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AAAC 76C

Large Member
Location
LIVING THE DREAM
 

gbrown

Geoff on Bkool
Location
South Somerset
I've just requested to rejoin the cyclechat league in advance of getting a new trainer for the winter. ^_^

I've tried several times to spectate on one of your league rides, but I just can't find the rides. The filter function doesn't respond in any way, perhaps as I have not yet got an active bkool subscription.

What have they done to the bkool indoor app? It is so much worse than it was, to me it seems barely functional and hideous. The yellow writing on white background is almost unreadable, the user interface is not at all intuitive, the menus just flow off the screen to the right with no scroll, things like the filter don't do anything when you click on them (for me at least), etc.

It looks like it was created by an eight year old, I much preferred the previous version, even with all it's faults! :cry:

Geoff
 

gbrown

Geoff on Bkool
Location
South Somerset
I had a go on a KICKR 2018 and Climb in the local shop, was going to buy it but was underwhelmed by the Climb and without that I think I would prefer a Neo. Tried to get Wiggle to price match a NEO 2T this morning but they were out of stock by the time I got through to them. Might go for a Neo 2 as there are some good offers at the moment.

Having thought it would be fun, the KICKR Climb just didn't seem to add anything to the experience. Small changes in gradients were pointless and hard to distinguish, and when it was very high or very low it felt quite unnatural and didn't seem to reflect outside riding at all. In the end I just preferred to leave it level. A very expensive gimmick is the conclusion I came to.

They also had the KICKR Headwind and I felt much the same about that. Riding indoors is so different from outside in terms of the need for cooling. I can see no reason to have a fan mimic the wind as you go fast or slow. When grinding up a steep climb you need a lot of cooling, which is when the fan would slow to match your speed.

The KICKR 2018 itself was very nice, much quieter than my old 2014 one. But I am still nervous about all the problems Wahoo have had. Even if they are all fixed now, I can see problems in the future if I want to sell on a KICKR 2018. However, exactly because of the problems I read about different brands of trainers and the difficulties in returning such bulky items, I would prefer to purchase from a local shop, which only sells KICKRs. Catch 22.

Sorry, I've gone all ranty, must be the weather... :shy:

Geoff
 

Del C

Veteran
Location
Horley
I've just requested to rejoin the cyclechat league in advance of getting a new trainer for the winter. ^_^

I've tried several times to spectate on one of your league rides, but I just can't find the rides. The filter function doesn't respond in any way, perhaps as I have not yet got an active bkool subscription.

What have they done to the bkool indoor app? It is so much worse than it was, to me it seems barely functional and hideous. The yellow writing on white background is almost unreadable, the user interface is not at all intuitive, the menus just flow off the screen to the right with no scroll, things like the filter don't do anything when you click on them (for me at least), etc.

It looks like it was created by an eight year old, I much preferred the previous version, even with all it's faults! :cry:

Geoff
Yeah........ but apart from that? :laugh:
 

Mark68

Über Member
Location
Near york uk
I had a go on a KICKR 2018 and Climb in the local shop, was going to buy it but was underwhelmed by the Climb and without that I think I would prefer a Neo. Tried to get Wiggle to price match a NEO 2T this morning but they were out of stock by the time I got through to them. Might go for a Neo 2 as there are some good offers at the moment.

Having thought it would be fun, the KICKR Climb just didn't seem to add anything to the experience. Small changes in gradients were pointless and hard to distinguish, and when it was very high or very low it felt quite unnatural and didn't seem to reflect outside riding at all. In the end I just preferred to leave it level. A very expensive gimmick is the conclusion I came to.

They also had the KICKR Headwind and I felt much the same about that. Riding indoors is so different from outside in terms of the need for cooling. I can see no reason to have a fan mimic the wind as you go fast or slow. When grinding up a steep climb you need a lot of cooling, which is when the fan would slow to match your speed.

The KICKR 2018 itself was very nice, much quieter than my old 2014 one. But I am still nervous about all the problems Wahoo have had. Even if they are all fixed now, I can see problems in the future if I want to sell on a KICKR 2018. However, exactly because of the problems I read about different brands of trainers and the difficulties in returning such bulky items, I would prefer to purchase from a local shop, which only sells KICKRs. Catch 22.

Sorry, I've gone all ranty, must be the weather... :shy:

Geoff
I have the neo 2 and have been really pleased with it so far.

After hearing about the kicker climb etc I did think to myself that I maybe should have gone for that, but after reading your comments I am pleased I went for the tacx.
I've already done more miles on my neo than in the whole time I had my old dumb trainer and that's over 15 years
 

gbrown

Geoff on Bkool
Location
South Somerset
One last rant...

The shop was using Zwift for a demo. I just find it very hard to like. When I started riding I was overtaken by a guy wearing part of a dinosaur suit. The lag as I set off was terrible, there is so much on the screen it's impossible to know what to look at, people on tron bikes with glowing wheels, things floating in the air, hidden Halloween treats to find on the course, it seems to be aimed at children. Do grown up cyclists really want a glorified computer game?

I much preferred the Bkool offer of closely simulating an outdoor ride, allowing you to ride your own courses, videos and all, ride with smaller groups of riders you are familiar with, etc.. Even before they removed the disadvantage for non-bkool trainers I preferred riding in bkool.

In the end I got them to swap Zwift for Fulgaz and had a brief ride on a countryside video which was much better.

Geoff
 

Del C

Veteran
Location
Horley
Well that was a f*****g disaster.

Power lead got disconnected from my laptop, got disconnected from server as laptop crashed and then shouldn't reconnect.

I'm having to ride my Neo without the power transformer (it's died and i've ordered a replacement) but just couldn't reconnect.

Bollox!
 
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