tacx fortius glitches

bobhitch

I recieved a tacx virtual reality trainer for xmas from my good lady wife , i've been pretty excited about using it to relieve the boredom of turbo training , my alpine classic dvd arrived yesterday -
i've downloaded all the software etc and on commencing a ride up alpe d'huez or any of the courses the resistance becomes very jerky immediately with a few seconds of being able to pedal ,it is impossible to ride at all, then intermittently putting the breaks on ,also the wattage figures aren't showing up .....any advice

slunker

Have you all the latest drivers and updates from tacx??

tonysp

Hello, the basics first.
I had a similar problem at first, the cadence magnet on the crank does need to be as close as possible to the sensor without them making contact. That fixed my problem anyway and the whole thing has been flawless for about 3 months now.
Let me know how that goes, about time I stopped lurking here and tried to help

tonysp

Also does your computer have ffdshow installed ?
Its a video codec which should support everything needed without having to adjust all the settings.
Download here http://ffdshow-tryout.sourceforge.net/download.php

bobhitch

Thanks all,it work fine as a basic trainer but as soon as the gradient becomes greater than 3% the ride is jerky within one pedal stroke it goes from no resistance to lots making it feel v.unrealistic and unenjoyable to ride on .
Am i expecting too much, or do others have a realistic ride with smooth pedal strokes and linear resistance within each pedal stroke whatever the gradient.

ta again

DaSy

As Tonysp said, ensure the cadence function is working correctly as this will cause exactley your problem if it is not.

Also make sure you have enough contact between roller and tyre. The recommended procedure is to slacken off the roller, move the lever into the engaged position and wind the knob until the roller just touches the tyre. Disengage the roller again, then do 3.5 turns of the knob and re-engage the roller. It will need a fair amont of force to engage the roller when correctly set. I also put around 100-110psi in the tyre.

tonysp

You should definitely not encounter any slipping at gradients of around 3%.
As mentioned above try with different tyre pressure and the pressure of the actual machine on the tyre. nothing too outrageous but just subtle adjustments as the way it is now is not correct.
let us know if you have any success or not..

bobhitch

thanks all , did all suggestions ,much better - alpe d'huez before tea..bob

DaSy

That's good news Bob, I love my Fortius and it has given me hours and hours of training...errr...fun!

Alpe D'Huez TT is one of my favourites, and do that as my Friday torture session most weeks, it's a good way of measuring progress for me.

inseine

So DaSy, what are stats for the climb? I've been doing galibier a far bit lately because it's a bit longer but I enjoy the Alp more. Feel like I know every corner!

DaSy

I am currently on 48 mins, though my best effort was 47mins and 40 secs, annoyingly that was about this time last year.

Are you on a Fortius or I-Magic Inseine?

My mate who fancies himself as a bit of a TTer came up to challenge me on the AdH TT a while back, and I forgot to set up his profile, so he raced on mine. He came in at 51 mins, and was very chuffed with himself, until I noticed he weighs nearly 2 stone more than me, so set him up a profile of his correct weight. He reckons I have the easy life now, after re-trying it at his correct weight!

bobhitch

rather frustratingly the problem of the trainer not working properly has reared its ugly head again , it worked fine yesterday but on trying to use it tonight (everything left set up since yesterday) the cadence sensor seems not to be working so v.jerky etc and unrideable . i can't figure out what else to do , looking on other sites it appears that faulty sensors are not unusual ,I have e-mailed tacx but expect to wait for a reply ... i dont really want to go back to my old turbo as the new one will sit unused ,so a bit of a waste of money !!..any ideas?

cheers Bob

inseine

Dasy, I've got an i-magic and I love it and also, thankfully I've not had any glitches in two years of use. I think my best tiime is about 55mins but I've never 'really' gone for it, though I I don't think I'd knock more than a minute or so off :oops: It's probably responibly realistic compared to people i know who've doen it for real. i'll find out in July!

scapaslow

bobhitch wrote:

rather frustratingly the problem of the trainer not working properly has reared its ugly head again , it worked fine yesterday but on trying to use it tonight (everything left set up since yesterday) the cadence sensor seems not to be working so v.jerky etc and unrideable . i can't figure out what else to do , looking on other sites it appears that faulty sensors are not unusual ,I have e-mailed tacx but expect to wait for a reply ... i dont really want to go back to my old turbo as the new one will sit unused ,so a bit of a waste of money !!..any ideas?

cheers Bob

Bob, there is a known (but as yet, not admitted) issue with a batch of Fortius machines where the wires inside the round plug that connect the silver powerbox to the trainer were no sufficiently tightened at manufacture. Yours may not be affected but i would advise you to check.

I had 2 loose wires and after tightening have never had any problems. Prior to this i was getting random locking of the motorbrake while riding and also finding it very difficult to get going in the first place due to jerkiness and much resistance from the machine.

Prior to doing this I would recommend running the Tacx system test which should be installed on your PC, to check that all the hardware is functioning properly - just in case you have a faulty cadence sensor.

I can send you a pdf instruction file (re. loose wires) from Tacx support if you wish - PM me.