Smart Trainer Holiday Guide 2024: Best Deals and What to Avoid

[@laurikultima8758]

I used to think that buying a bike was one of the hardest decisions I had ever made. Not anymore. Buying a bike trainer is far more difficult. After hours of research, I came to the conclusion that the VAN RYSEL Interactive Turbo Trainer D100 would be the best option for my needs. But here’s the frustrating part: there aren’t any available to buy, or if there are, they won’t deliver to Finland. So now I have to decide whether to wait indefinitely for them to become available again or spend 200 euros more on a bike trainer that is way too overkil for my needs. I would have wanted a simple one to train during winter. Main sport being running. Lisää kommentti

[@NeverTakeNoCut-offs]

I have been riding the Victory for about a week after about 20,000 race miles in zwift on various Neos. The NEO still has a MUCH more natural road feel. The victory is great and a steal (love virtual shifting) but the Neo is still king of the road feel by a large margin.

[@davidfiddling1467]

Got my jet black victory last week so far very impressive

[@SmartBikeTrainers]

Awesome. Glad to hear you are happy with it. Enjoy 👍

[@fabianmolyneux2308]

Thanks great review of the key trainers. Great reviewing technique, being concise and to the point. Well done

[@SmartBikeTrainers]

Appreciate it. Thank you 🙏🏼

[@wolf.himmler]

Assume you could get the Kickr V6 and Cycplus T3 at the same price and your key focus is training, not racing, but you wouldn't mind racing at times - which would you pick? :)

[@Red5StayOnTarget]

Another great vid

[@SmartBikeTrainers]

🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@mckonal]

sir why do you never mention d500?

[@seanraynoncom]

Great breakdown video! How about the Elite Direto XR-T Direct Drive Smart Trainer + Zwift Cog?

[@SmartBikeTrainers]

Solid trainer. Go for it.

[@seanraynoncom]

​@@SmartBikeTrainers Thanks! I bought it today! The cheapest I could find from an authorized distributor was $456.30, including tax and shipping and handling.

[@bonn1771]

I am using the original saris hammer. I be switching once this pass away

[@SmartBikeTrainers]

The Hammer is still hammering away. Nice 👍

[@bonn1771]

@SmartBikeTrainers works for me and I got it used from 1 person who never used it.. Happy training

[@damu6678]

Can you test how much the movement of the trainers' rocker plates affects your measured watts? Will it affect taxes on Zwift?

[@SmartBikeTrainers]

That’s a hard one to measure. But I think the more comfortable you are with your indoor setup, the more watts you will end up with :)

[@kenford2669]

Recently moved from Kickr5 to Kickr Move.Love the the extra features but my watts are slightly down and it has destroyed my sprint on Zwift races.Newtons 3rd I suppose, the energy for that movement has to come from you.

[@damu6678]

@kenford2669 It makes sense since when you push on the pedals, that moves the bike back so some percentage isn't going into the power meter. But I've never seen anyone quantify it

[@daved5244]

@@kenford2669 I thought it had a lockout for movement? No?

[@renatolovato]

I just got mine, and I’m using it locked because of the Zwift frame, but it has a lot of side-to-side wiggle. At first, I thought it would steal power and I felt overwhelmed to perform the same during a race. But on the third ride, I just had my best power watts during a sprint. Your pedals are against your body that is fixed on top of the bike, no matter what, you will move with the bike together

[@thatguy9051]

Magene is supposed to have a trainer with road feel as good as the tacx neo at a better price.

[@klpinvestments]

Why no wheel-on mentions?

[@SmartBikeTrainers]

The market is heading towards direct drive trainers and we haven’t seen anything new with wheel-ons in many years. They also tend to have a lot of accuracy issues so I decided to leave them out.

[@jackiegerwitz-dunn4046]

How do you ignore Saris?

[@SmartBikeTrainers]

I originally had it then decided to take it off once I saw the price back to over $600. Not worth it for that price. But if you can get it at a discount, then it might be worth it.

[@TooMuchTemper]

Got a kickr v6 for 820 on ebay.

[@SmartBikeTrainers]

That’s a solid deal 👍

[@adammillsindustries.]

My Neo OG is very old but working fine. Do I change for the sake of it?

[@PedroPrego]

I have neo 2 and i look at the move just for the potential added confort. Apart from that, no other trainer will do any relevant difference compared to mine (or yours). But sometimes we just need to buy a new toy

[@adammillsindustries.]

@ Scratch that damn itch boooiii!

[@JibbaJabber]

No. Spend your money on ceramic bling instead!😊

[@Brantastic07]

I guess the wheel on trainers & rollers have gotten forgotten?

[@SmartBikeTrainers]

Wheel-on trainers are definitely still a good option for indoor training.