guadzilla

Is there a pressing reason to spend $2500-3000 for a smart bike ala Wahoo or whatever, when you can get a smart trainer and chuck a beater bike on it for about half the price?

Not being snide, really asking. Both wife and i share a trainer, and between the heat of summer and longer brick workouts upcoming for both of us, we've been contemplating making a permanent pain cave. Having 2 trainers with 2 permanently mounted bikes would make the most sense, unless there is some benefit to having a smart bike.

Anyone gotten a smart bike and found it a lot better than trainer+bike?

Eric F 

I guess it depends on what you're willing to invest, and what kind of experience you're looking for. My choice for your situation with be to use my existing bike with a direct-drive smart trainer. Add in side-by-side Zwift setups and you can ride with your wife in VR, too.

Sy Reene

Some people (or maybe only one person.. who knows) would pay ~$15K for a smart bike. Presumably you don't have to hide one of these in a basement, much less two of them (for different sized people).. it can sit in your living room as a work of art.

guadzilla

Well, we ride indoors enough that if there is some advantage to paying extra for a Kickr Bike, i can probably do so. But i dont see what I would gain, especially as we already have the electronics for running Zwift/Netflix, etc. So in the absence of a clear and discernable advantage, it makes more sense to do what you said - get another Kickr and permanently mount 2 beater bikes on each of them.

Was just checking to see if there is something i missing out...

Sy Reene lol, that's mental. And not even in carbon fiber.... meh.

surak

A few reasons to consider a full smart bike- you can adjust the bike so multiple people can use it, you don't have a spare bike or want to be taking the bike on and off the trainer, you want to constantly tinker with your bike fit, you want/need to put it somewhere visible and aesthetics matter, you want integration with the virtual platforms (see gear combo), you want something bulletproof (DC Rainmaker points out that Stages has a solid rep making commercial gym bikes), you really like the Kickr Bike tilt (more realistic than Climb due to pivot location), and most importantly, you have lots (lots) of money.
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Tom L

my only concern would be maintanece , if that smart bike breaks, who's going to fix it, if your regular bike needs work it is easy to do yourself
it would be possible to keep going even with dumb trainers and a power meter if things can't be fixed or if the smart trainer the bike is on gets busted

yes on the pain cave, and don't forget the tunes

datlas 

Most of us have a backup bike or beater bike, in which case buying a whole smart bike does not seem like a good value compared to a smart trainer.

Sy Reene

They blew it.. if it had been done with bamboo, now that would have been sensible.