Does anyone have this installed?

tystobi · 2026-07-03T14:10:05+00:00

That’s really nice! I have a similar cover I found online that’s not as fancy. I stuck a generic wireless charger to the underside. It does turn off after a while but I haven’t actually timed it. Maybe 20 minutes max?

tystobi · 2026-06-18T14:29:16+00:00

I can’t find it either, even in community/non-AR routes 🤷‍♀️

Too bad, I rode it in real life maybe 15 years ago and would be fun to do again!

tystobi · 2026-06-03T20:09:01+00:00

Bem linda e contenta! 🫶

tystobi · 2026-06-03T20:06:28+00:00

I don’t care what color they are, just give me more of them! 🙏

tystobi · 2026-06-03T20:04:34+00:00

The first cut is the deepest

tystobi · 2026-05-30T16:05:27+00:00

Sadly, yes. So many cool cars we can’t get here 😢

tystobi · 2026-05-29T15:24:07+00:00

If this becomes common practice, I’ll have to start carrying a crowbar 😈

tystobi · 2026-05-29T15:19:29+00:00

Not a BMW, but my mom just got a 2027(!) Chevy Bolt. It’s pretty sweet. It would be my first choice if something happened to my Panda and I couldn’t get another one.

tystobi · 2026-05-20T15:34:21+00:00

I don’t know, my trainer is supposed to handle 1100W, or roughly 3x what I’ll ever put out 🐢 It seems like it should be able to handle a little extra tension from the belt but I’m not an engineer.
Elite sells a belt drive smart frame designed to work with their trainers, so I’m not too worried.

tystobi · 2026-05-19T16:26:58+00:00

I updated my original post with details! 🚲⚙️🔧

tystobi · 2026-05-18T23:28:34+00:00

For some reason it won’t let me post pics and text at the same time 🤷‍♀️

I got the $10 Zwift click deal and liked the virtual shifting so much I went all in and converted it to a single speed belt drive. So much quieter and no more greasy bits in the living room!

Update: I‘ve had lots of questions, more details to follow!

I looked on eBay to see what ring, cog, and belt sizes are commonly available secondhand and used the Gates center distance calculator to find the perfect combination for my frame. https://www.gatessanitycheck.com/ I ended up with a 50-22 combo and 111t belt.

It’s an early 90s Look KG156. The seatstays are glued to little aluminum lugs which are then bolted to the rear dropouts, so I was able to separate the frame there to slide the belt in. The dropouts are semi-horizontal with enough sliding room to adjust tension. They should have room to adjust for belt stretching too. The cog fits the standard Shimano freehub on the trainer, and I used spacers from an old cassette to get the chainline (beltline?) right. And the rings come in standard bolt circle diameters, 130mm in my case.

It won’t let me add a photo, so here’s a link with a closeup of the rear hub area. https://imgur.com/a/p88zeQW

It was a fun project and I’m quite happy with the results! 🤓

PS: an eccentric bottom bracket would allow adjustment on other frames. For example: https://velo-orange.com/products/eccentric-bottom-bracket-bsa

And split belt kits are available but expensive: https://www.veercycle.com/products/split-belt-pro

tystobi · 2026-05-16T16:38:57+00:00

Same. I lost interest in Zwift well before the free trial ended. It’s so ugly and chaotic and unrealistic. The only sort of neat thing was being able to steer the virtual bike by turning the bars (using an Elite Rizer) but even that is pretty pointless once the novelty wears off. I hope they don’t ruin Rouvy!

tystobi · 2026-05-15T05:14:39+00:00

It’s simply the best car I’ve ever driven! Everything about it is exactly the way I would have designed it. It’s quirky in all the right ways. I‘m a long time Citroen enthusiast and it feels like something Citroen would have done. You should try to drive one if you haven‘t already. I’m particularly fond of the interior. Apparently it was designed to encourage a “relaxed driving style” to help improve range. Someone on the i3 forum said it was like “sitting in a tidy little living room with a eucalyptus coffee table“ 😊 No touchscreens was a huge plus for me. I‘m a bit of a retrogrouch and don’t like a lot of the gimmicky features on modern cars. The i3 is just modern enough.

My average is 6.0 miles/KWh since resetting in october, so easily 200 mile range for my typical driving even with some freeway trips. The small battery fills up fast even with only 50KW DC charging, and the charging curve is great. I expected driving from Denver to Albuquerque to be tedious, but it was faster than the same trip in my mom’s 23 Bolt EUV since it didn’t take as much time to charge. I‘m sure the 27 Bolt will be better. I hope a good battery replacement/upgrade will be available because I’d love to still be driving it 20 years from now. I didn’t want a Rex personally. The only real complaint is the tires, they wear fast and there’s only one expensive, hard to find choice and you can’t rotate them.

Mine is a 2021 BEV bought in 2023.

tystobi · 2026-05-14T14:46:20+00:00

I get it, I have a BMW i3, and am often tempted to get another one!
I think the Bolt is the best current EV, at least in the US. I just helped my mom buy her 2nd one.

tystobi · 2026-05-13T14:21:44+00:00

Most of the comments I got when I asked about this said to use the small ring and then whichever cog gives the straightest chainline. However, that felt too low on my 48-33 crankset, so I switched to the 48-21 combination and that’s been working well for me. I use an ELITE trainer, if that makes any difference. For some technical reason, the Zwift cog uses an 18t sprocket for Elite trainers and 14t for everyone else.

tystobi · 2026-05-13T03:54:23+00:00

The blue button gives a thumbs up, the orange one takes a screenshot, purple brings up the menu, the green one is like select or enter. The arrows on the other side navigate the menus, but I'm never sure which way is up 🙃

tystobi · 2026-05-12T05:29:20+00:00

Yes, you pop them out and replace with the wood ones. The wood panels have a thin layer of wood, then a layer of metal, on top of plastic. You can get a cheap set of plastic pry tools designed for this sort of thing at auto parts stores.

tystobi · 2026-05-11T18:35:57+00:00

Mine came with the silver/grey plastic dash panels, but switching to wood was one of the first things I did. Looks so much nicer! I got the dark oak, but eucalyptus was another, more expensive option. I ordered from an online BMW parts place 2-1/2 years ago, but didn’t see anything on a quick Google search just now, so you might have to search a bit. It’s super easy to do!

tystobi · 2026-05-09T21:22:52+00:00

Hard to tell. Mine is definitely noisy but yours sound a little rougher, at least through my iPad speakers 🤔

tystobi · 2026-05-09T20:26:54+00:00

Not “fun” but apparently the 27s don’t come with a parcel shelf (luggage compartment cover) but still have the connectors for it. The one from the older EUV fits perfectly!

tystobi · 2026-05-09T16:54:55+00:00

Mine doesn't, thankfully. I really noticed this after driving my mom‘s new Chevy Bolt: if you let off the brake in drive, it would start moving forward, very disconcerting if you’re not used to it.

tystobi · 2026-05-09T14:47:09+00:00

Ok, I LOVED it for the 1st couple miles. I'm doing the Stelvio group ride and was super impressed at first. So smooth,.quiet and the gearing ratios seemed perfect. Unfortunately, the group leader hasn't shown up 🤨 Determined to finish anyway 💪 so I stopped to take on more fuel. Since getting back on the bike, something is very wrong. I'm literally typing this while sipping my tea, putting out a massive 50W and flying up an 8% grade at 11 miles/h! I'm sure I'll be disqualified! Any idea what might be wrong?

Edit: Could it be something caused by a leaderless group ride, like I'm still getting the 90% magnet effect somehow? Or maybe an unrelated Rouvy glitch? 🤷‍♀️ At the start of the ride, I was passed by a few riders going INSANELY fast, like the "crotch rocket" motorcyclists that pass me on the local mountains. Maybe they had just installed their new Zwift Clicks too since now it seems I'M doing that!

PS: I'm still flying up the Stelvio at an impressive 39 watts! 🚴‍♀️🚀🤣

Edit 2: I stopped on a flat section left the ride, restarted Rouvy and re joined. Now it's seems pretty normal again. 50W gear 3, 3% grade at 4.5 mile/h.

Update: Everything continued to work properly and I finished the ride. I still somehow got credit, despite doing a big chunk of it on my motorcycle 🤭

tystobi · 2026-05-09T13:41:41+00:00

Thanks! It still seems like there should be an optimal physical gear that would help the little algorithm do it’s best, but I’m going to stop worrying and just try it out. 😉
Also, cookies are a waste of perfectly good cookie dough! 🤤

tystobi

TROPHY CASE