Before you get too excited about the ability to work your bars and steer your avatar in the Wahoo RGT app, take note: This still isn’t real cycling, and you still can’t ride anywhere you want.
What you can do is strategize your race or group ride with a little more nuance.
Wahoo today announced the KICKR STEER, a hardware and software update that lets you weave in and out of traffic in the Peloton. You can weave inside when it’s time to draft, dive out to overtake, or hunt for the most competitive line while you’re on point.
Riders can make moves in one of a few ways depending on their equipment. The KICKR STEER itself is a phone mount with two paddles — when you mount it between your bars, you can thumb-tap the paddles to steer.
Also, anyone with a KICKR BIKE can use the integrated brake hood thumb buttons to hang any left or right. Finally, the RGT Game apps include onscreen buttons (mobile, desktop) and keyboard functionality (desktop only).
To make the action happen, the STEER leverages the accelerometers of any compatible iOS or Android phone. The paddles also have two sets of contact points, so you can tool around whether you’re on the hoods or in the drops.
It’s not a full video game-style free-roam, but it should add considerable seasoning to the sometimes mind-numbing reality of indoor training. Meanwhile, an outlier called Muoverti already beat Wahoo to the punch (and could have its tick mark on the realism meter, depending on user experience).
A Wahoo X subscription costs $15/month or $149/year and gives riders access to both RGT and SYSTM. The KICKR STEER drops at $100 MSRP, but will also come as part of a bundle with an annual membership to Wahoo X for $199 total.
Does it work? Check out BikeRumor’s in-depth review to learn more.
Subscribers note: Your chance to test out the steering at a high-profile group ride is coming soon. The De Brabantse Pijl, the decisive race of the Proximus Cycling eSeries, gets underway this Thursday, Feb. 9. Slots were still available in the men’s and women’s races as of Tuesday, Feb. 7.
