My first turbo trainer of any kind, smart or otherwise. New to Zwift too.

Thoughts:

Bought from Wiggle, its the V2 model with the 2 LED’s for ANT/BT.

It weighs a tonne. I thought it was painted black but turns out you can’t see beyond its own Event Horizon, hence it just looks black due to the super massive black hole at its centre. I actually hurt my back getting it out of the outer box… Id better take training east for a while. 😉 😀

Connected to the Ant dongle no problem, ditto Android via BT, and Zwift picked it up straight off along with my secondhand Garmin HR monitor.

A Kenda Small Block 8 tyre is a bit noisy it turns out. Next door is fettling with a Vulcan engine but had to come round and ask me to keep the noise down a little. Got a slick to go on tomorrow. Due to noise couldn’t do spin down calibration yet.

Easy to set up and feels nice and stable. The weight helps there. Updated firmware quickly and easily via my Android.

I have no idea what Zwift is all about. I mean not a clue. I hear “pings” and “pops” and what I thought was a heckle from someone. Basically its a little daunting but I see the huge potential.

Lastly, trying to steer with the handlebar has no effect and scared the s*** out of me when the front wheel came out off its support block. 😀

That last one is pretty obvious but years of playing computer games in the past has created a strong muscle memory!

Lol nice write up

not sure there are any pings or pops on the game sounds but trainers make some unsettling noise IME ( 😯 ). Then again I mostly ride with it all turned down; the “crowd” definitely make noise though. Heckling would be great !

Sadly, the way forward for you includes Weeksy’s massive zwift thread but also
Geography
General tips
more links

oh, and steering should work fine – maybe you need to exaggerate your movements a bit more. Try leaning in.

err, 😉

That’s a decent trainer.
Soon be time to fire up the laptop and head out to the man cave on those cold winter evenings, at least the Volcano route on Zwift offers some warmth 😮

Thanks for links Scaredy, will also delve into weeksy’s thread too!

I will indeed try leaning more into the bends, knee out stylie of course. 😉

Oh, dumb question! Will I need the rear brake in Zwift at all? I ask as im going to get a cheap rear wheel just for the trainer but need to know whether it needs a rotor on it etc.

Thanks!

No you won’t need the rear brake at all. I have to remember to put a blanking shim in mine when I’m on Zwift just in case I grab brake and pop the pistons out (wheel off trainer here)

My trainer is wheel-off but I have wondered if braking the rear wheel on a trainer when going down hills might set your watts to zero faster (so you get into that aero tuck earlier)

??

Thanks for info guys.

I found a few ambiguous bits about it online but nothing definitive till this thread. Cheers!

Just put a slick road tyre on. Just wanted to report back, MUCH quieter now. I would say that at max its about the same as one of those floor standing fans you use in Summer….. which I need about 3 of right now.