Turbo Trainer...again...

Funkyzeit · 17-08-2008 1:19pm #1

Ok. I've offically given up on this summer.....and am going to get a Turbo Trainer (relative newbie to cycling so never used one).

Anyone used the Tacx Flow (T16800) ?

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=9756

...and can you upgrade to the I-Magic later ? (anyone have the I-Magic - it looks the business....)

Thxs folks.

Quigs Snr · 17-08-2008 1:26pm

Have the Imagic, pretty damn fantastic if you ask me. Don't bother with the optional steering thing, too fiddly, total waste of cash. Just get the base unit, you won't regret it.

Dirk Gently · 17-08-2008 3:10pm

That I-Magic looks the business alright. Hooking up to a PC means using in the house though. Is it noisy (on wooden floorboards) and would a mat dampen the vibrations much. Don't want to torment the rest of the house with noise and vibration.

I'm all excited now, I want one.

bunnygreen · 17-08-2008 10:13pm

Have to agree with Quigs on that,its very good.In terms of noise its not too bad,a carpet or mat under it would help to dampen any vibration,With the poxy weather we are having at the moment its a godsend,as Quigs may have mentioned in a previous post its a real benefit if you can leave a bike set up on it permanently,i have an old traning bike hooked up all the time, a bit of a luxury i know but it saves so much time when you dont have to change the wiring around or put on a different back wheel etc,id say go for it if your feeling flush.... and it keeps raining.

Quigs Snr · 18-08-2008 11:31am

I am actually considering getting one of those cheapo BeOne Briza 2.0's just to put on the trainer. Although hard to justify with 2 carbon road bikes, an MTB and a TT bike currently being built. Need a bigger house I think....

Tackleberry · 05-09-2008 3:08pm

Quigs just saw this thread - I've been looking up those tacx turbos and half tempted to buy one, it'd be good to get your thoughts now that you've had it another month or so - have you got bored of it?

What routes come with it and have you gotten any of those real life videos yet? Does it have a training plan that allows you to record your performances and graph it out etc? Any downsides?

skim · 05-09-2008 6:14pm

anyone ever use or here anything about the kurt kinetic rock n roll trainer seems 2 look good seen as it can move 30 degrees either side as all you can do is stay seated in the normal trainers and if you try sprint or anything it just doesnt work

Supercell · 06-09-2008 6:12pm

Is it possible to race people online using the like of the I-Magic?, that would be pretty cool.

smithslist · 06-09-2008 6:54pm

Supercell wrote: »

Is it possible to race people online using the like of the I-Magic?, that would be pretty cool.

sure can "Real time web racing", see link

http://www.tacx.com/producten.php?language=EN&ttop=VR%20trainers&lvlMain=16&lvlSub=55&lvlSubSub=78

Supercell · 06-09-2008 7:16pm

smithslist wrote: »

sure can "Real time web racing", see link

http://www.tacx.com/producten.php?language=EN&ttop=VR%20trainers&lvlMain=16&lvlSub=55&lvlSubSub=78

Are you listening Santa?

I think I need this

smithslist · 08-09-2008 8:47pm

Supercell wrote: »

I-Magic?

am thinking of getting one, anybody knows what the real life dvds are like.......

E@gle. · 08-09-2008 10:28pm

Quigs Snr wrote: »

I am actually considering getting one of those cheapo BeOne Briza 2.0's just to put on the trainer. Although hard to justify with 2 carbon road bikes, an MTB and a TT bike currently being built. Need a bigger house I think....

Hows the TT build going?

Quigs Snr · 09-09-2008 12:22pm

Tackleberry, Smithslist etc...

Real Life DVD's are great, obviously you can't steer as they are a video, but they do make the time go an awful lot quicker and I prefer them to the VR (steering on the VR is well dodgy, although you can get used to it, I still think that its just as good letting the computer steer for you, and about 150 euro cheaper too !).

I have the Alpine Classic 2007 and the Tour Of Lombardy RLV's. They are pretty darn great (chainreaction used to sell them on their site, I think they still do at about 20 euro each). They are just video taken from a motorbike, so sometimes you are going up Alpe' D'Huez and passing cars at 8kph, seems a little odd, but a minor complaint, they seem to be pretty accurate otherwise i.e. my time up the Alpe was comparable with the time I did in real life so thats good !

If you want to see it in action and are anywhere near Waterford anytime soon, let me know and I will set it up, anyone who has seen it in action has been impressed. Note that if you go really slow, the image stutters, it has to to simulate the speed, so if I go 10kph on the flat the image becomes almost like a slideshow and then smoothens out as I pick up speed, again you get used to it quickly and it works great overall.

Tackleberry, am I bored of it ? Of course, indoor training is always boring, is it less boring than a standard Turbo, yes it is. Its much easier to train on it, it's still a chore but easier to motivate yourself than usual.. I had it last winter but only used it 5 times when the weather was really bad, apart from that, I was out in the dark and in the rain, nothing beats being on the road.

It comes with only one sample RLV, a 5km piece of the majorca route, which is good enough to give you the idea, apart from that you get 3 virtual terrains. Whilst the catalyst software itself is pretty good, giving real time graphs of speed, cadence, HR, Power, etc... (did I mention it outputs your power ?). You can save these sessions and define your own plans. You can also (If I recal correctly) race against yourself in "ghost mode") on the VR terrains. I would need to double check that.

The only downsides are that your PC needs to have a decent-ish graphics card, its a pain to put your bike onto it and hook up the various sensors etc... Its easier if you have a beat up old bike sitting there, plugged into a PC otherwise its a pain if you are as lazy as me to set everything up. The only other real downside if you are using the same bike on the road as the trainer is dirt. My bike was caked in muck and oil one winters night, I put it on the trainer and lo and behold I had to repaint the white walls afterwards !

Quigs Snr · 09-09-2008 12:25pm

E@gle, I didn't buy the frame yet. Will be putting in the order this weekend. Have all the rest of the stuff picked out, except the bars and the crankset. Best value appears to be a 54/42 Dura Ace one for 189 from Chainreacion, would love one of those swishy FSA TT ones though mmmm... The bars look like a no-brainer the planet x ones are only about 170 euro and are full carbon. I don't like how they look though. I would like ones that dip down from the centre to each side like the easton attacks. Can't find any that are good value that fit that bill though.

Hope to have it built and up on the Imagic by mid October so I can build some TT power for the new season !

Tackleberry · 10-09-2008 4:29pm

Thanks for that Quigs, great to get the lowdown - I ordered one last night from wiggles, motivated by the lashing rain and fading light outside - fair play to the hardy souls who plan to face into that for the next 6 or 7 months!

So I went for the fortius model, only €100 more than the imagic so seemed reasonable, didn't bother with the steerer, as advised, and got a rake loada videos to help me escape the winter, I have a decent hacker frame I'm gonna hook it up to permanently in the garage so there's no excuses.

Also have an oldish PC I'm gonna put out there too, hoping the graphics card is good enuff, and I'm tryin to pick up a cheap used projector and some speakers - wanted to ask is there a soundtrack to the videos and tracks?

No bloody excuses now!

Quigs Snr · 10-09-2008 8:49pm

No soundtrack that I am aware of with the RLV's, but I usually just have music playing on the PC in the background, will recheck that.

The VR tracks have sound effects. The fortius is good. More or less the same as the Imagic but can produce even more resistance (not that it would make a difference to me, I cannot handle the resistance of the Imagic), what I do like about the fortius is that you can actually freewheel down the hills ! Thats where turbo trainers fall down, you never get a break, on the plus side its better training, on the minus side its a less realistic simulation, so the Fortius is worth the extra cash from that perspective. Software etc.. is all the same too, and what a pain it is ! Make sure you get the latest version on their website. The discs they ship are often far, far out of date, and often contain no vista drivers... be sure to check that out.

Funkyzeit · 10-09-2008 9:25pm

Quigs Snr wrote: »

Tackleberry, Smithslist etc...

Real Life DVD's are great, obviously you can't steer as they are a video, but they do make the time go an awful lot quicker and I prefer them to the VR (steering on the VR is well dodgy, although you can get used to it, I still think that its just as good letting the computer steer for you, and about 150 euro cheaper too !).

I have the Alpine Classic 2007 and the Tour Of Lombardy RLV's. They are pretty darn great (chainreaction used to sell them on their site, I think they still do at about 20 euro each). They are just video taken from a motorbike, so sometimes you are going up Alpe' D'Huez and passing cars at 8kph, seems a little odd, but a minor complaint, they seem to be pretty accurate otherwise i.e. my time up the Alpe was comparable with the time I did in real life so thats good !

If you want to see it in action and are anywhere near Waterford anytime soon, let me know and I will set it up, anyone who has seen it in action has been impressed. Note that if you go really slow, the image stutters, it has to to simulate the speed, so if I go 10kph on the flat the image becomes almost like a slideshow and then smoothens out as I pick up speed, again you get used to it quickly and it works great overall.

Tackleberry, am I bored of it ? Of course, indoor training is always boring, is it less boring than a standard Turbo, yes it is. Its much easier to train on it, it's still a chore but easier to motivate yourself than usual.. I had it last winter but only used it 5 times when the weather was really bad, apart from that, I was out in the dark and in the rain, nothing beats being on the road.

It comes with only one sample RLV, a 5km piece of the majorca route, which is good enough to give you the idea, apart from that you get 3 virtual terrains. Whilst the catalyst software itself is pretty good, giving real time graphs of speed, cadence, HR, Power, etc... (did I mention it outputs your power ?). You can save these sessions and define your own plans. You can also (If I recal correctly) race against yourself in "ghost mode") on the VR terrains. I would need to double check that.

The only downsides are that your PC needs to have a decent-ish graphics card, its a pain to put your bike onto it and hook up the various sensors etc... Its easier if you have a beat up old bike sitting there, plugged into a PC otherwise its a pain if you are as lazy as me to set everything up. The only other real downside if you are using the same bike on the road as the trainer is dirt. My bike was caked in muck and oil one winters night, I put it on the trainer and lo and behold I had to repaint the white walls afterwards !

Great post Quigs - I ordered my I-Magic off CRC. Thanks again for the info.

Quigs Snr · 10-09-2008 10:06pm

I almost forgot, it is compatible with most HR transmitters. My Polar CS400 chest strap is encrypted, so I use a cheapo strap from a 12 euro HR monitor from Decathlon, so I wouldn't be surprised if a bottom of the range polar or even aldi chest transmitter worked with it.

Murph100 · 10-09-2008 10:07pm

Hey Quigs,

So the Fortius has freewheel and the iMagic doesn't, is that right ? ... Just about to make the purchase myself, really appreciate your informative review !!!

Cheers,

Murph

Quigs Snr · 10-09-2008 10:29pm

Thats right, the fortius basically is the exact same except its a different color, has a more powerful electromagnetic brake (apparently the Imagic can simulate something like a 6-8% gradient properly, whilst the fortius goes higher), personally that would not make a whole bunch of difference to me, the Alpe D'Huez was sufficiently difficult on it !

Apart from that the main draw is the way it spins the wheel for you on the descents, you can freewheel on the Imagic too, but you will lose speed so the Fortius is more realistic in that situation. The Imagic again compensates in software, it makes the resistance really easy on the downhills and a few easy turns of the pedals gets your speed right up, but you do need to pedal to maintain a realistic time, which is no bad thing in my case, I need to learn how to hammer it down hills, I tend to switch off on the descents in races. So its not a big deal for me but it might be for you.

Theres not much between the 2, if the slightly tougher resistance on hills is important to you (and believe me the Imagic is plenty tough enough), or the realism of freewheeling down hills, or simply if the cost doesn't really matter to you, then get the Fortius. Otherwise get the Imagic, sitting on both and riding along you would be very hard pushed to tell the difference between them I reckon.

Final tip, I went into Tesco and bought a standing floor fan for about 20 euro. I was still sweating like a pedophile at a christening but at least I wasn't leaving puddles of it on the floor (although I could draw my initials in the salt stains on my forehead afterwards).

Tackleberry · 10-09-2008 10:50pm

Thanks a million once again Quigs - sounds like theres a fair few takers from boards!!

Can't wait to get it now - just know its gonna be a problem on my old PC tho, at least we've a few weeks before winter really kicks in?!?!

Murph100 · 10-09-2008 10:52pm

Quigs,

Thanks a million for that, 2 days of googling didn't manage to throw up half of your no BS info !! Tacx have a very powerful & far reaching marketing dept, so the real truth is hard to find.

All the best,

Murph

Turbo Trainer...again...

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