Tacx Vortex sound problem and upgrade

Equipment
1

Hi

I’m posting these problematic video sound, which i get on my Vortex when i pump-up heavy watts for a long time. I have send unit back to dealer once and they get me replaced (motor unit). I think now my Vortex (after 1,5year) is out of warranty and asking if here is any DIY fix for this…
I’ve read somewhere that people solve these sound problem with quick glue holes.

https://streamable.com/5l2s0
*Sorry the video is not the best, but you can hear sound like some “car bearing” problem, ususally after few minutes stops for some time.

I will probably go into upgrade and buying Tacx Neo 2T in good week, do you suggest anything against maybe Kickr being better?

Thank you

2

I think its the drum the wheel sits on. There are fixes online for drilling holes in the drum where you can see the plastic and re gluing it. But tacx has a 2 year warranty on it. Same thing happened to mine a couple years ago and they sent me a new assembly no problem.

Actually here is a fix without drilling.

Here is a different type of fix

I would definitely look at the 2t. Or even a saris h3 if the price is right. I was burned by a kickr core.

Good luck!

2 Likes
3

Mine was horribly loud. It was the metal sleeve that the tire contacts sits on a urethane core and it gets loose so it vibrates and gets noisy. There are several fixes of varying degrees. The super glue fix above, fix using epoxy where you drill out the 12 contact points and fill them with epoxy and finally instead of using epoxy, you tap the holes and use set screws. All of these options are findable on the internet.

3 Likes
4

Thank you for response and tips. I also think this metal sleeve is the problem. i’ll try fist with another warranty and then maybe with superglue.
Thanks,

5

+1 for the metal sleeve. I had the same happen to me and complained to Tacx. They sent a whole new roller unit as a replacement but it took so long I’d bought another trainer in the meantime! I’m intending to use the Vortex (actually it’s an Ironman but essentially a Vortex on steroids) as a Zwift set up for winter racing.

6

This is really handy if I have the same issue, should really check it out, usually I wear headphones as the noise of my fans drowns out the speakers on my laptop :smiley:

7

Did you try to fix yours? What did you do and was it successful?

8

Happened twice to my Vortex. Initially Tacx support told to raise a return with the retailer. That was a PITA since the unit is quite heavy to ship and I was minus a trainer for about a month whilst the retailer itself sent it for repair. After a while the repaired unit failed. I raised another support request with Tacx, this time though they sent me a replacement drum.
By this time I‘d lost faith in the Vortex’s reliability and ability to report accurate power. When I bought it I thought ±9% was accurate enough for my modest needs, but then I realised that this roughly means ±27w. A huge amount. I bought a Neo and sold the Vortex.

9

Personally. I have had a Vortex since 2015 and occasionally get the noise in your video but it doesnt really bother me as i have headphones in and i workout in my garage so i am not dsiturbing anyone. Are you wanting to upgrade to a Neo because of the noise or because you want something more accurate? it would be cheaper to try the superglue fix above and buy a seperate power meter (faveiro Assioma duo) so at least you can have accurate power measurement and be able to take power readings on the road. I havent tried a Neo or Kickr but with a Vortex and my Favero’s i dont really see what i am missing by not having a direct drive trainer and an extra £300 in my pocket.

10

I had this issue on my Vortex and got in touch with Tacx directly. I sent them a video and they shipped me a new resistance unit for the trainer quickly which was easy to fit myself

11

The issue with power accuracy for me isn’t the offset, I could live with that, it’s that the slope on the Vortex is off. When I got my power meter I realised that at approx 200 W they were a very close match, but as the power increased the trainer started under-reading power compared to the PM. This meant VO2 max intervals were nearly impossible using the vortex as a power source!

12

Yep, I went with the epoxy fix and it was significantly quieter, but still far from silent as you would expect fro any wheel-on trainer.

It’s a bit involved and takes a few days as you can only epoxy one or two holes at a time and making sure you don’t get epoxy every where. Here’s a link to the details of the process Taming a Noisy Tacx Genius Trainer | The Wayward Cyclist

The TL;DR is for each of the “dots” drill them out, fill with epoxy. Clean up. Repeat.

1 Like
13

Contact the bike store that you bought it from.
Doesn’t work?

Contact tacx directly.

THey’ll ask you to send a vid most likely.

I bought mine used, from another individual, who had bought it 2 years prior.
She wouldn’t help me with the process.

I got in touch with tacx and they sent it from across the see over to me for no cost.

Might as well try and see if it works.

14

Hi, what was the solution from tacx to you? What they sent you? Thanks