Wahoo drops price of Kickr Core indoor trainer

Unfortunately, if you are living in the northern hemisphere, the time for indoor training is fast approaching. This means either dusting off your current trainer or looking to see what is available to buy.

If you fall into the latter group, you might be interested to find out that Wahoo has recently dropped the price of its Kickr Core trainer to £549.99 / $599 / €599, knocking £150 / $300 / €200 off the previous retail price.

In recent times, the cheapest direct drive offering from Wahoo has been up against some stiff competition, none more so than the Zwift Hub that comes in at £449 / $499 / €499 including a cassette of your choice, something that is omitted from the spec of the Kickr Core.

The change in price could also hint at the brand preparing for a potential new product release in the near future. This shouldn’t be a reason to avoid the Kickr Core at its new, far more wallet-friendly price tag, as Wahoo is very good at continuing product support for older generation products. This means you wouldn’t be investing in an obsolete product if there is something new in the pipeline.

Wahoo has been in a legal battle with Zwift for some time now since the release of the Zwift Hub, which offered a comparable performance package to the Kickr Core but at a significantly lower cost to the consumer, retailing for £250 / $400 / €300 less. When the Zwift Hub was launched Wahoo filed copyright infringement lawsuits against Zwift and JetBlack (the manufacturer of the Zwift Hub) citing three main patents relating to the trainer's design.

Read more: Zwift to be replaced as the host of E-sports world championships from 2024

The lawsuit with Zwift has recently been resolved with both parties asking the case to be dismissed from court and the case with JetBlack resolved back in December 2022. It may well be unrelated to the dropped court case but the timings do correlate to the drop in price. Regardless of the specific reasons behind the reduction in the price of the Kickr Core, it benefits us consumers, by offering an existing product at a far more affordable price, revitalising the competition for lower-budget direct-drive trainers out there.

The indoor trainer market has swollen in recent years with offerings from many brands all aiming to strike a balance between cost and performance, offering a product with a good feel and usability at an attractive price point. Since the Kickr Core was first released in 2018 we have seen the price point steadily decrease until the Zwift Hub came in and undercut everyone significantly.

If you are looking for some inspiration, or workouts to complete on your indoor trainer why don't you check out GCN training where there are loads of videos to follow along with. Or check out our article on indoor training to find out more about it.