I am looking into starting with Zwift, but I don't want to spend an arm and a leg on equipment only to find out I don't use it. I currently have a powerful gaming PC and a large 4k monitor I can use for Zwift. I just have a cheap sub $100 magnetic trainer though. Just to try it before I plunk down cash for a smart trainer, the FAQ says I can use any trainer with an ant+ power meter. Has anyone used such a setup with any success and if so which power meter did you use?

Not all dumb trainers require a power meter. What model do you have?

They list the ones for which they have power curves here:

https://support.zwift.com/hc/en-us/a...Zwift-support-

Look for the "zPower Compatible Trainer and ANT+ Speed Sensor" section. A speed sensor is a whole lot less expensive than a power meter.

I am contemplating a pair of PowerTap pedals for this so I can use my Spinbike --- I greatly prefer a spinbike for long monotonous indeoor training sessions


Any of the pedal based power meter systems work --- I found a pair of Garmin Vector S2's online for $350 ---- and obviously these transfer right over to your road bike for power based training in case the ZWIFT experiment doesn't work out for some reason

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Is what I have, super heavy duty but no electronics at all, the brand isn't listed on their site.

I use a Travel Trac Fluid Trainer. Along with the speed/cadence sensors on my bike and a heart rate monitor I can use Zwift quite easily. It's not the same a a fully interactive smart trainer, but you can do workouts and compete in races.

I've seen deals the Travel Trac anywhere from $99.00 to $129.00.

Link to another thread
Bought a Travel Trac Comp Fluid Trainer - How'd I Do?

I've found with Zwift or an equivalent that indoor training is less of a boring, gruesome chore.

Which speed and cadence sensors are you using?

The speed and cadence sensors from my bike computer, which is a CatEye Strada Smart. You can use any speed/cadence sensor you want as long at it's either ANT+ or Bluetooth Smart compatible. The CatEye sensors are Bluetooth so they pair to Zwift via my Android phone and Zwift Mobile Link. When using Zwift, only the sensors are active...the computer isn't in the mix (that's just my prefernce). Wahoo, Garmin, Topeak and others make bike-mounted sensors that you can pair to Zwift. Same goes for heart rate monitors -- I just picked up the Wahoo Tickr because the CateEye HRM was pretty poor (I'll refrain from the usual tirade that occurs 3/4 of the way into a workout or race when the damn thing just STOPS)


If you're in the market for a bike computer, find one of the bundles the cadence/speed sensors and heart rate monitor. Lots to choose from both with and without GPS maps. That way when outdoor season starts you'll have a bike computer/sensor setup for training, tracking, etc.

All of the above is geared towards those who don't want to shell out for a smart trainer. My Travel Trac is adequate for what I do on Zwift, but ideally....given the funds...I'd like to get a smart wheel-off trainer like the Kickr.

Yes, you can use any trainer along with a power meter, and I myself used a CycleOps Fluid2 with a Powertap hub equipped wheel quite successfully. It’s the setup I used from since the beta period through to about a month ago when I finally threw down for a Wahoo KICKR. For sure the KICKR makes for a better Zwift experience in that you get to feel resistance/effort changes in response to road grade, but you can shift gears on a dumb trainer to increase resistance when hitting hills as well to make the experience more honest and true to what you’re seeing on screen.

So while you can easily put in a hard workout on a dumb trainer/powermeter (DTP) combo, the interaction with the game is not as rich as the smart trainer experience, and for this reason I usually preferred to do structured workouts rather than “just ride around” (JRA) on the DTP. Zwift has built in workouts, but my coach gives me interval workouts that combine both power level and cadence targets, so I often just executed those, and Zwift was merely a visual distraction.

You can JRA on Zwift with a DTP and get a workout in by chasing people or targeting segment goals, but since you can neither choose which world you’re riding in, nor where you’re inserted, nor who is riding when you’re riding, you do go into JRA largely blind, and have to be adaptable in planning how you’re going to hit your ride goal.

Anyway, the point is that riding a DTP setup is better with Zwift than without it, and Zwift is definitely better with smart trainer than a DTP.

you can buy a power meter, cadence sensor, speed sensor, or you can buy a smart trainer.

TacX has some smart trainers that are right around $400.00 as does BKool

I ride a BKool Pro trainer which pairs with Zwift effortlessly. That trainer is about $600.00.

My Stages Power meter ran about $500.00
Good luck to you.

Yes, in that scenario, the big question is what has more value: your indoor riding experience, or being able to ride outside with power.

But, if you have $2k to spend on numbers, you can just get both!

All, Correct me if im wrong on this; technically , OP can use your magnetic trainer if you just want to try Zwift even if its not one of the supported trainers,.. But, understand the power interpretation wont be correct. That being said, You need the ant+ usb/dongle, wheel , and cadence sensors.. If u dont have already. When setting up tour Zwift profile choose one of the dumb/fluid trainers... Zwift will base your power output based on that model using your wheel revs and cadence... "virtual power". You will at least get somewhat of a feel for how it works... And u can buy a supported trainer later if you want.

The only reason for the sensors is to give Zwift something to receive. Yeah, you can use a trainer not on their list, and yes, you can get numbers back from Zwift....they may not be 'real world' accurate, but if you use the same set up time after time you can use the results to measure progress. Much like the bathroom scale isn't as accurate as the one in the doctor's office...if you use the bathroom scale to measure weight daily, that scale is your baseline device for gauging gain/loss....no matter what the "true" weight may be, you can see the trend.

With money tight I am using my supported "dumb" trainer. It gets the job done even if it's not the most elegant training solution.

Yes, one can use an unsupported trainer, but the in-game response action will not be very good, both because of the potential problem of calculating wattage during accelerations, but also in that you’ll be capped to 400w max. I guess you could try it and see how crappy it is, but that’s really selling the experience short. I mean, you can watch any number of videos and live streams to get a better sense of how Zwift works, I think.

Hmm, I dunno, but I think it could be more complicated than that. Part of the numbers not being “real world accurate” is that they don’t align with your effort at all. For example, if using virtual power for another trainer other than what you have, if your trainer doesn’t ramp resistance as progressively or over the same time period as expected, when you suddenly accelerate and your wheel speed jumps very quickly (faster than the virtual power curve anticipates), the wattage could suddenly drop (despite your increased output) or fluctuate wildly until the wheel speed stabilizes. In such a case, how do you use the data for training?

It's a start. One can contact Zwift in the "not listed" category for guidance. In my case the Travel Trac fluid trainer was listed so I can use my bike computer sensors and heart rate monitor to hook up to Zwift. It's not nearly as good as a truly interactive trainer, but it works.

Thanks all, I have a speed and cadence sensor on my All City but its the Nashbar one and I don't think it's ant+. I will decide on on smart trainer, so far the Kurt Kinetic looks like the best price https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...KIKX0DER&psc=1

Thoughts?

That new Kurt is a great price on a smart trainer, and seems fully $200 or more less expensive than benchmark wheel-on entry-level smart trainers like Wahoo Snap, Cycleops Magnus, or Tacx Vortex. That’s a substantial amount, and would suggest to me to check the specs and just make sure it’s going to give a satisfying experience. Not that Kurt isn’t a good brand— it is— it’s just that price gaps that big amongst comparable brands usually indicate compromises, so just check. Could be an awesome choice, though!

EDIT: I looked, and the Road Machine Smart you linked to is not really a smart trainer, in the sense it is not app controllable. The Smart designation, in the Kurt case, only means that the unit transmits power, speed, and cadence. Kurt's true smart trainer is called Smart Control, and pricing is inline with the other units I referenced earlier. The Road Machine Smart, then, is more akin to a DTP (dumb trainer w/powermeter) setup, or maybe even more appropriately (since Road Smart's InRide unit is not a direct force powermeter but rather a power calculator), more like a dumb trainer + Zwift's ZPower virtual power. I'll assume the InRide power calculation is more accurate than ZPower because it can do more sophisticated data analysis with the magnet pulses than Zwift can do with just wheel speed numbers, but I don't know. It's awfully hard to find any real info from Kurt about what InRide is really doing. I couldn't even see on the Kurt site if it transmitted cadence, and wound up looking it up elsewhere.

This is the trainer I use, and it works well with Zwift

https://smile.amazon.com/BKOOL-Elect...keywords=BKool

I have been using this trainer since October 2014.

They have a newer model out that is supposed to be a bit quieter.

For a sub $500.00 trainer this will do all you want or need in Zwift.

I had posted before about buying the new less expensive Bkool smart trainer... It was less than good to be polite... I am now running a Cycleops SuperMagneto Pro and so far I love it... I have Wahoo speed, cadience and HR sensors and when you connect to Zwift with it adapts a pre designated power curve for that trainer... With that said it was wayyyyyyyyyyy off my would be busting ass on a flat and have my heart rate up around 150+ bpm and my wahoo bolt speed sensor saying I was going 18- 20mph meanwhile on zwift I was doing 8mph and getting passed by old ladies on mobility scooters... I found if I logged as 6' 9" tall and 105 pounds it would match my zwift speed and wahoo speed almost perfect on flats and drop to realistic speeds on inclines... so far I love it.

Yikes! Sounds like setup issues. You shouldn't be changing your personal details to get things to look right. Maybe submit a help request with Zwift.

Well set up is all as established and its a supported trainer I am going to try a powercal HR/Powermeter in hopes that it straightens out the issue but we will see.

When I had my Garmin on while running Zwift on my KK Road Machine (I use a staged Power meter) there would be a difference between speed and distance because the bike on trainer that the Garmin was reading was solely speed of wheel turning on trainer. Me going up or down hills in Zwift would affect Zwift speed/distance. I’d see a difference in data because of that. Now I have smart trainer (Kickr) I have not bothered with trying to use the Garmin since now my trainer changes difficulty based on gradient in game.

I see a realistic drop or increase in speed for incline or decline now I am going have to see if I can figure out why it was so off before... It is no fun going 8-10 mph on flats nothing realistic about that I average 16mph onflats/rolling hills, hopefully the powermeter will help.

If it's Zwift supported, it should work properly when set up properly, right?. Have you tried it with trainer in the Road setting? Are you having to lower your actual weight to get your in-game speed where you think it should be? Is that expected speed based on what your Bolt is displaying, or your actual road experience? I ask because I wonder if there's a possibility you're actually producing lower wattage than what you think, like maybe your pedalling speed is high if you're in the small chainring, but power level is actually low. Did you try riding in the large chainring? Any difference?

Also, I'd expect Zwift's virtual power curve to be more accurate than Powercal, but it could be interesting to compare. Could you connect Bolt to Powercal and leave the trainer connected to Zwift just to have two power recordings of the same ride? That'd be ideal, maybe.

Well I am riding it on Road, with weight adjusted the in-game speed, estimated watts, heart rate, cadience and rear wheel speed are consistent with my actual road riding numbers. Only using large ring I seldom come out of it even on the road... long climbs only time.