Wahoo KICKR RUN – Smart Treadmill
Specialist triathlon tech company, Wahoo Fitness has unveiled a new running machine called the KICKR RUN smart treadmill. It aims to change how we run indoors similarly to how the original Wahoo KICKR smart trainer changed indoor cycling over 10 years ago.
Full Details: Wahoo Fitness (when available)
The KICKR RUN has a revolutionary feature branded as “RunFree Mode”. This new feature claims to allow runners to change their pace without touching any controls. A responsive motor reacts as your position changes on the trainer’s belt. This lets you run more naturally and confidently, albeit with less pace precision than a manual setting.
Here are some highlights from the press release bullet pointed out as individual features:
- Hands-free changes in pace via “RunFree Mode” which lets your feet control speed by how fast you run
- Allows natural pace changes without touching controls while running
- Nudgeable control paddles give easy manual control if needed
- Full integration with Zwift Run to automatically change gradient during virtual runs
- RunFree Mode uses a high-speed motor to react within milliseconds to changes in position. Built-in time-of-flight optical sensor keeps users centred on the treadmill. Presumably, this means that your fore/aft position is sensed and is assumed to indicate that you are either speeding up or slowing down and the belt speed is adjusted so that you remain in its centre.
- Example: your built speed is X.
- You speed up to Y
- You move forward as a result
- KICKR RUN senses your forward position and increases the belt speed to somewhere near Y, eventually settling out at Y over a very short period
- Stable yet lively running platform that feels like outdoor running
- Responsive belt propels runners at their normal outdoor pace
- [PLANNED] Innovative lateral tilting simulates the feel of running on the road.
- Automatic leveling function to your floor
- Control and connectivity to Zwift and Wahoo SYSTM, assume Zwift will fully control the incline soon.
- High pace capability of 4:00/mile
- Fully integrated with Wahoo accessories and devices (Rival? Headwind? Bolt 2 in triathlon mode?)
- Integrated shelf and bottle holders for storage and hydration
- USB-C charging port and WiFi/wired network connectivity
- Quiet operation
Wahoo Kickr Run Specs
numbers via: dcrainmaker
- Incline: +15% to -3% – the max incline is normal but the decline is unusually good.
- Belt 69” (175cm) x 22” (56cm) – this is larger than many/most competitors
- Runner weight limit: 113kg but 136kg is normal for higher-end units. Expect this to change at launch
- Deck height: 30cm from floor
- USB-C 24w Charging – this sounds low
- 110v or 220v – depending on country
- 3.0 HP motor (average is usually about 2.5 HP, high-end units will be 4.5HP ish)
- Connectivity: Wifi, Ethernet (both Direct Connect)
- Control: Bluetooth FTMS, Wahoo Treadmill API control (SDK exists) ie Zwift, Wahoo Systm and more
- Data Broadcast: ANT+ Footpod, Bluetooth Smart Footpod (speed/pace, cadence), also incline/grade, GCT and VO. Interestingly also side-to-side position
- 4:00/mi (2:28/km) or 15MPH (24KPH)
- Running Power integrations are not initially planned
- Wahoo Integration: SYSTM is integrated. RIVAL is not integrated for control. Unclear if BOLT/ROAM are integrated for indoor transitions. Headwind will be integrated with a new wind algorithm
Wahoo Kickr Run – Opinion
Basically, it’s Wahoo’s running equivalent to Kickr Move!
Undoubtedly this all sounds great. However, it’s not going to be great for some time yet as the treadmill is scheduled for launch in the USA in the summer of 2024, with a global rollout in 2025. So, I guess an announcement by the company in January 2024 shows that Wahoo is signalling it is in the game and ready to go with another significant product. It’s perhaps also highlighting to some potential customers to hold off buying a competitor model this winter.
Having now seen the specs via DCR, I’m still unclear if Wahoo plans to target the commercial gym market as well as the home market. Typically, for example, commercial gyms require significantly more robust devices all around, including a decently powered motor plus an entirely different setup to support such a different sales channel.
That said I really like what I see and am impressed on paper. The three key areas of innovation are thus:
- Full integration with running platforms (Zwift), running electronic tech (like watches), and running experience kit (like a physical place to display your iPad)
- Realistic surface feel – ‘surface response’, gradient and tilt
- Auto pace adjustment
I’m certain that more serious runners will also be looking for high-speed support, which they get, and accuracy; +/-3% accuracy isn’t that great. Newcomers to treadmills will wonder what the fuss is all about when it comes to accuracy, however, it’s a more complex subject than you’d imagine. For example, a generic treadmill’s belt speed is NOT constant and tends to slow down and speed up as you respectively load your bodyweight and unload on its surface with each footstrike. That’s where the power and responsiveness of the motor become important. That’s one reason why the NPE RUNN product has done well as it more accurately determines belt speed while simultaneously transmitting several running metrics including gradient. However, KICKR RUN goes further than what RUNN offers from a tech perspective but does it give the accurate speed we’re looking for as well?
So, we have a genuinely novel product here and it’s novel in more than one respect. I’m not necessarily convinced that it will be a commercial game-changer for Wahoo in its take-up in the market, even though its tech is game-changing in the sense that it will be emulated by competitors in the years to come.
At $5000, you might doubt the number of units Wahoo can sell into a market that’s saturated on the supply side and hence you might doubt its importance as a product category to Wahoo. Don’t doubt it, it’s important! In many geographic markets, outdoor running is difficult for large parts of the year and treadmill ownership can be considerably higher in colder, more affluent countries. Also don’t forget the pull of the #Wahooligan factor with existing Wahoo triathletes having a high level of brand loyalty.
Is it too expensive? If, like me, you have an occasional inclination to be a bit of a cheapskate then you will scoff at the price just because you can get a treadmill for under $/£1000 from several places. However, KICKR RUNN is DEFINITELY a significantly superior product to treadmills in the bottom price bracket. $5000 might even be a relatively good value when set against the real top-end models that are even more expensive. and, as is now the case, which doesn’t have the full feature set offered by Wahoo.
Do we need automatic speed adjustment and surface feel on a treadmill? and how many of us need a fully controllable smart trainer to work with Zwift? I don’t think I’ve needed ANY of those features in the past. Sure, I would have liked them. That said I’m already excited and want to at least try them out. There’s a reasonable chance I’ll end up getting one as I just about have the space next to my VASA and KICKR, and have been contemplating a treadmill for a year or so. But $5k…ouch!
Fully indoor triathlon training in my pain cave beckons!
Full Details: Wahoo Fitness (when available)
Whoop 5.0 | Major Article, Detailed Analysis | Fact or Fantasy for 2024?
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Amazing, in hindsight, how seemingly everybody not already in the know failed to guess this after the ominous “there will be *something*” in the DCR interview (at least I know how much I failed: completely). It feels kind of obvious now, given how deeply Wahoo is already invested in oversize goods distribution with the Kickr bike. Would be a complete waste to not also use that capability for a tradmill.
I think those who remembered Wahoo’s history nailed it. And that excludes me (https://the5krunner.com/2024/01/14/wahoo-whats-new-for-january-2024-ie-very-very-very-soon/), i thought Wahoo might do a more mass amrket running plate a la Peloton, but in hindsight, that was a silly thought for a premium company
It was obvious in some respects eg leveraging existing distribution/delivery channels for a heavy product, but from a tech point of view it’s quite different stuff for the company to design and build. Going from a kickr core to a kickr Move must re-use lots of existing expertise and parts. KICKR RUN is a wholly new product that also comes with the risk of going up against a plethora of treadmill companies at every price point in what must be a saturated market from both a supply and demand perspective (ie most people who wnat a treadmill will alredy have one)
Accuracy is stated at +/-3%. So at 4:00/km that’s +/-7 seconds, which is quite a lot of potential error
One thought re-visiting those comments: the idea that the treadmill market is too small looks convincing at first glance, but that’s getting blinded by wheel on/wheel off numbers. Those sell huge volumes, but the Kickr *Bike* serves a niche that I’d consider much smaller than treadmills. And they fit two completely different models in that niche.
(I did misremember the “nobody guessed it” part, that must be me always skipping past all things running unless it’s something as big as a Wahoo Treadmill headline)
I wouldn’t say “seemingly everybody” – look no further than tfk’s earlier post on this topic, lots of us in the comments section nailed the treadmill guess (but missed on the Wahoo-esque naming).
I think you nailed the problem for Wahoo with this. It’s a very very very saturated market. You have basically two camps of folks in regards to treadmills. Once, those that want a cheap treadmill, $1,000 or so, to try and, two, those, like me, that have a semi-commercial model, $3,000 and up. Those that want a $1,000 treadmill aren’t going to buy this and many, like me, have had a semi-commercial model for years, 10 to 15 years for me, and the darn things hardly ever wear out. It was easy to see how Wahoo did well in the smart trainer market as it was a virtually new market when they came on the scene and replacing a $300 trainer with a $1,000 trainer was a much easier spend. But, convincing someone to ditch their semi-commercial model, like mine that now retails at $3,400, for another $5,000 model. That’s a big ask that most won’t do. And yes, I don’t see how they sell this thing for less than $5,000 if it’s half-way decently built and with all the tech they have in it.
well put. I agree.
I want KICKR RUN to do well.
I guess it comes back to the brand loyal Wahooligans and people like me (who are like you but without a treadmill at home) but procrastinating on the purchase. How many of these people are there globally who will buy one in the next 24 months? IDK
It’s certainly an interesting bit of tech. Like you, I’d like to see it do well and others follow Wahoo’s lead on the innovation. That said, I know many very good runners, better than me, and most are like you and don’t even own a treadmill. If they are forced to use one, they go to the gym where they already have a membership. A couple local good marathoner friends were outside running in the recent frigid weather here at 9 degrees F with a windchill below zero. They just don’t run on treadmills. I ran or biked inside those days. My point, alot of serious runners won’t run on treadmills and don’t own one whereas every serious cyclist I know owns a smart trainer. Who knows, though, maybe this will change their mind.
I admit to taking my iPhone to the gym to do a bit of zwifting 😉 and I ENJOYED IT !!!
“A game changer”? That?
Wahoo and Ray thought so.
I’ve put my opinion on the game changeriness in the article
I think the “market is saturated” comments are forgetting that it didn’t stop Peloton from entering the market, nor any of the other treadmill manufacturers (including the premium curved models). Personally while maybe not a “game changer” to me, this Wahoo treadmill has differentiated itself from those other premiums to be a viable product.
that prompts another point in that the peoloton tread is smaller than RUN. The Wahoo could be a bit of a beast in size by the looks of it (I cant visualise the dimensions i’ve included but i think it puts it on the large size ie bordering on gym size)
Very interesting
https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/japplphysiol.00128.2003
yes!
in the sense that it foretells Wahoo RUN and the idea of analysing the spontaneous choice to change gait
I wonder if anyone patented any of it?
If not it would count as ‘Prior Art’ and so Wahoo could not patent it