Has anyone tried one of these? I was wanting one around Nov. last year when they were supposed to come out, but kept getting delayed. I still can’t find anyone’s review of them since. There were several little blurbs about them before they came out, but nothing substantial since. It seems like it would be really convenient for interval workouts if you didn’t want to do all the wired connections for a computrainer and didn’t have a laptop with a dedicated area for. Anyone?
-Brandon
Ihave the cycleops pro. Great trainer.
Wouldn’t it be better to spend the money on a wheelset with a Powertap vs. a trainer that you can’t take outside with you?
The difference would be that with the Powerbeam, you can set-up a workout with the wattage you want for each intervals, and the trainer will provide that resistance for you. With the powertap you are just trying to hit a wattage and hold it there which is harder than it sounds when riding outside.
Hello,
This is kind of a coincidence that this thread was started, as I just got this trainer two days ago. It truly is a remarkable piece of training equipment.
As a disclaimer, I am sponsored by Cycleops and I train and race with there wireless power taps.
Living in Montana and training under a coach who utilizes the trainer a lot, the Powerbeam Pro was a perfect fit for me. It has two functions, level (which controls resistance) and slope (which simulates riding hills). I was really impressed with how it mimicked riding up a hill in slope mode.
My initial thoughts were that it was very easy to use and set up. It rides very similar to road riding as it was quite smooth. If you are already using Power Agent, it is very easy to produce your own workouts, upload them to the trainer and then do the workout. Think like a Computrainer. You can also manually control your own power output/ranges during the ride.
I find it a great fit, as I have a bike with a power tap, and another bike set up specifically on the trainer, so all I have to do is hop on the trainer and go.
If you can afford the price point, or spend any amount of time on a trainer, I would not question purchasing this trainer. I am quite happy with it after just a few rides. I am looking forward to using it more and more this year.
Linsey Corbin
OK, sorry for starting the other thread yesterday…to those in the know including Linsey, is this any better than a TACX flow or is it worse than CT? Can I also manually change the resistance settings from a handlebar mounted unit. I can’t always predict what wattage/effort my body can put out on a given day and would rather push harder if I have juice or slightly easier if the legs are cooked, rather than exclusively letting a machine, programmed by my overexhuberence determine what I am doing and for how long.
I’ve used both the CT and the Powerbeam Pro and I’m still trying to decide which I like better…
Creating workouts in PowerAgent is doable, but the success of my attempts at creating and executing workouts has been mixed - the workouts performed as I planned, except that I couldn’t figure out how to adjust the power levels once I had started - so if I thought I’d do 15 minutes at nW and realized three minutes in that I wasn’t cutting it - I had no option but to suffer through it until the next wattage change or turn the damn thing off.
disclaimer: it could be user error - but there are no clear instructions included with the unit and I’ve been too busy to sit down and go through it…
Based on that experience the computer (handlebar) interface isn’t, in my opinion, as intuitive as the CT. Chalk it up to the fact that the CT computer is very simple, the Powerbeam presents more data and thus is a bit more complex.
In the end, I’ve found that I use the Powerbeam the same as I would have used a CT in ergo mode e.g. begin ride at nW for 5 minutes, increase to n+50W for five more minutes, then go through a series of intervals while manually increasing and decreasing the power levels.
It would be great if there were downloadable workouts for the Powerbeam - anyone know of any?
OK, I am cool with pressing buttons during the workout to get the resistance that my body can handle at that time that day (just like when I run at the track I can’t predict if I will do 400’s in 85, 90 or 95 seconds…I can vary drastically day to day)…but wrt to the machine, what is the quality like? comparable to CT,
It’s put together pretty well; more plastic than CT, but it’s stable and quiet.
The wheel locking mechanism is pretty slick and beats having to crank the knob on the CT.
Have you had a chance to try the Powerbeam?
I’m thinking of getting one. The CompuTrainer looks and feels cheap when compared to riding a 1UpUSA or Kurt Kinetic trainer. It looks outdated, makes a heck of a lot of noise, the rolling unit that the tire contacts is small thus wears down tires faster…
I was hoping the Powerbeam would improve upon the Computrainer
(I’m not interested in the preprogrammed workouts. I like to change my wattage manually while training and I don’t need the virtual ride programs)