PSA Pinnacle Direct Drive Smart Trainer

MyWHoosh is completely free, albeit specs to run app on various devices are quite high, while WahooRGT allows free users to ride two courses; limited ERG workouts and join any events iirc. IndieVelo is in free beta I think, but yet to try it. Plus Zwift gives 25Km per calendar month to anyone not subbed.

PSA, if you’ve not downloaded the app there are two versions of the firmware. One smooths out the gradient/power so you don’t feel like hills/intervals are like riding into a wall, easier to get going from a standstill when the target power is high etc. Sounds like the Wahoo way of doing things.

The other is a WYSIWYG for short/hard ERG sessions. Sounds more like the Elite trainers.

Mine has arrived today, any suggestions for biggest bang for buck app?
Looking to use TrainerDay to communicate at least a ramptest workout. I have a Garmin that can transmit my daily workouts from a training plan, but planning special workouts on my Garmin pushing Erg mode seems above me?

Download a free trial of zwift, I think it gives you 25miles a month?  Enough to see if you think it’s worthwhile.  It’s not the cheapest, and I think both the others have better structured plans.  But it’s still the one I’ve ended up subscribing too as it feels the most like going out for a ride, I’ve jumped on before when it’s been too miserable to go out and just ridden a virtual Ventoux.  There’s a few other free and cheaper versions out there now but I actually quite like the Wii-Sports aesthetics, I’m indoors,  video of someone riding in Provence doesn’t change that.

Of the others I’ve tried:

Wahoo SYSTM (formerly known and Sufferfest) – the original sufferfest is still in there but  a bit hidden in amongst all the sponsored stuff like “GCN zero to hero”.  Does have the benefit of the “4 Dimensional Power” system, so it measures each interval so if you’re doing sprints then it’s asking you to do 80% of your max  30s sprint, whereas others do some bodgery and make it something like 80% of 400% of your 20minute FTP which may or may not be anywhere near correct.

TrainerRoad – the best for structured workouts and built in training plans.

I use Zwift & Xert. Zwift mainly for the visual side of things & social aspect of group rides/meet-ups & races.
Xert does the fitness/workout stuff.

Both combined come to about £20/month, maybe £22.
Xert is good but takes a while to get your head around & you need to manage it. It gives you freedom to do what you want, while making workout suggestions. It’s not as strict/rigorous as a Zwift workout plan or TrainerRoad, but that suits my current schedule where I don’t seem to know what’s going on from one day to the next.

Got mine and did an hour of zone 2 on trainerroad this morning. Used erg mode but it was pretty jumpy so switched it off and used the gears.

One issue – can’t seem to calibrate it via the trainerroad (windows) app. Both apps up to date – seems to calibrate ok on the pinnacle one though. Anyone else having similar issue with trainerroad?

How are people getting on with theirs? Switched the firmware to type 1 on mine via the app and it’s fine now in erg mode for intervals. Quite nice just to pedal and not be glancing at the screen to make sure I’m hitting the right power.

Still can’t calibrate it on trainerroad though so do it via the pinnacle app. Another issue is the cadence reading seems way off – especially at lower efforts, it’s way too low despite me knowing I’m spinning around 90th. Seems fine for vo2 and threshold intervals though. Anyone else having similar issues? 

I have issues calibrating my trainer (different type- ETC ThinkRider) with trainer road. Looked into it and spoke to trainer road and it comes down to the trainer being unsupported. I just calibrate through the ETC app and works fine.

back on sale again, 219.99 +19.99 delivery, but use outlet20 as a code drops a massive chunk off the price

still not £90 however

Yeah, for £90 mine was a steal. Great PSA 😎

Scratching my head at the price of that…

Is this a smart trainer in the sense that it will alter the resistance as you climb virtual hills?

Yep, I believe so, although I’ve not tried it with zwift. https://road.cc/content/review/pinnacle-hc-turbo-home-trainer-291001

Yep, I’m using it with zwift, works perfectly.

Only thing I’ve found that’s wierd is the spin down calibration in the app. Tried it a few times and it’s varied quite a lot?

The other thing is the included QR is junk, well unless it’s not actually supposed to to clamp the bike more than the meerest smidge.

@thisisnotaspoon new Zwifter here with one of these turbos. I did a ramp test the other day with firmware one installed, would this have been a better match for firmware two then?

The other thing I notice so far is i’m very much at the bottom of the cassette, the first few Zwift rides have been 3% max incline so maybe that will change (1×11 gravel bike so maybe 40t and 11t)

How’re people getting on with theirs? After chatting with a mate who also bought one I realised mine is faulty, got the exact same issue as described in the cyclist.co.uk review:

I ended up receiving two units. On the first,  the freehub wouldn’t spin freely so I couldn’t coast without the chain being derailed. The trainer went back to Evans, who dealt with the issue quickly, sending a second unit that had no such problem.

As expected, SD are being a royal pain for returns, first the online chat promised an email that never arrived so I emailed about it, first email said print off this voucher and take it to the PO to return it, 30 minutes later I get another email saying we will book a courier, just let us know your availability, which I do and then hear nothing back. After chasing, I now get an email saying I’m on the hook for returning it and if they deem it to be faulty I might get return postage covered.

The problem is to demonstrate the fault it has to have a cassette installed and tightened which I don’t believe they will do/test and try to fob me off. I’ve sent video evidence of the fault via email.

Mines been really good so far – really like ERG mode for hitting intervals accurately. No issues like yours, at the price I wonder if there were a few Friday afternoon ones? 

Hi. When you say app, do you mean the app zwift itself or the pinnacle trainer? I have just set it up and ran it  With the firmware are you talking about the pinnacle trainer firmware or zwift. I have hooked mine up to mywoosh but the wattage looks a lot lower than it used to when I last used a trainer with zwift. I guess I could try it with zwift also and see what the watt readings are?

Having used this trainer on mywhoosh I am looking at updating / changing the firmware. Any suggestions as to which version to out on, the smooth or the gradient. The power readout seems lower than when I was using a power meter, maybe it’s how the unit works? I heard it was pretty accurate, about +/- 2.5% potentially.

I’m finding that in ERG mode mine won’t sit at the power allocated for the interval on Zwift. It drifts about +/- 10W ish sometimes a bit more or less. My last trainer would sit exactly on the interval power. Tried both firmwares, spindown calibration and Zwift is set to 3sec average but no change. Is this normal behaviour or potential issue?

Some turbos smooth your inputs to make it look like you’re perfectly matching intervals.

I initially tried mywoosh with an i5 laptop which was borderline on the specs needed, not working very well with issues with power reading and I just think it was struggling to run it. I’ve heard people have more success from their phones unless you have a pretty high spec recent pc.

I then tried indievelo and it worked really well. The gradients felt very realistic and I had to go through nearly every gear at some point on the base camp training loop ride. Power was reading better though maybe rim underpowered currently haha.

I can see on the pinnacle firmware there is the two versions as discussed and as I have just read on a post sometimes the software dictates that also depending on which program you are using with this trainer.

If mywhoosh come down in the specs required I may give it a shot again but didn’t really want to use mobile, prefer to use pc/laptop.

Anyone else using it on Zwift seeing the above behaviour? I’m using a Galaxy Tab S8

Have you updated Zwift?? The release notes on IOS at least mention fluctuating power levels:

Mine does a bit, there’s the occasional “dropout” where it feels like you’ve just spun the back wheel, but otherwise it feels constant.

My understanding is that some trainers tend to look more solid than they are as they’re taking a flywheel speed and a resistance level and using that to calculate the power output, which obviously matches the target (+/- some noise) because it’s also reading the speed and then calculating a resistance based on the target. So it depends how tight that feedback loop is.

Other than looking nice on a graph I don’t think it really makes any difference. My previous trainer produced a smoother graph but I’m certain it wasn’t actually doing it. After all your power is naturally fluctuating from 0 to ~2x the target three times every second anyway.

Yeah that makes sense. Probably shouldn’t expect it to run exactly the same as my previous trainer. Thanks all.

Does this come with a native training app as don’t really want to pay for yet another subscription.

If not what free apps can you use? Any that will take a GPX file?

Thanks

MyWhoosh is free iirc. You can also use a Garmin watch to control it for workouts if you have one.

I’m still trying to get Sports Direct to replace mine!

I have just gone back to the app with the aim of trying to download the firmware that smooths the effort level to avoid all the gear shifting. I cannot login for some reason and it has no option to recover password etc. Just seems to be locked out, has anyone else had this issue? I had looked at setting another account up but it doesn’t seem right that the app is not letting me in? I am sure I requested to keep logged in also but haven’t used this app for a few weeks now.

I nearly bought one of these but it was 300 in-store and 210 online. They said they’d price match their own website but I’d still have to pay the extra “bulky postage” charge of £20 despite having carried it myself from the shelf to the till. Told them to get stuffed & got some second hand rollers. Sounds like I might have dodged a bullet.

This was an amazing buy for £90 odd and would be respectable at the £200 mark still but that business about them trying to charge you £20 sums up where we are with buying instore. I don’t blame you. I understand why they tried to charge the £20 a so guess online it was £230 but it would feel wrong to pay it to me instore.

How are people getting on with these?

Don’t have a fortune to spend on a smart turbo but want something that will work reasonably well.

Looks the same as the Merlin Dare2Ride one – which is out of stock.

Mines still working fine.

At £110 it’s a bargain, at £230 I’d maybe look at a 2nd hand Kickr Core? It’s still a bargain, and most professional reviews seem to back that up when considering it at £300-£400+. But 2nd hand market for trainers is in the doldrums so there are real bargains to be had.

Nitpicking a bit is inevitable, I’ve no doubt it’s not as polished as Wahoo, Tacx or Elite trainers. But at the same time it’s not the trainers ability to hold an absolutely rock steady +/-0.5% figure with instant reactions that’ll make you fitter, it’s you having the consistency to actually use it and being able to hold out for the full interval. You’re never going to ride at FTP +/- 1% for 20min in the real world 🤷‍♂️

Actual gripes:
The included QR is the worst QR I’ve ever laid hands on, and I’ve got an EBC BOB trailer copy with it’s proprietary but awful one.
The end caps of the axle are locked in place, this might be normal for smart trainers? But it means unlike a wheel-on trainer you cant just flip the bike up on it’s end to make a bit of space for stretching/whatever.

Had mine a year, using it with Zwift. Has developed an issue with the freehub, so if not pedalling the heavy flywheel means its trying to turn the cranks. Experience lots of chainsuck (?) now. Also, if you cinch the axle nut enough to remove any play from the cassette, it seems to bind, so contributes to the crank turning issue. Freehub easy enough to remove, was absolutely coated with thick grease. Pawls dont seems to spring back though. Cleaned and replaced with light oil but not really any better.

Spoke to local Evans who said they’d try and source a replacement freehub but haven’t been able to take it back yet. Just noticed the 12 month warranty expires end of next week so id better get it over to them!

A guy I know has one but was having problems fitting his bike but I didn’t really understand the issue, he has a Ribble with an odd axle or something.

I’m still bouncing off my hallway walls on the rollers.

Had mine a year, using it with Zwift. Has developed an issue with the freehub, so if not pedalling the heavy flywheel means its trying to turn the cranks. Experience lots of chainsuck (?) now. Also, if you cinch the axle nut enough to remove any play from the cassette, it seems to bind, so contributes to the crank turning issue. Freehub easy enough to remove, was absolutely coated with thick grease. Pawls dont seems to spring back though. Cleaned and replaced with light oil but not really any better.

I had this exact issue except mine did it from new. If I stopped pedalling it would throw the chain off the front chainring instantly as the free hub continued to rotate with the flywheel. It took about 6 weeks of constant cajoling with SD returns to get them to replace it including me having to take it to an Evan’s store to get them to inspect and confirm that it was faulty.

Seems to be an QC issue, this reviewer had the same problem, although also seemed to be from new:

https://www.cyclist.co.uk/reviews/pinnacle-hc-turbo-home-trainer-review

Anyone else had any issues with cadence measurement? Mines been playing up over last few sessions, no other apparent issues though.

On a similar theme, when paired with rouvy it doesn’t show up as a cadence sensor.

Has anyone used this turbo in erg mode with Trainerroad on a PC running from the desktop TR app?

PC detects the trainer as a smart trainer but just doesn’t alter the resistance to suit the power numbers in a workout.

We have two Pinnacle turbos in the house and it is the same for both on two different PC’s.

They work fine via the android app on a tablet or phone though.

Did anyone self solve the sticky freewheel? Mine is starting to do it and would prefer to solve it than return it and risk only getting a refund rather than a fixed trainer

@mtbtomo – I use mine with trainerroad app on laptop in the shed. Works great in ERG mode, I’ve had no issues. Have you tried both firmware updates on the app?