I have had it with smart bikes and are currently setting up a dedicated indoor bike. It will be a high end bike that makes me want to ride on a trainer that also supports that. Now, for outdoor I keep everything pristine and run a waxed chain according to ZFC method. IOW, two chains immersively waxed every 300km. The bike I’m currently setting up for indoor has two chains which only has followed this procedure, and are like new. Now, how is it to run a setup like this indoor? I can easily ride 10-15 hour indoors a week on weeks with bad weather outside. Will there be a huge mess if I break the chain loose between thumb and also remove from pot while wax is hot? I know a lot of people prefer oil inside, but I just feel like it would be a huge step back to once again have an oily drivetrain. I live in a household where we keep everything very clean and the bike will be inside the house, not in a garage. I have no problem wiping the floor if that’s the main place the flakes end up. Also, I read that ZFC recommends rewaxing more frequently indoors than outside. What do you guys do?
Also, to clarify why I have had it with smart bikes. They are all terribly made. Extremely plasticky with no changeable parts. Over a time frame of 6 months I have had three bike replacements. The process of replacing it is a real pita affecting my training. Imagine carrying 50kg+ into the house, assembling everything and redoing the same process with the old bike. I rather spend a little extra and get a great trainer with a high end bike with components that lasts. Would love to hear if anyone else has swapped from smart bike to trainer.
I have waxed my indoor chain to increase longevity.
You sound prepared, yes it does take a bit of brooming the sheading wax flakes. They also get on the drive side chain stay and the rear derailleur, but really no big challenges. A vacuum and broom should take care of it.
I find that I do not have to wax very often, I average once about every four months, so not high effort.
Sorry no opinion on smart bikes, my dedicated trainer bike is my retired road bike.
In my opinion you don’t need super high end bike, as long as the bike fits, touch points match your outside bike, I would spend more on the environment making it easy and enjoyable to train in. Ease of access/dedicated setup, fans, lights, TV’s, streaming services, sound bar, bike desk, floor mat, water bottles, motivation posters, and towels are where I would optimize my space.
Wow that’s a rare rewax! Sounds great though. Does it only flake the first ride, or is it a chronic thing? Also, does the flakes get on/into the trainer?
I agree a high end isn’t needed. However, for the price of the smart bike I get to keep a sl8 I was originally selling. The aero and light properties will of course not be felt on the trainer. However, it looks good, and will make me eager to ride inside as well. The pain cave is already done
You could just use drip on wax for indoor use. Hot dip the chain once and then use a few drops of drip on once a week.
I bought an industrial mat to put under my trainer and protect the floors in the house. Even then I have a towel right under the chain that catches a lot of little wax balls.
I use a dedicated $100 road bike and ERG on my kickr. I use a different gear each week to spread the drivetrain wear. Because shifting quality and part longevity don’t matter to me, I use oil lube. Because the bike is indoors, the chain doesn’t pick up dirt and stays clean much longer than a regular bike.
My outdoor bikes are all waxed. I don’t do that indoors because I don’t want wax flakes indoors.
I occasionally hit the area with a handheld vacuum cleaner (“dustbuster” to me as a kid but apparently not everyone called them that or even had them) but I don’t bother trying to wipe anything clean more than once a year or so. That’s enough to prevent serious buildup and grab any flakes which might be loose enough to catch a breeze and end up roaming around the house. Pets might make that more difficult but if the bike is staying on the trainer all the time I can’t even see foot traffic getting close enough to move very much. Once it falls it tends to stick - at least on my trainer mat.
I left my first indoor wax chain alone for months thinking it would basically last forever and it actually wore out the chain pretty quick. Since then I basically try to drop the chain in the slow cooker once a week or so. It’s total overkill but I have ADHD so if I just do it every time I wash all my kit then that’s way easier for me to keep on top of than any kind of longer schedule. Also it means it doesn’t matter when I forget 2 or even 3 weeks in a row. And I don’t care about the quick link because I’m riding 99.5% ERG mode so there are hardly any opportunities for even a completely loose quick link to slacken off and disconnect.
Most flakes are off within the first 15 minutes of riding, but they probably still come down over the first 3 hours or so. I’ve never tried this but I bet if you held the chain with a microfibre cloth and backpedaled a few revolutions after your first training session post-install then you’d probably get hold of 95% of everything else that’s going to flake off over the treatment lifespan.
I was indoors, and while longevity seems to be somewhat longer than outside, it definitely is not months. I use Silca and swap between at least two chains. Top-up every 1-2 weeks (10-15hrs), re-wax ever 3rd or 4th top-up. With two chains, that’s a re-wax every two months or thereabouts.
Sounds great. How much does it flake at the start? Does it flake on the trainer wheel etc? Especially that silver exposed wheel on the Tacx Neo series. If it mostly fall on the floor it’s no issue to vacuum after every ride.
With all of the hassles with a smart bike, and I went through it with the earlier one I had, I still would rather have a ‘smart bike’. I had bikes last less than a month and need to be replaced. Since I got the Tacx Neo Smart, its quite a bit more durable, and Tacx/Garmin support has been very open to sending tools rather than requiring bike swaps. I mean, I can do the maintenance, so sending a bike back for a belt problem is ridiculous. They were ready to replace a bike for a loose crank pinch bolt. How silly is that. Is that why they are so expensive? Replacing them for relatively simple fixes that some owners could do?
Plus the amount of damage I did while riding nearly every day was rather epic and disconcerting. I’m concerned that there could be frame damage from all of the sweat and stresses of being on the various trainers I own. But to each there own. I can see both sides. Riding a cheap bike on a trainer really did have a vote here… If the Zwift Ride was out then, I’d probably be riding that rig.
EDIT: And yeah, some of the chain treatments are so damn gross smelly and toxic. I’m glad there are better options now…
I get what you are saying, however, the garmin Tacx Neo is the bike I have. It’s also received a world wide stop using with power adapter warning this week. It’s made the bike useless for me. The warning/potential recall is overheating and in worst case fire.
This is smart bike summarized for me.
If something similar happens to a bike/trainer setup I can fix the bike or replace the trainer quickly and continue training. With the plastic crap that weights 50 kg I have to take an entire day off work and ask for help just to replace the bike and do all the logistics. Also I feel kind of miserable riding something so plasticy. The Zwift bike is even worse imo. Looking at the Tacx Neo group you’ll see just how high the swap frequency of smart bikes are. I would also like to underline that the Neo smart bike is probably the highest end smart bike one can get, so it’s not better with other brands.
However, I totally understand why you like a smart bike. It’s very convenient as long as it works. Let’s cross our fingers yours won’t fail.
It flakes a bit, and it gets on the chain stay, floor and a little on the base. I haven’t noticed any on the Tacx wheel though. You can reduce the flaking significantly by wiping it/loosening it right after pulling from wax. I use a pair of gloves and after letting the chain cool for a minute, run it through the gloves to loosen and wipe the exterior wax, which is not needed at all.
Here is a picture of my kickr. Not cleaned in a year. The wax falls under the drive train. I have a mat to protect the floor. I take the mat outside and blow it off with a leaf blower. The center arm of the kickr is what you see all the wax on. The wing arms, and main body do not collect any wax. There is very little build up on the cassette. I do use drip wax between monthly hot waxing. I also run the new waxed chain over a piece of pipe which removes a lot of the wax particles which would fall off anyway.
That’s a lot but I would also imagine you can easily just wipe it off? Also on a Tacx Neo I would imagine a lot of that would be on the mat instead? If I wipe the Tacx Neo with a moist cloth after every ride I guess it will stay clean?
I don’t know if you have small kids or pets, but if someone/something touches your drivetrain, you don’t have to worry about getting grease/lube all over everything if it’s waxed. Also, long ago I lubed my chain over a light colored carpet…bad idea. I’m in favor of waxing indoors because it’s been less messy/easier to cleanup in my experience.
