TT bike on the trainer to practice the position all the time. I do this because I typically only ride my TT bike outside a few times (as in maybe 3-4 times) before an A-Race. This is more to think about, because I have noticed that my indoor vs. outdoor comfort and fatigue levels in the TT position are very different.
throw the seat that comes with it in the trash immediately and get whatever saddle you normally ride on your outdoor bike.
Definitely this!
I feel the same way and is one of the few reasons I haven’t pulled the trigger on the kickr bike. If I’m paying that much, it better be damn perfect!
Note that indoors you don’t have wind at 25-50kph holding you back in your saddle when aero and forward and low. So if you replicate identical aero position as outdoors you end up with more pressure on elbows and shoulders and neck than you do outdoors. So that’s why I always ride with a mid roadie position with closed up hip angle indoors so I am not falling off the front of the bike all the time
My N=1 is that raising up the front of the bike can alleviate this a bit kind of simulate riding into the wind from a body position standpoint. For a bike on setup this meant putting a couple more books under the front wheel. For the kickr bike it means putting the tilt at 2 or 3% up
first, what sale? this would be big news, but i’m naive to any sale.
second, i’m all in on smart bikes. i just reviewed the stages bike monday. any smart bike (among wahoo, tacx, stages) is better than any smart trainer. however…
you probably do need to be strategic in the aerobar you choose, because these bikes may not go low enough if that’s how you intend to ride them. something like the profile design subsonic. or, a gravel aerobar that sits very low relative to the road bar. and, you’re unlikely to be able to bar-end shift (i’d have to research which smart bikes support that). and… you’ll probably have to set up your display on the ground, at an upward angle, which is fine, i did that, but it’s a lower mount than if you ride it as you would a road bike.
Have you mounted clip-on aero bars?
I have not yet. I used the fit app to input my fit numbers from a Retul road bike fit and have just used that for now (was really easy to set up)
Do you use the Wahoo fan (which seems a little extravagant)?
No. I’ve considered it but for now I am happy with me Lasko blower fan
How do you like the saddle they provide?
I used it for a couple rides while I decided what to do saddle wise for the bike. Saddle preference is definitely personal. Right now I have an EC90 saddle which is a knock off of the specialized power that I picked up online for $35
Any other accessories or connectivity aspects to consider?
I have a RAD cycle desk which is a knock off of the Wahoo desk. I like it for putting the iPad/laptop, bottles, and other things
Have fun with the bike. I’ve had mine since January (I keep telling myself I’ll write some sort of review). I have a few minor quibbles with the bike (mostly annoyed at how tight I need to get the seatpost and stem clamp to keep them from slipping), but otherwise I’ve been happy with it. The climb/tilt function is a lot of fun
Note that indoors you don’t have wind at 25-50kph holding you back in your saddle when aero and forward and low. So if you replicate identical aero position as outdoors you end up with more pressure on elbows and shoulders and neck than you do outdoors.Hmmmm. I never thought about this factor.
I have been thinking about jumping to a smart bike, but one of the key factors to me is that I actually prefer to ride my TT bike on the trainer to practice the position all the time. I do this because I typically only ride my TT bike outside a few times (as in maybe 3-4 times) before an A-Race. This is more to think about, because I have noticed that my indoor vs. outdoor comfort and fatigue levels in the TT position are very different.
i believe dev is right about this. i’ve ridden in the aero position a bunch on a stationary bike and compared this to my outdoor position, and i do think this is a thing. i haven’t mathed it out yet, and i don’t know how much 25mph of wind would unweight my aerobar pads. how much it would push me back in the saddle. but let’s say it’s quite minimal. is that minimal amount equal to, say, raising the pads another minimal amount, say, 10mm or 15mm?
Note that indoors you don’t have wind at 25-50kph holding you back in your saddle when aero and forward and low. So if you replicate identical aero position as outdoors you end up with more pressure on elbows and shoulders and neck than you do outdoors.Hmmmm. I never thought about this factor.
I have been thinking about jumping to a smart bike, but one of the key factors to me is that I actually prefer to ride my TT bike on the trainer to practice the position all the time. I do this because I typically only ride my TT bike outside a few times (as in maybe 3-4 times) before an A-Race. This is more to think about, because I have noticed that my indoor vs. outdoor comfort and fatigue levels in the TT position are very different.
Yeah outdoors riding into a 25-50kph wind you can do the math on how many Newton’s of force are pushing you back into your saddle. This holds you up. That is why the harder you ride the more comfortable the aero position is. Indoors that force is provided by the magnetic flywheel not pushing wind out of your face
As such indoors in your TT positive you have to hold your body in place
The way around this is rotate your entire position backwards from tri position around BB. clip on aero Bars higher and closer in, saddle nose closer to level vs slightly down, saddle nose further behind BB than on tri bike but a bit forward from road bike.
Keep your hip angle the same and saddle height the same. Then you can go outdoors with zero adaptations
Dan,
Wahoo sent an email yesterday offering reconditioned trainers and Kickr Bikes for discounted prices. In the case of the bike, it was 10% off the normal $3100 (vs $3500 for a new one) with a 1 year warranty. Also need to pay $150 for shipping.
Note that indoors you don’t have wind at 25-50kph holding you back in your saddle when aero and forward and low. So if you replicate identical aero position as outdoors you end up with more pressure on elbows and shoulders and neck than you do outdoors.Hmmmm. I never thought about this factor.
I have been thinking about jumping to a smart bike, but one of the key factors to me is that I actually prefer to ride my TT bike on the trainer to practice the position all the time. I do this because I typically only ride my TT bike outside a few times (as in maybe 3-4 times) before an A-Race. This is more to think about, because I have noticed that my indoor vs. outdoor comfort and fatigue levels in the TT position are very different.
i believe dev is right about this. i’ve ridden in the aero position a bunch on a stationary bike and compared this to my outdoor position, and i do think this is a thing. i haven’t mathed it out yet, and i don’t know how much 25mph of wind would unweight my aerobar pads. how much it would push me back in the saddle. but let’s say it’s quite minimal. is that minimal amount equal to, say, raising the pads another minimal amount, say, 10mm or 15mm?
It it not minimally. If you are riding at 250W and say 50W is bike and wheel you have 200 W of power pushing you into your seat. 200W is 200 Newton meters per second of energy or in any given second you have 200N-m of energy pushing you back into seat. Or put it another way…when your legs and lungs are on fire at 250W around 80 percent of the force involved is holding you up…this is spread over your entire body so you don’t feel it hammering you like a point force but your body is like a sail to the wind…a light wind can move a boat fast and in this case a light wind holds us up on a bike. On a trainer that is gone
Note that indoors you don’t have wind at 25-50kph holding you back in your saddle when aero and forward and low. So if you replicate identical aero position as outdoors you end up with more pressure on elbows and shoulders and neck than you do outdoors.Hmmmm. I never thought about this factor.
I have been thinking about jumping to a smart bike, but one of the key factors to me is that I actually prefer to ride my TT bike on the trainer to practice the position all the time. I do this because I typically only ride my TT bike outside a few times (as in maybe 3-4 times) before an A-Race. This is more to think about, because I have noticed that my indoor vs. outdoor comfort and fatigue levels in the TT position are very different.
i believe dev is right about this. i’ve ridden in the aero position a bunch on a stationary bike and compared this to my outdoor position, and i do think this is a thing. i haven’t mathed it out yet, and i don’t know how much 25mph of wind would unweight my aerobar pads. how much it would push me back in the saddle. but let’s say it’s quite minimal. is that minimal amount equal to, say, raising the pads another minimal amount, say, 10mm or 15mm?
It it not minimally. If you are riding at 250W and say 50W is bike and wheel you have 200 W of power pushing you into your seat. 200W is 200 Newton meters per second of energy or in any given second you have 200N-m of energy pushing you back into seat. Or put it another way…when your legs and lungs are on fire at 250W around 80 percent of the force involved is holding you up…this is spread over your entire body so you don’t feel it hammering you like a point force but your body is like a sail to the wind…a light wind can move a boat fast and in this case a light wind holds us up on a bike. On a trainer that is gone
i don’t know if that’s the right way to approach the math. maybe it is. but i would look at the frontal area of the rider, from the top tube up, calculate it, imagine (with some reasonable reduction of that imagination to an actual force applied), subtract it (in pounds or kg) from the force applied by your body onto the armrests, and then lift the armrests until you meet that reduced weight on the pads.
i think this is a terrific problem to solve. numerically. i’m quite confident i don’t have the math skills to solve it.
Note that indoors you don’t have wind at 25-50kph holding you back in your saddle when aero and forward and low. So if you replicate identical aero position as outdoors you end up with more pressure on elbows and shoulders and neck than you do outdoors.Hmmmm. I never thought about this factor.
I have been thinking about jumping to a smart bike, but one of the key factors to me is that I actually prefer to ride my TT bike on the trainer to practice the position all the time. I do this because I typically only ride my TT bike outside a few times (as in maybe 3-4 times) before an A-Race. This is more to think about, because I have noticed that my indoor vs. outdoor comfort and fatigue levels in the TT position are very different.
Yeah outdoors riding into a 25-50kph wind you can do the math on how many Newton’s of force are pushing you back into your saddle. This holds you up. That is why the harder you ride the more comfortable the aero position is. Indoors that force is provided by the magnetic flywheel not pushing wind out of your face
As such indoors in your TT positive you have to hold your body in place
The way around this is rotate your entire position backwards from tri position around BB. clip on aero Bars higher and closer in, saddle nose closer to level vs slightly down, saddle nose further behind BB than on tri bike but a bit forward from road bike.
Keep your hip angle the same and saddle height the same. Then you can go outdoors with zero adaptations
Holy guac. This whole thread is mind bending. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, you guys
What did you end up doing with aero bars and such?
I never had my fitter work with me to get it in tri coordinates. I just use it with the road fit.
I have an old Kickr that I use in the winter when I need to ride on the tri bike.
Sorry