The Lifeline Indoor Trainer desk is a must have accessory for cyclists that like the efficiency of training on a Tacx Neo Smart Trainer or simply enjoy riding on Zwift with their friends. The Lifeline Indoor Trainer desk is a Wahoo Kickr Cycling Desk alternative. And I will share my experiences from over a year of use.
Lifeline Indoor Trainer Desk Design
The Lifeline Indoor Trainer Desk is -unfortunately- a direct knock-off or a copy with improvements of the Wahoo Kickr Cycling Desk.
The base is made of a rectangular steel tube, bent in a large u shape so you can slide it back and forth around the front wheel. Under this base you can find three small wheels set-up in a triangle shape. One wheel is placed in the middle of the u-shape (front) and on each end of the u-shape there is also a wheel. However these two wheels can be locked in place (it’s a mechanical brake).
On this base you have the vertical pillars, which are placed under an angle, with a sliding mechanism to adjust the height of the Lifeline Indoor Trainer Desk. The principle of the height adjustment works similar to what you see for example with vacuum cleaners. You push-in both the blue locking pins in the desk-plate, slide it to your preferred height and let the locking pin fall into the locking-hole until you hear the click. The vertical pillars are bolted on the base with two hex-bolts.
The desk(plate) is snapped onto the vertical pillars. Two bolts are needed here to lock the plate, since you simply slide it over the vertical pillars. The picture below shows you the locking bolt (with hex head).
Just like the Wahoo Kickr Cycling Desk you can see towel holders on the far edges of the desk and grooves on the long-sides of the desk. These grooves help to easily store a tablet or smartphone, which you need to control your Tacx Neo smart trainer or Zwift when you use this social-cycling-platform in your training regime. Is simply stick with throwing the towel over the PRO Bikegear Vibe Stem.
Most of the desk surface (between the grooves) has a rubber, anti-slip-finish. So when you use a laptop to watch a Netflix series or YouTube video, it will stay firmly put on the desk. Also when you move the desk forward to do some power blocks or sprinting. In the edges closest to the bike-stem you can see two water bottle holders. These holders are not present on the original Wahoo Kickr Cycling Desk.
I store the remote control of my fan in the left holder, and simply stick with the Tune Wassertrager waterbottle holders on my bike. For an indoor training session it just takes me one bottle with water. Ray Maker from DCRainmaker uses one of the holders to store some Haribo Goldbears, a great sugars source the pro’s like Peter Sagan and Mathieu van der Poel are using when they cross the finish line. 🙂
Differences with the original Wahoo Kickr Cycling Desk
Wahoo was the first mover is this space with an innovative product like this Desk for indoor trainers. When you look at their Kickr product range, it is designed as an ecosystem where the different products flawlessly work together (Kickr Trainer, Kickr Climb, Kickr Headwind).
- Wheels;
- Water bottle holders in the desk(plate);
- Towel holders;
- Shape of base and tube shape;
- Price-point;
Please check out Ray Maker with his video of the Lifeline Cycling Trainer Desk.
The wheels on the original Wahoo Kickr Cycling Desk are more skate-like-wheels, which are nicer. However the smaller wheels on the Lifeline Indoor Trainer desk can rotate and the back-wheels can be locked. As always I prefer function over looks, so a big plus for the wheels here. You will like it when you are doing an indoor training session.
The Lifeline Indoor Trainer desk has two water bottle holders, which are not there on the Wahoo Kickr desk. While I see this as a helpful addition, I’m a little old-skool and use the water-bottle holders on my bike. The same can be said for the towel holders, nice to have but I stick to the old towel on my Vibe stem habit.
The shape of the base as well as the tube shape of the base (rectangular vs round) differ between the Lifeline and the Wahoo desk. For the placement of the Wahoo Kickr Headwind the original Wahoo Kickr Cycling Desk is better engineered (given it is part from the ecosystem). However I’m using a pretty standard remote controlled fan, so this difference is no big deal for me.
The last major difference is the price point. I’ve purchased the Lifeline Indoor Trainer desk at Wiggle for a price of about € 125,– where the Wahoo Cycling Desk retails for € 280,–. So if you are a power user of the Wahoo Kickr ecosystem (check out my Wahoo Tickr X review) and you are a Kickr Headwind user, than I would certainly opt for the original Wahoo Cycling desk.
Concluding thoughts and wrap-up
The Lifeline Indoor Trainer desk is in my opinion the perfect Wahoo Kickr Cycling Desk alternative. It features some incremental innovation that increase functionality during a training session.
While quality, research, engineering and thought justify a solid price-point, the Lifeline Indoor Trainer desk has a much friendlier price (half the price of the Wahoo). That makes the product more accessible for a broader market (and you get some improvements as well).
I cannot imagine doing an indoor training session anymore without The Lifeline Indoor Trainer desk. So it is a vital part of my indoor training set-up. And for the price point of € 125,– the Lifeline Indoor Trainer desk is a solid investment in your health and the perfect Wahoo Kickr Cycling Desk alternative.
What do you think ?
