Wahoo has made a trio of announcements today, including new hardware, new RGT app features, and new firmware. This post is all about the new hardware side of things for Wahoo KICKR STEER, in conjunction with the new RGT steering features. However, I’ve got a second post coming a bit later covering the new firmware for the Wahoo KICKR V6 & KICKR Bike V2, which dramatically increases the power (wattage) signal transmission rate to apps like Zwift, enabling faster sprint reaction times.
On the hardware side of things, the new KICKR STEER is a non-electronic accessory that mounts on the front of your bike (or indoor smart bike) to provide steering within RGT (that’s Wahoo’s indoor training/racing cycling app). The accessory lets you place a phone in a tray, which then leverages your phone’s internal sensors to detect the tilting of the tray, causing your cycling avatar to take corners more tightly. But steering in RGT isn’t just limited to the KICKR STEER hardware, it also allows existing KICKR Bikes to use the steering buttons (which Zwift already leverages) to steer in RGT, as well as allows you to use your phone without the STEER to manually steer (or even a keyboard to sorta-steer).
As usual, I’ve been giving the STEER a whirl to see how it performs, and where it falls a bit short. Let’s dive into it.
The Hardware:
First up, here’s the box it all comes in:
And here’s the contents unboxed:
Inside you’ve basically got four parts:
A) The main phone tray
B) The two steering paddles
C) The mount for your handlebars
D) Extra bits, tools, & manual
Essentially, you get a new out-front beefcake of a metal bike mount. That bike mount is by default Wahoo ELEMNT series compatible, but, in the box they also include a small Garmin quarter-turn adapter. Thus you can easily swap it out for usage with your Garmin Edge series device if you have that instead.
First, you can stick the handlebar mount on your bike. This far-beefier version of an out-front bike mount also has special latches on it, designed to receive the phone holder portion. So when not being used for STEER, you can use it for your Wahoo or Garmin bike computer:
Next, go ahead and loosely assemble the two paddles into the main portion. You won’t want to tighten it yet, because you’ll want to figure out exact sizing/spacing on your bike. Then, mount it all to your bike. This just snaps in, super quick and easy. It’s got a little lock mechanism there to keep it from falling off:
Finally, adjust the two paddle arms to be within fingers’ reach of your handlebars, and ideally at the right matching angles to your bars. The height can be adjusted here as well prior to tightening.
Then simply use the wrench to tighten the bolt on the underside of each arm, which locks the whole setup in place. Admittedly, it’s a bit funky to understand placement/locking the first time before putting it on your bike, but once on your bike it’ll all gel together and make sense. Now you’re ready to use it.
The RGT Integration:
To start with the obvious, as of today RGT has added steering capabilities to the app, which can be utilized in one of 2.5 ways:
A) Wahoo STEER device with Wahoo RGT app on phone
B) Wahoo KICKR Bike Buttons (akin to Zwift steering on a KICKR Bike)
C) RGT Companion App, keyboard, or tablet and manually pressing to steer somehow while competitively cycling.
Despite the open and accessible Elite Sterzo Smart & JetBlack steering devices having been around for years, Wahoo decided to go closed and proprietary here. Sigh.
In any case, I’m going to focus on the STEER integration for this section. Obviously, you’ll need the Wahoo RGT Companion app on your phone, and that phone placed in the tray. The tray has a small inset for the camera bump on your phone, so it seems to stay there just fine (plus, it’s only tilting a few millimeters anyway):
Next, you’ll tap to the steering page in the companion app. This has a few options, such as tweaking sensitivity and toggling whether it’s on or off. You can also see the arrows on the screen which you can tap to manually steer. But otherwise, it’s designed to be placed in the tray and left alone during the ride.
So I head out for my ride. I tried two different courses as part of two different rides. One was a giant rectangle with just left turns. That was exceptionally boring for this test. However, the second course, a crit course, provided a far better window into how this would be super useful in racing. As I approached a turn, I’d press on one of the paddle sides, which tilts the entire platform. The phone’s internal sensors (accelerometers and gyros) then react to that, which the RGT app then translates to movement of your rider:
I did this over and over again, both ways. And the results were somewhat mixed. For some turns, it reacted super quickly, yet other turns there was a bit of a delay (2-4 seconds), which is kinda a lot when trying to make a 90° turn. I tried all the sensitivity settings, and it feels like there should be yet another one that’s labeled “Crazy Sensitive” to really rip those turns around. Otherwise it’s not quite as aggressive as I want.
Still, as with Zwift steering, it’s silly how easy it is to get far better lines than others on default lines. I mean, I was doing a 200w steady-state workout and basically trimmed past everyone on every corner that was undoubtedly pedaling harder than me (cause they’d pass me on the straights).
And the ‘feel’ of the STEER here is actually really good. I like the ability to use my fingers from either hoods or drops, because as you might have noticed, there’s two ‘levels’ to the STEER device, so it’s accessible from either location.
But it just feels really natural – not necessarily in a cycling way, but in a video game way. And while inevitably you’ll have someone in the comments section say “yeah, but you don’t steer your bike by pressing on a phone tray”, sure, but assuming you grew up in the last 40 years, you’ve learned how to use a phone or game controller/pad to control your direction of travel in games, be it riding, driving, flying, or who knows what else. We’re all past that point at this juncture in the collective universe. It’s second nature. And ultimately, this felt surprisingly good – despite being the crazy-looking contraption it is.
Still doesn’t mean they can’t tweak the sensitivity option a bit more, but, overall, a solid experience.
So what happens when you want to use your phone mid-ride? Well, if you pick it straight up, then your cycling avatar starts doing shots of tequila and swerves all over the place. However, Wahoo has you covered there too, with that little toggle to quickly turn off steering via phone. Definitely tap that first. Or do shots. Your choice.
At this juncture, like Zwift, you’ll stay in your ‘lane’ on whichever side of the road you’re on. So if your last move put you on the left side, you’ll hang out there, no matter what the road does (which could be advantageous, or not). But you’re not going to endo over the barriers and be left for dead on the side of the road. Though, one could argue that’d significantly up the gamification.
Once you’re done with riding indoors, to pop-off the STEER you’ll press the little locking button on the underside of the mount, sliding STEER off and putting your bike computer on:
Easy peasy.
Some Thoughts:
First, let me say that the feeling of the KICKR STEER is quite good from a ‘how does it feel to steer’ standpoint. Meaning, that while the existing button method on the KICKR Bike (or other smart bikes), as well as the Elite Sterzo Smart turntable (like the JetBlack one) are all fine. They have their pros and cons. However, I’d argue this ‘felt’ the best in terms of natural movement.
I appreciate that it can be accessed from either the drops or hoods, and I don’t have to steer my entire front handlebars if I don’t want to. So, I actually like it. I also appreciate that Wahoo included a Garmin mount adapter in the box. They recognize Garmin is the giant in the room when it comes to cycling bike computers, so making it compatible there without fuss is a nice touch.
But, I’ve got some challenges with the whole concept.
A) It needs my phone in there uninterrupted: Maybe I’m alone here, but I kinda use my phone quite a bit during trainer rides. Sometimes to answer a text, perhaps check something on the interwebs, take an ultra-important Instagram Story photo, or umpteen other distracting things. While yes, there are some workouts where I’m dying on a trainer sweating buckets unable to type my name, the vast majority aren’t that way. So in this case, I can’t use my phone. Sure, I could use an older phone in there, but…that’s just one more thing to charge/update/etc…
B) It doesn’t work with Zwift: I get it, Wahoo owns RGT. But ultimately, very very very few people ride RGT. And here’s thing: Wahoo could have made this compatible with Zwift. They could have either developed an app that plugs into Zwift (just like the Elite Sterzo does), or, could have worked with Zwift to build it into the companion app. But unfortunately, Wahoo is too busy suing Zwift, so realistically that’s not likely to happen. I asked Wahoo if there were any Zwift integration plans, and the answer was no, that’d be on Zwift to develop something app-wise for it. Given Zwift has demonstrated through actions over the last few years they don’t care at all about their steering functionality, I certainly don’t see them adding code to help a company that’s suing them.
C) It doesn’t work with non-round bars: Half of the bikes in my stable don’t work with it. These are bars that are non-round (aero handlebars) or triathlon/TT bikes. But I also get that the vast majority of bikes have round handlebars, though I’d question if the Venn diagram of people with high-end bikes that competitively race on RGT and want steering match that of those who have round handlebars. My guess is, many have fancier bikes with aero (non-compatible) bars.
D) Price: Priced at $99 seems a bit expensive for something limited to just one platform and without any electronics in it. I think the price they were selling it at – $49 – to Wahoo X subscribers over the weekend would actually make a lot more sense.
My issues here are largely more conceptual than hardware. I think the hardware, while a wee bit crazy looking, does work really well. It feels strong and durable, and largely matches the Wahoo aesthetic. It’s just that I’m not sure the whole “don’t touch my phone and use RGT” thing matches what most people want.
Wrap-Up:
As I just outlined in the previous section, the KICKR STEER is a tricky device. On one hand, if you set aside the bulk and general aesthetic of it, it actually works pretty darn well in terms of usability. Sure, there’s a bit of lag, but that’s easily fine-tuned by Wahoo and is an app thing, not a hardware thing. Having access to steering on both hoods and drops is a nice touch, as is the ability to have a metal out-front mount for regular bike computer usage. That in and of itself tends to be fairly pricey, though, usually those are more lightweight metals and less bulky.
In some ways, Wahoo has arrived at a crossroads of the future of the company. They’ve effectively just released their first hardware product that only works with their software platform. This coming from a company that pioneered open standards in the indoor trainer industry. There’s no technical reason this can’t work across platforms, except policy decisions. Decisions likely heavily influenced by Wahoo’s recent lawsuit against Zwift. But no matter which side of that lawsuit you come down upon, the end resultant doesn’t make the situation any better for the consumer (or the industry). And the STEER is a perfect example of it. It’s a product that in a different era of cooperation might have been super compelling to a wide swath of people. But now, despite being one of the better steering options from a ‘how it feels’ standpoint, it’s ultimately hamstrung by the politics of two of the biggest companies in the segment.
In any case, if you’re an RGT user with round handlebars and you like a bit more race realism – this is a cool accessory. For everyone else, you’re out of luck. It’s really as simple as that.
With that – thanks for reading!
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As usual, Ray, your comments are accurate and insightful. Zwift predated RGT and certainly dominates over the latter. Not allowing Zwift to be used with this product make work for Wahoo but not for all those who use Zwift. Don’t think RGT will ever become more popular than Zwift.
“Given Zwift has demonstrated through actions over the last few years they don’t care at all about their steering functionality, I certainly don’t see them adding code to help a company that’s suing them.” True and easily proven in that Zwift doesn’t allow steering in many of it’s rides. Don’t think this product will be flying off the shelf.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t believe Zwift ever opened the steering protocol. I’d be shocked if Wahoo didn’t try to get Zwift to allow integration, as in my experience it’s always been Zwift trailing the trainer companies on releasing and integrating features.
I use steering on Zwift free rides and group meet-ups with my Kickr bike. Works nicely.
I’ve only had my Kickr bike since the start of this winter, but already on Zwift I’ve been angrily accused on three separate occasions of cheating by steering to take the ‘racing line’… in free rides!
As a representative of the “everyone else” category, the closed architecture means it’s not me who is out of luck, but Wahoo, by using a closed architecture that means I can never use their product.
And as someone who jumped on a Wahoo Kickr Core the second it was released back in 2018, by continuing to shortsightedly go against open standards, Wahoo will eliminate themselves from consideration when my current trainer eventually needs to be replaced.
Interesting, and not in a good way.
Weren’t we able to Steer on Zwift with a phone mounted on the handlebars a few years ago? No special gadget to hold the phone just any mount and your phone worked for steering? Maybe my memory isn’t very good. If I’m right is there any chance Zwift would sue Whaoo over this?
I’m no longer on Zwift, but when I was, there was the single track course which allowed the use of a phone, but then later, there was general in-game steering which did not allow use of the phone.
The steering used the accelerometers in the phone but was based on rotation, not tilt, so if you used this mount and steered the front wheel, that would work on the Zwift single-track, but using it as designed with the paddles it might not…. you’d need to experiment.
Of course Zwift could (or maybe already has) enabled use of the phone for general in-game steering.
Zwift steering has 3 lanes (L, C, R) while RGT has 30. So steering in RGT, given a default 8 meter road width, shifts the bike 37.5 cm, or approximately one bar width. This is much finer detail than Zwift, consistent with RGT’s model of careful monitoring of lateral position, and in fact, when you upload rides from RGT to Strava, you can see where the rider was left-right in the lane, while in Zwift you just see center-of-road. It’s why RGT requires lower internet latency than Zwift — Zwift just keeps rough tabs on you, while it lets your computer work out the details, while RGT controls everything from the server, for better pack physics, and more precise race results.
We were – but that required your handlebars to be able to rotate (e.g. because you had a Sterzo under your front wheel) – so rotation about the vertical plane. This is the natural limb and rotating about the horizontal plane.
Also – I would be slightly surprised if “using your phone like a steering wheel” had been patented by Zwift given that the concept has been around in one form another since the first time some put an accelerometer in a phone.
“It’s why RGT requires lower internet latency than Zwift — Zwift just keeps rough tabs on you, while it lets your computer work out the details, while RGT controls everything from the server, for better pack physics, and more precise race results.”
I was also a Zwift user but couldn’t get into it for training and ended up on the Sufferfest platform which is now SYSTM. Since Wahoo bought SYSTM I have been using RGT and have been pleasantly surprised- somewhat for the reasons you noted above. The physics just make more sense. I have been importing my workouts to the RGT platform for some solo rides and also have done a few group rides with friends using the radio feature and a few races and to me there is a real difference in how the avatar moves based on how the system is designed.
Yeah. When Zwift first introduced steering, I rigged up my phone on the handlebars with some rubber bands so I could rotated left/right with my thumbs. It kinda worked OK and I got a good sense of how steering worked in the app. From what I see with the RGT, I should be able to easily rig up a rocking mount of some sort, though $50 for their gizmo seems reasonable enough.
As far as cross compatibility, it’s just a simple mechanical mount that allows rocking a phone. It’s up the app in use to decide to use that info to steer, as Zwift initial did with rotating the phone. Nothing stopping Zwift to do that again using phone rocking instead.
I don’t know what gear you have, but riding Zwift with my Kickr bike I have much more than 3 lanes. I can steer seamlessly or in 1.5 foot increments between the white line and the middle of the road and sometimes a bit outside of those boundaries. I don’t see how the additional precision of 30 lanes would be more helpful. But that’s just me.
The email from Wahoo got me all excited… and then I see what it actually is. This is certainly not going to get me to use RGT. I was certainly hoping for something that I could use while the front of the bike on the CLIMB but alas it is not so.
Can I come rewrap your handlebar tape?
Will go down as a highly underrated comment
Deal. I’ll even give you a free waterbottle. :)
Hey Guys, I’m a bit puzzled by calling our device closed. It’s not electronic. I am happy for Zwift or any software company to do what we did and make their remote app steer when placed in our device. The right way for this device to be used is with an app specifically designed for the software you choose to use. That would be the Zwift remote app in Zwift’s case.
We have open sourced the protocol we developed for button presses and Wifi and freely shared them with all the other trainer companies. Any devices that use those protocols should just work with RGT. I am hopeful others will choose to use these, but can’t guarantee it. We can try to implement other steering devices, but we are pretty lean lately and frankly I think turning the bars is pretty dumb, that’s why we did it the way we did it…
Chip
Agree Chip,
Before I purchased a Kickr Bike I had a Stages SB20. I waited and waited for Zwift allow Stages to integrate their steering buttons, but after years gave up. I ride both RGT and Zwift now, but recognize that the Big Z has been very reluctant to promote or implement any software integrations.
Looks like Ray answered this below (and I agree).
If you made RGT compatible with Sterzo, yes you’d lose the purchase of this, but gain a long term subscription from me as I’d move from Zwift.
Never mind all the steering nonsense Chip. Let’s get to the heart of why this will never adopted by that many people, its RGT itself.
I’ve used Zwift since it’s inception. I recently cancelled my subscription to try RGT.
RGT has an awful lot going for it over Zwift but will never be bigger than Zwift until it adopts just one thing.
It’s own Watopia, free ride world. End of.
Yes, yes, the circuits you have are nice, but they aren’t enough. If you want to leap ahead then you should be implementing a RGT World all of its own. The irony is, your graphics are almost GTA-esque in a way that Zwifts aren’t. If you combine them with a map that’s more free-roaming, cyclist will jump ship overnight.
It’s so obvious I’m surprised you haven’t realised it yet.
You’re welcome.
Spot on. I starting using zwift about 4 years ago but always hated it so jumped to RGT about 2 years ago. IMO RGT is so much better but it lacks the one good thing that zwift has.
You want other companies to do the work to make their app work on your device, when all you needed to do was broadcast out as an app-complient steering device?
Your app is closed because that’s the choice you made. Don’t blame or fault you for it, but it’s silly to quibble that your app isn’t “closed”. It is closed, by design.
STEER.
Why so many vowls?
Because all their other product names (TICKR, KICKR, ELEMNT) lack that E vowel.
How is this a “closed” device? Surely anyone could make a third party phone app that broadcasts compatible steering to Zwift?
It’s closed because in effect, it is. Wahoo could have taken two steps to demonstrate it’s not closed:
A) They could have made their Wahoo app (any of the multiple that exist) also broadcast out as a Zwift-compliant steering device (like the Elite Sterzo Smart, Wahoo’s own KICKR Bike Buttons, etc…).
B) Inversely, Wahoo could have allowed RGT steering to connect to any of those existing steering devices and/or smart bikes.
Neither happened, and when I asked, neither was in the plans.
That doesn’t make this “closed” though. That’s just Wahoo being lazy / making a business choice not to support competitors.
If two months after release the community has made third party apps wouldn’t that completely change the STEER device? It would then be the most “open” device on the market, so how could it have ever been “closed” to begin with?
As far as I know, the Zwift/Sterzo/Jetblack steering is non-standard proprietary too. Chip says above that Wahoo has released the documentation for their steering so they’re both equally open.
What you’re talking about is interoperability which isn’t the same as open/closed.
I’d say the STEER is half baked but it can be saved precisely because it’s open. The real question is whether this kind of tilting tray is actually a better input method worth saving.
I suppose we can quibble on the meaning of closed/open, but in my book – when a platform (RGT in this case) is only compatible with new Wahoo solutions, despite existing multi-vendor solutions being available, it’s kinda closed.
The steering used by the others is all the same, as all companies adopted it the same way. Elite came up with it, but ultimately handed it off to everyone to use. Chip noted they released documentation for buttons/WiFi, but not actually for the STEER steering (cause technically as you noted, it doesn’t exist). And it’s cool they’ve done that for WiFi/Ethernet, hopefully others leverage it.
I get this is messy, and I get that it requires resources. But always choosing the easy path (least costly) is how the indoor trainer industry got themselves into this pickle 20 years ago, before Wahoo took the hard path more than a decade ago and opened things up. However, in the last few years, that’s become more and more walled garden.
Serious question – Does Zwift allow anybody to create steering devices for their app? A while back they didn’t… as noted above, I dealt with them not allowing the SB20 to use the built in buttons for zwift steering. Or maybe it was that they required a payment to allow steering?
I have to agree with Kyle. This seems like a very simple mechanical phone holder than can be rotated so to say it’s closed is very misleading. However I get what you say about not supporting other steering devices so I think the article should be clearer as readers may come away with the wrong impression.
I tried the RGT steering last night just by clicking the buttons in the app & it was very good. A device like the STEER would be a lot better to use though.
You’re saying that Elite “ultimately handed it off to everyone to use”.
As far as I know the Elite Sterzo smart is still only compatible with Zwift. It’s definitely what Elite says.
It’s annoying that all these companies are creating hardware that is rendered pretty much useless because of their closed systems.
“As far as I know the Elite Sterzo smart is still only compatible with Zwift. It’s definitely what Elite says.”
Elite had a 1-year exclusivity agreement with Zwift (it was actually bidirectional), that ended in April 2021. Elite saying it’s only compatible with Zwift is logical because till yesterday, that’s the only app that had steering.
“Does Zwift allow anybody to create steering devices for their app?”
Now this is a much messier question. Basically, up till April 2021, Elite had exclusivity for non-smart bike implementations on Zwift. Meaning, Zwift couldn’t partner with another steering thingy if it wasn’t on a smart bike. That’s why we saw the KICKR Bike steering in Jan 2021 roll out, as well as Wattbike.
Except, all of those back then required licensing agreements from Zwift. Zwift wanted money in exchange for that functionality. Stages also tried to get this implemented (including licensing) but Zwift dragged their feet. Tacx didn’t see the value in it (and still doesn’t).
Elite had developed the steering protocol side of it, and then basically gave it to Zwift. Wahoo meanwhile says they did the same for smartbike buttons. I assume both to be true. Along the way, Keith Wakeham came along and…umm…open sourced it: link to titanlab.co
(Of course, practically that doesn’t matter much, because Zwift could play technical whack-a-mole with any vendors that didn’t align to their agreements)
Anyways, fast forward to last summer, and it sounded like Zwift had eased the idea of licensing at all for steering. I’ve heard conflicting things on whether or not a fee is/was still involved. Jetblack’s device finally went through after being shown years earlier.
Don’t get me wrong – as I’ve said many times, closed stuff on either side of the equation is superbad. Having Zwift pretend to be a gatekeeper here sucked (historically). Especially cause frankly, they were a bad technical gatekeepers. It’d be one thing if they kept it behind licensing fees but at least moved quickly once papers were signed, but they didn’t (and probably still don’t).
And I know that the industry’s big smart trainer companies are working behind the scenes on standards for things like WiFi/Ethernet connectivity (as Chip noted down below) – but at the same time, doing it all behind the scenes makes it less viable to use as a hammer. I mean, can’t they find one of those YouTube Shopify ads we all see, give themselves an org name with a clever acronym, build a website, and start publishing what they’ve done? That then let’s all the smaller apps (even if it’s only marginally smaller, like FulGaz or Rouvy or whatever), start to leverage it, which builds critical mass.
All of which means that when I write up about stuff like this, I can take out that Shopify website hammer, and whack non-compliant companies with it (be it Zwift or trainer manufs). That in turn, means other cycling tech media does the same too.
Anyways, all of these companies keep complaining about Zwift’s power over them, yet, when push comes to shove, they’re not doing anything to help themselves here.
I know you say that about Elite exclusivity with Zwift having ended but I emailed Elite in May 2021 and this is what they told me (translating from Italian):
–
Our exclusive agreement with Zwift is still active (and will continue for years).
For such reason we cannot share the protocol, I’m sorry.
–
I haven’t succeeded in getting more recent updates. Maybe you could find out?
I’ll poke. But we do know it’s not exclusive anymore, given that Jetblack has theirs in market now.
Ugh, this would totally solve the problem for someone who uses either the CLIMB or Inside Ride’s E-Flex (which I do) and is looking for the advantage in Zwift races. Anything that depends on having a front wheel on the ground doesn’t work for these applications.
Hopefully the frosty relations between Wahoo and Zwift resolve some day soon. Not holding my breath. Maybe we need to convince the team at JetBlack to introduce a steering solution that doesn’t require a wheel on the ground.
The “areo handle bar” people should already have an out in front computer mount. If this device isn’t compatible with those mounts, then this product should be made to work with them.
No, it’s not compatible because those mounts can’t handle the weight/load (of pressing). Additionally, this as a separate lock-type to keep the phone platform from falling off.
Great review as usual Ray! Do you have any plans to update your cycling app/platform guide? It seems like a lot has changed since 2020, and I’d love to understand the current landscape in case Zwift increases prices too much…
How does using a rocker plate affect this? If it steer via tilt and you’re tilting back and forth all the time while on the rocker plate (especially while sprinting), do you look like a drunken monkey onscreen? Also, it doesn’t appear to have allowances for users like me who realize mid-ride that they’ve forgotten to charge their phone, unless there’s cable management slots I’m not seeing.
We use the gyro in the phone so it looks at the specific lean angle of the phone. If you are on a rocker plate you’ll need to turn the sensitivity down a bit and will have to tilt the device a little further to activate but it should work fine unless you are leaning like 45 degrees either way. We built in space for charge cords on the end.
I think they missed a trick by not adding a wireless charger to this. Plonk your phone down and charge whilst steering.
Strong April 1st product announcement vibes.
Thanks for the review Ray. Is there a ‘fire’ button built in to the STEER? Or perhaps you detected a double tap to switch weapons? Maybe a long press to access menus?
We all know that the end game for indoor cycling has to be some type of GTA/MarioKart/GranTurismo mash up with our legs providing the speed, so would be good if the hardware makers like Wahoo recognised this sooner rather than later.
I like the idea of this and on UK wahoo website only 45 quid so just ordered it
I think it might help if they use the tilting feature in SYSTM, not for steering, but to be programmed to either change the intensity, headwind speed, level setting, incline on climb, etc…
Nice t-shirt!
That looks shit. Wahoo shouldn’t waste there time on making plastic tat.
After my experience with support around the belt in my climb breaking and the complete failure of the direct connect, I wouldn’t recommend another wahoo product again.
Well that is actually my invention and I patentet this years ago :)
Chip Hawkins actually liked it very much as I see.
Wondering if he can show a licens agreement. Maybe he can, but it is not Wahoo´s idea this is a fact.
It was mine. I am on the patent as inventor. ;)
Nice try, Zwift
Oh man if I had my phone in a device like this out in front of me, it would get absolutely drowned in sweat. So you’d better make an upgraded version, probably with a clear lid and a rubber gasket around it, to protect from moisture ingress.
@DCR, Sorry for the cross-post but had intended to post this here instead, however fingers glitched on « back » button.
Perhaps Wahoo RGT will cleverly capitalize on disgruntled Zwift users who may finally leave Zwift (at least temporarily at first), in-response to their proposed subscription price increase.
Specially since the Zwift platform has essentially plateaued, without any significant improvement for many years – as per readers comments to DCR’s recent blurb on the topic.
Wahoo has to think outside the box, as to how to finally lure and keep those potentially unhappy, disgruntled Zwifters, when the time comes.
In essence – a proverbial gift from heaven for RGT.
Ray, Thank you as always for your review. I think that I need to comment on this as I am one of the “very very very few people that ride on RGT”……or at least I was until today. Firstly as you quite rightly point out the issue with this product is that is needs a certain set of bars. Secondly, I have no idea why I would want to buy a product that leaves my phone in the exact area where sweat drips to and then place it in a tray to catch the sweat.
That aside, I would not care if the product left RGT as it was, but it does not. The steering function is forced upon you. This change is similar to the change that Wahoo introduced a while back that meant SufferFest would no longer run on a 16 bit software. At that time you noted that many Zwift users use Apple TV and you did not understand why Wahoo did not allow SystmX to run on Apple TV. I had to update my software on my Laptop and oddly RGT no longer worked on the new software. So I now use an old Apple LapTop for SystmX and Apple TV for RGT. The simplicity of Apple TV has meant that in the past three months I have ridden SysmX once and RGT all the time. The experience has always been clunky, but you got by……until today. The experience of RGT today was dreadful. The only way I could steer, during the Lou Ride, was the Apple TV remote (good luck with that when you are flat out). The experience was akin to riding Rouvy back when there was no drafting, only this was much worse as other people could draft, and push me out of position. When I could get the Apple TV remote to work I was then stuck behind another rider and could not accelerate even if I pedalled harder. This left like being on a group ride when they drop you half way through the ride and you don’t know the way home. The ride is unfair as some could draft and others could not. I left the ride today feeling alienated. That is a real shame as there are many great things about Wahoo. SystmX is truly amazing if you need to do rehab. And RGT has a great sense of community. Sure there are a just a few riders, but Team Lou Rides and other groups will always get people to ride together, to find a group. It always felt like that nice club that looks after you on the Sunday Club run, but that seemed to fall apart today. I note other comments elsewhere saying that as Dunoon is a narrow course they were just blocked behind other riders. It feels as if this change has been rushed. I note your and other comments saying that hardware solutions for Wahoo only and not Zwift are likely to struggle. I fear for Wahoo at the moment. It feels as if it is trying to make a bold step to get more users, maybe from Zwift. I wonder if there was commercial pressure to get the new product out there today. I hope that this strategy is successful as we need Wahoo to be successful. We need a strong company to compete against the likes of Garmin and Zwift as that is in the consumer’s interest. However, if it alienates its current very loyal user base then the stability of the current revenue is at risk. There were about 30 riders on the Lou Ride today and about 10% said in the chat that they were having problems. Two were Apple TV users. That is a concern if that was mirrored across all of the other rides. I cannot see myself doing another Team Lou Ride as there is no longer any point. In which case why do I need RGT……..
Apologies for the long comment, but I hope that Chip will be reading these comments today.
I’m curious. why didn’t they just make two bluetooth/ant+ buttons that you could mount on your bars to steer? The wahoo bike already has this built in, so it’s not like they would be starting from scratch. As others have already mentioned, I have no intention of putting my phone in the sweat zone, but I would have no problems attaching a couple buttons onto my bars.
After having my climb belt break and the direct connect not work and getting some poor support from wahoo. I think I’m done with their products.
Any idea how the STEER will be affected by trainers on rocker plates and/or the Kinetic Rock & Roll trainers?
Also, it seems like the discount for Wahoo subscribers was only “live” for like 5 days? Do you know of any way for a subscriber to still obtain the discount at this point (or do we have to wait for “Black Friday” or Cyber Monday….
Thank you for the review. I tried out RGT as a Zwift alternative. Steering was actually something that I considered being completely useless gimmick. I have no idea why anyone want to use it. I tried it out in Zwift and I had to hold my phone in my hands to be able to navigate. Even if was working smooth, not sure why one would like to have it. Voice chat feature which RGT focus on is completely useless as well as all most of the clubs are using Discord anyway. Menu structure was over complicated and on PC game felt like a console port.
Graphics and HUD looks awesome though.I wish there was a mix with RGT graphics but with Zwift features.
Lack of music/sound at tracks is a real killer feature. So far there is only one track that support it. Considering how borning indoor cycling can get I don’t understand why adding ambient sound is not a priority.
Okay so I’m on the trial for RGT.
Wahoo has a lot of ground to make up here.
Imo they should offer this service for free to grow their community. It’s shocking how little riders are on this app.
I specifically got aero bars with circular inner portion – to fit stubby trim bar extensions
draft legal triathlon
glad I did 🙂
Iv realised that my TurboRocks plate dos the job of this unit with the phone
– but to a lesser degree
So I glad I brought it still
I attached my Steam controller to the handlebar using two rubber bands. Then mapped the gyro into keyboard actions which is super easy using Steam. The result was that I can just turn the handlebar to steer. If one is not too worried about twisting and torturing the front wheel a bit, this is a much nicer solution than pressing paddles. It is also perfectly responsive, and solves most of your issues with the kickr steer.
Very cool solution. Does the controller tolerate sweat well? ; )
This Gizmo is now bricked when RGT goes down. Zwift have turned off the ability to steer by the phones gyrosensors and they have officially stated in their oum that this ability will not return and they will not support the Wahoo Steer.
To bad, I enjoyed the Steer in RGT.
Yeah I figured that was coming. Maybe one of the other platforms will support gyrosensors (Whoosh, etc.) I have an Elite Sterzo that I plan to use for Zwift if I can get it to pair.