Zwiftable turbos; Tacx at Halfords still the cheapest?

Or has anyone spotted any other bargains in the sales?

I’ve just had a look at the Tacx Blue Matic T2650 Smart Turbo Trainer for £99. Would that work with Zwift, Trainer Road etc?

I’m selling this, works very well with Zwift and gives you everything you need to get going. No worries if it’s of no interest.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/tacx-vortex-turbo-trainer-shimano-rs-330-rear-wheel-trainer-tyre-cycle-ops

Blue matic wont change resistance with zwift. The other less expensive model that works with zwift is is the Elite qubo digital…something be careful theres loads of them with slighty different names so work some dont.

Halfords Tacx is best on a budget. ( other than something used perhaps).

Is that the T2240 ?

Yeah, 2240 is the Flow Smart and will do the auto resistance thing in Zwift…

I’ve just got one and have quite a bit of problems so far, although potentially sorted out now (will find out this evening).

First thing to do if you do get one is check that the bag of qr skewer, bolts and Allen key are in there. First two I had didn’t. In the end they took the bag from another one model of trainer….

I think to get it to work with Zwift you need to update the firmware. This is where I have been having issues. Doing a firmware update to the letter managed to kill 2 brake units stone dead.

Tacx have sent me a new brake unit updated from the factory, which I calibrated last night and I’ll be trying to pair it and have a session with it tonight.
Tacx reckon I was ‘unlucky’ with my firmware update. I have my suspicions that it’s due to my old phone and version of Android but that’s just a guess.

My Tacx 2240 has been flawless so far. Firmware update went great, calibration was a bit of a pain but mainly because I’m anal and was aiming to get it right in the middle of the range. Since – has been great fun.

Now saving up for a better PC.

I’ve been using the Flow with Zwift for about 2 months and personally I would try and get a better turbo if you can. The bearings are starting to fail after only fairly light use, and at some point I’ll be returning it. Fairly common apparently.

You’ll need an ANT+ adaptor if you want the trainer to give adaptable resistance. Even tho zwift say it should work with Bluetooth, I couldn’t get it to – it would only do power and cadence.

I have just got one like this it seems great so far https://www.evanscycles.com/elite-qubo-digital-smart-b-EV256909?esvt=52380-GOUKE1958834&esvq=&esvadt=999999-0-1132232-1&esvcrea=156952051902&esvplace=&esvd=m&esvo=EV256909-NA-BLK&esvaid=50080&gclid=CjwKEAiA2OzDBRCdqIyIqYaaqQoSJABeJZdijCmbXSH9tmIecZEpV4vDLMpJTutxoImtrIcboxM3BRoC9Kzw_wcB

@stumpy01 – I killed my first brake unit doing the firmware upgrade as well. This on a brand new iPhone 7 though. 2nd one worked fine.

How easy are returns/warranty with Halfords? Mine started making a horrible noise right at the end of my last ride.

Tacx reckon I was ‘unlucky’ with my firmware update.

So Tacx haven’t improved since the old imagic days. FW updates were a total nightmare then too.

I have an old Flow from 2003, and had to replace the head unit a couple of years back. Imported was half the price of UK. I wonder if that’s the case for the whole unit…

jam bo – Member

How easy are returns/warranty with Halfords? Mine started making a horrible noise right at the end of my last ride.

Mine were brand new, so I was returning mine the next day. But, Halfords were really good. The first one I took back (with missing bits) I dealt with via live chat on their website. It took less than 5 mins to order & exchange & have the text through detailing the exchange number & when it would be ready to collect. I then had a phone call from the store when it was ready (earlier than expected).
The next exchange I did in store & again, it was painless. They were very apologetic about it all, but it was nothing to do with Halfords at the end of the day; the shop staff have no control over the quality of the products they are selling!

Just as an update to this, I managed to connect the Flow Smart that was sent from Tacx themselves to their utility app & calibrate the unit to my bike. I didn’t go anywhere near the ‘update’ option.

I did my first Zwift ride with it last night & it worked fine. It’s a bit noisier than the normal trainer it replaced, but not by much.
All in all it works well & I reckon it is worth it over a ‘normal’ trainer if you can afford the extra cost.

slowbloke – Member

@stumpy01 – I killed my first brake unit doing the firmware upgrade as well. This on a brand new iPhone 7 though. 2nd one worked fine.

Interesting – perhaps it isn’t my antiquated phone tech after all!! 😀

Mine were brand new, so I was returning mine the next day. But, Halfords were really good. The first one I took back (with missing bits) I dealt with via live chat on their website. It took less than 5 mins to order & exchange & have the text through detailing the exchange number & when it would be ready to collect. I then had a phone call from the store when it was ready (earlier than expected).
The next exchange I did in store & again, it was painless. They were very apologetic about it all, but it was nothing to do with Halfords at the end of the day; the shop staff have no control over the quality of the products they are selling!

thanks. i’ll try it again tonight and if it keeps making that noise then I’ll setup an exchange.

Fired it up tonight for five minutes and quiet as a mouse. Maybe I overheated it.

In the middle of getting my £99 Halfords Tacx set up with Zwift. Everything working perfectly now… apart from the Mobile Link app.

Connects sometimes, other times it just won’t. I’ve had some tips from the friendly forumites to try tomorrow though 🙂

I’ll take a picture of my setup once I’ve had a go. I suspect I’ll end up wanting a nicer Turbo eventually though….

Tacx Vortex for over a year, very pleased with it. Zwift and trainer road compatible. Not a moments problem with it. Mines controlled from PC not phone though

Jam bo what kind of noise? Mine was clicking/knocking at low speed at the weekend as I was finishing my ride. I haven’t been on it since to see if the noise has gone.

yep. clicking at low speed after an hour race.

but if I removed the bike and span it by hand it didn’t.

and last night a quick five minute ride showed no noise.

Interesting, will give mine another try tonight.

found a thread about it on tacx support. looks like it might be the metal sleeve on the roller coming loose.

i’ll give it another go tonight and see if it does it again.

Mine’s started making the same noise. It goes away when I get going but it’s very loud at low speeds. This is my second one, I took the first one back to Halfords and the exchange was painless. I’m going to take this one back as well but I’m going to eek a month’s use out of it.

Jambo,
Did the thread suggest a cure? Or is it a return?

http://forum.tacx.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=25213

there is some suggestion of drilling and epoxy but given mine is less than three months old, its going back if it starts again.

Yup.
Mine too.
Again.

On the zwift facebook group it comes up every other day on the tacx turbos, some glue it them selves to fix it, others get a tacx replacement. They seem good at sending out new units if under warrantee.

They seem good at sending out new units if under warrantee.

Their warranty team has had a huge amount of practice, no wonder they’re pretty slick now. Not great to have so many dodgy units, recently with the Neo and now these; at least they are sorting the defective ones with no fuss though!

It’s weird that they are having warranty issues on the roller….

My old turbo trainer must be 8 years old and appears to use the same roller. They must have sold tens of thousands of them in the intervening years – you would have thought they’d have the manufacturing technique for a roller with a sleeve on it down to a fine art….

My Tacx Flow has started making a strange sound at low speeds too. Ive had it since November but this is only my second time using it as I’ve had other things to sort out. Ive put a grand total of 1hr 7 mins in to Zwift using it.

It also appears that the point where the bike is secured to the turbo frame is actually fouling the rear mech on my bike, it was actually stuck in the turbo this evening. When the bike is not on the turbo it will shift fine, but attach it to the turbo and I cant use my three smallest sprockets without some kind of ghost shifting going on. Has anyone else had these issues?

Oddly the firmware update worked fine.

Creg, how much thread have you got showing on the drive side fixing point? Mine is wound out about 10mm from the plastic collar. Have you tried adjusting this?

I found that my new flow got noisier towards the end of my first ride on it. I tightened it up on the drive side which seems to have sorted it

http://forum.tacx.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=25213

there is some suggestion of drilling and epoxy but given mine is less than three months old, its going back if it starts again.Iv’e had a Tacx Fortius for years now and it started suffering with the noisy roller as described in that link. I just dripped super glue into the holes and it’s been quiet ever since. That was 18 months back now.

You can tell if it’s the roller as when you press the metal roller in places I could get it to make a noise indicating that there was a gap between urethane inner and metal sleeve.

Tacx are pretty cr!p. I reckon their Fortius Software development was outsourced to a primary school.

Creg, how much thread have you got showing on the drive side fixing point? Mine is wound out about 10mm from the plastic collar. Have you tried adjusting this?

I meant to measure it tonight but completely forgot. I’ve checked again and its not fouling the mech, it seems to be just really difficult to get the skewer end out of when I unclip the bike. Probably just something I need to get used to although my Elite turbo didn’t seem to have that issue.

Still making a clicking sound at very low speed too, but goes away after a couple of turns. Will keep an eye/ear on it and see if it gets worse. I looked at some of the videos of the issue on the tacx forum and it doesn’t seem as bad as what other people have had.

Just an update:

Grinding/clicking from the roller now much louder and at higher RPM’s now too. I’ve only had two hours use out of it and I wouldn’t say I’m a particularly powerful rider.

Going to take it back on Tuesday and replace it with something else I think. Looking at Kurt and Elite ones.

Looked at a Tacx on Friday but don’t think I’ll bother now with all the reviews here.

Looking at direct drive are there are cheaper options that have controllable resistance with swift? Not the end of the world if they don’t but would be a nice bonus