Our general buyer’s guide for bike trainers explains the options you have when it comes to brake systems or training possibilities. This buyer’s guide focusses solely on the Tacx-specific features and options. Hopefully after reading this blog, you’ll know everything you need to choose your perfect Tacx bike trainer!
Tacx Bike Trainers – The types
Tacx offers several different types of trainers. There’s the simple bike Trainer, the interactive trainers, and the rollers. The bike trainers are so-called stand alone trainers, which don’t require a computer, software, or an external power source. On the other hand, Interactive trainers can be paired to a variety of external devices and be operated with a multitude of software packages.
The stand alone trainers are extremely suitable for simple training sessions, such as your pre-race warm up or long endurance rides. The Tacx Blue series consists of stand alone trainers fitted with a magnetic brake system. The resistance can be adjusted via a bar-mounted lever. An exception to this is the Tacx Blue Twist, which uses a switch on the brake to adjust the drag. The Tacx Booster is the strongest stand alone trainer, with a maximum resistance of 1050 Watts. This allows you to put out some serious power at lower speeds.
Interactive trainers
The interactive trainers by Tacx can be paired to a range of different software packages. The new Smart series, which consists of three trainers, allows Tacx to play into the trend of increasingly popular smartphone and tablet use. The trainers use Bluetooth Smart, making it easy to pair them to your smartphone or tablet, and can be operated with the free Tacx Cycling App. More on that later in this blog. The most inexpensive Smart trainer is the Tacx Satori Smart. This trainer can be used both as a stand alone trainer, and as an interactive trainer when paired to your phone or tablet. This allows you to gather data on things like power and speed. Contrary to the other two trainers in the Smart range, the Satori isn’t controlled by the app. Instead, you need to adjust the drag of the brake manually. The Tacx Vortex Smart is the second trainer in the Smart series. This trainer uses an electric brake system controlled by the app. If the road ahead starts to climb, then the trainer will adjust the drag accordingly. The Tacx Bushido Smart is the big gun in the range. The electric brake system can provide you with up to 1500 Watts of drag, and is capable of simulating a 15% incline. By swapping a physical flywheel for an electronic one, the Bushido Smart becomes incredibly lightweight and the cycling feel more natural than with the other trainers in the Smart range.
If you want a more comprehensive software package, you can use the Tacx Trainer Software for Windows PC’s. This software is included as standard with the Tacx Ironman and Tacx Genius Multiplayer. The Ironman and Genius Smart can be paired to your PC via ANT+ using the ANT+ to USB dongle. These two trainers also have immensely powerful motorized brakes, which is rather special: the Tacx engine brake can not only simulate inclines of up to 20%, it also powers the rear wheel on descents. On top of that, these trainers also use an electronically controlled flywheel. The drive on the descents and electronically controlled flywheel together provide you with an extremely realistic cycling feel!
Interactive Direct Drive Trainers
The latest two trainers in the Tacx range demonstrate a new level of innovation. These trainers don’t work like those mentioned above, which use a wheel on a roller to create drag. Instead, the Tacx Flux Smart and Tacx Neo Smart are both so-called “Direct Drive” trainers. The engine brake is mounted directly to the cassette, allowing the trainer to adjust the drag even better. This provides you with a more realistic cycling feel, decreases wear, and you’ll never suffer from any rear wheel slip again! The Flux Smart T2900 has the highest physical rotational inertia at 23 kg. The bigger the flywheel effect gets, the more realistic the trainer will feel. The Flux Smart uses ANT+ and Bluetooth Smart to communicate, allowing you to pair it to smartphones, tablets, and (cycling-)computers. The Neo Smart has an extremely powerful engine brake with a maximum output of 2200 Watts. This high power isn’t only available at high speeds: at 6 kph, the Neo Smart can provide you with 450 Watts of drag, thereby simulating even the steepest of climbs! Anything from -5% to a staggering 25% is possible.
Rollers
Rollers are trainers which don’t hold your bike in place as you ride along; you’re completely free to move around. Riding on rollers isn’t easy and takes some practice. Contrary to regular trainers, rollers also allow you to train your coordination and balance. The small muscles in your hips and back used for balance and coordinated movements are trained much more with rollers. The downside of rollers? No adjustable drag. Instead, the harder you push, the more drag you feel. Because you’re completely free on the rollers, sprinting and riding while standing up is only possible for the more experienced riders. Rollers are mostly used for endurance- and coordination training sessions.
Tacx Cycling App
The Tacx Cycling App has been developed to pair your Smart trainer to an iPad or iPhone. The trainer uses Bluetooth Smart to link with the freely available Tacx app, and allows you to transform your trainer into a full-fledged interactive trainer. The Cycling app for your smartphone is less extensive and offers less functionality than its tablet-based counterpart. The Tacx Cycling app for the iPad broadly offers 3 functions: the Catalyst, the Analyser, and Videos. The Catalyst allows you to train based on heart rate, power, gradient, or time. The training data is displayed in real time using an interactive graph, allowing you to keep track of your performance at all time. You can either create your own training program or use one of the preprogrammed sessions. The Analyser allows you to review finished training sessions and analyse them thoroughly. The Video mode enables you to relive tour classics or well-known climbs. When the road starts heading up, the app will automatically adjust the drag accordingly. When compared to the videos included with the PC software, the videos in the Cycling App are shorter and not quite as high-quality. Tablets simply aren’t able at this point to work with the massive video files like a computer can. The video-rides in the Cycling App are up to 30 kilometres long, so they’ll allow you to get a decent hour of training done. The videos are available from the App Store, though they do require a small payment to be made. Like we said before, the iPhone-based Tacx Cycling app is less comprehensive than that of the iPad. The difference in functionality is clearly shown in the figure below.The table shows the differences between the Tacx Cycling app for iPad and iPhone. If you want to know about the functionality on both Android tablets and smartphones, check out the column listed “smartphone”. In reality, the datascreen also looks slightly different on your phone than on your tablet. The image below shows you the data display during a Catalyst training on both iPad and iPhone.
The Tacx Cycling app is also available for Android devices. The downside is that Android doesn’t distinguish between tablet and smartphone, which is why Tacx choose to develop an app which works well on both. The result is that the Android-version of the app only has the smartphone functionality built into it.
Which Tacx Trainer do you choose?
Tacx emphasises you yourself should always be able to decide how you want to train, and with what type of trainer. Simply want to train your endurance? Get a stand-alone trainer. If you want to pair your trainer to the Tacx Cycling app, get one from the Smart range. Want to have all possible training options available and use the most powerful trainer? Get the Tacx Ironman or Tacx i-Genius and pair it to your PC. If simple coordinative and endurance training is your thing, then the rollers are the choice for you. Whatever you desire: Tacx makes it! Tip: also check out our general guide to bike trainers or our Elite Trainers buyer’s guide!
Last update: 10 October 2016
Het bericht Tacx Bike Trainers – 2016: A Buyer’s Guide verscheen eerst op Mantel | Bikes. Parts. Ride..
