So I’ve been a fan of the Computrainer for years. I’ve had one for about 2 years now and am reading conflicting posts that are basically leading to getting rid of the CT and get a really good trainer for half the price. I’m especially considering this now because I now have been the owner of a power meter for about a year now. I really don’t use the courses but have used it only to do intervals with power on a flat course.
I’d be interested to hear what others think about this.
I think I like it and like the courses and also like riding against liquid man. I also like my rollers also and like to get the broad bike out on some of the nicer winter days. Think I would like to get more into mountain and cross riding during the winter.
Working full time with multiple other demands put onto my schedule forces me to use indoor bicycle training all months of the year. There is no way I could ride power intervals for all of my bicycle rides. The real course videos are a blessing for the longer rides one needs to do on the trainer. Is the comptrainer perfect? No, the software needs to upgraded and is overdue.
Lots of things to consider. But up here, well be relegated to riding indoors pretty soon. Depending upon the particular winter I may be indoors for 4 to 6 months. The CT allows me a lot of variety and I lick it being able to pick resistance which the mags and fluids can’t. Plus, if I want o do a trial ride of a course I can do that.
Ideally I’d have a CT for the house and a powertap for the road.
Lots of things to consider. But up here, well be relegated to riding indoors pretty soon. Depending upon the particular winter I may be indoors for 4 to 6 months. The CT allows me a lot of variety and I lick it being able to pick resistance which the mags and fluids can’t. Plus, if I want o do a trial ride of a course I can do that.
Ideally I’d have a CT for the house and a powertap for the road.
Ouch! Don’t do that after you’ve been riding a while. Don’t they get hot?
The powerbeam pro is pretty solid. It doesn’t have the virtual courses, but nothing beats being able to write a workout on your computer and download it to your PB without having to touch the PB computer the entire workout.
The powerbeam pro is pretty solid. It doesn’t have the virtual courses, but nothing beats being able to write a workout on your computer and download it to your PB without having to touch the PB computer the entire workout.
Agreed this is nice…and he can already do that with his CT.
Lots of things to consider. But up here, well be relegated to riding indoors pretty soon. Depending upon the particular winter I may be indoors for 4 to 6 months. The CT allows me a lot of variety and I lick it being able to pick resistance which the mags and fluids can’t. Plus, if I want o do a trial ride of a course I can do that.
Ideally I’d have a CT for the house and a powertap for the road.
I love my iPad but some of it’s corrections create confusion. Typing is better than an iPhone but with no tactile feedback, combined with “autocorrect” and wonderous sentences appear. :).
Ouch! Don’t do that after you’ve been riding a while. Don’t they get hot?
Do you need the money? Another trainer along with a powermeter can’t replicate the erg mode of the computrainer. If you need the money, then you MAY want to consider getting rid of it. However, if not, then don’t get rid of it. The erg mode is why the computrainer is the best around, not the courses. I regret selling mine. I had the same thought. I have a powermeter and miss the CT.
My $0.02.
I’m really eager to try the later software coming from Cycleops, apparently with programmable courses with Google Earth or video to match, and some of their own videos. Apparently, according to DcRainmaker, there will likely be an option to download someone’s .gpx file and then re-ride that course - that would be sweet.
As you can see, I’m a huge indoor training fan, although I don’t have a CT. The data you can get is simply awesome for progress charting.
So I’ve been a fan of the Computrainer for years. I’ve had one for about 2 years now and am reading conflicting posts that are basically leading to getting rid of the CT and get a really good trainer for half the price. I’m especially considering this now because I now have been the owner of a power meter for about a year now. I really don’t use the courses but have used it only to do intervals with power on a flat course.
I’d be interested to hear what others think about this.
Why would you want to get rid of it? Have you tried out Ergvideos? There just isn’t any substitute for an Erg workout on a CT. I have a Quarq too, but the advantage to using the CT is that you can set the power levels for your workout and it keeps you there by adjusting the load depending on your cadence.
+1 for the ErgVideo and the Computrainer!
So I’ve been a fan of the Computrainer for years. I’ve had one for about 2 years now and am reading conflicting posts that are basically leading to getting rid of the CT and get a really good trainer for half the price. I’m especially considering this now because I now have been the owner of a power meter for about a year now. I really don’t use the courses but have used it only to do intervals with power on a flat course.
I’d be interested to hear what others think about this.
Why would you want to get rid of it? Have you tried out Ergvideos? There just isn’t any substitute for an Erg workout on a CT. I have a Quarq too, but the advantage to using the CT is that you can set the power levels for your workout and it keeps you there by adjusting the load depending on your cadence.
What he said.
Also, their new softare is supposed to be coming out “any day now…”, although I have been hearing that for over a year.
I wouldn’t put any money on them getting the new software “right” on the first try. Figure another year or two till it’s usable.
I’ve seen some sites where you can build the .erg files easily. Would be awesome to have a site where users can share the .erg files based on power formats. If anyone is interested in it and can advise on the workouts, i can throw the site together fast.
is there a trainer out there (i don’t have a CT so i don’t know what erg mode is) that can ‘accept’ a route and the elevation and adjust the resistance accordingly?
it would be awesome to go on ‘ridewithgps.com’ or something, draw up a route, pick up the elevation profile from there and ‘ride’ that route. i don’t need to see the ‘view’ of the ride. just the location on the route and the elevation profile so i could preride limitless courses anytime.
i’m thinking this isn’t an original idea so there have to be something out there.
Yeah - you can convert rides from garmin, mapmyride etc. today (with a CT). I do it all the time. Rather than map it out, though, I always search connect.garmin.com and find someone else that has ridden it already.
The CT guys aren’t resting at all… they are very actively developing/testing the new software and one reason the delay seems so bad is because once they missed the peak market window and got into the outdoor-riding season, it made more sense to put extra time into testing QA and get it as right as possible before release. Will it take a year to be usable? Definitely not. It will be 100% usable day 1. To be perfect? I’m sure that’ll take time like any software release. I can’t imagine anyone with the option choosing to run the old software, however.
Ergvideo is indeed just fantastic. I’ve been off it a while myself but gave it a go this morning, riding 30 minutes of the ‘ride to the tour.’ Ergvideo will MAKE you train. You have no choice in the matter. Just imagine something could force you to move your legs, and your only choices were to do the workout at 100% or shut it down. That’s how it rolls. If that piques your interest, put some time into researching it and it’ll make more sense - or shoot me a note and I’m happy to describe all my experiences and the software options in more detail.
I am helping with the Beta testing of the new software and it is more than usable. I still have the original software installed on my computer and haven’t fired it up once since I started working with the new version. I have no idea when it will be released, but the things they are fixing now are pretty small so I can’t imagine it will be too much longer. The new pacers are pretty sweet and they already have plans to add more. The new software was apparently a complete re-write. There are some things that will look very similar to the original version, but the engine underneath is different and that will supposedly make updates a lot easier.
I am helping with the Beta testing of the new software and it is more than usable. I still have the original software installed on my computer and haven’t fired it up once since I started working with the new version. I have no idea when it will be released, but the things they are fixing now are pretty small so I can’t imagine it will be too much longer. The new pacers are pretty sweet and they already have plans to add more. The new software was apparently a complete re-write. There are some things that will look very similar to the original version, but the engine underneath is different and that will supposedly make updates a lot easier.
Well I would hope it would be a complete rewrite. I don’t think most people program in NES 8-bit anymore.
(p.s. I have no idea what they program is for the STsmartass coalition. But really why in the world would in not be a complete rewrite? Considering what people program for 4 bucks on an Ipad, I would hope it is far advanced from the previous version.
It’s still going to be in NES 8-bit. At least there was an NES (yup, the original) hooked up to their testing setup last time I was there in Jan or Feb. There is no hope…
It’s still going to be in NES 8-bit. At least there was an NES (yup, the original) hooked up to their testing setup last time I was there in Jan or Feb. There is no hope…
You gotta be kidding me…