Review: 5 Indoor Cycling Trainers Ridden & Rated

Indoor Trainers & Accessories For Winter Quarantine

It’s the heart of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, meaning riding opportunities are pretty limited for many mountain bikers. Sure, the days are finally starting to get longer, but in many places it’s going to be months before the trails melt out. While I used to spend my winters spinning on a trainer bike and lifting weights with my buddies in our local gym, I am now doing those same things from the security of my garage thanks to Covid-19 having all but closed the majority of gyms here in the United States. Even with some gyms opened (briefly) before locking down again, some of us can't risk going back to the gym until we have wide spread vaccinations in place (as controversial as "science" is these days in some parts of the world, the bottom line is I really don't want to kill my husband, who has ALS, or my 84 year old father, who lives with us). So, other than the really nice stationary bikes at the gym and some coached programs there, until Covid-19 forced me into my garage, I had zero experience with any type of home trainer or any of the online training apps/programs like Zwift, Rouvy or Sufferfest. So here it is, Covid gifted me the opportunity to learn the ropes, test what works for me (and what doesn't), and give you a beginners perspective on indoor training options.

Casey Gatz is my partner for this review and comes in as our tech expert/trainer geek. He was one of my cycling coaches in the winter training programs I’ve used for the past few years and is way more tech savvy about the mechanics of these trainers and how to apply an online program than I, bringing a valuable perspective and some great technical observations to this review.

Below you will find an overview of the five trainers Casey and I tested, what we each liked or didn't like about a specific trainer, and all the fun I had learning how to spin a bike on rollers. It's important to note that these are short-term reviews and for a more in-depth review, you really have to check out the industry staple, DC Rainmaker. And while these are short-term reviews, we both spent a minimum of 10 hours on each trainer (except the rollers—see the review below for the why on that). The focus of our testing was on ease of set-up, stability, changing bikes/bike compatibility, feel, power consistency, noise, required accessories, app integration and cost.

Warning: there is a fair bit of tech that needs to be dealt with in this article, so this is a text heavy piece vs. a shred and destroy video. A couple terms worth understanding before you dive into this review: FTP for starters—FTP stands for Functional Threshold Power and it's a measure of the best average power output you can sustain for 1 hour in a time-trial scenario. Second is ERG mode, which is a smart trainer setting where the trainer adjusts its resistance automatically to help the rider hit specific target power levels without needing to shift gears on the bike or resistance on the trainer. Since there are no resistance dials on any of these "Smart" trainers, the ERG mode is used to essentially put you where it thinks you need to be based on your FTP. Taking an FTP test is a good starting place for anyone new to the indoor trainer world as a way to structure your rides in order to get the most benefit from a trainer. All the trainers we tested, with the exception of the rollers, had an ERG mode option.

Table of Contents
• Elite Quick-Motion Rollers
• Saris M2 Smart Trainer
• Stages SB20 Smart Bike
• Wahoo Kickr
• Tacx Neo 2T
• Top Picks

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Nikki
When I contacted Elite to take part in this review, I let them guide me to what they wanted me to review. The focus for the article was going to be a variety of products at a variety of prices, and while we had touched on "smart" trainers, when the box arrived I really didn't know what I was getting. While I was hoping for the Nero, which is a unique set of "smart" rollers that ELITE makes, it was the Quick-Motion basic roller that showed up. The Nero is much more like an interactive trainer that includes ANT+/Bluetooth connectivity and offers basic speed, cadence and power measurements. The Quick Motion rollers did not have that same function, although if you purchase the Misuro B+ accessory from Elite, it should allow you to connect to the ELITES E-training platform. Product issues aside, I had never ridden rollers so this was an opportunity to see what they were all about.

Set-up was fairly easy. The rollers came with some basic directions and within 30 minutes, they were unboxed and adjusted for my road bike.

Rollers are intimidating to a newbie like me, to say the least. By the time you have a bike on the rollers you’re pretty high up there and there’s none of the stability one has when locked into a trainer—even with the parabolic shaped rollers that are designed to keep one centered. Consequently, I opted to set up a table directly adjacent to the bike to hold onto until I started pedaling, and to help get on/off the bike. The resistance dial is a nice feature on these rollers, but I wanted as little resistance as possible at the start so I made sure to keep the dial set at the minimum. After the initial few minutes of "cling to the table for dear life" mixed with hesitantly placing my hand on the bars, I got the feel for the rollers, allowing me to practice "spinning" with no shifting. This lasted about 10 minutes and then I got fairly bored and decided to increase resistance and see how close I could get to an out-of-the-saddle attempt. Ha—I never got there. Even though my balance got better, I found the only thing I could really focus on was cadence and spinning at a fairly low resistance. I’m sure with more time, I’d get there; but I simply wasn’t motivated enough to up my game past the "I'm riding on ice" sensation of rollers.

Because we did not have the Misuro B+ to connect the rollers to any type of E-training program, the only feedback I was able to get from my time on the Quick Motion rollers was... time. That being said, I do have an external power meter, speed sensor, and cadence sensor on my gravel bike, and a heart rate monitor. But my plans to use the rollers like I would any other trainer fell to the wayside when I realized how much focus was required for me to simply adjust the tension and keep my wheels moving. This isn’t a dis on the rollers as a training tool, it’s just that after a hard day’s work, the mental focus required to ride rollers as a newbie wasn’t my jam.

Fancy features aside, there are some really nice things about these rollers. First, they fold down to a nice compact size and store easily in a small space. Second, they require no power. Third, while the rollers don't transmit ANT+/Bluetooth power data, you can buy the Misuro B+ accessory ($90 USD) to enable transmission of that data. If rollers appeal to you, then you may want to check these out.




Casey
When looking at the trainers we reviewed, these were definitely the odd-duck out. They didn't have any of the smart features, and being rollers they demand a different level of commitment. I have a pair of rollers I purchased probably 15 years ago that haven't been ridden in 10. After about a minute of holding onto a chair for dear life, I was back at it.

Getting these rollers into position took a little coordination, since there are two bands that connect the rear drive wheels with the front. Though since they are primarily a plastic construction, they don't weigh much and wrestling them into place was more a practice in finesse than brute force. With the rollers on the ground and a desk to start on, I was out of the gate and spinning. Like other rollers, these felt to be more geared toward training pedaling efficiency and smoothing out form vs. throwing down the watts. The rollers have a slight rise near the ends that supposedly helps keep you from riding off them; maybe I was unknowingly running into those, but I never felt like I was hitting the edges or close to riding off the sides. However, I've never actually ridden off a set of rollers even when they didn't have a parabolic “safety” shape like these.

Being that we couldn't connect the rollers to any smart apps or trainers, these really only served to help me focus on form and to engage my entire body while riding a bike. While I can't get the "riding a bike on ice" sensation on a smart trainer, I am still able to do all the other skills. After several rides that all were significantly shorter than I had planned, I was happy to jump off the rollers and back onto a more traditional trainer. You're either a roller person or you're not. I am not.

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Casey
Setting up the Saris M2 was more complicated than many of the others. First there was the actual building of the trainer, which was more involved than the others (the included instructions were helpful here). Then there was getting the bike on the trainer, which was as simple as installing the correct components and then tightening the rear knob till it clicks. However, this appeared to be waaaay too much pressure. I was running 700x28’s at 90psi which was far more pressure than I would ever run on the road. Tightening until the “click,” in fact, put so much pressure against the tire that the sidewalls were in contact with the trainer. But…following their directions, I started the calibration process with the phone app, and started reading accurate power. After about two minutes though, I could smell burning rubber and see lots of little pieces of my tire on the ground under my bike. After this first failed attempt, I just tightened the rear wheel until it wouldn’t slip and re-ran the calibration. This time it worked. Sort of—keep reading.

Once you get the trainer all set up and the bike on the trainer, and calibrated, this trainer works well—this need to calibrate is going to be pretty similar with all “smart” wheel-on trainers. But because of changes in pressure within the tire and how tight the rear knob is, you really should calibrate before every ride for as accurate a reading as you can get. The “tighten to click” was intended to fix that need for lots of calibration, but in reality it doesn’t always work well—at least not on this particular trainer. To test the power, I’d use my own power meter recording to my head unit and compare that to the Saris unit during and after the ride. I saw power numbers all over the place with this trainer without calibration—as much as 50% under or 15% over vs. my control power meter. But calibrate before every ride and you'll be fine.



The actual feel on this trainer was better than my older fluid trainers of years past, but not nearly as good as compared to the direct drive trainers like the Wahoo Kickr or the Tacx NEO 2T reviewed below. When tightened to “click” the feel was absolutely horrible; but when tightened until the wheel didn’t slip it improved significantly. In ERG mode, the trainer was able to maintain power and adapt to changes in cadence fairly well as compared to some of the other trainers (where I’d fall into the ‘cadence spiral of death’ that I saw with the Tacx and Stages trainers).

The noise on this was quite a bit louder than the direct-drive trainers (90db next to the freewheel using a free phone app vs. around 60db for the direct drive trainers, and even less for the Stages bike) and if you had this inside your house or an apartment, you’d be annoying everyone else in the adjacent rooms. Purchasing a specialty “trainer tire” will significantly decrease this noise, and will prevent burning up expensive rubber, but keep in mind that such tires are for trainer use only, not on the road.

In general, this trainer is better than the non-smart trainers from years past. The advantage over using just a similar fluid trainer and a power meter are the ability to do ERG workouts and, when using Zwift, it provides some grade increases, etc—although this trainer seemed to over-exaggerate the grades compared to the other trainers: in its default setting, hitting 8% grades made it tough to turn the pedals over. That can be fixed in Zwift by setting the trainer difficulty slider, but I'm not sure why this trainer felt that much harder than the others when I encountered "grades".



Nikki
The M2 was the first trainer that showed up at my doorstep all boxed up and in pieces. I unpacked it and as uncoordinated as I am with tools, I was able to put the thing together without too much fuss in under an hour.

Next up, I had to change the tire on my gravel bike to a road style slick tire to keep the noise down and so I didn't ruin my Maxxis Rambler rear tire, and then change the mounting system to the thru axle (it came stock with a quick release system). As I've ridden plenty of wheel on trainers, after I got my bike onto the M2 I skipped reading the directions (I can sometimes be a bit impatient) and tightened down my rear wheel to where it wouldn’t slip, and moved right on to calibrating the trainer using the Saris app on my phone. This turned to be a good thing, as had I read the directions I would have tightened to click, and would have then proceeded to shred my tire like Casey did.

As this was the first "smart" trainer I had ever used and my first time using Zwift, it took some navigating to finally get into a ride and see how ERG mode worked. The first 10% hill I hit in Zwift pretty much had me stopped in my tracks. The trainer had turned up the resistance so hard I could barely get a revolution in. A quick chat with Casey (being the tech savvy one between us), and we decided that it probably had something to do with my lack of patience and failure to properly calibrate. So—back to the drawing board. Eventually I started to figure things out and found my pace. Being on a trainer that could feed me power data blew my mind. Yeah, I own a power meter and had been on fancy bikes in the gym, but to be able to have a trainer for under $500 that recorded my ride data and could sync up with Zwift or Trainer Road, it was like a light bulb went off as I suddenly realized what I had been missing out on in the comfort of my own garage.

Going back to the M2 after testing the Kickr and Taxc was a little more complicated. While I liked that I didn't have to take my rear wheel and cassette off to set up my bike, the M2 is fairly loud and does a good number on your tire. If I were just using the M2 exclusively (or any other type of wheel on trainer), I’d opt to purchase a proper trainer tire as the heat generated by the friction of the tire on the trainer will destroy a regular tire fairly quickly, and they are a bit quieter than a regular tire. But if you've ever tried to get one of those suckers on or off your rim, you will really want a cheap spare wheel with a trainer tire mounted to it exclusively for trainer usage. If you are looking for a super affordable "smart" option to up your winter training and can handle a bit more noise vs. a direct drive trainer, this is definitely a great option for winter training.

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Nikki
The Stages SB20 Bike was delivered to my doorstep basically as a complete package (their PNW HQ is only an hour away), making set up fairly easy for Casey and I. When you buy the bike new, you don't have that luxury of unboxed and pre-built delivery, so you will want to check out the in-depth review of the SB20 Smart bike by DC Rainmaker for beta on complete set-up. After I rolled the 138 lb smart bike into my office and swapped the stock road style drop bars for a set of low rise flat bars, I was ready to jump aboard and get my sweat on.

But not so fast! First came the pedals, which was waaay easier said than done. None of my pedals use a pedal wrench for installation—all of them use an allen key threaded through from the bike side of the spindle. And since the cranks are fairly close to the flywheel, there is minimal space for mounting these types of pedals. It can be done; however, be prepared to utilize about a three inches of rotation over and over and over to get the dang things on. Pedals that require a 15mm pedal wrench to install will help your sanity a LOT!

With my pedals finally in place, I was quickly able to adjust the bike for my height and reach while I downloaded the Stages app "Link" to configure the bike. Since I had the SB20 set up with an MTB specific bar, the app let me configure the gearing as if it were a MTB as well; for those looking to train in the gearing they race in, this is a great feature. The last step in set-up was getting the SB20 to sync to the training programs I was using. After some searching around the Stages site for support, I finally figured out that I simply had to turn the Bluetooth on my laptop off and then back on, and then whabaam!—I was finally ready to go. I would recommend that one take the time to watch the well executed and detailed Stages YouTube videos like I did to simplify setting up and configuring the SB20.

I started my testing using Zwift and Sufferfest; and excepting first world problems, like choosing a route or training plan, it was mostly smooth sailing. I quickly started to get a feel for the shifting (which is only available in non-ERG mode modules), and the Smart part of the training, i.e. using ERG mode. While you can just jump on the SB20 and pedal in their app, knowing your FTP or taking an FTP test is a good starting place for anyone new to the indoor trainer world in order to utilize ERG and get the most out of a trainer. I have an FTP from pre-covid gym classes, so I spent most my time on the SB20 in ERG mode in Zwift. As you will read below, Casey struggled with the 3-4 second-ish gap the bike had between power zones or in his case shifting. I wasn't doing any racing, so it wasn't something that really bothered me, but I did notice the delay. By comparison, the Kickr and the Neo 2T have almost no delay.

When it’s all said and done, this was one of my favorite of the Smart Trainers for a number of reasons: First, I was up and running on the SB20 within 40 minutes of seeing it for the first time. Secondly, while it’s a 138 lb. beast, I liked that it was heavy and stable because I could stand up and sprint without feeling like I was going to break something. I also like that it comes stock with a removable tablet holder, phone holder, and dual, easy to reach water bottle holders; on the other trainers I needed a platform for my phone or iPad. From a pure convenience perspective, I liked that I didn't have to use my own bike so I could jump on the trainer without removing a wheel, worrying about shredding an expensive tire, or taking a cassette off. If you are someone who is more likely to ride a trainer because it's ready to go all the time, that is definitely something to take into consideration. While we didn't review the Peloton bike in this piece, their popularity has exploded, and the Stages SB20 is similarly priced to the higher end Peloton, but it offers compatibility with a wider range of Apps and training programs.




Casey
Setup on this bike was relatively simple. There were a bunch of hex wrenches that came in the box for easy swaps from the mountain bike bars to the road bars and back. Probably one of the best aspects of the SB20 was how customizable this bike is: we were able to get pretty good fits for my 8yo daughter, my 5’10" wife, and for myself. And while my wife and I have similar saddle heights, everything else between our preferred bike fits is different. If more than one person is using this bike, sticky notes or discrete sharpie marks make “bike” swaps fast and easy. Pedal swaps was another story though. Like Nikki, most of my pedals use an allen key on the inside of the spindle to thread on/off the cranks. With the Stages SB20, there’s just not much room between the crank-arm and the bike frame to insert your hex, so changing between pedals took way too long, and it was hard to get decent torque with the maybe 30 degrees I was able to turn my hex keys. If your pedals allow the use of a 15mm pedal wrench, then no worries.

As a stand-alone bike, this thing is rock solid. Even trying my best, I wasn’t able to rock it off balance. After hard workouts where your legs are shredded, having no top-tube made dismounting easy without tempting a hamstring cramp. At the same time, by not having that top-tube, it was hard to keep the crank area free from sweat. I found that this bike got more sweaty than trainers where I was able to put one towel on my top-tube and another across my handlebars.

Using the app was pretty simple for this bike. One of the best things is the ability to set the electronic shifters to essentially any possible drivetrain you’d like. You have the option of up to 10 rings up front, and 50 in the back. I’m not sure how well a 500 gear bike would actually serve, but if you want to that kind of range, it appears to be possible. That novelty wore off quickly, though, and I settled on a 12 speed 52/36 front x 10/33 rear, which provided a pretty solid range of gears for riding in Zwift.

In ERG mode, this bike really struggled to maintain consistent power. During workouts on both Trainer Road and Zwift I was constantly over or under the prescribed power level. Then, after a bit of low power, it would seem to try to overcompensate and set the tension higher to have the “average power” be correct. After a few workouts trying to figure out the bike’s trick, I turned off ERG mode in frustration, since I was able to maintain my own power much better than this bike's software could.

While ERG mode seemed to struggle with workouts more than any other trainer, the SB20 would read consistent power between my power meter and the bike. The sprints were picked up, and when I’d stop applying power it would read zero. This bike has essentially two crank-based power meters, and because of that you’re able to track things like power balance, pedal smoothness, etc. After a few years of having these metrics available on my own power meter, while I appreciate their availability, I honestly haven't looked at them since my first week of power meter use. However, I don’t have any injuries or power imbalances that I’d be tracking; but if you've got big imbalances in your legs or really rough pedaling, maybe you'd find more value with these tools.

A nit-pick: while this bike plugs in, the power meters that the bike uses are their own separate unit that require separate batteries. In the middle of one of my wife’s races, I started hearing a string of obscenities coming from the garage. Rushing out there, I found that the bike had started reporting a consistent 126 watts and she was quickly dropped from the group she was racing against. There was no prior warning to this, and even having connected the app earlier in the day, I didn’t know that this was coming. Fortunately we had some CR2032 batteries in the drawer and she was able to get back to racing the next morning. Lesson learned; keep batteries in stock or you might end up sleeping on the couch.




The other frustrating aspect of this bike was the delay between applying power to the pedals and that power being displayed on apps like Zwift, etc. When trying my hand (and getting smoked regularly) during races, this bike was always a few seconds behind the curve. When you’re trying to hang-on to the virtual group, being several seconds behind the curve makes it really hard. I’d find that I was either off the front (apparently attempting to break-away), or struggling at the back. Consequently, it was really difficult to stay with the group when there were fast changes in power. For consistent efforts like time-trials, this was a non-issue. But in a pack, as soon as you see someone else is putting the pressure on, you’re caught on your heels.

For me, this was a deal-breaker. I never did a Zwift race before doing these trainer reviews, but after getting into them during all this trainer testing, that lag made a fun activity frustrating. At the same time, my wife also got into virtual riding and the Stages bike was her go-to tool. Like Nikki, she liked jumping on this as well as the more up-right position that you can set on this trainer vs. deconstructing her bike for a direct drive trainer or the Saris wheel on trainer.

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Casey
Setup on the Wahoo Kickr was similar to other direct drive trainers. If you can change a rear wheel, you can get your bike mounted to the trainer. Like the Tacx 2T, this comes with the Shimano HG freehub, so you’re somewhat limited in what cassettes you can run out of the box. For mountain bikes with 12 speed drivetrains, the supplied Sunrace 10-50 12-speed cassette worked great—you just lose the use of the 10-tooth cog, as the HG spline won’t allow anything smaller than 11 teeth. Switching between the different axle standards was easy with the included parts. This trainer also allows for a user to adjust between wheel sizes (from 24” to 29”) so you don’t need to use a front-wheel holder to stay level.

Stability on the Wahoo is similar to other direct-drive trainers: they have very little sway and I never worried about tipping over. The feet have some slight movement built into them, which allow for subtle movement of the trainer. At first this felt odd, like my gym floor was slightly shifting under me, but after a ride or two I no longer noticed it. In or out of the saddle, the trainer worked well.




Using the Wahoo for training rides was overall pretty damn awesome. The Kickr provided some of the most consistent efforts in ERG mode and I didn’t experience the cadence issues I had with the Tacx or the drastic swings in power I saw with the Stages bike. These consistent power numbers meant I had no frustration utilizing workouts in Trainer Road or on Zwift. This trainer had a very fast response to all of the grade changes in Zwift; with many of the other trainers there would be slight lags in both power and grade, but the Kickr was always quick to respond. Additionally, when racing in Zwift or doing non-ERG workouts, this trainer was great at responding to changes in pace and efforts; I’d apply power to the pedals and see instant changes relayed to the program I was using. This trainer didn’t give the same feedback when riding on Zwift that the Tacx did—where you felt the cobbles, etc.—but that’s a nit-pick.

Overall, this ended up being my favorite of the trainers to use. It’s quiet, it packs down very slim when not in use, changing between bikes was easy, and it did a good job of relaying power in both structured trainings and online racing. If a whisper-quiet trainer that does both ERG training and online racing is your thing, the Wahoo Kickr nailed it.




Nikki
Casey tested the Kickr before me, so set-up was a breeze. I pulled it out of the box, mounted the cassette, changed the adapters for a thru axle, and attached my bike. Wahoo has an app, but I was able to pretty much sync easily with Zwift and TrainerRoad without any configuring.

The Kickr has adaptors for a variety of wheel mounting options, from an old school QR (135mm) to a non-Boost rear axle (142mm) to a Boost rear axle (148 ). It also has a built-in adjuster that allows you to adapt it for different wheel sizes and keeps the bike level, which eliminates the need for a front wheel block to even things out. The trainer folds up small, is fairly lightweight, and pretty much ticks all the boxes for what I was looking for in a Smart Trainer. One important thing to note is my primary mountain bike has a super boost rear axle (157mm spacing), and neither the Tacx nor the Kickr will allow for that wide of a rear axle, but I was easily able to mount my gravel bike with a 142mm rear axle and mountain bike with a boost thru axle to the Kickr by swapping out adaptors.

I spent a good 10+ hours using the Kickr and it was fairly comparable with the Neo 2T. There was no gap in ERG mode like there was with the SB20, and the power output was super steady. In Zwift, the Tacx power output in ERG mode would be up and down plus or minus 5 watts in each target zone, vs. the Kickr which seemed to micro adjust to keep you pretty on target at all times.

For the price and ease of use, this was by far the best bang for your buck choice for a wheel-off Smart Trainer that we tested. While the Tacx has some really cool features and functions, I lean towards the simpler design and "less moving parts" concept of the Kickr.

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Casey
Setting up the Tacx NEO 2T was pretty easy. Just like the Kickr, if you can change a cassette, you can get this up and running as setting your bike up on the Tacx is essentially the same process as changing out the rear wheel. This trainer didn’t come with a cassette, though, so either run down to your LBS and pick one up or pull the one off your bike. The NEO 2T comes with the Shimano HG freehub though, so you’re somewhat limited in what cassettes you can run with a mountain bike—although the cog spacing on a 12 speed cassette is the same whether you’re running SRAM or Shimano, so the Sunrace 12-speed from the Kickr or a SRAM NX 11-50 HG cassette will work if you’re using a 12 speed drive train; you’ll just lose the 10-tooth high gear/Shimano’s 51-tooth rock crawling gear.

Once I got the bike onto the trainer and the wheel block placed under my front wheel, I was surprised how stable the bike was. In the saddle, I never had the feeling like I was going to tip over or that the bike felt wobbly; and I didn’t have any rocking going in and out of the saddle doing all-out sprints. I've seen professional riders screw these types of trainers onto a platform on the floor for stability, but it never moved for me. I weigh in at 150 pounds and while I’m fit, I’m generally unable to output massive power numbers. But if you're heavier or putting out 1,000+ watt efforts regularly, maybe you'll need some more support.

This was the first of the smart trainers I tested and was surprised how more realistic riding this was compared to my fluid trainer from 10+ years ago. Not only did this spin up and maintain speed more realistically, but this one also provided feedback when on Zwift. At first, I thought there was something wrong with the trainer, but then I realized I was riding on ‘cobbles’ and that the bouncing was the trainer…it took riding on Zwift to the next level. Additionally, when riding on Zwift, grades felt realistic, and in general, the NEO 2T provided a better realistic feel vs. all the other trainers.

Power on this was very consistent when compared to my power meter, however generally it was reading a few watts lower. However the numbers were always consistent and the response to pedal inputs was super fast: I’d put power to the pedals and the trainer would relay those numbers to Zwift or Trainer Road—the two applications I use regularly—in near real-time.



When doing workouts in ERG mode, the Tacx was very responsive to changes in cadence. Almost too responsive. There were many times where the workout would increase the power, my cadence would drop as a result, the trainer would increase the tension to make up for my reduced cadence, and I’d find myself at 30 RPM struggling to turn my legs over. Consequently, during my first workout that had big shifts in power in ERG mode, I quit about halfway through due to sheer frustration. But after a few sessions, I figured out the groove of this trainer in ERG mode: focus on consistent cadence and don't worry about the power numbers.

These direct drive trainers were not something I had considered before doing this trainer review. The cost seemed to be a bonus that I didn't really need. However, after spending almost three months riding every day on trainers, and factoring in how long winter and the darkness of the PNW are, I can easily see now that investing that money into a trainer like this that I'd use regularly is a no brainer: you come out the other side in the spring ready to shred instead of suffering through that painful six week period where you’re trying to make your legs remember what real bike rides are.




Nikki
Set up was a breeze. Just like the Kickr Smart Trainer, Casey tested the NEO 2T first and I pretty much just pulled it out of the box, mounted the correct cassette, changed the adapters that came with it for my thru axle bike, and I was ready to start pedaling. I didn't have to download any apps or calibrate the trainer, it just synced right up with the training apps I was using.

Like the Kickr, it was nice to be training on my own bike where things like reach, saddle height, saddle position, and cockpit are all already dialed in. I have a lot of friends who race and want to spend the winter training on the bike they plan to race, making these smart trainers pretty desirable. Right off the bat, the most noticeable thing about the Tacx as compared to the Saris was how smooth and quiet it was. The only noise I could hear was coming from my squeaky peddle which I have procrastinated overhauling, but that was easily drowned out once I started playing music.

In Zwift, as Casey pointed out, when using ERG mode the Tacx was super sensitive to minor changes in cadence and power, but did a fantastic job of keeping me on my toes. Once I figured out the flow of how each trainer worked, it got easier to use the different training platforms. On the Kickr, the power line was super steady, which maybe isn't as realistic for someone like me who has a hard time keeping a consistent high cadence, so with this trainer I was pushed to work hard on keeping steady.

While the Tacx Neo 2T is $200 more than the Wahoo Kickr, I would say the two are fairly comparable in features, with the exception of the realistic feel mode that the Tacx offers (à la Casey on the cobbles), which is a pretty sweet feature.

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Top Picks

Casey
After spending the better part of 4 months riding every day on several different indoor trainers, there was one that I kept going back to. The Wahoo was easy to connect to all the different devices I tried, held consistent power without constant recalibration, was quiet, and worked well in both ERG and when virtually racing. Through all this testing I started to really enjoy racing on Zwift and the Wahoo gave quick feedback between the trainer and the app. Additionally, when doing structured workouts, this trainer did a great job of holding consistent power and not throwing me into a cadence black-hole.

Before testing and reviewing all these trainers, I don’t think I would have considered investing in a smart trainer. I typically would ride outside a bit during the winter and was able to do structured workouts with my old dumb-trainer and power-meter. Like Nikki, my wife liked the ability to quickly jump on the Stages bike. After finally giving the Wahoo a test though, she didn’t go back for the same reasons. And with two riders in the house, it looks like I’m needing to have two of these in the garage. Whenever they’re back in stock.

Nikki
First and foremost, this was an eye opening experience for me: I am officially one hundred percent sold on the idea of owning a smart trainer. All of the options we tested blew my mind (except the rollers, although they did provide some needed entertainment for my kids as they watched me nerving up to let go of my "security" desk). My main reason? I am the type of human that will procrastinate until there are no hours left in the day to do my workout, so I need all the help I can get. With that in mind, the Stages SB20 is my top pick for this review because it's super convenient and ridiculously quiet. I can place it anywhere in my garage or home I want without worrying about cleaning it, or taking a wheel off, or adjusting it after one of my kids decides to mess with it—it's just there and ready to hit 'GO' as soon as the alarm buzzes in the morning. It's user friendly, easily sync'ed with Zwift/Trainer Road/etc., and was easily adjustable to dial in the perfect fit. For structured workouts it provides accurate power, speed, and cadence data. And it had not one, but two water bottle holders. I'm not virtually racing, so the lag between power to the pedals and responsiveness when "racing" in Zwift, etc was a non-issue for me.

While most my friends have jumped on the Peloton bandwagon (side note: listen to the How I Built This podcast on Peloton) I am still nerdy enough I want to be able to dial my training in to a more cycling specific program that focuses on both power and endurance, so the SB20 is more my style. At $2,899.99 USD it is quite an investment, but the price is comparable to other smart stationary bikes on the market. Considering how much I spent in gym fees and cycling programs over the years, the price of the Stages SB20 is a fairly small investment for the years of winter training I will be able to get out of this bike.

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Reviews and Tech Elite Stages Cycling Wahoo Saris