I wanted to ask what the owners of the Kickr’s experience has been so far. My reason, I’ve purchased the Kickr two months ago, love the device but within 30 days, the bearings went out. So, went to the local place of purchase, swapped it out, everything was great till two days ago (low and behold, another 30 days), kept feeling this weird tap or like I’m hitting something. Finished a two hour ride this morning, well, almost and 15 minutes before it ended, I’m hearing a noise from the Kickr over my music, the bearings have gone out again. So, that’s two in two months. Hopefully not a third in three months? And yes, like that, my local store after seeing the second video, swapped it out without hesitation. Don’t want the money, I want it to work…
My Kickr 18 made a weird sound, they proposed to make it myself by sending parts but i said no and send it back. Instead i bought a tacx neo which was 100€ cheaper for me here in Europe !
The last thing I would hope a customer would have to do, especially 30 days after ownership, is being sent parts to repair a device like this. I’m good with worn belts and basic maintenance but that’s just not good.
The Tacx Neo was my next choice. The third that showed up on my radar was the Cycleops H2. My local business that I purchased the Kickr from gives a bonus for shopping with them, 10% and that weekend, I got an additional 10% to use in store. All in all spent $1500 US. So, that’s 300 I can use at the sports store, just need to keep my purchases there, that’s why I’m thinking the Cycleops H2.
Totally reasonable. And prior to this current situation, Wahoo had a pretty solid track record.
They apparently chanced build facilities along with the new pulley and belt design for the 2018 Kickr and Core. This has lead to some teething pains. They apparently have a solution and we will see whatever amount of these “bad” trainers work through and be fixed.
They obviously did a production run to have stock on hand at release, and these are the units we are seeing with the issues. If the problem persists at a great count beyond the next month (November) will may discover they really don’t have it fixed. But I think they are on their way to returning to good and consistent product.
Keep in mind that all of these trainer makers have had well documented issues. Tacx had some serious issues with the Neo and Flux release. It took them a while to resolve each one, but they seem to be on top of those problems now.
Point being, no company is immune from small or even large scale issues. It’s all part of modern manufacturing.
Believe me, I’ve already drank the cool-aid, I’m just waiting for the day when everything works as intended. I’m on my third Kickr, so I have yet to give up. I have a super hard time sending something out for approximately a week (the rain is set in here in the northwest and not ready to take a week off from riding) that is 30 days old for repair. I’ve already have the thought in my head of trying a fourth as my confidence of whatever manufacturing issue they have is not resolved yet. I absolutely know every manufacture can have kinks, you buy the latest and greatest, you might have to deal with these issues, to a degree. If I could post the video, you’d understand it’s not just a mild inconvenience, the bearings are done.
I don’t doubt the issues. They are very real.
My overall point is bad stuff happens to any and all companies and products.
This can be especially true for new products, design, mfg facilities, etc. That fact is one reason I waited to pull the trigger on the K18. I want one, but has some reservations, and wondered if the the “new model” switch would present some issues.
Turns out I got lucky with my guess, so I am watching closely to see if and when I am comfortable to jump into a purchase.
I’m just waiting for the rainbow. With the third trainer I have, if it makes it into and past December, then I’ve found that rainbow. If the first of December comes and I hear that noise again… We’ll, here we go again.
My reason for posting here was also to get a little reaffirmation, I thought I heard people prior to this version having good luck with them. My first guess would have been manufacturing issues but we all know what happens when you make assumptions.
Just found out my local retailer takes a loss for every returned unit, I’m really surprised by that but in a way not. I know this retailer does a “garage sale” for broken units, so the two units I returned will go into that garage sales. Glad I never buy anything in the garage sale but it’s also marked as broken. This vendor basically takes a loss on the difference it gets back from the garage sale. It’s making me really want to jump ship before I take a loss.
What? That’s on them. Either they aren’t an authorized dealer and are buying through back channels or they are just lazy. I’m 100% sure Wahoo covers these and the only possible loss I can see is return shipping. WHile that’s not free it’s also not near the dealer cost of the trainer and if Wahoo knows they’ve got an issue (and they do) then I’d expect that they are picking up the shipping too.
I ordered my Kickr2018 directly from Wahoo and it shipped to me from the factory warehouse in Taiwan. Got it mid September so been using it a month now. So hopefully it is a recent build with these issues all resolved. Mostly about 3-4 workouts a week on it since then. No issues so far 
My first was August 18th, second was September 19th, third is October 28th. Around 6 hours a week or more, 5 days a week. So roughly four weeks or 24 hours of use till i started hearing the bearings. If this third lasts more than four weeks, i might be in the clear. Not too optimistic.
Oh, found out there is a two week queue for tested units before it would be shipped for replacement.
I am now on KICKR 2018 number 2. There seems to be a hard breaking noise then feels like the cassette hub or bearings in cassette hub are trashed. This results in a lot of noise and clunking. Going to finish trading block and then send it back again during a rest week since it does take them a bit of time. Love concept of KICKR and just want it to work. But not pleased and yes seems like 30 days in then it craps out.
@Cerescolorado When you get that clunk feeling like it’s in the crank but really it’s the kickr, your a short time away from the bearings going and they go quick.
If you don’t mind, my first serial number is 01181900198. Second I did not record, my third is 01183001490. Curious where your serial numbers fall or if it really even matters.
Did you get your second one directly from Wahoo? or did you return for a crap shoot?
(this is really making me want to box it up after a workout tomorrow and exchanging it for the cycleops h2, give them a chance to earn my business…)
Thanks
I bought a Kickr Core about a month ago (from Wiggle). One week worth of use and it developed the loud clunking / clicking noise. I contacted Wahoo and they picked the old unit up and replaced it with a new unit.I’ve only had the new unit for a week, but it is working perfectly so far. I’m definitely going to be keeping an eye on it though. I’m hoping that the one I’ve received directly from wahoo will be more robust.
I bought the Kickr 2018 direct from Wahoo. Two months in and it squeals and vibrates. Wahoo gave me two options, they’d send me a new lower pulley bolt (not bering) and washer (assuming that will fix it) or I could ship the whole unit back and be put in the queue to receive a refurbished trainer. After reading about the other issues it sounds like I got one of the defective units. Hopefully the refurb they send me has everything swapped and will be problem-free.
This all feels like a product that was rushed to market before being fully tested. Maybe Wahoo was trying to beat Tacx before they released the Neo2.
Good luck to everyone dealing with these problems.
Hi, i‘m totally pissed, my second Kickr 2018 and again with noise and vibrations. What a shit product for 1200 Euros. I have contacted the support, will see what will happen.
Has anyone received and used a refurbished 2018 KICKR rather than a new replacement unit. Interested to hear whether the fixes they are doing to returned units are resolving the known issues such as rattles, knocks and vibration or are these problem units that continue to be so? Being offered one as a replacement for an earlier generation unit but have already been without a trainer for 4 weeks and don’t really fancy another bout of dealing with Wahoo support if this one goes belly up as well.
My old man picked up 2 Kickrs for his misses and hes (his?) pain cave. Both had to be shipped back with the grinding issue a couple of weeks after they got them. They both got replaced no problem, but not sure whether they were brand new or refurb, but they’ve been okay for the last couple of months until the other day. His sounds like a bag of bolts when riding now.
I appreciate Wahoo were good about replacing the originals and giving some free goodies, but for the price of the trainer you expect better really…
I’ve been using my Kickr '16 since September and it’s been faultless.
I just started having the same issues tonight! It seems the product quality with here is seriously diminished.
I just upgraded to the direct drive KICKR just before the Thanksgiving holiday here in the states. I’d been a very happy user of the SNAP for 2 years. Tonight, as the unit was spinning down, a loud clattering/knocking sounds developed which seemed to have been preceded by a vibration I felt in the bike frame about 20 minutes into my 90 minute workout.
I’m reading this thread and seem to be seeing that this is “common issue.” Has anyone been able to get the problem(s) resolved successfully?