I remember rollers and mag trainers back in the day. Sure you got a workout but they were noisy and mind numbing boring. I had heard of smart trainers but I had no idea of the level of advancement trainers had achieved. Being able to pair the trainer with an incredible number of apps that allow you to ride road courses that ones seen on TV or read about is incredible. Having the trainer adjust to the various terrain as you ride creates a challenge and excitement that the old school trainers just cant match. Not to mention the data that gets captured in terms of performance and fitness. The Tacx Neo 2 is an incredible machine of the highest quality, best of all, its silent, so when in use its disturbs no one. I would recommend this Trainer to any rider at any level.
Yeah I like this ... it had worked great ..
So the choice between Tacx or Wahoo.. I think the big difference is the weight of the fly wheel... so the wahoo is heavier and I guess gives a bit more feel, but the Tacx feels really great and its advantage is quicker response to incline changes, simple no calibration needed, road feel over bumps .. I dont know they are both great, I like that Garmin bought Tacx as I know itll be around for years to come ... you cant go wrong with either wahoo or tacx and Zwift is great!
Love this. It keeps me excited to face the next workout. My setup is the Neo2 coupled with an AppleTV, TacX heart rate monitor, HD TV, and an old iPhone on the handlebars. So I run Zwift on the TV, and the Zwift companion app on the iPhone. I love the Zwift workouts, it is great to get power, cadence, heartrate, and TSSFTP info. Love the way the trainer adjusts to mimic the in-app hills, road textures from planks, pavers, gravel. Simple connections, smooth performance, and substantial maximum resistance. This has had me eager for more miles than any trainer before, and I am getting visibly more fit already, and understanding my power output capability and how to recover while staying underway. Now i need power/cadence sensors for the real world! (Intermediate rider with a lot of weight to lose fitness to recover.)
This is a fantastic smart trainer for indoor training! I use it with Zwift, Rouvy and Taxc Training. No need for calibration. Just match it up to the ANT or Bluetooth sensors and you are off and biking. The Neo offers some sway on its mounting legs. This flex provides additional comfort on the saddle (i.e., prevents numb nuts) when spinning. Another advantage is it does not need to be plugged in to power. The road feel capability make this one of a kind trainer not offered in other smart trainers. It adds an additional element of enjoyment when I am busting out the sweat. Definitely recommended if you have the budget for it!
Best trainer by most review. But if you have thru axel, might need to think twice. It uses some adapter to convert QR to the TA dropout on your frame. I guess its structurally weaker and cause some kind of squeaking noise.
When I use other bike with QR, its silence and smooth.
The unique road feel emulation not supported by apps I tried(RGT and Sufferfest). Its fun and hope it coming to RGT.
Great service and support. The product is perfect!
Out of the box the NEO2 was smooth and quiet and worked well with Zwift. Things went south after upgrading to the latest firmware which caused erratic cadence issues with Zwift. TACX support provided me with early access to firmware that was supposed to fix this issue. Sadly it the new firmware failed to install correctly and the trainer was unusable from that point on. The reinstall process TACX support sent me didn't work. After 6 days of exchanging emails with TACX support I gave up and returned the NEO2 to Western. I am sure the NEO2 firmware issues will probably be fixed within the next 30 days but I decided I didn't want to wait.
There is a lot to like about this trainer but beware TACX support is based in the Netherlands and you are looking at 48 hour or more response times. Thumbs up to Western, they took care of me.
Wow, I'm pretty blown away with this trainer. First, the set-up was easier than I expected. I had read some reviews that said getting it set up could be a little tricky. However, I found it went pretty smoothly. There is a little bit of time investment to download the Tacx app (and whatever other cycling apps you use) and then input lots of various bits of info. But the trainer synced right up with Zwift. Ok, for the riding itself, the Tacx Neo Smart is awesome 1) it does a great job of simulating different road surfaces such as wooden bridges, cobblestone, dirt roads, etc , 2) ascents and descents are also really well-simulated, and when combined with a more realistic road surface, it really reduces the monotony of riding indoors (even with Zwift), 3) it is so quiet! And I love not having to shred a rear tire. My only complaint would be that the power info with Zwift is laggy and also lower than the the reading I get on my Garmin from the Quarq meter on my bike- I don't quite yet trust Zwift to get it right, so I have my Garmin on for a back-up. But this might be an issue more with Zwift than the trainer. I have not used the Tacx software to make any comparisons. Overall, if you are stuck inside for the winter and need to train and get prepped for early spring races, this is a great trainer to find some motivation to ride indoors.
This has transformed winter training for me. The direct drive with Zwift compatiblity actually makes working on the trainer an enjoyable experience. The flex in the trainer is nice, Unit feels stable. Was concerned about quality issues described shortly after release, but have ridden about 40 hours without problems. Only thing I would say is that the Tacx software is not the most user friendly and the unit is cumbersome to carry around
It is expensive, but well worth it. Let me first say that I was not a fan of trainers. I have had a few and tried others and found them to be unrealistic in the resistance and not smooth at all. Until I got these, I preferred rollers. Now I like both for different reasons. The Neo is smooth and really quiet. You bike makes more noise than this trainer does. The box and the styrofoam were badly damaged when I got mine, but the heavy unit was intact and is working well. I mounted a 10-spd Shimano cassette (with 11 teeth) using the provided lock-nut and a Shimano cassette tool. It pairs with my Garmin and provides speed, cadence, and power data.
This is my 3rd trainer over last 8 years or so. My first connected or smart trainer.
Paired with an app like Zwift, it actually makes riding a trainer not so miserable. Ive been averaging 5 hours a week on this one over last 3-4 weeks. I never sustained any near that amount of time on my previous trainers.
Im not sure if the spec, but it can put up incredibly large amounts of resistance. So much so that if you try to start out in the big ring up front and small cog in back...it feels exactly like it would on actual pavement and 2 wheels. The simulated pedal feedback when you ride over cobbles or dirt in your app is a pretty neat feature too.
I had an older Tacx smart trainer and decided to upgrade this year. I do lots of GPS rides of routes in the Texas Hill Country and this one is much more realistic than the old one. It's also much quieter, all around just a huge improvement. After using it for 2 months I'm going to upgrade my wife's trainer as well.
The reason I bought this was that it worked without electric. I really like it for you can ride for hours and not notice that you are on a stationary bike.
Very quite trainer. Using with Zwift. I like the simulated hills, and rough roads. The first time I went over coblestones, I was not paying attention and was shocked at how realistic it was. I went from basic rollers where it was tough to keep from going mad from boredom after 10min, to easily riding for an hour fully stimulated. Only issue is overheating, so I need to invest in a larger fan. Pretty expensive, but I figure it will keep me in shape through winter so hopefully it pays for itself in the long run based on my life expectancy .
