Tacx Neo 2T Smart Trainer

The Garmin Tacx Neo 2T Smart Trainer is nothing short of a revolution in indoor cycling. It’s like having a Tour de France course in your living room, minus the French countryside! The realism this trainer provides is uncanny, from the simulated road feel to the dynamic inertia that mimics outdoor riding. It’s whisper-quiet too, so you can ride in the early morning or late at night without becoming the neighborhood nuisance. Setup is a breeze, which means less time tinkering and more time pedaling. With its robust build, this trainer can handle the most grueling training sessions, making it a top choice for serious cyclists aiming to maintain peak condition year-round. Whether you’re training for a race or just staying fit, the Neo 2T turns every indoor session into a gateway to virtual cycling glory.

This high-end trainer is selling for a bargain, now that Tacx came out with a new model. Sturdy, well-built, feels realistic.

What an awesome trainer once you get it set up correctly. I purchased a new shimano cassette w the trainer and the instructions from TACX were not clear that you need two spacers before screwing on the tightening cap. If the smaller gears are not tight (and jiggle slightly) you need another spacer. There are YouTube videos that also show what to do. When I first attached my road bike, it was very noisy (hence I discovered that I needed more spacer installed). I was able to correct this and then had to adjust my rear derailleur so that it would shift smoothly. My road bike never would shift properly so I switched to my tri-bike, made a few adjustments, lubricated the chain and what an amazing ride. My toad bike needs a new cable before I put back on the trainer. I use this trainer w Zwift and have ridden nearly every day since. It connects instantly and the built in cadence means I can use a Bluetooth heart rate monitor w my AppleTV to get all the functionality. In the 3 weeks, I have noticed a huge increase in performance, strength and some body change.

The Tacx Neo 2T is an excellent direct-drive smart trainer. It is known for its realism, accuracy, quiet operation, and wide range of features. The trainer is a bit expensive, but it is worth the investment for cyclists who are looking for the best possible training experience. Here are some of the pros and cons of the Tacx Neo 2T: Pros: Very realistic ride feel Accurate power measurement Quiet operation Compatible with a wide range of cycling apps Built-in fan Overall, the Tacx Neo 2T is an excellent direct-drive smart trainer. It is the best choice for cyclists who are looking for the most realistic and accurate training experience.

Came from a Kurt Kinetic Rock n Roll smart trainer, got a new bike w thru axle, so it wouldn’t really work. Thought I’d miss the movement. The Tacx flexes enough side to side to make it comfortable enough. The HUGE benefit is that I can upload my normal outside rides from Garmin connect and the trainer will replicate them almost perfectly. I ride in central PA with a lot of hills, so have always struggled to create a winter program that will have me ready to go out when the snow is gone. The trainer (with the paid app-but it’s worth it for me) gets the load on grades right (I’m in the same gears, roughly same cadence, same watts-per my power meter pedals), and the subjective effort is pretty close. That’s just using the GPS ride function. It’s nice to also be able to use it with the app (or I’m sure any third-party app) to do video rides as well. The ones I’ve done do a good job with grades, etc. Trainer seems durable, no glitches yet with about 3K miles on it so far. Glad I took the plunge. Getting out this winter/spring has been the easiest ever. Power measured by the trainer matches pretty close to my power meter pedals, too. Cadence is totally unreliable, though.

This was an upgrade from a fluid trainer that worked well but usually took 15 mins to set up and mess with bluetooth to pair with zwift. There are 3 cyclists in the house and we all wanted something quieter and also power control the ride. I'm guessing we have over 3K miles since purchasing a few months ago. Once you become comfortable with the setup, it's a breeze moving forward. This thing is quiet, I mean really quiet. I bought an ultegra 11-32 rear cassette (it was the cheapest) and Tacx provides the necessary spacers and matching skewers. Bluetooth never fails, I love that you don't have to plug it in unless you want the full benefits of zwift control. I've become spoiled with the assistance on the down hills. I simply love this thing. It's used between 20-30 hours a week and I haven't noticed any issues. It packs up well, it is heavy and has a much smaller footprint than my previous fluid trainer. I did a ton of research on trainers in this price range and choose this one mainly for the hassle free no calibration needed, ever!

I bought my first one of these two years ago and it has been perfect since day one. The second one I just purchased so my partner and I can ride simultaneously and we're loving it. While there are several trainers on the market almost all of them are of the inferior belt-driven hysteresis-flywheel type. With those trainers everyone has the same inertia and, maybe even worse, when descending virtually the flywheel can be allowed to slow and then add unrealistic energy when you pedal against the slowed flywheel. The Neo trainers actually directly drives a custom-engineered BLDC motor which provides the correct inertia under all circumstances. Most other trainers have rigid frames with no side-to-side compliance. The Neo has just the right amount of compliance engineered into the frame for a great comfortable ride. If you want a trainer that makes you faster on Zwift than you really are this isn't it. If you want the most accurate and realistic bicycle drivetrain simulation the Neo can't be beat.

Overall, this is a great trainer but the post purchase support could be a lot better. I’ve been using it for about 4 months. It has a solid design and provides a wonderful “sense of the road”. When connected to a training application (Rouvy, Tacx, Zwift) you’ll feel the hills, bumpy roads (not in your butt but through the pedals) and even a nice simulation on downhill segments. It’s extremely stable – I’m set up on a carpet and I’m very comfortable even when standing on the pedals pushing up a steep climb. What annoyed me is the lack of support getting the thing up and running. I’m not a bike mechanic and most of my tools are not metric. The machine doesn’t come with a cassette (you’ve probably already figured that out). This means you’ll have to figure out which one to purchase, order the specialized tools and then install the darn thing. I watched a bunch of videos and finally got it on correctly after 3 tries and a considerable amount of profanity. Then there’s the axle setup. I have a solid “thru axle” on my Trek Domane – my trainer shipped with a quick release set up. To its credit, the Garmin Tacx Neo 2T comes with a bunch of adapters supporting a thru axle conversion. Unfortunately there’s absolutely no comprehensible explanation as to how it all goes together or what it should look like when you’re done. I was constantly swapping out parts to find the correct combination to fit my bike and allow enough clearance to avoid damage to the disc brakes. You’ll also need a 17mm wrench to tighten the connections. The profanity was bad with the cassette install – with the axle conversion I was “off the chain”. But bottom line – it’s a great trainer and I’m loving my indoor winter riding. However, you might want to friend a bike mechanic on Facebook.