Wahoo KICKR CORE Zwift One Smart Trainer Announced

Zwift and Wahoo have announced a new smart trainer which is a collaboration between the two indoor cycling juggernauts. Named the Wahoo KICKR CORE Zwift One, this trainer combines Wahoo’s well-respected hardware and broad distribution network with Zwift’s innovative virtual shifting.

The result? A very capable smart trainer that is available to more Zwifters than ever before.

Today we’ll look at the new trainer’s specs and availability. A more in-depth review of the new trainer will be published separately.

What’s In a Name?

Wahoo KICKR Core Zwift One. The name is quite a mouthful, but it also describes this trainer nicely. The main “trainer” hardware is the same Wahoo KICKR Core we all know and love. But instead of a standard cassette, the single-cog Zwift Cog is installed, with a Zwift Click included for virtual shifting:

Simply put, the Wahoo KICKR Core Zwift One is a KICKR Core with a Zwift Cog installed. I’ll be calling it the CORE One for the rest of this post to keep things simple.

CORE One Specs

Built on Wahoo’s well-established KICKR Core line, the CORE One has all the capabilities required to deliver a high-quality Zwift experience. Here are the trainer’s key specs, with new features in bold:

• Zwift Click included for virtual shifting
• Calibration: automatic
• Cassette: Zwift Cog (compatible with most 8-12 speed bikes)
• Accuracy: +-2%
• Flywheel: 12lb
• Max Wattage: 1800 W
• Max Incline: 16%
• Cadence: built in
• Communication: ANT+ and 3-Channel Bluetooth
• Axle Compatibility: 130/135mm quick release, 12×142/12×148 thru-axle
• Weight: 18kg
• Physical Dimensions: 9″L x 23″W x 21″H (closed), 20″L x 23″W x 19″H (open)

Low Price, High Availability

The CORE One is priced very competitively at $599/£549/€599, the same price as the KICKR Core and the Zwift Hub. This price includes one year of Zwift. It is now available on zwift.com and wahoofitness.com.

The big news, though, is availability. Thanks to Wahoo’s distribution channels, the CORE One will be available via wahoofitness.com to customers in Australia and Canada beginning in late March! This is great news to Zwifters in both markets who haven’t had access to the Zwift Hub (which is only sold in the US, UK, and EU).

Virtual Shifting Expansion

Wahoo is now rolling out a firmware update (version 1.3.17) for all KICKR Core owners which, among other things, enables virtual shifting in Zwift. If you own a KICKR Core and Zwift Plays or Zwift Click, you can begin using virtual shifting as soon as you update your firmware.

What exactly is virtual shifting? With virtual shifting, your chain doesn’t move between different rear cassette cogs when you shift. Instead, a virtual shift changes the resistance of your smart trainer so it feels like you’ve changed cogs. This is how smart bikes like the Wahoo KICKR Bike, Wattbike, StagesBike, and Tacx NEO Bike have always worked.

Why do Zwifters like virtual shifting? Because it beats mechanical shifting in several ways:

• Fast, smooth, quiet: with no chains skipping between cogs, your shifts are completely silent, perfectly smooth, and lightning-fast.
• Less wear and tear: your chain won’t wear out as quickly, and neither will the Zwift Cog, since it is built beefy because weight is not a concern.
• Shift under full load: no need to ease off the pedals when shifting under power, as your chain isn’t going to “skip” when virtual shifting like it can with mechanical shifting.
• Compatible across many bikes: no more spinning out on your low-geared mountain bike, or needing to swap cassettes if you swap bikes. Virtual shifting works with almost any 8-12 speed bike and auto-calibrates to your physical gearing.
• No more fine-tuning: many riders have to fine-tune their physical shifting when moving between outdoor riding and a direct-drive trainer, since the cassettes aren’t lined up exactly the same. The Zwift Cog doesn’t require any such fine-tuning… just shift to a physical gear that has your chain lined up straight on the Cog and you’re ready to ride.
• Expanded gear range: Zwift’s virtual shifting currently supports a virtual 24-speed setup, which is more gears than most riders have on their outdoor setups. Additionally, the gear ratio range is very wide (from .75 to 5.49), meaning everyone should find that virtual shifting offers more easy gears and more hard gears than your mechanical gearing.
• In-game visualization: with Zwift’s virtual shifting, you can always see what gear you’re in on screen.

Zwift’s virtual shifting was rolled out to the Zwift Hub in late 2023, and it’s arguably the most significant technological advance we’ve seen in smart trainers in years. The CORE One is the first non-Zwift trainer to support virtual shifting, and that’s big, good news for Zwifters. I bet virtual shifting will be rolled out to many more trainers, with Wahoo’s flagship KICKR being one of the first, as consumers begin demanding this functionality.

CORE One vs Hub One

Wahoo’s CORE One compares favorably to the Zwift Hub One, matching or improving on the Hub One’s specs in almost every area:

As you can see, the Hub One only wins when it comes to offering 10Hz race mode and heart rate monitor bridging. (Both of these features could be added by Wahoo via a firmware upgrade. But Wahoo may choose to reserve those “premium” features for their high-end trainers.)

You may recall that back in November 2023, Wahoo dropped the price of the KICKR Core and began offering it with your choice of cassette. At the same time, Zwift stopped selling the Zwift Hub classic, effectively replacing it in their store with the repriced Wahoo KICKR Core.

Zwift still has the Hub One trainer listed for sale, but the new CORE One will be replacing the Hub One. (Zwift says they will continue to support the Hub and issue Hub firmware updates for the next two years.)

Buying a Zwift Cog for Your KICKR CORE

Zwift tells me a Zwift Cog + Click upgrade pack will be available in the future for KICKR CORE owners who wish to replace their cassette with a Zwift Cog, but it is not yet in stock. It’s worth noting that the Zwift Cog for sale on Zwift.com will not work with KICKR CORE trainers, as the freehub is incompatible.

For now, you can enjoy virtual shifting using your Play Controllers and existing cassette. I’ve done it myself, and it works swimmingly.

Conclusions

Today’s announcement is all good news, as I see it. The Wahoo KICKR CORE Zwift One is a capable successor to the Zwift Hub One: more accurate, more connected, compatible with the KICKR Climb, and backed by Wahoo’s industry-leading support. It will also be available to more Zwifters, including riders in Canada and Australia!

And while the new trainer offering may grab the headlines, the bigger news may be virtual shifting arriving for a huge new chunk of Zwifters. With thousands of KICKR Core trainers already in use on Zwift, virtual shifting is now just a firmware update (and perhaps a Zwift Play purchase) away!

As I said above, I’ll be publishing a review of the CORE One soon. Until then, here’s a review from our favorite Aussie Lama:

And DC Rainmaker:

Questions or Comments?

Share below!