Looking for a turbo trainer

bobo696 · October 2013

Hi there,

I'm looking for a turbo trainer to improve my cycling ! I live in London so not really easy to get out and have a good cycling day out in general...

So basically I need the turbo to improve my fitness (LOL). I used spinning bikes in the past and find the boredom to hard to bare, so I think I would like to go the virtual reality path. In an ideal world I would get the tacx I-genius priced at approx £1000, but, well, a bit too expensive...

My long term aim is to participate at some hilly sportive such as the étape du tour, or get to somewhere in the pyrénées/alpes and enjoy the roads

I can't now but the next best thing would be virtual reality don't you think ?

So what would you guys recommend ? I mostly looked at the tacx products, and for less there are the I-vortex, and the I-flow, I haven't looked at other brands. But I have no idea how to chose ?

Thanks for the advices

Wooliferkins · October 2013

TACX pretty much have the VR world wrapped up see HERE

Max Bridges · October 2013

Wooliferkins wrote:

TACX pretty much have the VR world wrapped up see HERE

I bought a tacx flow. I was unable to put it together and the assembly instructions made Training & Racing With A Power Meter by Hunter Allen and Andrew Coggan look like a childrens Jack & Jill reading book.

in the end I gave up and took it back to the bike shop the next morning. The lads there had a good laugh and said to come back about 4pm to collect it. When I turned up at 4pm there were 3 of them still working on it. They told me they didn't get anywhere until they threw the assembly instructions away.

It worked fine though, I think it measured power a little generously but it was consistent if you set it up the same way every time.

markp80 · October 2013

bobo696 wrote:

Hi there,

I'm looking for a turbo trainer to improve my cycling ! I live in London so not really easy to get out and have a good cycling day out in general...

So basically I need the turbo to improve my fitness (LOL). I used spinning bikes in the past and find the boredom to hard to bare, so I think I would like to go the virtual reality path. In an ideal world I would get the tacx I-genius priced at approx £1000, but, well, a bit too expensive...

My long term aim is to participate at some hilly sportive such as the étape du tour, or get to somewhere in the pyrénées/alpes and enjoy the roads I can't now but the next best thing would be virtual reality don't you think ?

So what would you guys recommend ? I mostly looked at the tacx products, and for less there are the I-vortex, and the I-flow, I haven't looked at other brands. But I have no idea how to chose ?

Thanks for the advices

To be honest, if boredome is your concern on the turbo, then I, and plenty of others on here, think you could do a lot worse than have a look at TrainerRoad. Putting the software on your laptop, connecting your bike up with ANT+ sensors and setting yourself up with a regular turbo can be very effective.
The software isn't VR, but gives you structured workouts to follow, all set to match your own fitness level, which can really be motivational and far from boring. It can overlay on top of films/video on your laptop as well if you wish. Or you can use it with Sufferfest videos if you prefer.
A good quality turbo like a Kurt Kinetic Road Machine is £300ish, say £100 for the speed/cadence and heart rate sensors (if you don't already have them) and an ANT+ USB stick, then £100ish annual subscription to TrainerRoad sees you sorted. They supply a range of training plans as well, to give you some structure to your training.
OK, not specifically what you were asking in terms of VR, but another option to consider, and certainly one that will improve your fitness, which is your target.

Cheers,
MarkP

bobo696 · October 2013

Thanks for the answers

@MarkP80 : this sounds interesting, though if I'm willing to spend that amount I think I would spend it on the tacx VR products which are in that range.

After some research I haven't found better than either the tacx I-flow or the tacx I-vortex. Could you help me to choose one or the other ? The I-flow has a steering frame which would be nice to experience the VR and can reproduce up to 5% slopes, the I vortex has no steering but can reproduce up to 7-8% slopes.

To be honest I don't really know what that means ? Say if I get a Real life video of alpe d'huez which has slopes of more than 10% how different would it be if I was on the I-flow or the I-vortex ?

Gazzer1230 · October 2013

Definately worth Checking out the bkool turbo trainer full vr race online against freinds , video your local rides then load them onto the computer and reride them on the turbo vr , loads of famous climbs , tours in there videos to choose from , and way cheaper than above mentioned trainers
I

FatTed · October 2013

Check out the Wahoo Kickr

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/product-revi ... oo-fitness

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/03/fitn ... eview.html

deanflyer · October 2013

Bob,

I wouldnt go for a high end tacx. I set an earlier model up for a friend and the software is really flaky. Things have apparently improved somewhat, but reading tacx user forums issues still persist.

As above if you have the money id recommend the Wahoo Kickr. Its getting good reviews and has a open atchitecture which means a lot of 3rd party support.

I use a Lemond Revolution but its too noisy for most

bobo696 · October 2013

The more I think of it and the more I'm willing to go that extra few hundreds to get the I-genius... Then now you are talking about the wahoo kickr which looks awesome as well !

How do you chose between the genius and the kickr ? What I like about the genius is that it can simulate downhills which adds "realism" but is this just a gimmick ?

So could you help me chose between the kickr and the genius?

BillyMansell · October 2013

It looks like you've just missed an opportunity for a complete Tacx Fortius VR trainer for sale in the classifieds as it appears to have sold this morning.

I've had a Tack i-Magic for a few years and have it connected through a pc I use as a htpc to a 50" tv. It's engrossing on a big screen as you do imagine yourself riding the roads and as I've got about 100 videos I'm never short of somewhere different to distract me. The Tacx software contains other programs such as the VR rides (I don't use this that much) and Catalyst which is great as it allows you to create specific training sessions. I also like to import gps data from my Garmin, although you can import anyone's data, and use the courses ridden for training as you can compete against yourself or others on Google Earth (I believe with version 4 of the software and a Google licence it applies the gps data to Google street view for greater reality).

The one issue that has arisen for me has been with cheap or free videos and my own gps data as the elevation data isn't always smooth and the electric resistance/assistance can take big leaps rather than being smooth and progressive as with genuine Tacx videos. There are a couple of ways to improve these problems; a) set the bike computer to record gps data as frequently as possible, and b) you can pass the data through a program that smooths out elevation changes.

FatTed · October 2013

bobo696 wrote:

The more I think of it and the more I'm willing to go that extra few hundreds to get the I-genius... Then now you are talking about the wahoo kickr which looks awesome as well !

How do you chose between the genius and the kickr ? What I like about the genius is that it can simulate downhills which adds "realism" but is this just a gimmick ?

So could you help me chose between the kickr and the genius?

I think "open architecture which means a lot of 3rd party support." would make the difference for me
so Kickr, (I have a LeMond Revolution) I think simulating downhills would be a waste of time.

bobo696 · October 2013

FatTed wrote:

I think "open architecture which means a lot of 3rd party support." would make the difference for me
so Kickr, (I have a LeMond Revolution) I think simulating downhills would be a waste of time.

I read the review of dcrainmaker for the Kickr and there are so many advantages to chose the kickr over the genius, but there is one very big downside: there is only one software that offers real life video to cycle on (kinomap) and the quality of the videos is not very high as opposed to the tacx. Another big grief is the kickr seems to deliver full potential when paired with iphone/Ipad, things that I don't have...

The genius seems to have a lot of problems and I was starting to lean on the Kickr but I would really enjoy the real life video part... Can the kickr use tacx videos or other hd videos ?

bahzob · October 2013

I've got a Cycleops Powerbeam and,with 2 exceptions, am very happy with it.

The VR function is superb with real world video. The only real drawback is that you are limited to by folks being willing to spend the time/effort to load up routes. But once they do riding them is pretty much like the real thing and makes time fly by.

The software has also recently had a significant upgrade that lets you set up your own sessions. Even at generation 1.0 this is excellent. You can pretty much set up a workout and all you have to do after that is focus on pedalling. Provided you manage that you will hit target to within a couple of points of TSS.

Day to day use, its also very good. It's very quiet and feels like its built to last forever. I have been using it pretty intensely for over a year now, including for sessions of 3+hours and had no problems.

The two main problems are
- Its pricey and got more so with the new software which requires an annual sub after a year of use
- Its power is around 20-25W less than that I get on my Powertap wheel. This isn't a massive issue, it's internally consistent/reliable over time so fine for a training program.

bahzob · October 2013

bobo696 wrote:

FatTed wrote:

I think "open architecture which means a lot of 3rd party support." would make the difference for me
so Kickr, (I have a LeMond Revolution) I think simulating downhills would be a waste of time.

I read the review of dcrainmaker for the Kickr and there are so many advantages to chose the kickr over the genius, but there is one very big downside: there is only one software that offers real life video to cycle on (kinomap) and the quality of the videos is not very high as opposed to the tacx. Another big grief is the kickr seems to deliver full potential when paired with iphone/Ipad, things that I don't have...

The genius seems to have a lot of problems and I was starting to lean on the Kickr but I would really enjoy the real life video part... Can the kickr use tacx videos or other hd videos ?

The latest version of Cycleops Virtual Training http://virtualtraining.cycleops.com/en says that it support Kickr. Like I mentioned above the functionality in this software is very good, only drawback is that it comes with a licence fee.

(It runs fine on a PC btw)

bobo696 · October 2013

Thanks for all the suggestions!

I eventually decided to get a tacx iflow. The high end trainers look awesome but the grand is difficult to spend...

Looking for a turbo trainer

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