Choosing a Turbo Trainer Part 2

by Simon · 18/02/2014

Bkool is a relatively straightforward, yet completely logical training system; if we had to design a training system, I am convinced that most of us would design something like this. I have to admit to having a Bkool trainer. I do have options as to which turbo trainer to use, and the Bkool dominates with 4 to 5 sessions per week, getting much more regular use than my other trainers, thanks in no small part to the interactivity, which is the core of the whole Bkool system. As I alluded to in the introduction, this offers extra motivation that makes indoor training seem much less arduous, especially if you do it regularly.

Bkool has a vast video library of online training sessions for you to try, both in video and virtual/Google Earth formats. They include steady state sessions, fitness tests and interval workouts. You can create and upload your own training sessions as well, either taking route details from your GPS unit or creating interval sessions in .csv format before uploading. Similar to Elite, Bkool are experimenting with allowing users to upload videos of their routes to sync with their GPS data which is a very exciting development.

Once you get into Bkool you become part of a social, cycle training community. There are stacks of multi-player races, seemingly everyday, and you can chat to other riders and challenge their times on set courses. You even get ranked over the course of set time periods.

The actual trainer is of good quality, accurate to +/-15% when measuring power. That’s acceptable if you always use the same trainer and want comparative data to measure improvements in performance; perhaps not acceptable if you need near 100% accurate power data to compare to results from your other power monitors.

The Bkool unit needs to be plugged into the mains to function properly (though it can be used independently without resistance) and wirelessly connected to your computer via ANT+. As with the top trainers from the bigger brands the computer software is used to alter the resistance of the unit to match the terrain over which you are training. At present the software only works in the Windows environment.

Bkool Turbo Trainer

Best of all with Bkool there are, currently, few hidden costs; you buy the trainer and then pay a small monthly subscription (currently 8-10 euros) which gives you access to the vast database of videos, Google Earth routes, training sessions, and so on. As other users upload their routes, the database grows and you can do their workouts. It includes routes and videos from the Classics, Tour and Vuelta.

Bkool have started experimenting with charging a small fee (0.50 euros) for their most recent video route additions, such as the 2013 Vuelta, though there is still plenty to choose from should you not wish to spend more. Considering the monthly subscription cost, it still represents good value and is a major selling point when you look at the price that the competition place on such interactivity.

Bkool’s strength is also perhaps its weakness: it has to be connected to the mains and your computer to provide all of the options but if for some reason you have no power or internet, then it can be frustrating and you cannot really use it beyond spinning along without resistance.

Bkool complete the training circle by offering an app available on both iOS and Android which allows you to record your outdoor sessions on your phone. If most of your training is indoors, this makes perfect sense for recording your outdoor sessions in the same software. It has taken some time but I haven’t used either Garmin Connect or Strava as much since adopting this.

If we hadn’t looked at the £1000+ offerings from Elite and Tacx above, I might feel uncomfortable saying that the retail cost of Bkool is just £429.99. But it is very cost effective at this level when you consider what you get access to, and we constantly come back to the same question: why would you pay more? If you don’t fancy the Bkool trainer unit you can now use a Wahoo Kicker, direct drive, wheel off trainer in its stead and use that with the same Bkool software.

I have still yet to come across a complete turbo training package that is as exciting, motivating and cost effective as the Bkool system, which is not to say it’s not without its faults, but as I have already said, if you were to sit down and design a training system yourself, I reckon it’d be close to this. You can read my full review of the Bkool system here.

Here’s three Bkool videos which summaries why I like this training system above others I have tried. First up, the indoor – outdoor concept…