Wahoo KICKR Bike Pro Review

Exercise Quality

Our testers have ridden every exercise bike in this review and dozens more that either didn't make our review or have been discontinued. The Kickr Bike Pro completely outshines every other model when it comes to exercise quality. Riding this machine feels so realistic and so much like being on your own bike that there is really no comparison. If you stop pedaling while descending, the bike will continue to accelerate while you coast, giving you the feeling of real inertia. You can stand up and sprint, shift gears into a climb, coast on a descent, and ride realistic-feeling courses all over the world.

That said, this isn't so much an exercise bike, spin bike, or tool for the casual user. This is a complete, stand-alone training tool for the serious cyclist. It's the far superior alternative to putting your bike on a trainer, and offers unparalleled control and customization fit for a pro cyclist. The bike feels limitless, with the ability to generate 2500 watts of resistance; even Pogacar would ride firmly within the bike's range. An electromagnetic motor resistance unit sits outside a weighted flywheel. This changes the nature of the resistance, making it feel like you're really pedaling a bike.

Even during the full weight of your efforts, Reality Shift lets you switch gears to increase or decrease the resistance. The virtual shifting emulates the exact resistance of the gearing you program in. Even if you ride a custom cassette or odd chainring configuration, the bike can mimic it exactly. Campagnolo, Shimano, SRAM? The shifters can mimic their controls so you're not shifting one way on the trainer and another way on the bike. You feel and hear the shift the way you would on a bike, but the belt drive (or drive unit) makes the transition feel so seamless. The only thing that's different about the “shifts” is that they happen faster than when you're on a real bike. It feels almost like driving a car with a double clutch or what the future of gearbox-driven bikes may be like.

Unlike a traditional exercise bike, the flywheel doesn't continue to feel heavy as you gain speed. You can stand to sprint, then sit and coast at the crest of a hill. A feature called Easy Ramp lets you restart on a hill without the full force you'd need to exert if you were stopped on a really steep grade. The bike comes with built-in Erg smoothing that can be switched on or off. Erg mode Power Smoothing averages your power input over 3 seconds so you don't see wild, erratic spikes in your power output. Sometimes inconsistencies in your pedal stroke, or power readings taken at different spots in your stroke, can produce a spiky-looking graph that makes discerning your actual power difficult.

The real-time physical grade simulation goes far beyond just increasing the resistance when you climb a hill. When you climb a hill on a real bike, the incline changes the geometry and the muscles you use while climbing. For this reason, many spin bikes or trainers fail to replicate a real ride feel or help you train for actual hill climbing. When you encounter a hill on the KICKR, the bike's tilt changes as the resistance increases. It's a dynamic feeling that goes beyond even the tilt function on the NordicTrack X24 because you're sitting inside of a real road bike cockpit. You can grip the hoods and pull forward on the saddle the way that you do while actually summiting a mountain.

Comfort

This is where the Kickr Bike Pro really excels, since True Fit allows you to exactly match the fit data from your current road or gravel bike; you won't run into any of the weird “exercise bike fit issues.” Being able to mimic not only your reach and stack, but your exact seat tube angle allows you to train the exact muscle groups that you'll use when back on the road. There is an adjustment in the middle (seat tube?) of the bike that allows you to raise the top of the bike. This lets you dial in your exact stack height without having to run the stem or seatpost at max height.

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A Fizik Aliante R5 saddle and modern-feeling compact drop bar further differentiate this bike from every exercise bike on the market. Even the Fizik Ridefeel bar tape and hoods feel like you're chasing down your teammates instead of pedaling toward a fan and TV display. You even have working brake levers that slow you down.

Adjustable crank length and a modest 150mm q-factor allow the Kickr to mirror your current fit so you won't have to deal with knee or hip strain from riding a trainer that's just a bit off. This also allows you to easily swap crank arm lengths and experiment with power and cadence at different leverage points.

While spinning out the miles on this bike, I made a small adjustment to my stack height and reach; since the bike is so adjustable, I could make these changes and replicate the effect of swapping the stem on my gravel bike. As my fitness and flexibility increased over the winter, lowering and lengthening my front end started to make sense, and I could quickly make those changes. I was also able to experiment with seat tube angles and analyze the trade-off between comfort and power at different positions. So, not only is this the most comfortable “exercise bike” we've ever ridden, it allowed us to make changes that we could later take to the road.

A benefit that can't be overstated is the feel of real handlebars. Spin bikes and exercise bikes often use rubber-coated bullhorns that offer a wide variety of grip options and hand positions, but none of them actually feel like you're on a bike. The 40cm compact road handlebar flares to 46cm in the drops, and since it and the 100mm stem are a standard 31.8mm diameter, you can swap them out for any modern bar/stem you like.

User Interface

The physical user interface, like the touchpoints and ergonomics, is totally dialed on this machine, but the digital electronic part of the bike is minimal. It's assumed that you'll be using the bike with a screen of some kind to run the Wahoo SYSTM, Zwift, Rouvy, Mytrainingpeaks, Mywhoosh, or Kinomaps. Most of these apps function just fine on a phone or tablet, but your options for broadcasting to a large format display, like a Smart TV, are limited to screen mirroring. If Wahoo had an Apple TV app, you could create a direct connection and likely a better experience.

There is a tiny little box to the right of the downtube that shows your current gear or angle of incline / decline. It's the only actual digital interface on the bike, and while it works just fine for giving you the relevant information, it feels barely adequate. Underneath the junction box is a USB-A port that allows you to plug in a phone or tablet to keep it charged, but the bike does not have a place to rest one of these devices. Wahoo sells a KICKR desk that wraps around the front end and rests on the floor for $229, and while that feels expensive, what's a couple hundred bucks more on a product like this?

When you take a close look at the hoods, you realize there is a lot more going on than just the ability to shift multiple drivetrain brands. Atop each hood are 4 multi-function (game controller) buttons that allow you to increase or decrease the grade independently, or control the Wahoo app.

These “joystick-style” buttons are squarely aimed at Zwift, where users enjoy virtual racing, gameified rides, and some psychedelic virtual worlds to ride through. The 4 buttons on top of each shifter let you interact with the Zwift system, and buttons on the inside of the hoods allow you to steer the bike (but you never crash into anything for lack of steering). Through the Zwift system, you can communicate with other riders, send emojis, use power-up triggers, change your view, add and toggle menus, and more. If you're new to Zwift, these controls take a bit of getting used to, but they negate the need to grab your phone or use a keyboard.

Features

It seems like much of what we've covered thus far could be called features, but there are a few extras (and standard features) that allow you to make the most of the bike. On the standard side, adjustable feet and a water bottle cage let you place the bike on uneven surfaces and stay hydrated. Transport wheels on the back of the bike let you roll the bike around, but we found the 31" width a bit too wide for some of our doorways. There is also a belt drive hidden within the bike that contributes to the smooth feel and requires almost no maintenance.

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Since most of what you'll likely be doing on this bike involves apps, a screen, and additional sensors, connectivity is a major feature. The bike uses WiFi for its standard connection to apps and Bluetooth to connect to a heart rate monitor (not included). The bike also uses ANT+ and ANT+ FE-C; these are data transmission protocols that allow your bike to connect to your ELEMNT or Garmin computer. ANT+ FE-C (Fitness Equipment Control) goes a bit further, allowing the program or workout you're following to make adjustments to the bike's resistance and incline for you. This is similar to Bluetooth FTMS found on iFit-equipped machines, but a bit more reliable over the long run.

The bike has a Direct Connect feature that allows you to run an Ethernet cable directly, but requires an adapter that is not included with the bike. You can use Direct Connect to run Race Mode, but since the bike has a fast 2.4Ghz WiFi connection, it's not always necessary. Race Mode increases data transmission rates by 10X and improves system responsiveness. If you choose to race in the gameified app world virtually, this mode eliminates lag between bike and screen and gives you a more realistic experience.

Ease of Setup/Portability

This is a serious piece of equipment, and it comes in some serious packaging. When the semi truck pulled up in front of our office and got out the power pallet jack, we expected the worst. Once we had the box off, it felt like the pallet might have been overkill, but it certainly kept the bike from being damaged.

The top-off style packing makes it easy to unveil the bike without lifting it in its entirety. Once we removed all the packaging, the two support legs bolted directly, and the cockpit pieces were preassembled, so the final assembly took just minutes. Dialing in the fit took a few more minutes; we had Retul data we could use, but if you haven't had a bike fit recently, the Wahoo app offers a helpful setup guide. Similarly, you can plug in measurements from an existing road or gravel bike, and the app walks you through the setup.

Should You Buy the Wahoo KICKR Bike Pro?

The KICKR Bike Pro is an expensive piece of equipment, and it's certainly not made for the masses. If you're a serious cyclist and cringe at the thought of putting your bike on a trainer and destroying your drivetrain while you spin out the miles, the Kickr Bike Pro might make sense. While I spend some time on spin bikes, I find them monotonous and nothing like riding a bike, save for some of the muscles used. I personally don't care much for trainers, putting my bikes on and off of them, the wear on my drivetrain, and the just slightly contrived feeling of it all. The KICKR, however, had me wanting to jump on, find challenges, and pour on the miles.

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