tacx fortius

anoble66

anyone on here using this trainer? With this bad weather I am very tempted, especially at this price:-

http://www.fudgescyclestore.com/index.php?p=59909


Just wondering is there anyone on here using it, any problems etc? Read somewhere that they can shred your rear tyre easy enough due to the friction. And to be honest I couldnt be bothered swapping wheels / tyres everytime I want to use the trainer.

So, any opinions on it?

thanks

Lumen

anoble66 wrote: »

And to be honest I couldnt be bothered swapping wheels / tyres everytime I want to use the trainer.

It's not something specific to that trainer. If you're that lazy, turboing is not for you.

Michelin

This trainer looks great in the shop or web and sounds great in theory. But I bought one a few weeks ago and has not lived up to expectation at all. Im sure the're are people who have had no problems as with anything but after speaking to others and looking at the tacx forum it seems racked with technical problems. Im still working at getting it working properly at the moment its square pedelling uphill! (My problems have been with the usb type cable going to interface among a few others im not sure of )
When its working properly it does seem the business, but it seems like pot luck if u get a decent one. I have been on to the dealer a number of times and he has put me on to the supplier for customer support(UK based). He only deals tru email and not phone.
Another thing if u purchase is to make sure u specify that its the latest trainer with trainer software as stated on that link and that the shop knows what your talking about. I specified it myself but got sent out a trainer with dated software. Im still waiting for the latest trainer software to arrive.
As for the tyre i bought the blue tacx one as i have a spare bike on the trainer but its true about the shredding. the floor is covered in bluebits of rubber!
Dont mean to sound too negative, thats just my experience!

Beasty

Been using it for over a year now without major problems. Check out my training log if you want more details of my own experience (I have used it extensively following recent injuries - it got me on the WW200 last year 3 weeks after a knee operation, and I have done nearly 700km on it since breaking my wrist in February. It also did a 12-hour continual stint at work a week ago (a charity event))

I run mine in the garage, on a trainer mat with a trainer tyre, and noise or tyre "shavings" are not an issue to me. I guess it would be a bit more of a problem if I had to run it in the house

On the software point, you do need to be careful if you get the latest trainer software, as some of the older real life videos and the VR rides do not work on it. In fact, I think the trainer comes with the Fortius rather than trainer software for this very reason. One is not an upgrade of the other - the Fortius software gives you all the basics (and I had minor issues with this, as it did not retain my personal details, such as weight). The trainer software is more advanced, allowing you to download your own rides (for example Garmin downloads)

My own view is that it is an excellent piece of kit, and I would never have been able to to 3hr+ sessions without the variety it can provide, but it probably has limited use over the summer when you can get out on the roads (unless you suffer injuries which keep you off the road)

blorg

anoble66 wrote: »

Read somewhere that they can shred your rear tyre easy enough due to the friction. And to be honest I couldnt be bothered swapping wheels / tyres everytime I want to use the trainer.

Swapping a rear wheel is a 30 second job tops. If you are looking at a £600 (!) trainer you can certainly afford a spare rear wheel and turbo tyre. It really is pretty essential for turboing.

anoble66

Its not the cost of a wheel, its because I am a lazy good for nothing :pac: But as someone said already swapping out the wheel isnt a major problem so I guess I shouldnt let that put me off. The shavings flying all over the dining room floor could irriate a certain someone, but she doesnt need to know about that until after the purchase.

I really want to replace the 3-4 gym visits a week with more cycling.....but to do that I need to be able to cycle whenever I feel like it, with as little hassle as possible which is the idea behind the turbo.

I need to think about this a lot more. Thanks for all the comments.

blorg

To be honest getting the trainer set up in place, the bike on it, cadence sensor attached, plugged in to the PC, the software loaded and everything working, etc takes far longer than swapping a wheel. Swapping a wheel would be the least of your worries honestly. I have the i-Magic one myself (same deal but magnetic resistance rather than a motor.)

anoble66

are you able to use the real life video etc with the I-magic? I was looking at the imagic orginally, but just wasnt sure if I could use the VR and real life videos.

blorg wrote: »

To be honest getting the trainer set up in place, the bike on it, cadence sensor attached, plugged in to the PC, the software loaded and everything working, etc takes far longer than swapping a wheel. Swapping a wheel would be the least of your worries honestly. I have the i-Magic one myself (same deal but magnetic resistance rather than a motor.)

Beasty

anoble66 wrote: »

are you able to use the real life video etc with the I-magic? I was looking at the imagic orginally, but just wasnt sure if I could use the VR and real life videos.

Yes - as blorg said the only difference is the braking system (you can freewheel on the Fortius)

And adding to blorg's point about all the other things you need to change over when you set up the VR trainer - I keep a bike permanently on mine, so just have to switch everything on and load up the software when I want to go on the turbo