I’m having a terrible time with smart trainers of late.
I purchased the original Kickr when it came out and it was faultless, but moving to a new apartment late last year I upgraded to the new Kickr (Kickr 2018). It made all kinds of noises. Went in for repair and came back just as bad if not worse.
I then returned it and purchased a Tacx Neo 2. I tried to use it with either of my road bikes: 2018 Cannondale Synapse Hi-Mod and 2019 Specialized Allez Sprint Comp Disc. Both bikes ended up with the rear disc brake caliper flush against the side of the trainer. Once I put some watts into the trainer the caliper banged back and forth against the side of the trainer and I was forced to stop before my bikes were damaged.
Anyone have any solutions or suggestions for a reliable smart trainer that would work with disc brake road bikes?
Did you put in the enclosed spacer for thru axles. My disc brakes do “sit” but there is no rubbing. My guess is that it’s not attached properly. The NEO manual is not very helpful IMO. Check out Shane’s install.
I have the Tacx NEO 2 with Shimano disc brakes and had the same issue. It was solved with a 5mm spacer provided by the company that comes with the bike. Here are two options:
Contact customer support.
Join the Tacx NEO Owners group on FaceBook. The answer, including part #, etc, is probably already there. If not, post your question and you will likely get a LOT of responses. There’s also lots of additional great info there.
I have a Neo 2 and had the same issue with two different bikes, a 3XS Canyon Ultimate with SRAM Force and a 56 cm BMC RoadMachine with Ultegra. I called tech support and within a few days they’d sent me a 2 mm spacer they make just for this issue. It’s a lot smaller than the boost spacer that comes with it. I asked why they don’t also include the 2 mm spacer and he said it hardly ever comes up
Anyway problem solved. Emailing tech support wasted a few days as they suggested unrelated fixes. So call them at 256 768 5176.
Interesting. The only non-drive side spacer that came with mine is 5-6 mm and is for the boost set up (the “extra spacer” below). I only need 1 mm or so more room and didn’t want to stretch the rear that far apart. I knew they made a smaller spacer because I found some people talking about it on a forum. Tacx tech support knew what I was talking right away.
Wow thanks everyone for your suggestions What a great little community we have here.
You’re right the tacx instructions are pretty average and it seemed the 5mm spacer was for 135mm spaced hubs and Shane didn’t use it in his video demo. Never the less I tried both with and without the 5mm spacer before posting here on the forum. The spacer gives the rear brake caliper some room, but there is an abnormal amount of play. Please see little video here with the Specialized Allez to see what I mean.
I’m in Australia and in touch with Tacx online support but not getting very far. I will try the facebook group you recommended too.
I’m in the US. Tacx was responsive to email support, but they suggested things like using the cassette spacer when my problem was on the other side of the trainer. After a few rounds of that I called using a number I got from my Tacx vendor (Clever Training). That cleared things up right away. I’m happy how Tacx handled it. Good luck!
Just an update for anyone that might have similar issues.
I posted on Tacx Neo Owners Group on Facebook:
most people were running the 5mm spacer (like I am now)
some people had to modify the plug with the red O-ring to make it shorter as it was bottoming out and not allowing them to tighten the bike fully into the trainer
I thought the latter issue was what was happening for me and started playing around and realised it was the adapter on the drive side that was bottoming out. I unscrewed it slightly and got rid of the play (see image).
BTW Tacx support has been close to useless and slow to respond. Pretty infuriating.
ps. Tacx NEO support was very good when I first bought my trainer back in July 2018. They have been very slow to respond to my more recent issue/questions. When they didn’t respond, I pinged them again and they responded. I’m not impressed at their current state, but hope that when Garmin takes over they invest in the support area.
I to have the 2019 sprint allez disc and notice ever so slightly that there is play with the adapter. I haven’t figured out a solve but I’m hoping the 5mm spacer takes care of that. The ultimate solve is the figure out the spacing for the disc brake.
Have you noticed the thru axle adapter on your drive train side pressing onto the outside of the frame and indenting the frame? Seems like there should be some kind of rubber stopper or something to cover the metal on metal and in some cases metal on carbon.
Unfortunately I was never able to solve it so sold the trainer. I got some extra spacers sent to me from TACX but by the time they arrived the trainer had been sold
