CycleOps Hammer Direct Drive Smart Trainer

I used a very crude wheel on drum trainer with viscous resistance 3 position resistance setting 25 years ago for triathlon training and hated it, with almost no use. Now resuming training for triathlon, and the Hammer is the mechanism to get training time and volume with any time slot I have available. I primarily run workouts of my own design based on percent FTP. This means no gear shifting and I can pull up any level workout I want anytime. I use Rouvy to control the Hammer. I find this form of training to be very useful. Setup is PC output to 42 inch older 1080 LCD, (2) 19 inch pedestal fans directed at me with my old competition bike (Softride powerwing) setup with aero bars and body position exactly like my Felt bike I race with. This saves wear and tear on the "new gear", essentially no chance of any trauma event, no weather limitations, no flats, pedal day or night, dial up stereo playlist, and very easy to jump off and T2 into running shoes and out the door for bike / run brick around neighborhood route. I use the Cycleops chainring power meter on Felt and the perceived effort / watts output between the trainer and real riding seems accurate. The watt output for "race pace" is known and is basis for workout design. I had read about this form of training prior to purchase, but I had to experience this over the last 6+ months and some 4k virtual miles to appreciate the value proposition it represents.

I'm casual biker and I have been riding MTB bike mainly in a city and bitten forest / field tracks on the suburbs for many years. Almost year ago I was looking for smart trainer in order to increase level of my performance and with little help of summer prices going down I ordered Hammer on Amazon some 9 months ago and started using it about 2 months later.I have experienced several issues at the beginning:1) dropping signal and loosing resistance after 10 or 15 minutes in all 3 apps I was using2) uncomfortable feeling of imbalance when riding and difficulty to perfectly level my Hammer (place it evenly) on the floor3) pain in my saddle after about 30 minutes of constant riding without any breaks in pedalling and without standing off the saddle.Hopefully I have resolved issues no 1 and 2. Solution for the issue no 1 was buying USB 3.0 6 meters long extension cable and placing ANT+ dongle just next to the Hammer - no single signal drop since doing that, so I highly recommend this solution to anybody experiencing similar issue with the Cycleops Hammer!It took just to get used to riding on the trainer and to better adjust legs supporting extensions in order to resolve issue no 2.Unfortunately I have not resolved issue no 3 yet, despite ordering and using quality padded cycling shorts and reasonable quality saddle (Selle Royal Respiro Moderate - I'm using slightly higher stem than regular MTB and closer to 60 degrees than 45 position, so wider model of the saddle than my original MTB Scott which gave up couple of years ago but unfortunately wider saddle is not helping to reduce pain when riding constantly on the trainer). I just have done my research on other types of saddles recommended and just have ordered completely different type of saddle which is Brooks B17, hopefully it will finally give me opportunity to resolve issue no 3 as well.I have also considered ordering or building DIY rocker plate which seems to be becoming popular recently. It should add some rocking movement to the still saddle position which could perhaps help to reduce pain due to changing pressure points etc. however after some research and consideration I have decided that commercially available products are not tailored well enough to Hammer's design (Cycleops guys have not released their plate yet) and attaching Hammer to rocking platform by just fabric belts / straps or similar things is not firmly enough. Similar thing with available DIY designs - Hammer seems to be much less rocking plate friendly designed than some other smart trainers. And on top of that all - I would feel not comfortable on the rocking trainer anyway, despite saddle pain, I do really feed good sitting kind of still and do not feel the need to mimic real life riding / technique nor doing any rapid accelerations with standing and rocking my bike etc.As far as riding in Zwift or VirtueGo in regular mode is concerned (erg mode is not my thing), I can confirm that there is always few seconds delay between acceleration put on the pedals and acceleration registered and shown by the app and also between change of the elevation visible on the screen and resistance change felt on the pedals. It could be an issue for pros and ones with competitive approach but no issue whatsoever for casual riders like myself.Overall I'm vary pleased with Hammer, giving 4 stars, not 5 due to necessity of buying and using USB extension cable (which was not that cheap). Highly recommended for casual and amateur indoor bikers and even for more serious cyclists too, perhaps just not for sprinters, real sport pros and highly competitive folks.

Quite impressed. It's my first direct drive smart trainer, so I really can't compare it to it's current competitors. I used Tacx Flow, Rollers, Kurt Kinetic Road Machine and a handful of others in the past 10 years. This Hammer just blows them all out of the water in terms of realistic road feel and overall performance. Trust me, if you despise training indoors (because you have to due to bad weather) and want to get a specific workout, this is a light at the end of the tunnel. Coupled with Zwift or any other training apps, the time flies because it's stimulating, engaging, and fun.Set up is easy. Once the preferred cassette is installed, mount the bike on the drive train, plug it in, and set up your devices. The Hammer was recognized by my Garmin 520 and ANT+ dongle quickly. Power output accuracy is spot on as well and very close to what my Stages Power Meter is reading.The ride: It's very smooth. I can't get over how much more efficient it feels compared to a standard drum-to-tire trainers. At higher watts during out of saddle bursts, the machine is stable and no rocking, tire slippage, smell of burning rubber, etc. Noise level is not bad either.What's it like with Zwift? Well, it's pretty much built for it. Suffer every climb and feel every effort being put into it (Amazing) - Ride with the pack - Break PR's and achieve KOM glory - Train specifically for a race or simply build - Drop people poaching your workout - Get dropped - Enjoy the virtual world and simulated real world race courses - ALL with realism and in the comforts of your home while the roads outside are covered in ice.Portability: It's heavy. I do like the handle and clever way to tow the front wheel base. Personally, I think the form factor works well for storage or taking it in a car for travel. Still possible to take it to races and use for warmups, just get a power plug adapter if you plan to use it as a smart trainer. If not, it's fine as a warm up machine as well without a power supply.Cost vs function: It's expensive. I did not look at the price as if it's being compared to buying an actual road bike. Surely the price could easily get me an entry level read bike. But instead, I looked at it as an investment and as a supplement to my training.

First off, I was transitioning from a “dummy” trainer (cycleops jet fluid pro) where I used a power meter on the bike for cadence and power. I currently subscribe to the Sufferfest and was a Zwift user for about 3 yrs before that.I had wanted to upgrade to a smart trainer for a while but really struggled to justify the expense. My cycleops fluid trainer worked awesome for over 5yrs and I was able to do pretty much everything I needed to indoors. I also didn’t want to get a “discount” smart trainer and regret not spending a little more for a more robust wheel-off style.After the great luck I had with my cycleops, it made sense to stay with the brand. When the price dropped on this first generation Hammer, I decided to pull the trigger. I’ve got a few rides on it with the Sufferfest and here are my thoughts:The good: it’s really nice to just lock in and pedal. No more changing gears to get my power up. It’s quieter than my wheel-on trainer and I can use my bike without a power meter on it as well which is awesome. It also keeps cadence which some of the reviews said it doesn’t, but it does. It also came with the latest firmware update installed out of the box, but updating seems easy enough. It’s a tougher workout and allows me to be more focused on form (and suffering) than the dummy trainer.The bad: I wouldn’t call anything really bad. It takes a little getting used to because there is some lag in big jumps in power targets up or down. It’s all about cadence, the pressure responds to that.Overall: it’s still not cheap, but I’m happy.

Excellent Product! use it daily with ZWIFT