The Wahoo Kickr Core has been my go-to direct drive turbo coach advice because it was launched in September 2018. In actual fact, I reviewed the Wahoo Kickr Core final 12 months, 5 years on from its debut, and will nonetheless solely discover minor faults, which could be ignored at its worth level. So, when Wahoo and Zwift introduced their Wahoo Kickr Core Zwift One collaboration in February 2024, I used to be intrigued.
The idea is ingenious. Historically, you put in a cassette (the cogs in your bike’s rear wheel) on the turbo coach, and improve or lower the coach’s resistance when free-riding (and never following an ERG-mode exercise) by shifting up and down together with your bike’s drivetrain. The Zwift One cog replaces the cassette with a single-speed cog, and as a substitute of controlling resistance together with your bike’s gears, you modify resistance with two handlebar-mounted buttons.
How does this examine to that conventional cassette-based set-up? And can the Wahoo Kickr Core Zwift One knock its cassette cousin from my prime spot because the greatest turbo coach?
Wahoo Kickr Core Zwift One: Worth And Availability
The Wahoo Kickr Core Zwift One was launched in February 2024 and prices $599.99 within the US and £549.99 within the UK. When the Wahoo Kickr Core was first launched it price $899.99/£699.99 and didn’t embody a pre-installed cassette, so the whole set-up has come down by roughly $400/£200—bucking the pattern seen throughout the remainder of biking. What’s extra, it features a free 12-month Zwift membership (RRP $149.99/£129.99), which reduces the precise price of your funding to $450/£420.
How I Examined This Turbo Coach
I logged 10 hours of turbo coaching on the Kickr Core Zwift One. I’m at present coaching for the Paris-Roubaix Problem and I carried out a number of lengthy interval-based exercise classes on the coaching apps Zwift and TrainerRoad. I additionally hung out free-riding in Zwift’s digital worlds and tried (and failed) to check it in different digital world-based coaching applications, akin to Rouvy and MyWhoosh. I’ve expertise with a lot of the greatest turbo trainers and good bikes, together with the cassette model of the Wahoo Kickr Core, Tacx’s top-of-the-range Neo 3M, and Wahoo’s Kickr Bike V2 good bike.
Options
The Zwift One version of the Wahoo Kickr Core is a carbon copy of the usual one, apart from the brand new Zwift One cog changing a cassette. Meaning you get the identical most output (1,800W), simulated incline (16%) and energy accuracy (+/- 2%) because the Kickr Core that’s been round since September 2018.
Whereas there are direct drive turbo trainers that may beat all these stats (most notably the Tacx Neo 3M), it’s essential to not get fooled into considering larger is healthier. Even severe membership riders aren’t in a position to exceed that most energy output for greater than a second or two at greatest, whilst you’d need to be a masochist to wish to trip up gradients above 16% for sustained intervals. The facility accuracy could also be a difficulty if you happen to’re knowledgeable athlete following strict interval classes, however even one of the best turbo trainers have a +/- 1% margin of error, so it’s a minor sacrifice to make for substantial financial savings on the price of a premium set-up.
The primary distinction between the usual Wahoo Kickr Core and this replace is the Zwift One cog. The 14-tooth sprocket comes put in on the unit and is appropriate with most 8- to 12-speed bikes. That is completely different from the cassette model, which required the acquisition of a separate driver and the set up of a drivetrain-specific cassette in case your bike didn’t have a Shimano/SRAM highway set-up. This makes the Kickr Core Zwift Another accessible to Campagnolo and mountain bike/gravel bike customers, whose drivetrains aren’t appropriate with the usual Wahoo Kickr Core out of the field. It additionally means when you’ve got a number of bikes, or a number of riders wish to use the turbo coach, you possibly can swap the bikes over with out having to take away and set up completely different cassettes and drivers.
The resistance is managed by a Click on button somewhat than shifting between gears on a motorbike’s drivetrain. The digital drivetrain has a 24-speed drivetrain and a large sufficient gear ratio for inching your approach up Watopia’s inclines or placing down the hammer on the flats with out spinning out. Throughout ERG mode exercises, it may possibly additionally improve and reduce the issue of the session—very best if you happen to’re combating a tough drill and wish to dial it down somewhat than stopping. The Bluetooth button could be mounted in a number of places on a handlebar, whether or not you have got flat, drop or triathlon bars, and its coin battery is claimed to final 100 hours.
The Kickr Zwift One has one main flaw: It’s solely appropriate with Zwift. Whereas the cog can be utilized in ERG mode in platforms akin to TrainerRoad, if you wish to simulate free-riding and shifting between digital gears, you gained’t be capable of on rival platforms like Rouvy and MyWhoosh.
The Set-Up
The Kickr Core Zwift One requires some self-assembly however ought to pose no points. Within the field, you’ll discover the primary unit, two stabilizing ft, directions and instruments, and it’s exhausting to get it mistaken. In contrast to earlier Kickr Core fashions, the Zwift One cog is put in, so as soon as the ft are on the bottom unit, you simply must take away the again wheel out of your bike and slot it in place on the turbo.
The Click on button is a cinch to put in in your handlebars. You’ll be able to put it in numerous spots, however I discovered that the within of the correct hood allowed me to simply shift up and down with my thumb in my commonplace indoor using place.
The Journey
The Kickr Core Zwift One has the same trip really feel to the cassette model. It has the identical 5.4kg flywheel, and the resistance feels easy and managed, even when finishing intervals that rapidly swap from anaerobic efforts to restoration. In free-ride mode, the shifts in gradients really feel real looking, and a pointy hill will quickly have you ever out of the saddle.
Nevertheless, there are notable variations. The one cog design appeared quieter than the cassette model I attempted beforehand, whereas there are not any clunks of the derailleur between gear shifts. The 24-speed digital drivetrain had no noticeable jumps between gears, and it solves the problem you possibly can have with a cassette the place you begin to cross-chain or whenever you spin out after shifting between the massive and small rings when downshifting rapidly. Maintaining observe of what gear you’re in is simple and it’s displayed alongside velocity, cadence and energy output.
As with the cassette model, the primary draw back is the shortage of lateral motion. This was noticeable when leaping from the Wahoo Kickr V6 with Axis ft to its cheaper sibling, and the latter has a stationary using place, which began to get uncomfortable on coaching rides of an hour-plus.
Is The Wahoo Kickr Core Zwift One Price It?
The Kickr Core Zwift One is the most affordable it has ever been, and when you think about that it additionally comes with a 12 months’s subscription to Zwift, it’s exhausting to beat on price. The Zwift One cog ought to last more than a cassette as a result of there’s no shifting between cogs to wear down the enamel, decreasing long-term prices, whereas the truth that it may be utilized by a number of individuals might show you how to share the funding between others.
Should you’re looking for probably the most cost-effective method to get began with Zwift, then it’s tough to look past the Kickr Core Zwift One. The good direct drive turbo coach, pound for pound, is one of the best design out there, and the addition of the Zwift One cog removes a number of the hassles that may include a cassette model. Should you plan on utilizing different coaching applications then you definitely’re higher off with the unique Wahoo Kickr Core, however for Zwift and TrainerRoad, the Zwift One model takes some beating.
