revtothelimit - motorbike forum

I'm thinking of upgrading from my Elite turbo and wondered if the Watt-bike Atom is worth the cost? I've used a standard watt-bike at the gym which seems okay. But my real question is how does a watt-bike compare with the Wahoo Kickr?

They seem to have different degrees of adjustability for size and position. But what else? Does Direct Drive really make a big difference?
What can and does go wrong with them? Anything?

Thank you...

quite specific questions... you'll be better https://singletrackworld.com/forum/

weeksy wrote: Fri Oct 09, 2020 7:36 am quite specific questions... you'll be better https://singletrackworld.com/forum/

Thanks Weeksy, I'll have a look at that. I was hoping for some individual unbiased experiences from tose on here. s good a place to ask as any??

Cheers.

Lots of criticism of the Mk 1 Atom - slow, clunky gear change, seat post slipping are two issues, from top of my head.

Mk 2 resistance unit and shifters have been redesigned and supposedly much better but I’m not sure anyone has actually got a new one yet. Wattbike are quoting 4 months delivery time?

Elite level woman cyclist I know bought an early Atom, one of the very first, and sent it back within a week. Useless for sprint intervals, swapped for a Pro model.

PS I have a Wahoo Kicker v3 (had a v1 too). Faultless. No gimmicks, not stylish, but it’s very reliable, more than accurate enough (tracks my Quark power meter very closely), and relatively quiet. If you’ve got a spare then bike leave it set up on the turbo and forget the Atom and the similar turbo ‘bikes’.

hawker wrote: Thu Oct 08, 2020 10:47 pm I'm thinking of upgrading from my Elite turbo and wondered if the Watt-bike Atom is worth the cost? I've used a standard watt-bike at the gym which seems okay. But my real question is how does a watt-bike compare with the Wahoo Kickr?

They seem to have different degrees of adjustability for size and position. But what else? Does Direct Drive really make a big difference?
What can and does go wrong with them? Anything?

Thank you...

Some more scattergun ramblings ...........

Whatever you buy make sure it’s Zwift compatible as you will deffo want to give Zwift a go. Smart, computer controlled variable resistance makes all the difference.

Don’t buy a Mk1 Atom. There’s a reason they redesigned it.

Do buy a direct drive turbo, much, much better than roller type turbo, no slipping, easy set up. Just better.

Be careful what you buy. Early Tacx Flux and Neo were a disaster, countless failures and returns, don’t be seduced by eBay and ‘bargain, little used’. Later mk1 Neo much better. Don’t think they ever fixed the Flux, so Flux 2 was their answer.

Everyone agrees Kickr is ugly but it works. And keep working.

I’d expect the Cycleops Hammer or whatever it’s called these days to be good, too.

Only Elite DD trainer I’ve tried is fluid resistance Turbo Muin (daughter’s). Really nice machine - quiet, smooth, good fluid based resistance unit. Only trouble is build quality - cheap shit bearings which failed and poor machining. Ended up rebuilding with SKF and a lot of Loctite. Now really good.

Lots of folk love their Kurt trainers. Built by proper engineers (tool making company), they now make a DD unit.

Love the idea of an Atom or Kickr/Neo ‘bike’, but stupid amount of money, and just not worth it, IMO.