# tour de france pro trainer garbage or good?



## Sonomasnap (Feb 10, 2010)

Is it a gimmick or is it a good trainer?


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## Sonomasnap (Feb 10, 2010)

Not a single response? Serious question. Have had the Computrainer. Last winter rode outside as much as possible and then just rode on basic trainer with PowerTap and eMotion Rollers.

Looking for something new this off season. Any feedback at all?


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## Poncharelli (May 7, 2006)

Everytime I see the commercial for this product on Universal Sports, I would chuckle a little. 

There's this bike, or riding my rollers staring at a brick wall. For some reason, I prefer the latter, just because it totally goes against everything this stationary bike stands for (which is spending a lot of money to mitigate the ADD that some of us suffer from). 

But if I was to consider this bike, then I would need upfront information on the ability to micro-adjust the seat, and the values of crank length and Q-factor. I couldn't find it.


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## glorth2 (Oct 7, 2009)

Kind of a newb roadie (22 years of mtb) but it looks like BS to me. Ima get rollers as soon as I can. Not taking anything away from real trainers but this is a glorified stationary bike.


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## psycleridr (Jul 21, 2005)

If it actually had a screen to let you see the terrain that it was simulating it would be awesome. So basically this + www.expresso.com
Call it ADD or whatever but riding rollers or a trainer for more than an hour is completely boring and some can't even do more than 30min without going bonkers. I guess it comes down to how much you are willing to pay to not be bored. If money grew on trees I would buy it but unfortunately I have to work for my money so a trainer and an xbox will have to make do


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

Nobody enjoys hours on end on the rollers, but it's better than frostbite.


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## Rugergundog (Apr 2, 2011)

Prob cheaper to go live in Florida for a few months than buy that dang thing anyhow.


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## RagbraiNewB (May 21, 2008)

I've been looking at those commercials as well. They do a good job of making you think that the bike comes complete with Alps to look out your window at. 

All that said, I do need a new trainer for this winter. So this one is 1300 bucks as opposed to what? 400 bucks or so for a really good Cy-Ops?. So that extra 900 bucks (or more) better mean that I get on the thing a LOT more often than I otherwise would. Hard to calculate such a question.


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## Duane Gran (Feb 3, 2004)

The tilting feature is a gimmick and has no training value, but it does make the whole apparatus a lot more complicated. If one spends a lot of quality time on the trainer they would be better serviced with a CompuTrainer.


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## punkrokk (Apr 4, 2011)

*my buddy and I reviewed this*

My buddy wrote a really comprehensive review (you need to add the http colon slash slash) cycleoverride.org/?p=488
Hope these help. All in all I like it. I have no point of reference tough it's the only trainer I've ever had.


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## M Ice (Dec 8, 2011)

I received mine about a month ago after a three month wait. Have read some horror stories about the product, ease of assembly, shipping, quality, and lack of support. My experience thus far has been the opposite. Packaging was bomb proof, assembly was easy. Has some pretty neat features.... You can configure the bike to emulate your current ride...choose a standard front crankset or compact and choose from a variety of rear cluster configurations. Lot's of adjustment in the seat and bars, but I've read that some users have had problems with their knees hitting the bars when they stand...hasn't been a problem for me (I'm only 5'10"). The preloaded tour stages are pretty cool and the Google Maps feature through ifit live allows you to map your own routes up to 50 miles (I think). Now the disclaimer....I've only ridden it 12 times for a total of about 20 hours...have had no problems. At times the Internet connection has been a litlle quirky and I've had to reconfigure to,use my custome routes, but not a big deal (the console connects to your wireless network). It has a built in power meter and heart rate monitor (you have to buy a Polar heart rate strap...doesn't come with the bike). Monitor provides different views...elevation, map, basic stats..ie. speed, cadence, heart rate, incline/decline percent, etc. Speaking,of incline/decline...the bike tilts as you ride to emulate the terrain...doesn't really add much the the experience and I could do without it...you can lock it out if you want. You can change the seat out if you want to match your normal ride as well as pedals. Keep in mind the base of the unit is pretty thick...so your feet are going to be farther apart as you pedal than they are on your bike or on spin bikes etc..... Again however, I've read some pretty bad reviews on the product (some on this forum).....knock wood...mine has been good so far. Will keep you all posted as time progresses......


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## SirLar (Jan 31, 2012)

Purchased this trainer as I had an accident that takes me off the road biking for about 7 months. Had my gen2 trainer for 1 week now. Mechanical set up is well documented and straightforward as well as getting onto IFIT site. The trainer is very quite and seems to be very well built. My problem is that there is NO information available on the software side of the equation. No one at Proform nor at IFIT (when you do finally get someone)could answer simple questions on configuration items. For example, in order to know you have set the bike up as close as possible to your own racing bike one needs to know how many teeth they programmed for each of the front rings as well as the 10 speed rear cassettes. It would also be benefitial if they would allow one to set their account profile as a biker not as a runner (they could not tell me how anyone could do this nor even if it was in their long term plans). They really missed the boat on user friendliness by not providing a manual for use of the console. I had to call IFIT just to find out how to do dual screen displays. So... If you are looking for an interesting piece of equipment to do winter road bike training on this is it. Just don't expect to be able to match your bike, nor even know how close it might be. Oh, and don't expect to be able to adjust the handlebars except up and down. The seat is adjustable up/down and forward/aft however.


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## Flatroadz (Nov 22, 2011)

although slightly intriguing, I think I would prefer to just use my Cycleops 2 trainer coupled with TrainerRoad and a few Sufferfest videos.


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## MonkeyClaw (Feb 3, 2012)

The marketing looks great, but you're better off riding your own bike on a real trainer. Spend your extra $$ on training videos or a PT. The only time I'd recommend one of these to anyone is if they really enjoy biking and it's their only way to ride (can't ride outside for whatever reason).


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