You can manuall control the Climb as well. The KICKR Climb proved a refreshing addition to the traditional Zwift setup, adding a new layer of immersion and – wait for it – when that thing moves up and down it makes indoor riding fun. The setup worked really well for general Zwift riding and for efforts. Fitting a mountain bike to the KICKR V4 and the KICKR Climb was easy, and the V4 has a modified shape for improved clearance with disc brakes. Used in conjunction with a planned workout, shifts in resistance synced in with our natural cadence pretty seamlessly and took some of the mental strain out of doing interval training – the thinking’s done for you, all you have to do is keep pedalling. The large fly wheel is really steady, but the bike isn’t so locked into the KICKR Climb to prevent a bit of the lateral movement that’s natural on a real bike riding outside, thanks to a slightly rounded base on the module. As a smart trainer the KICKR V4 performed extremely well. We took a KICKR V4 and a KICKR Climb to the AMB test dojo and ran it with Zwift, using both planned workouts and the ‘Just ride’ Zwift setting. If you have a Wahoo ELEMNT Bolt or a Garmin Edge you can use them to program your KICKR, replaying outdoor rides you’ve enjoyed on sunny weekends in the virtual environment. Then there’s Simulation mode, which allows you to determine a gradient, bike type, headwind, weight, and so on, and the trainer does the rest, simulating outdoor riding. You can run the trainer in erg mode, where you specify a power output (let’s say 200 watts), and the trainer sticks right there, no matter what cadence or gearing you use. There are a few ways you can use your KICKR on its own, using the Wahoo app to set level and resistance. You’ll need a Bluetooth equipped or ANT+ device (or dongle). On the technical side, there’s also a bit of setup, particularly when working out how to sync your workouts from other platforms for the first time, and to get everything calibrated using a spindown (a pretty quick and easy process). That said, there’s still the usual pfaff of removing wheels, screwing in axles and fitting disc chocks that comes with swapping your bike into most home trainers. The KICKR V4, like most home trainers, is pretty much a plug and play device. The 11-speed road cassette will work fine on your 11-speed mountain bike, but if you have a SRAM Eagle 12-speed bike you'll need to get a NX Eagle 11-50 cassette, which will fit the splined hub body.Īlso joining the KICKR Climb in the Wahoo indoor training suite are the KICKR Desk, which is just the right height to clear your front wheel or KICKR Climb and get you nice and close to your computer or tablet and your cycling app, and the KICKR Headwind, a fan that doesn’t only keep you cool, it pairs with your KICKR V4 to simulate the ‘wind-in-your-hair’ feeling of outdoor riding, lifting and dropping as you draft, descend, climb, and so on. The benefit of this isn’t just that you’re more immersed in your Zwift or TrainerRoad ride experience, but that you actually feel like you’re climbing and engage the same muscles as you would on a real climb. You can manually adjust the gradient too, if that's your thing. Your front hub attaches easily to a simple clamp, and syncs with the KICKR V4 itself, then electronically, silently, lifts and lowers your front axle to simulate climbs of up to 20 per cent gradient, and descents of up to 10 per cent. The most notable device in the Wahoo stable is the KICKR Climb, released to much hype mid-last year, but only recently landing in Australia. While perfectly functional as a smart home trainer on its own, the V4 is just one of a suite of Wahoo products that make indoor self-torture more life an actual ride outside. With the KICKR V4, Wahoo are taking the virtual training landscape a step further than their competiton. A quiet unit like this – without a rumble or so much as a centrifugal whine – is surely a revelation for those with timber floorboards, children, parents, or a partner who doesn’t mind you watching the TV over their shoulder while you throw down some high intensity intervals. In fact, sitting on the KICKR V4 made us more aware than ever of the amount of noise a chain can make as it glides over the cassette. Whether you’re cracking out numbers like that or just cruising along at 200w, it generates perhaps the most realistic ‘road feel’ of any trainer we’ve tested to date because the bigger flywheel creates more inertia. It’s built around a larger flywheel that anchors the machine firmly to the ground, and can take power output up to 2,200 watts (anyone?). The KICKR V4 introduces a few improvements on its 2017 predecessor, the V3.
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