Takeaway: With its new Rollr, Wahoo combines a hybrid roller/trainer with its smart trainer features to create an all-new type of trainer. The Rollr has the ride feel of conventional rollers along with the stability and connectivity of a smart trainer. However, this novel design has raised front wheel durability concerns for us as well as two wheel manufacturers that we’ve spoken with. Given these concerns, we are not currently able to recommend this product.
Weight: 50 lbs
Price: $800 ($1,400 for package with Powrlink pedals)
- To fully utilize connectivity with training apps, and on-the-bike power meter is needed.
- There is no floor leveling mechanism, so riders with wobbly floors might need to get creative.
- The clamping mechanism creates concerns over the long term effects of using the Rollr on your front wheel.
Wahoo Fitness Kickr Rollr / Powrlink Bundle
With the Rollr, Wahoo wanted to design a trainer for ultimate user simplicity. Their target user was someone who doesn’t want to deal with removing the rear wheel from their bike, deal with drivetrain compatibility, or various rear skewers or thru axles. It’s also ideal for riders that might want to train on multiple bikes indoors without adjusting for axle or cassette standards.
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To accomplish this, Wahoo has created a novel-looking trainer. At the front it has an A-shaped bracket that holds the front wheel at the tire. The front wheel clamp features tool-free adjustment and can accommodate a tire up to 2.1” (or 53mm) width. At the back of the Rollr are two drums that cradle the bike's rear wheel and an external flywheel that adds resistance. While the frame of the Rollr is adjustable for wheelbase, the adjustment is limited and is optimized around road bikes, which means that mountain bikes with a particularly long-wheelbase might be a bit too long to fit. Still, most road or gravel bikes shouldn’t have any issues.
The assembled unit can fold relatively flat for easy storage up against the wall, but it’s not exactly small. It’s also pretty heavy at 50 pounds. Combine that with a lack of adjustable feet, and the prospect of transporting the Rollr for pre-event warming up or cooling down seems dubious at best unless your race vehicle is a fairly large van.
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Surprisingly, given that the Rollr is a smart trainer, it does not have a built-in power meter. This is because it’s very difficult to get accurate power readings from a roller-type trainer due to a lack of consistent pressure on the rear wheel. Instead, riders who want to utilize the connectivity functions of the Rollr fully will need to have a power meter already on their bike—or purchase the Rollr together with the new Wahoo Powrlink pedals as a package. If you don’t have a power meter already on your bike or aren’t planning on getting one, I would urge you to look at a different trainer in our best indoor trainer guide.
Ride Impressions
It’s remarkable how quickly a bike can be mounted onto the Rollr. I won’t blame you for thinking that I’m exaggerating, but it takes no more than 10 seconds. This alone will be the reason for considering a Rollr over other kinds of trainers that necessitate more involved fitment for many riders.
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I did a few casual rides on Zwift with the Rollr. The overall ride feel is surprisingly good. Because the bike is only held up at the front wheel, there is quite a bit of natural bike movement that happens as you pedal. This gives the Rollr a ride-feel very similar to more traditional rollers without the added danger of falling over if you stop pedaling. This also eliminates the main benefit of rollers which can help train pedal technique, core stability, and bike handling due to the absence of any support system.
Wahoo says that the Rollr can generate 1,500 watts of resistance and simulate a gradient of up to 10%. My sprint is not nearly good enough to test the 1,500 watt claim but pedaling around Wattopia. I found the Rollr generated plenty of resistance to push against when I wanted to put the power down. Seated, steady, hard efforts felt particularly good with the bike movement allowed by the Rollr.
Unfortunately, out of the saddle efforts left me disappointed. I found that I couldn’t sustain the same consistent effort out of the saddle that I could with a direct drive trainer. As soon as I stood up, the Rollr would begin to ease off the resistance. Shifting to a harder gear would give me a moment of reprieve, but then the resistance would drop again. This would keep happening until I was in my hardest gear and would usually end with me completely spun out.
Update: Front Wheel Concerns
While riding the Rollr out of the saddle or sprinting, you could see a whole lot of flex at the front end of your bike. Frames, forks, and wheels are designed to have some give, which is perfectly normal. But having that flex so visible was disconcerting to me. I brought my concerns to Wahoo.
The company’s representative stated: “The lateral forces on the wheel are very small, and rims/wheels are designed to withstand a considerable amount of load (ex. Hitting a pothole on the road at high speeds).” Wahoo's representative further elaborated: “This, in addition to the feedback from 2 wheel manufacturers, provided us with the confidence that the design is sound and won’t cause any negative effects to your wheel/fork systems.”
I also posed this question to Enve, whose wheels and forks can be found on many different bikes. Here’s the note I got back from Jake Pantone, Vice President of Product and Consumer Experience at Enve: “Without having tested this unit or rather tested wheels, forks, and associated components fixtured in this manner, it is hard to give a definitive opinion on the matter. However, based on the videos you shared and the design of the trainer, we’d recommend rotating the front wheel on occasion to spread the fatigue around the entire wheel. Additionally, it seems possible that over time, the rider could/would see paint wear on the inside of the fork’s legs at the point of contact.”
UPDATE: At the time of original publication SRAM (parent company of Zipp) had not yet gotten back to me about the Rollrs long-term effect on its wheels. When they replied later on their outlook was significantly less optimistic than both Wahoo and Enve.
I spoke to Michael Zellmann, Global Road Communication Manager at SRAM. He informed me that "The engineers at Zipp have determined that using trainers that attach to the front rim or tire of the bike while the rear of the bike remains unsecured can cause significant flexing outside of normal intended use."
This was due to the forces produced by riding a front-wheel clamping trainer being "much different than when riding on the road, where the loads are applied differently and distributed more evenly around the wheel due to it spinning."
Zipp's Official Statment - ”Zipp wheels are not intended to be used on trainers that attach to the front rim or tire of the bike while the rear of the bike remains unsecured. Any damage caused by such use will not be covered under Zipp’s warranty policy.”
When asked for comment on this statement from Zipp, Wahoo’s Data Science team acknowledged they are now working with brands to certify different wheels on the Rollr trainer: “Wahoo has tested and analyzed several wheels and found the stresses all within acceptable levels always similar to or lower than stresses observed during outdoor riding. We are working with other wheel manufacturers to certify their wheels with the ROLLR since Zipp has taken this position and we are sharing our research with them.”
After talking to Wahoo, Enve, and Zipp as well as spending quite a bit of time riding different bikes and wheels on the Rollr, I’m honestly left concerned. It doesn't make me feel any better about the situation that Wahoo refused to divulge which wheel brands they used for testing and Zipp's response clearly rules them out as one of those brands.
With that said, in my testing time with the Roller, I did not experience any ill effects on my bike or front wheel. However, my limited testing is likely not going to be representative of long term use nor of use by riders who are much heavier than me. Given the response from Zipp, I am unable to recommend the Rollr trainer at this time.
For the right rider, the Rollr could still be an option. They want the most hassle-free process of putting their bikes on a trainer. That person also already owns a power meter and does not use wheelset from Zipp. This ideal rider would also primarily do steady workouts that don’t involve out of the saddle sprinting. Riders who are doing a lot of out of the saddle, high-intensity training, or riders who regularly race on Zwift should look for a direct drive trainer instead.
Test Editor Dan Chabanov got his start in cycling as a New York City bike messenger but quickly found his way into road and cyclocross racing, competing in professional cyclocross races from 2009 to 2019 and winning a Master’s National Championship title in 2018. Prior to joining Bicycling in 2021, Dan worked as part of the race organization for the Red Hook Crit, as a coach with EnduranceWERX, as well as a freelance writer and photographer.
