The Wahoo Kickr Core has been my go-to direct drive turbo coach advice because it was launched in September 2018. In reality, 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 missed at its value 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 enhance 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 an alternative of controlling resistance together with your bike’s gears, you modify resistance with two handlebar-mounted buttons.
How does this evaluate to that conventional cassette-based set-up? And can the Wahoo Kickr Core Zwift One knock its cassette cousin from my high spot because the finest turbo coach?
Wahoo Kickr Core Zwift One: Value 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 embrace a pre-installed cassette, so the entire 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 the moment coaching for the Paris-Roubaix Problem and I carried out a number of lengthy interval-based exercise periods 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 packages, corresponding to Rouvy and MyWhoosh. I’ve expertise with many of the finest 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.Â
Whereas there are direct drive turbo trainers that may beat all these stats (most notably the Tacx Neo 3M), it’s necessary to not get fooled into pondering 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 finest, whilst you’d need to be a masochist to need to trip up gradients above 16% for sustained intervals. The facility accuracy could also be a problem if you happen to’re knowledgeable athlete following strict interval periods, however even the very 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.Â
The principle 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 suitable 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 suitable 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 need to use the turbo coach, you may 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 reasonably 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 manner up Watopia’s inclines or placing down the hammer on the flats with out spinning out. Throughout ERG mode exercises, it may well additionally enhance and reduce the issue of the session—ultimate if you happen to’re scuffling with a tough drill and need to dial it down reasonably than stopping. The Bluetooth button could be mounted in a number of places on a handlebar, whether or not you’ve got flat, drop or triathlon bars, and its coin battery is alleged to final 100 hours.
The Kickr Zwift One has one main flaw: It’s solely suitable with Zwift. Whereas the cog can be utilized in ERG mode in platforms corresponding 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 toes, directions and instruments, and it’s laborious to get it improper. In contrast to earlier Kickr Core fashions, the Zwift One cog is put in, so as soon as the toes are on the bottom unit, you simply have to take away the again wheel out of your bike and slot it in place on the turbo.Â
The Click on button is a cinch to put in in your handlebars. You’ll be able to put it in varied spots, however I discovered that the within of the suitable hood allowed me to simply shift up and down with my thumb in my commonplace indoor driving place.
The Trip
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 clean and managed, even when finishing intervals that rapidly change from anaerobic efforts to restoration. In free-ride mode, the shifts in gradients really feel sensible, and a pointy hill will quickly have you ever out of the saddle.
Nevertheless, there are notable variations. The only cog design appeared quieter than the cassette model I attempted beforehand, whereas there aren’t any clunks of the derailleur between gear shifts. The 24-speed digital drivetrain had no noticeable jumps between gears, and it solves the difficulty you may have with a cassette the place you begin to cross-chain or while you spin out after shifting between the massive and small rings when downshifting rapidly. Maintaining observe of what gear you’re in is straightforward and it’s displayed alongside velocity, cadence and energy output.
As with the cassette model, the primary draw back is the dearth of lateral motion. This was noticeable when leaping from the Wahoo Kickr V6 with Axis toes to its cheaper sibling, and the latter has a stationary driving 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 laborious 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, lowering long-term prices, whereas the truth that it may be utilized by a number of individuals may make it easier to share the funding between others.
Should you’re looking for probably the most cost-effective technique 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 the very best design obtainable, 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 packages then you definitely’re higher off with the unique Wahoo Kickr Core, however for Zwift and TrainerRoad, the Zwift One model takes some beating.
