I’m looking to purchase a TT mainly so I can have some cheeky rides in the garage. I’ve got a lot of friends who use Zwfit and racing them may make the likelihood of riding a TT more appealing.

I was looking at a Bkool pro and linking it to Zwift. But not really wanting to lay out £400 then £8 a month for Zwift, i’ve downgraded to possibly buying some rollers and linking my speed/cadence sensor on bike to a dongle that will feed Zwift.

Anyone got a similar set up? I’m finding it a bit confusing to be honest.

You’d need a power meter (£600 ish) with cheap rollers. I think the cheapest option is to use a basic turbo that Zwift has the power curve for (see website) and an ANT+ speed/cadence sensor. My wahoo sensor and cheap Tacx Bluemotion cost less than £200. Otherwise it’s either a more expensive smart turbo or a power meter and any turbo/roller.

Zwift is great, especially now the racing has taken off.

http://zwift.com/what-is-it/supported-trainers/

I have:
* turbo (Elite Crono Fluid in this case), with my road bike plonked on it
* the Garmin sensors that counts rear wheel revolutions and cadence installed on the bike
* a computer (a tablet won’t do it) and the Zwift ‘ware
* a Garmin Ant+ dongle connected to the computer, to grab the data from the Garmin and stuff it into Swift.

plug it all together, it does work, it was straightforwards. HRM worked OK too.

work out how you are going to see your screen, if you are on a laptop you need some way to bring it closer than the end of your front wheel if you want any kind of ‘immersion’, or get a bigger screen.

I’m only 40km into Swift so it’s early days, yet to really get into the depth of it, I find I still lean on the dh corners with outside pedal down! I like the continuity of data, you push for a sprint PR on each lap/ride. Everyone seems faster than me, well the probably are, but I also assume the like-for-like comparison with people on different trainer setups has a significant margin of error. Like Strava, it’s a toy, don’t take the comparison with other riders too seriously. Against yourself, it’s valid I think.

I’ve done a few Sufferfests before, they’re effing relentless I definitely push myself harder, mostly because the cadence is usually set high and I find that hard (& you don’t need so much kit), but Zwift is more engaging as it grabs real data.

Zwift has legs, it’s only going to get better.

The feature I want is to see my ghost self from a previous lap to race against.

I’ve had a Bkool Pro for 2 weeks. Love it

Anyone wanting a smart trainer with FE-C (so Zwift, Trainerroad, etc can control the resistance) who doesn’t want to spend Wahoo money take a look at the Tacx Vortex Smart that Evans are selling for £263.99. Only hitch is I think you need access to an iPhone or iPad to update the firmware for the FE-C feature but that is a one off requirement.

Only hitch is I think you need access to an iPhone or iPad to update the firmware for the FE-C feature but that is a one off requirement.

what is it with that – they assume all roadies are pretentious enough to use an iphone ?

Lost at least one Neo sale because of it…

I don’t personally know but I am Zwift curious and found that this site cleared up a lot of questions over what I did/didn’t need

Titanium Geek

what is it with that – they assume all roadies are pretentious enough to use an iphone ?

Or you can spend more money on their PC software maybe? I get the impression Tacx make Garmin software look good so I’d rather find a friend with an iDevice for the firmware upgrade then use non Tacx software for the training.

Tacx Utility App is now available for Android on Google Play

Elite models are compatible with both iOS and Android, and come with free subs to both their own App and Zwift on relevant models.

Cheapest model with FE-C protocol is the Elite Qubo Smart B+ at £299.99 RRP.

Tacx Utility App is now available for Android on Google Play

Thanks for that bit of info, it must have been added in the last week or so. I have a Bushido arriving today and now won’t have to beg my other half to update the firmware for me 🙂

BKool are doing the older version of their trainer including a year’s sub for £289 until 30 November (or sold out)

Rubber_Buccaneer

BKool are doing the older version of their trainer including a year’s sub for £289 until 30 November (or sold out)

you have the link for that?

Try this:

http://www.bkool.com/roller-classic?utm_source=Usuarios+BKOOL&utm_campaign=c6eb1a0a20-Black_Friday_UK_Classic_24112015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_13bfcd4818-c6eb1a0a20-28999845

Re:bkool, I got given an older one. Seems good, software seems ok although you need premium subscription for what I want to do (just use the power/hr numbers for specific training by setting a manual course). Heard there’s problems with the Ant+ Fe-c implementation and 3rd party software, so the resistance set by Trainerroads/Zwift is higher than it should be, plus if using just a Garmin 520 to control power via Ant+ Fe-c, then the power reading in the garmin files are all over the place (there’s 3 readings for every reading). Once I’ve got wifi in the garage I’ll subscribe to premium to use it for training.

^ That’s the one. I weighed it all up and went for Tacx as once away from their software they appear to be working better with Trainerroad and others plus they share the Ant+ info. If thinking about a smart trainer I recommend checking out dcrainmaker for the pros and cons.

This whole issue of smart trainer software and protocol compatibility is a rat’s nest of confusion. And I speak as someone who works in software.