Choosing a Turbo Trainer Part 2

Often it’s a case of upgrading your current trainer. At this level the turbos are tough units, designed to cope with continuous abuse and handle a wide range of workouts, from low cadence, strength and power intervals to full on sprints. Data recording, virtual reality options and online training video libraries are all standard but it’s the way they are delivered and at what cost which varies…

Elite

Elite are a good brand with a long history of making quality turbo units. Here at CycleTechReview.com, we have owned a few between us and I still have one of their turbos in regular use. At the top end, a hefty £1500 buys you the Elite RealPower trainer which, as you’d hope at this price, is feature packed. The turbo unit itself uses a magnetic powder resistance system, whereby the powders vary their viscosity depending on the current passing through them, changing the resistance and promising huge inertia to maintain a smooth pedalling feel.

Elite claim that the large diameter Elastogel roller reduces tyre wear by 20% and noise by 50%, and I can vouch that it is good at reducing both tyre wear and noise levels. This unit also has clever, sprung “Ritmo” feet making it possible to stand up and pedal.

Elite RealPower

The RealPower links up to your pc and there’s a really handy, handlebar-mounted wireless console that lets you manage the software without interrupting your training. As has become the norm, you connect to that software wirelessly using ANT+. The software then automatically adjusts the turbo’s magnetic resistance to match the course you are riding, whether that be a video, an interval session, an imported route from your GPS or whatever.

You can build your own training programmes, conduct fitness tests such as the Conconi Test, use Elite’s My Real Video app with your own ride videos, take part in online races, import data from your GPS cycling computer, and use Google Earth and streetmap style features to enhance the courses you are riding… There’s certainly plenty to keep you busy and stop you getting demotivated.

I couldn’t find a decent video from Elite themselves to explain the RealPower’s features, but here’s a decent video from a guy called Pancho Maya which, thanks to some good video taken by his other half, gives a great overview of the trainer in use in his garage…

Our only issue with the RealPower is the cost. £1500 seems a lot to pay for features which you can get elsewhere much cheaper, and on top of that initial investment you also have to buy each video course from the Elite site for around 30 Euros each.

Rather than use one set of software to cover everything, Elite seem to have taken the strange step of having separate software for certain things such as MultiRax which allows multi-rider competition, and rather than work to allow any video file and matching GPS route to be uploaded into their system, have developed an app for phones which strangely requires you to mount your mobile phone almost upright on your handlebar to film you ride; I just can’t ever imagine using it or such a thing catching on.

Tacx

Tacx are another big player in the turbo market which a number of the contributors here use on a regular basis. We will ignore the very top of the range Tacx trainer, which has a virtual steering platform included, as for the hard training cyclist it’s probably a bit of a gimmick, but the same unit without the steering system, designated the i-Genius T2020, is a far better bet. Like the Elite it is feature packed with a dynamic motor brake providing continual adjustment of the unit’s resistance to match the terrain that you are covering; it even includes a clever ‘downhill drive’ to provide realistic descending. There are trainer mounted LEDs to show exertion levels (presumably for when you have your head is between your legs!), cadence is automatically sensed by the turbo unit and your right/left leg cadence is also balanced out by the machine. If that was not enough, the unit generates power to put back into the National Grid! It really is ‘genius’.

Tacx Genius T2020

Tacx seem to be into virtual reality software to a greater extent than other manufacturers and you can easily set-up races yourself, including multi-player. They also have video courses for you to ride on, though the Tacx videos are even more expensive than those of Elite, at 40 Euros each, which considering the £1000 asking price of the i-Genius T2020 turbo, makes this a continually expensive option if you want to expand your video route library.

Taxc have some good overview, product videos online, and here’s an introductory i-Genius video from Taxc, with a cyclist who has a very cool lifestyle…

We can’t help but like the Taxc unit and its plethora of fantastical features, but it’s still an expensive option, and the Taxc business model requires that you keep spending after you’ve bought the initial unit; unless that is you are happy just to keep to one video route…

 
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