Wahoo Silent Kickr/Kickr Core Faults

[Aleman]

£750 for the Neo 1 at Wiggle at the moment ... it is sooooo tempting, but having just bought my vector 3's I can't justify it

 

[TWitko]

... One last thing: In the replacement instructions from Wahoo, the following is stated: "Warning: Wahoo strongly advises against setting belt tension outside of factory settings! Please take every precaution to ensure belt tension is set to original/factory setting before operating." ...

just my humble comment - statement above sounds quite logical, but it assumes the belt tension in Kickr was set properly during assembly - means factory tension is _correct_. In case of stupid workman or some deffective tool, then even "factory" setting can be totally wrong and it needs correction (user's input - tension change). Now advise how to decide what is what :-)

TW
(sorry for my English - I do my best)

 

[ozlinzee]

The Neo owners group on Facebook is really good. There’s some good guys with a lot of knowledge & experience. I’m a big fan of Shane but there’s a different noise to the one you describe in his video. That’s a very metallic sound, the other sound is like a steel fabricator using a hand tool file on some steel plate in a vice.
Apart from that I’m impressed with the rest. I should take it back though as the Neo 2 is out after Christmas.

Even sooner depending where you are maybe. https://tacx.com/product/neo-2-smart/

 

[Milzy]

Even sooner depending where you are maybe. https://tacx.com/product/neo-2-smart/

I might wait a while before rushing to get this. It might have some gremlins to iron out.

 

[theboxers]

I might wait a while before rushing to get this. It might have some gremlins to iron out.

remember three important rules that must never be broken – do not expose the neo to bright lights or sunlight which will kill it, do not let it get wet, and never ride it after midnight.

 

[Milzy]

LOL!!!

 

[bobinski]

To reply to this - It's impossible to 'review' something that hasn't happened to me/my Kickr. A lot of the time we'll get things a week or two prior to embargo lifting, get a few rides in, and talk about that experience. I'll usually link people over to DCR and/or encourage people to do their own research, which includes finding threads exactly like this one.

In the past few weeks I've had emails, direct messages, comments, tweets, you name it - from people contacting me with their CORE/Kickr18 issues. I've heard them all. I acknowledge them. And it sucks when things fall apart.... but I'm not Wahoo, I'm not a bike shop, I'm not... even wanted on YouTube (true story!).... so there's not a lot I can do. It's up to Wahoo to fix their problems..... And yeah, it's having a negative impact on how people see the content I make.

This is why making views/reviews/videos isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Doing everything possible to be honest and transparent, nope, still not good enough. Ideally we'd be able to 'update' videos on YouTube with additional information. That'd be great. It's not possible.

Be cynical. Ask questions. By all means spin up a review or two yourself and get the word out. I'll link to it if the information is relevant or interesting. If it's a topic of discussion then I'll bring it up in a chat/live video.... but that's buried away where nobody will see it. Unless I make a single video announcement about other people's issues... it won't be seen. And nobody wants to watch a YouTube channel full of warranty/recall information.

btw - My Neo issues only appeared 12-18 months after getting the unit. And I was pissed at those, so I made a video.

tldr; I can't 'review' issues that haven't happened to me. If I was to make something up, I'd be bullshitting people. That's not how I roll.

Shane,

Great to see you back up after gplama YouTubegate

I am honoured to have you respond to my post. Thanks for coming in here and setting things out so clearly.
If it wasn’t clear my cynicism was directed at what I feared was manufacturers sending out carefully chosen units for review. It seems strange to say the least that no reviews caught the issues given, on this forum alone, how many users ended up with problem units.

Now, about that Cycliq lights review...

Only kidding

 

[Milzy]

It has pi$$ed me off & I keep changing my mind on what to do. Refund? Repair? Exchange?£1000 is a lot of money to me, I’ve got kids & a mortgage, working in a sweat shop, not silver spooned like some.
I expected so much more.

 

[ozlinzee]

Wahoo have have made available a kit to address the flywheel pulley issue. But I think there are more issues than just that. I went through four units before giving up. I really really wanted to like the KICKR and did but not like the problems they had. Apart from the knocking pulley problem all four had a vibration that was related to an out of balance problem. Slight but noticeable. Bad fitting plastic covers that fouled moving parts causing scraping noises on three. A really bad vibration/rumble on one that developed after using for a while. That one was OK initially but deteriated I think due to bearings and belt tension. One of the other ones started to get that vibration/rumble also and belt creaking.

The cassette seemed to be noisy on all these as you moved toward the smaller gears. Without the other issues I planned to try another cassette. Even perhaps trying the bike one. The chain is good and super quiet riding on the road or on the bike stand. No amount of indexing helped.

While the reviews Shane, Ray and others do are great and really useful on upcoming products if they are pre production units like Ray's on the Neo two they can't be expected to show production unit problems. As Shane said " you can't review something that hasn't happened". On the other hand pre production units can have issues which the reviews pick up that may not be on production units such as firmware updates and other fixes.

 

[ozlinzee]

It has pi$$ed me off & I keep changing my mind on what to do. Refund? Repair? Exchange?£1000 is a lot of money to me, I’ve got kids & a mortgage, working in a sweat shop, not silver spooned like some.
I expected so much more.

I too expected better based on the previous models.
My decision was to move away get a refund and look at something else as I think I gave the KICKR a fair go. That and the kit being offered wasn't going to fix all the problems.
I think they'll continue to have issues ahead as wahoo have said not to reduce belt tension. And the belt is one of the issues.
If I could get a Neo 2 here in Australia I'd get one. We have to wait until mid December in Australia at the earliest. Yes there could be early issues with them initially but they have a good two year warranty and refund also.

 

[<Tommy>]

To reply to this - It's impossible to 'review' something that hasn't happened to me/my Kickr. A lot of the time we'll get things a week or two prior to embargo lifting, get a few rides in, and talk about that experience. I'll usually link people over to DCR and/or encourage people to do their own research, which includes finding threads exactly like this one.

In the past few weeks I've had emails, direct messages, comments, tweets, you name it - from people contacting me with their CORE/Kickr18 issues. I've heard them all. I acknowledge them. And it sucks when things fall apart.... but I'm not Wahoo, I'm not a bike shop, I'm not... even wanted on YouTube (true story!).... so there's not a lot I can do. It's up to Wahoo to fix their problems..... And yeah, it's having a negative impact on how people see the content I make.

This is why making views/reviews/videos isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Doing everything possible to be honest and transparent, nope, still not good enough. Ideally we'd be able to 'update' videos on YouTube with additional information. That'd be great. It's not possible.

Be cynical. Ask questions. By all means spin up a review or two yourself and get the word out. I'll link to it if the information is relevant or interesting. If it's a topic of discussion then I'll bring it up in a chat/live video.... but that's buried away where nobody will see it. Unless I make a single video announcement about other people's issues... it won't be seen. And nobody wants to watch a YouTube channel full of warranty/recall information.

btw - My Neo issues only appeared 12-18 months after getting the unit. And I was pissed at those, so I made a video.

tldr; I can't 'review' issues that haven't happened to me. If I was to make something up, I'd be bullshitting people. That's not how I roll.

My cynicism is aimed more towards the cycling print media. Who sometimes take large sections of marketing blurbs and pass them off as independent articles. Or other times give blindingly positive reviews of products based solely on data they’ve been spoon fed by companies. It’s often fairly obvious what the motivation is... we are allowed to be negative. Let’s not forget that people in the media are payed for their opinions and should be held accountable for information they provide.

In your case if you’re not providing any long term assessment on reliability on products that you’ve only tested over the short term, then you have no case to answer. And if people do criticise you it says more about them than yourself. One way around the feeling that once you’ve reviewed a product that review is set in stone. Would be to separate reviews into ‘first look’ reviews. And ‘long term in depth’ reviews. I don’t know if you do this but dcrainmaker does and it definitely allows him the time to get a more informed opinion of a product, and it’s pros and cons.

 

[<Tommy>]

I too expected better based on the previous models.
My decision was to move away get a refund and look at something else as I think I gave the KICKR a fair go. That and the kit being offered wasn't going to fix all the problems.
I think they'll continue to have issues ahead as wahoo have said not to reduce belt tension. And the belt is one of the issues.
If I could get a Neo 2 here in Australia I'd get one. We have to wait until mid December in Australia at the earliest. Yes there could be early issues with them initially but they have a good two year warranty and refund also.

Can you get the neo 1 on a big discount in Australia like you can in Europe at the moment? It doesn’t seem like there’s much difference between the 1 & 2. I like the fact the 2 will have dual sided power readings for pedal analysis. And maybe in time other small stuff will be incorporated. But if that’s not a deal breaker we already know how good the neo 1 is.

 

[ozlinzee]

Can you get the neo 1 on a big discount in Australia like you can in Europe at the moment? It doesn’t seem like there’s much difference between the 1 & 2. I like the fact the 2 will have dual sided power readings for pedal analysis. And maybe in time other small stuff will be incorporated. But if that’s not a deal breaker we already know how good the neo 1 is.

Pushys on line around A$200 off and free shipping. That's about the best I've seen. Yes not a lot of difference but I just like to future proof and buy the latest. Actually duel sided power readings may save me getting duel sided pedals that I planned to get to try and correct unevenness. So that alone may save me money.
Actually I was planning to possibly get the Neo this coming week, and try and get the on line discount from the local bike shop where I can try one. Wanted to make sure the Giant disc bike I have would fit. Then I saw dcrainmaker on YouTube with the Neo 2.

 

[CXRAndy]

I'll have an update on my Kickr in the coming days! Sounds mysterious I know, but should provide some very useful information for others and the path they decide to go

 

[bobinski]

Pushys on line around A$200 off and free shipping. That's about the best I've seen. Yes not a lot of difference but I just like to future proof and buy the latest. Actually duel sided power readings may save me getting duel sided pedals that I planned to get to try and correct unevenness. So that alone may save me money.
Actually I was planning to possibly get the Neo this coming week, and try and get the on line discount from the local bike shop where I can try one. Wanted to make sure the Giant disc bike I have would fit. Then I saw dcrainmaker on YouTube with the Neo 2.

I have a TCR disc. Was using defy on NEO. No issues. noticed yesterday the flat mounted disc brake on TCR has made contact with NEO casing causing a slight indentation. I checked when I fitted and there was 3-4mm gap so can only assume sprinting has caused the 2 to come into contact. I am going to fit a spacer to increase the gap.