Kickr on patio?

Does anyone have experience keeping a Kickr outside, on the patio? I have a recently-bought Kickr v.5. I’ve just moved to a small Airbnb in San Diego for a month and there’s no room inside. I set it up outside today and am covering the bike and Kickr with one of those blue plastic tarps. The tarp should keep the rain off, but will the occasion light drizzle harm the guts and performance of the Kickr?

It’s an electronic device - I wouldn’t store that outside at all. I’m in the UK though, you can’t store anything outside without it getting wet/moist/moldy.

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Agree. While a pain, take the bike off when you’re done and store the KICKR in a corner inside. They fold up pretty small. You can keep your bike under the tarp. It was designed to be outside and to get wet. Not so the KICKR.

With practice, you can get your bike on and off pretty fast. Hint (which perhaps everyone else knows but I just learned last month): put the bike in its biggest gear (big chainring/smallest cog) before putting it on or taking it off the KICKR. Makes it much easier.

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+1. I do take my Kickr outside onto the patio sometimes on a nice day for my ride, but yeah - you don’t want to leave it out. Electronics aside, even just dust and particulates in the air getting into freewheels, gears, magnets, etc., will increase wear on the device.

I’ve travelled with mine as well - just take the 5-ish minutes to bring it outside and set it up. Maybe even some compressed air to blow it out now and again.

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On a nice day for a ride, I leave the Kickr inside and go for a ride irl.

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Well yeah…ideally. :wink:

Kinda depends on the climate. I lived in Reno NV and could leave bare iron and steel fully exposed outside and it wouldn’t rust. In MA, in an attached closed garage, temp changes and humidity would could cause condensation to form on metal objects and corrosion could ensue. If temps are not too extreme (btw 32-100F) and humidity is such that there’s no condensation, outside is probably fine.

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I’ve been keeping a Saris H3 in the Pacific Northwest on a patio since October. I cover it with a weatherproof motorcycle type cover.

So far so good, use it 3-4 times a week, love not sweating to death.

I did it fully being okay with having to get a new one next winter if it went poorly.

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Cheers and Chapeau, mate! Isn’t the whole damn point of having a trainer to just be fit enough to actually RIDE THE BIKE when the weather is nice? I’m so sick of reading post from the Zwift and other virtual-system champs who can’ even remember what the road feels like.

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Dude, if it is nice enough to ride on your (temporarily rented) patio, then why not just go for a real ride in the sun and wind? Are you a cyclist or just trying to be the best at exercise or look pretty for your social media profiles?

Because sometimes it’s nice outside but the road is still full of salt/sand/debris/etc. and you want to get out in the nice weather and not get covered in crud or risk wiping out.

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@wahoobulldawg, There’s loads of reasons to ride on a trainer instead of outside. For me there’s two:
a) so I can ride while my partner is at work an my son is home (he’s ok to play by himself, but I can’t leave him at this age)
b) any ride I do under 40km is pretty much all London-suburban traffic and there’s no fun in that - often even dangerous.

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c) Training and riding outside are often different things and it is sometimes not practicable to attempt to reproduce the desired training goal when riding outside.

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d) when it is mud season and the public land managers don’t want mountain bikes on the trails.

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I’ll have to take your word for that :grinning:

e) when I’m trying to squeeze a ride in during the working day and there’s a chance I’ll need to cut it short.

Other than the obvious benefits of training, a) and e) have been massive game changers for me.

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