Hey, I would reach out to Garmin again as they’ll probably have to replace the bike. The issues I was having came back shortly after replacing the belt and then I started experiencing the belt slipping even at low wattages. I think it’s a design or component issue with certain production runs of the bike.
Adding my experience for posterity.
I also had the belt slippage issue. They sent me a new belt with a tensioner, and it made the problem worse instead of better. They say they will send me a refurbished bike, but it won’t be sent out until November at the earliest. That will be at least 6 weeks from when I contacted them.
And this bike is my second Bike Smart; the first one was damaged in shipping with the seat rail bent. They originally were going to just send me a new seat rail piece, but decided to send me a new bike last December because any action that could bend the seat rail would probably damage the internal components.
I am hoping that the third time is the charm. If not…I hope they will give me a refund so I can get a Wahoo bike.
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I just had to replace the belt and seems to be working fine again for me, although I’m avoiding sprints. The bike has probably 400 hours on it over the course of the past year.
The belt replacement is pretty easy and pretty cheap, so not sure why they designed it in such a way that needs a special tool. Kind of annoying and wasteful that they keep sending out units back and forth.
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Hey all, I’m sending my Tacx Neo Smart Bike back tomorrow (random knocking noise).
My question is around the packaging. I’m not sure if the arms and display/tray, handlebars and saddle are supposed to be sent back?
Garmin weren’t very useful and I can’t seem to find a specific answer for it online!
After a good 10 months I have now made an agreement with my bike store to exchange the Tacx bike for a normal Tacx Neo trainer. During that time Garmin had replaced the drive unit and the belt. Both drive units had the annoying noises/clacking, and after replacing the belt there was also slippage even at low wattages. The Garmin support staff I spoke with were all very friendly and helpful, but unfortunately were unable to present a long-term solution. I am now very happy with the Tacx Neo, but as far as Tacx bikes are concerned I would advise everyone to wait for the second version.
My guess is that all items must be returned unless otherwise agreed with the dealer. At least here (germany), if the sales contract is contested, the ownership of the sold item is transferred back to the seller, therefore a claim for return and possible compensation arises (e.g. in case of loss of value or damage to the item).
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Thanks for your response! Interesting to hear that you reverted to the Neo. I’ve had a pretty good experience to date, some slippage but nothing major.
In this case, I’m sending this back to Garmin direct. In their instruction videos on the Neo, they request that you remove the stands, and all parts. I’ve packed just the bike, no handlebars, saddle rail etc. and will see what they say.
I thought it would be useful to give an update here.
Sent back just the main section (body, seatpost etc). Seemed fine.
A week after Garmin received it, I was chasing up for an update on the return unit. They came back to say that they ran out of stock and I’d get my unit back in early January.
Now I’m going back and forth, getting nowhere and it takes them two days to respond to every email.
I wouldn’t be one for poor reviews on a company unless I felt I had explored all options to resolve it, but I can say I would never deal with them again after this.
Who knows when I’ll have the bike replaced! On the rollers for most of winter it seems!
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My belt on my Tacx Neo Smart Bike is slipping and Garmin has sent me just the belt. Where do we get the tool to loosen the tensioner??? Does anyone have a URL or a part number for it.
Unfortunately Garmin is the only one who can ship the belt tensioner tool. You’ll have to get back in touch.
As many people, I have also had issues with the belt, which broke after 3000 km (fortunately not during a sprint). The problem is that the belt is very badly conceived (my neo bike was bought in May 2020). It is an open belt glued and sewn at the extremities to close it. And here it is where the belt broke. The Garmin service is very disappointing (very long delays to have answers, in general not informative but just saying that they “are considering your request”… I am still waiting a replacement after 3 weeks and apparently there is a problem of stock). I am quite happy with the bike, but this problem is a very annoying and possibly dangerous. It could be solved using a decent belt. Let’s see…
Having the same trouble with a tacx flow at the moment. I mistakenly sent them the legs with the faulty resistance unit. They returned the legs… but now think they are done and there’s no sign of a resistance unit coming! Aghh!
I’ve actually just got somewhere with them. I sent them emails every day looking for a response, clearly escalating my aggravation and finally I got transferred to someone at the escalations desk.
Initially got offered a refund and eventually they’ve seen the light and I’m getting a unit as an interim step until the new unit arrives sometime in February.
My only advice is to constantly email them looking for a response and specifically ask for your case to be escalated.
There seems to be Garmin staff working on it so unfortunately there’s a bit of a knowledge gap on the Tacx products, which seems to cause inevitable delays.
I hope you get sorted @brenph
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I find it mind boggling that trainer manufacturers haven’t figured out how to make/find a belt that doesn’t fall apart at a couple of horsepower.
Just snapped the belt on my bike this morning. Only had it about 4 months and put in about 120 hours of work. Really disappointed and hoping for a quick turnaround time to get back up and running. Any suggestions while working with support would be appreciated.
After a looong month of waiting, I have finally received from Tacx/Garmin a belt of replacement and the tensioner tool. It seems a more solid model (I do not see signs of glue and sewing). I hope it is the case.
As you can see in the picture, the code for the belt is S8000.20 (Tacx, Svc, Belt 2.0) and EAN/UPC 8714895060668; for the tensioner is S8000.99 (Tacx, Belt tensioner NEO bike) and EAN/UPC 8714895060293. However at the moment it seems impossible to find and order somewhere.
Wow that is a long time. Seems like regardless of what bike you get (wahoo, tacx, stages) they all have problems or can.
Want to get one eventually as I miss having a dedicated bike (peloton at one point) but my Neo2T and Saris MP1 are serving me well.
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Update on my busted belt, Garmin shipped a new bike unit (without handlebars or seatpost). Luckily, turnaround time was quick, 7 days from replacement request to delivery. I opted to have them ship first then send back the old unit with the box they shipped it in. They were nice enough to knock down the deposit from $1700 to $160. The new bike is a refurbished version, I’m hoping the “refurbishment” was to resolve the issue with the belt. In my case, the issue appears to be the belt had rubbed against the inside of the casing for the bike. When I opened it up to inspect the broken belt there were rubber shavings in the housing, and the side of the belt that was facing the casing had clearly been worn down and frayed, compared to to the opposite side which had no evidence of wear. Eventually the rubber snapped where it was glued together. At first I was bummed they had to send a whole new bike, but I’m hoping the new bike doesn’t have the same issue with the belt rubbing the against casing. Otherwise I would imagine having to replace the belt on the first bike every 6 months or so.
I too want one of these, but they all seem problematic at this point. I’m hoping the 2nd generation models will have matured and resolved these issues w/out introducing any new annoyances.
Agree. I am lucky to have an old bike I leave on my 2T so it is not that bad and love what I have.
I saw on the garmin website that they are back ordered until Quarter 3, 2021. So I don’t see them releasing a second version anytime soon