Bowflex Max + Wahoo KICKR CORE
An ongoing attempt to give a compact weight-bearing stepper a smart resistance system despite its low-speed, discontinuous motion.
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FrankenTrainer
A maker experiments with affordable, adaptive, and unconventional smart trainers.
Why FrankenTrainer
Good machines deserve more than one life.
I rescue overlooked fitness equipment, add smarts to machines that were built into closed ecosystems, and explore positions and motions beyond the normal upright bicycle.
Follow the journeySix machines, six questions
Builds from the workshop
Recumbents, air bikes, and a stepper, each paired with connected resistance in a different way. These are project journals, including the bits that slipped, clunked, or needed another pass.
Schwinn 2x0 Purpose-Built Mounts
A collaborative mount system that turns an improvised Schwinn recumbent conversion into a cleaner Zwift Hub and belt-drive installation.
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Schwinn 270 + Wahoo KICKR CORE
A repeatable recumbent conversion that combines an abundant used platform, a simple drivetrain, virtual gearing, and family-friendly controls.
Read the buildRogue Echo + Wahoo KICKR CORE
A roomier air bike conversion refined from a slipping multi-rib belt into a quiet Gates Carbon Drive build.
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Assault AirBike + Wahoo KICKR CORE
An air bike mashup that keeps moving handles in the workout while letting a smart trainer report and control the cycling effort.
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BH Fitness R8 + Wahoo KICKR CORE
The first FrankenTrainer: a recumbent machine adapted around a compact smart trainer for a family member who preferred its seated position.
Read the buildThe working brief
Rescue. Adapt. Connect. Engage.
Rescue
Start with the useful steel, bearings, seats, and motion already in the world.
Adapt
Let the machine fit the person instead of forcing every person onto one cycling shape.
Connect
Give siloed or mechanically sound equipment a path into modern training software.
Engage
Use games, music, and responsive resistance to make the machine worth returning to.
From the component bench
Why the KICKR CORE keeps showing up
Its compact resistance unit and removable leg crossbars made the CORE unusually easy to treat as a building block. The component note covers the features I relied on and the ones I still wish it had.
Read the component noteOpen workshop door
Building something adjacent?
The Discord is where I share work in progress and compare notes with people thinking about low-cost trainers, adaptive positions, and strange combinations that might just work.