- Tonight's chick flick,
and all the ingredients.
Morning trainiacs, that was just an hour ride,
94 average watts.
When we recover, we recover.
Also, look at this damn good Scody race kit, huh, huh.
At the end of the video,
I will link to the video I did yesterday,
talking about how you can get this.
I mean, not this, this takes years
of carving into fine, artistic specimen.
So, since switching from the Wahoo Kickr
over to the Cyclops Hammer,
and arranging the deal with Cyclops,
that those athletes that are gonna be on the
Team Trainiac team training platform
will be able to get a discount on Cyclops trainers.
Everyone's been saying,
when are you gonna do a review on the Cyclops Hammer?
Today.
(upbeat music)
(grunting)
I carried that 48 pound trainer
only because I love you guys.
Spoiler alert, I like this trainer.
As I mentioned when I first unboxed this thing,
this trainer, the Cyclops Hammer,
is very similar to the Wahoo Kickr,
to the Tacx Neo.
I would put an asterisk around the Tacx Flux,
which is actually closer to the price point of this.
They're all in that over $1000 high end smart trainers
that have basically all the bells and whistles
that you could hope to bell and whistle
with the things TrainerRoad,
with the things like Zwift.
But there are just some small nuances
that everyone wants to know about
when they say like,
should I go with the Kickr?
Should I go with the Hammer?
Should I go with the Tacx Neo?
Actually, I don't really get people asking too much
about the Tacx Neo.
I imagine that's because it's $400 more.
So, let's get into some of the differences.
The little, teeny, tiny differences
between this and we'll say the Kickr,
because that's what I have familiarity with.
Number one, the changes in resistance on this are smoother.
Some people that review this say
that it's not as responsive.
That when you go up a hill,
kind of gradually increases over the course
of about three to four seconds,
and they're like well,
I want it to go boom.
I actually only saw those reviews just this morning
because over the past three weeks,
when I've been trying this,
I was like, oh, that's actually more like real life
because you don't have too many hills that just go,
you have hills that gradually increase up to
say the 6% grade, that it gets to
and it's not instant.
So, depends what you like.
Do you want it instant and sudden
or do you want it to be a little more smooth,
which I think is more realistic.
Next thing, I think that this
is just a tad quieter by a couple of decibels
and it's not like it's just outright quieter.
It's more like the Wahoo Kickr had a bit of high pitch whine
where this is a bit more of a low hum.
And especially when you got up to those really high powers,
that whine was really pronounced on the Kickr,
where as this just kinda keeps that low decibel hum,
so it doesn't really,
it doesn't give that same sort of stressful kind of feeling
that I got on the Kickr.
Certainly not on any of the more like
$3, 4, 500 wind or magnet trainers.
Cost wise, this is $80 more than the Kickr.
It is $400 less than the Tacx Neo.
Only reason that this is $80 more
is because this, (twisting)
cassette is not included.
If you have a cassette, it does make a difference
and if you're part of Team Trainiac,
we have a 10% discount on these,
which amounts to $120.
$80 cassette at most.
So, more than makes up for it.
And carrying this around,
if you're really big and studly like me
and you can carry it like no problem, whatevs,
but it's the same weight as the Wahoo Kickr.
Little bit better balance
because instead of the handle being right on top,
it's here where they've placed it
so that it's better balanced.
The similarities however are probably more
than the differences.
Road feel is probably exactly the same.
It's the same big fly wheel.
The cost, basically the same.
The sound, basically the same.
Reliableness of the connectivity, like (finger snapping)
basically the same.
Didn't have any problems with this.
Didn't have any problems with the Wahoo Kickr.
I think what it comes down to,
when you start comparing this, the Wahoo Kickr,
and the Tacx Neo,
I think it comes down to like the tiny little nuances
of which ecosystem you want to be in.
Wahoo has the ecosystem with the Wahoo Bolt,
but I never had any issues pairing this
with the Wahoo Bolt computer.
But this just isn't as apparent
that it's like, well you have to download an app
because that's where all the nuts and bolts
of making this thing function happen.
Wahoo is very much about getting you into the ecosystem.
It's also not dead silent like the Tacx Neo.
You need absolute dead silence,
when even with a dead silent trainer,
you chain and cassette are still gonna make some noise.
I don't know, do you have a baby sleeping next to you?
Depends, if you have a baby sleeping next to you.
But what you get with this
is a really solid trainer,
with a company that's known for having
really good customer service.
It's got about all the features that you'd want
in that $1000 plus price point
kind of trainer model.
Of course, there's gonna be a bunch of commenters
that say, hey, I like the Elite Direto,
Direto, I think it is,
which is more around $6, 700
and apparently the road feel on that
is not nearly as good as this.
So, you're giving up a fair bit of really enjoyable
steady road feel, consistent road feel,
for a little bit of dollars.
And if what I've been told about this actually plays out,
what you're looking at with motion
in relation to Zwift,
is that the Tacx, I believe it's got a little bit of chatter
So, if you ride over cobblestones,
you get some chatter.
Wahoo Kickr has been claiming since November
that they're gonna come out with a climb.
But month after month after month,
they keep pushing it back and apparently,
I'm on the list to even give it a try,
but I've actually just sold the Wahoo Kickr.
I kind of gave up on it
because it's still not listed in the store.
But, they haven't told me what this is,
but apparently, Cyclops is going to have something
that mountains to the front of your bike,
that allows you to have motion in Zwift.
That's all they've told me
and this is going to happen before
Interbike this year in September.
So, you end up basically comparing apples to apples.
So, what I did was I started looking at the ratings
of all of these online.
The Tacx Neo is at about 4.3 out of 5.
The Kickr rates around 4.6.
The reason that I said the Tacx Flux
has a big asterisk on it
is because it's like a 2.3 out of 5.
So, we take that, don't even consider that.
This, 4.7 out of 5.
So, is it the best?
Well, frankly, it's up to you to decide
if it is the best based off of what you want.
But in my case, I made the switch over
because Cyclops was able to partner with me
and offer Team Trainiac,
if you're in on Team Trainiac.
By the way, the link to the kickstarter campaign
is still in the description below.
We're still raising money for that
and if you are part of Team Trainiac,
you will get a %10 discount on Cyclops gear.
But is a, good,
and depending on who you ask,
one of the best trainers,
if not the best trainer out there.
So, thank you Cyclops
and for all of you who are wondering,
Cyclops versus Tacx Neo versus Kickr,
flip a coin, you're not gonna be upset.
However, if you want a Cyclops Hammer,
now you know.
So, there you go, trainiacs,
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Later.