Wahoo KICKR Power Trainer
PRICE R21 999 WAHOOFITNESS.CO. ZA While you may raise an eyebrow at the Wahoo KICKR Power Trainer’s price, the ride quality, compatibility, functionality and sturdiness make it a compelling player in the ‘direct drive’ trainer market.
Though cheaper trainers are better suited to keeping your legs ticking over as winter unleashes its wrath, the KICKR provides a solution for competitive riders looking to dominate their training sessions quickly, effectively and efficiently – even when the sun is shining. That’s how good the KICKR is!
Weighing in at over 20kg, the KICKR is more than a few doughnuts ahead of the competition. So it isn’t easily transported; but the weight helps to keep it well grounded, no matter how violently you’re pedalling.
The system is compatible with all major wheel sizes. The KICKR has been designed so that regardless of wheel size, Wahoo Fitness, who produce the KICKR, offer their Wahoo Fitness App at no charge, which allows you to record your workout and share it to the likes of Training Peaks and Strava. KICKR communicates with a lot of third- party apps, to give you free range in software selection and the type of training you wish to do.
The KICKR features a ‘direct drive’ resistance unit with a built- in power meter that performs accurate, hasslefree power measurement, and talks to compatible devices and software via Bluetooth 4.0 and ANT+. The system requires a power source. A major benefit of the direct drive system is that wear and tear on tyres and wheels is eliminated – as are variances in power readings due to torque slippage, or inconsistent tyre/roller connections.
The KICKR has four modes, each of which allows you to control the resistance unit differently. Level Mode offers 10 different resistance curves, for basic training; Resistance Mode allows you to set the level of resistance as a percentage (with 100% reserved for Hulk Hogan); Erg Mode sees you set a specific wattage that you need to maintain, no matter what – you can adjust the target wattage with the +/- buttons, if necessary; and Sim Mode allows you to feed various factors (slope/ wind speed and rolling resistance) into a virtual environment, to create a world of pain in your living room.