Been keeping an eye out for a smart trainer. Currently only options in stock are Tacx Neo at CRC for £1.2K or the Tacx Flux at Wiggle for £550. Some sites are saying stock should be in 2nd week may.
I am not spending over a grand on the top of range one. Anyone got the Flux and is it any good? Only main downside I see is 10% max gradient. Is that going to be a bit limiting?
Next best options are in the £2-300 more. Wonder if they are worth it.
Kickr Core has good reviews too. I think the gradient thing just means that anything 10% or over will feel the same - not much of an issue in my eyes as those gradients aren’t that common in Zwift worlds; you’ll still get a decent level of immersion with rolling courses. Certainly more than a dumb static (or manually adjustable) resistance trainer anyway.
Ha yes. Learnt that the hard way 
I’d agree with what iower says, and also DCR would also say that 10% will really mean 20%, as the default setting in zwift is only 50% in terms of simulated grade. e.g. 10% in game and on the screen will actually be communicated to the trainer as 5%.
In addition, the guidance for racing is you actually should lower it a bit from 50%, to more like 30% or so. Otherwise you can’t maintain sufficient power over the top of climbs and on the downhills to stay in touch with the group.
I have absolutely no idea. It seemed like a really good idea at the time. I’m also slightly hopeful that there might be a 100m or 12hr TT to enter, at the end of the season.
I’ve pretty much decided that when things become a bit more ‘normal’ again, and I am able to get my little home gym sorted, that I’ll also build a rocker plate for my turbo… it’s not a huge outlay, so if it doesn’t work for me, then not too much lost… but I do hear good things about the reduction in pain from longer turbo rides
Thanks, and @iower .
Flux 2 and Core both go to 16% and are only £150 more. But no one has stock at all and looks like it could be months before any are available. By which point I will probably be desperate to ride outside.
I’ve got the original flux - only had a couple of issues with it.
I’m getting weird power spikes/drops at minute when going up climbs like the flywheel is slipping - but a recalibration does sort it.
As mentioned above, despite it only doing 10% - I can certainly tell differences between 5, 10 and 15% gradients on zwift - are they representing real life gradients, no. But for the sake of workout it seems fine for me.
I think anything in the £550 - £800 range generally gets you a decent bit of kit and I’m in the same boat looking for another for the wife (she’s now stealing mine) - so whatever comes in stock first from half a dozen or so on my list.
I have the flux s and for the money I cannot complain, 10% gradient/resistance is a good work out and resistance switches on and off pretty quickly over rolling terrain. I picked up my flux s from wiggle’s eBay site for £390.
Found another semi-automated option…
Don’t need to be a veloviewer subscriber it would seem. There are apparently some minor discrepancies in terms of start finish points, but it does also track your times and the various KOMs
Well that will learn me. Ummed and ahhed about the Flux and of course its now out of stock.
Most sites seem to be saying end of May before any stock of anything.
Think when they do come back going to go for the Kickr Core as that is only a little bit more expensive but has better features.
If they were all readily available today I’d buy a Kickr Core - it’s basically an improved version of the older Kickrs
I have to Tacx and it’s my second unit as the first one died a death - generally they do seem to suffer with reliability
Mantel.com saying on their website they expect stock this week for the core. Going to keep an eye out. lot of companies are letting people pre order so suspect when stock does come in it will be immediately gone.
Plus it’s coming from the Netherlands
A good mate has a core pre ordered from Sigma and they keep pushing the expected delivery date back for him - think he said yesterday middle of May!
Yeah thats what I am seeing on most site. Mid to end May.
Evans seems to indicate end of the week … but obviously no idea if accurate
I saw a Sigma advert for them over the weekend and it was advertising mid-May so pre-ordered as I’m fully onboard with Zwift and can see it getting a lot in future even after lockdown so thought I’d invest. Hadn’t appreciated that date had already been moving - fingers crossed!
I believe he originally expected it middle of April. Demand must be massive!
When you click on Pre Order it displays an error and wont let you. I think those Stock widgets are probably set up based on the usual lead time and delivery window and are not taking into account the enormous demand.
I am going to keep checking, but dont hold out much hope. Really in to Zwift so would be nice to get one, but maybe I will wait till the winter
