Virtual Reality Turbo Trainers

I think you'll get diverse opinions on this one.

Obviously, there are many good turbos on the market that will do the job for much less money, so you don't need one.

But if you have tried an hour on a turbo and just cannot hack it like me, then i'd say yes it may be a good investment for you.

I have a Tacx Fortius and use the Real Life Videos which are an additional cost. But i find i can ride a route from start to finish which can take up to 3 hours without a problem. It is quite realistic in the sense that you can ride the routes based on how you feel - you can select hills or flats to do intensive intervals if you want to or just ride easily etc... The quality of the RLV's is pretty good especially the new ones. You will need a fairly modern spec computer to run the VR software. In many ways it has replaced the winter bike.

You can also use them as a standard ergotrainer but you still must attach to the PC to make it work. So if for some reason you have PC problems then you can't use it at all. There is a good support forum on the Tacx website for troubleshooting and general info. I suggest you have a browse there. http://tacxforum.ilink.nl/

There is probably some additional time to setup/put away compared to a standalone but nothing significant - approx 5min.

I'd suggest you got a demo of one from your local Tacx dealer before shelling out.

Tacx i-magic and fortius measure power but a lot of people set the calibration with a powertap to get it spot on.
Also if you have a GPS like garmin edge you can upload your own routes and ride the same elevation profile although i-magic can only simulate 3.5% gradient with the motor brake.

I am a real fan of the Tacx Fortius. I have been using mine for 2 years now and am as engaged as the day I got it.

The Fortius is doing a lot more than just showing you a video of a route when riding the Real Life Video, it has all the telemetry data of the route (hill gradients etc), which is then replicated via the motorbrake, so that as you ride through the course the resistance is changing as the it would in real life. The faster you ride, the faster the video plays.

It is very realistic, I rode Ventoux many times on the RLV, and when riding it in real life this spring I did a time of within 5 mins of my Fortius time.

Fortius is much better at replicating the resistance of the steep mountain climbs than I-Magic (which uses a magnetic resistance unit rather than a motor as in the Fortius), Fortius can replicate a climb of around 14-15% and still be pretty smooth, it gets choppy after that until you learn to pedal very smoothly.

The power function of Fortius' Catalyst program means you can do very good power based intervals, ie, I can do 2 x 20's at set power, and the Fortius will take care of controlling the resistance to make sure you stay at your preset power output, so you can just focus on pedaling and not worry about keeping at your power output.

As said above, you do need to factor in a good PC and a monitor (I use a 32" LCD) to get the most out of the RLV's, but I can easily do 4 hours of pretty tough riding on it, which I couldn't do on a standard turbo.

Hi - I see this post has been used for a while, but I've spent the whole day trying to find out if the IMagic (T1900) can be used as a Multiplayer? Looking to buy 2 with my partner so we can train hard over the winter months in preperation for next summer.

I've seen an answer on the Tracx Q&A section stating the below, but the on-line retailers are telling me that I need to go for one of the more advanced/expensive options and it would be good to know of anyone who has tried it. This is the response on the Tracx website:

Can i use i-Magic trainer together with the Multiplayer sw

Yes you can. You should always remember that

1. There is no difference in the software of the VR Trainers. The i-Magic and the Fortius both use the same software (called Fortius Software)
2. The difference between a Fortius and i-Magic trainer is only in the MOTORBRAKE.