For years now I have had an indoor set up using a KICKR Core turbo trainer and what was intended to be a winter bike, that ended up just being a turbo bike. When I got my Specialized Aethos it was 12 speed and my turbo trainer only worked up to 11 speed. Not a big deal as I had a bike (Trek Domane) that stayed on the turbo, but since living in Sweden I have looked at potentially upgrading. It is super seasonal here and so winter definitely has several turbo months!
I follow many people with varying indoor cycling setups, a number of which have moved to the Zwift Ride bike.
What Is The Zwift Ride?
You can purchase the Zwift Ride on its own or as a bundle with the KICKR Core 2, which was what I opted for. This was mainly as I had a neighbour who was interested in buying my bike and turbo together from me so I would not need either and my turbo would not have worked with the Zwift Ride bike either.
The set up is essentially a smart bike by Zwift that attaches to the turbo via a Zwift cog. On my previous set up I had some of the Zwift add ons such as Zwift Play (which you can ready my review of here). With the new set up this is built in functionality to the bike frame so I can essentially so everything from my handlebars such as giving Ride Ons and using Powerups. Now don’t get me wrong I have never been a computer game player and it took me the whole route of Repack Rush to figure out the controls (for a person with normal brain power I am fairly certain this would have been a lot quicker/easier!).
The bike has 24 gears, which you control using the buttons on the handlebar shifters. There is no big/little ring as you would typically find on a normal bike if attaching to a turbo trainer. The gear you are in shows on the Zwift screen when you are in game. You can set the shift style you want in Zwift including sequential, SRAM or Shimano. You can also choose your gear range depending on the type of ride you are doing.
Delivery
One of my pet peeves of ordering items and deliveries in Sweden is that the timeframe is often a little unknown and definitely not as quick as when I was based in London. I would note that this is in part due to the fact that I live in a small summer beach town and not a major city.
Regardless of the above, on ordering I was a little surprised that the delivery cost was €100. This seemed super steep to me but having had a KICKR Core before I was aware of how heavy these items can be and with insurance via a courier, in retrospect the cost is probably not that surprising.
I received an email with tracking details and this was super easy to follow along and arrived seamlessly.
Setting It Up
There were multiple boxes with this delivery (four in total); the Zwift Ride bike frame, KIKCR Core 2 turbo trainer, I purchased the Zwift Ride tablet holder, and the fourth box included the handlebars, Zwift Cog and Zwift Play controllers.
I would say that one annoying/unusual thing was that not everything was where I feel it should be. For example the bolts to connect the bike frame to the turbo appeared to be missing. After a quick search online we found other online discussions where people had the same but it turned out that they were not missing but in a different box, which is not overly intuitive. However, once you locate everything it is a very easy and simple set up, with instructions provided and a handy bright orange (you can’t miss it) Zwift hex wrench that is the only tool needed/used when setting up and you store on the frame of the bike for future use, which is handy.
There is added information to ensure the bike fit up is correct for you. I am comfortable with the setting up of my bike but this would be super useful to those who are not and the Zwift Ride is slightly different so always a good addition to ensure you have it set up right to get the best out of it.
The other issue I had was that the frame itself had a noticeable dent on it. Given the cost of this set up, this was more than disappointing and definitely ruined that new bike day feeling you get! However, I would note that the box it came in was packaged perfectly, everything was where it should be inside and there was no damage or marks on the outside of the box. I contacted Zwift support and sent photos and will say their customer service was outstanding! I was offered two options being some money refunded or a replacement. I opted for a replacement and within minutes had a new tracking email for the replacement frame.
Packing it back up again was not so much a fun part of this – you do not really pay too much attention when unpacking but it was packed so well we then had a bit of a jigsaw packing it back properly. We ended up looking online at some unpacking videos to figure out what went where.
My Opinion So Far
I was slightly worried about the single front fork – would it be stable enough? It is a sturdy unit weighing at circa 35kg and feels incredibly stable so no worries there. I can’t say balance is my biggest skill and I never got on with a rocker plate so was a little worried this could be similar, but I think the size of the front fork compared to the size of a front wheel on the floor when a bike is on the turbo is actually a fair bit more so no worries there at all.
It is nice and quiet, smooth gear changes and feels very comfortable. I did swap out the saddle for my usual Specialized Mimic saddle so cannot comment on the saddle that came with the bike frame. Same for the pedals, it comes with flat pedals that I swapped out for my usual SPD-SL pedals.
I had to go through the gears to find my typical sweet spot as I found to start (being used to a big and little ring) I was spinning out on the downhill and my power was less on a flat but higher cadence. I usually work off cadence so didn’t take too long to get to grips with – just a different set up than used to.
I am of average height I think and this is fine – not sure how it would be for someone very short or very tall, whereas a set up including your own bike would obviously be on a frame to fit your height. I only note this because the Zwift Ride is a single size unit that you adjust to your requirements although the set up size chart would indicate it would be fine.
I have the attachment to have my ipad on the bike, which is good and again really stable. I also love that there is a flat surface for your phone and a towel. I had previously used a quad lock but it was not my normal everyday phone case and if you have used one you will know they are great, as in your phone is not coming out, but taking on and off for turbo use is an exercise in itself!
I have levelled up in Zwift since using it and really enjoying it so far!
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