gmason

I have searched the Forums (Fora?) and seen a few comments on Tacx (pronounced Tax, a factory rep here tells me) trainers. I am seriously interested, so what is the experience of members with them?

I am also concerned with one comment I saw about seriously decreasing the fatigue life of a frame used on a trainer, so that is of particular interest to me.

BTW - they were doing demos at the show of the very expensive, PC-based one that lets you ride various types of races and competitors. Pretty neat stuff, but I do computers for a living, and enough is enough.

Cheers...Gary

cabledonut

you're into your tacx gary!

i use, in fact that's a lie, i have a tacx 'swing' trainer, but i never use it. it's the variomatic one, ie. flywheel with adjustable resistance. anyone who can use these things on a regular basis deserves a knighthood. tacx have just brought out a new one called the 'i - magic', it's a virtual reality trainer that plugs into the p.c, showing a race scene on the screen. no doubt to try and take away the utter misery of using an indoor trainer! 'elite' an italian company, also make good indoor trainers too.

cabledonut.

gmason

Well, since I live here, Tacx appears to be the best idea, as well as the best value for money. But I am still investigating Campy tools. They are horrendously expensive in the U.S., but should be much better over here.

Yeah, the i-magic is the cool one! I watched a guy at the show race on a track, then with a few button pushes, he was on the road with a small breakaway on a road course. Reminds me of a video game. Well heck, it IS a video game. And at the show, they used a huge projection screen - makes people almost lifesize. I suspect it loses some luster when you see it on your 15" monitor.

Cheers...Gary

Stew

I have the TacX Swing Trainer and have been very happy with it, although I have nothing else to compare it too. Seems durable and has high resistance.

I used it all last winter. It is boring, but that goes for any basic trainer.

gmason

Since we are moving to the mountains, and will have a real winter - with snow and everything - we bought a Tacx CycleForce Swing trainer today. [N.B. Almost exactly one year to the day since I started this thread. I am deliberate, if nothing else. Or maybe just slow.]

Any more specific comments you may have developed about this beast since last year? I have used a Tuntuuri in the past, and boring is putting it mildly. But I will be on my real bike this time, and am doing it for cycling instead of just generic health, so it will be better this time.

Thanks...Gary

Bokkie

gmason - I used to have the Tacx Excel and it was a fine trainer though I only used it occasionally and it never figured in my general training schedule. It was a nice piece of kit though.

Did it cause any problems on my bike? Some observations: the QR skewer that Tacx supplied is not nice looking but you have to use one like it so that it can support the bike properly when fitted on the trainer. Cosmetic maybe, but it looks a bit tatty.

I don't think using a Tacx does any harm to the frame. Only thing I did notice was the rear tire looked a bit 'rough' after a few sessions. I think that occurs because the roller presses into the tire so the point of contact is a little abnormal to the point of contact riding on the road. The roller needs to be cleaned as well as you can get spots of rubber collecting on it.

You'd also need to a use a ramp on the front wheel to keep the bike on a horizontal keel.

I saw the new Tacx IMagic that runs on (I've only seen pics of it running on an Apple PC). That looks really cool. You can see it at www.tacx.nl.

Tack also make some very nice tools and accessories, btw.