Proform Tour Trainer

[4mirswimr]

Anyone tried one of these or own one? Looks very interesting $1,300.

Includes power meter?

Google Maps
With the iFit Live™ Technology Powered by Google Maps™ you can ride anywhere in the world! Choose from 24 pre-mapped courses or create your own. Ride over the Passage du Gois or climb the hills of Mont des Alouettes in France.

Incline and Decline
Introducing incline and decline that matches the street! Now, you can experience any route around the world and Le Tour de France Indoor Cycle automatically adjusts the incline and decline to simulate the terrain!

Intelligent Wind Resistance
Intelligent Wind Resistance automatically adjusts the resistance of your bike based on your wind profile. Our smart technology calculates your height and weight to apply the natural resistance you would get out on the road.

What the Pros are saying…
“In over 20 years of riding trainers, I’ve never ridden anything even close. The “Tour De France Trainer” is by far the closest stationary bicycle to the road I’ve ever experienced! Five stars!”

The Official Training Bike of Le Tour de France
Get the experience of riding outside without leaving the comfort of your own home. You draw the route-anywhere in the world-and iFit Live™ Technology Powered by Google Maps™ automatically downloads the map to your console. What you see is exactly what you feel-every hill, every flat and every decline. This versatile Indoor Cycle delivers more options for a greater benchmark performance. With 24 Digital Gear Controls you can personalize any workout. Interactive Incline and Decline Controls allow your bike to follow the road. Intelligent Wind Resistance factors in your height and weight for a calculated drive. Train like a Pro with Le Tour de France Indoor Cycle.

Ride Anywhere in the World with Google Maps™ iFit Live™ Technology Built-In
With the iFit Live™ Technology Powered by Google Maps™ you can ride anywhere in the world! Choose from 24 pre-mapped courses or create your own. Ride over the Passage du Gois or climb the hills of Mont des Alouettes in France. Now you can experience these same trails and more on this Indoor Cycle. With iFit Live™ Technology you can ride where the Pro’s do. The world is at your fingertips. Map any route and enjoy the ride! Google and Google Maps are registered trademarks of Google, Inc.

It Does What the Street Does -20 - 20% Digital Incline and Decline Controls
Introducing incline and decline that matches the street! Now, you can experience any route around the world and Le Tour de France Indoor Cycle automatically adjusts the incline and decline to simulate the terrain! No matter the route, no matter the map, your bike moves to follow the road. So, you get a realistic workout-just as if you were outside-but without the traffic, potholes and weather. Now you can have the perfect day on your road bike every day of the year with Le Tour de France Indoor Cycle.

Intelligent Wind Resistance For a More Personalized Experience
Any indoor bike can give you resistance-but only Le Tour de France Indoor Cycle can give you Intelligent Wind Resistance. Intelligent Wind Resistance automatically adjusts the resistance of your bike based on your wind profile. Our smart technology calculates your height and weight to apply the natural resistance you would get out on the road. A climb in your basement is exactly like a climb outside.

What the pros are saying
“The “Tour De France Trainer” is incredible because it has a very realistic road feel. In over 20 years of riding trainers, I’ve never ridden anything even close. My favorite features are the Google Maps iPhone application, and that the bike actually rotates up or down based on uphills and downhills. The “Tour De France Trainer” is by far the closest stationary bicycle to the road I’ve ever experienced! Five stars!”

[Kenney]

Know nothing about it…Though that picture of Lewis Elliot is funny, he is from Billings, were I live. Wondered what he was doing. Dads a good Dr. in the area

[trigolt]

Agree this looks really interesting. Would love to try one out. I can’t tell how you change gears/resistance though. I’m assume it’s all electronic. Also wondering if you can put real pedals on it.

[shulessjoe]

I have had one for about a week now. Resistance changes automatically to the incline via magnetism. The thing is completely silent except for when the unit tilts up/down as per the incline. It has 24
electronic gears you can select to get you up and down the “hills”. I am using the pedals that came with the unit, I didn’t try putting my pedals on the unit, but it appears to be the standard left/right
threading you would expect on a bike. Building your own course via Google maps is pretty cool and super easy. So far it does everything it is advertised to do. The power/speed seems to be a bit
low as compared to my HR while working out. Any other questions let me know.

[trigolt]

How does the incline/decline feel? Does it feel like you are going up and down hills in terms of the bike tilt? One more question - what’s your best time up Alpe’duez?

[MrT]

Does it feel like a spin bike or more like a real bike when you are peddling?

[shulessjoe]

Yea, it actually does. I haven’t done any of the “canned” courses yet. I created a quick google maps course that included a decent climb in Clermont FL to test out the incline.

[shulessjoe]

It feels very much like a real bike. However in my opinion it is a tougher to maintain the same power/speed I can do on the road. I was able to get most of the bike setup
somewhat close to my tri bike. (i.e. seat height, seat forward in relation to pedals, bar height, etc.) the one thing that is different is the width between the pedals if that makes sense.
The distance between the pedals is wider than a road/tri bike.

[trigolt]

I think the peddles on spin bikes are a little wider than real bike so I know what you mean.

[dddit]

Would you replace a Computrainer with one of these? What is your overall take on it up to now? I’m really curious to learn more about it.

[shulessjoe]

Yea, I had a Computrainer. Keep in mind though I do live in South Florida so I can ride outdoors year round as long as I have the time. The tdf bike is something I can jump on
for an hour in the evening. I can put on cycling shorts and grab a towel and I only have a couple minutes dead time. Since I only have one bike an hour workout on the Computrainer
takes considerably longer since I have to change the rear wheel, setup the computrainer, calibrate, etc. then afterwards prepare the bike for the road again. So for me it is about
time management. If I lived up North and had to spend considerable time on a trainer I would go with the Computrainer since it 100% specific, and I would probably be leaving the
bike on the trainer for extended periods of time, but again my situation is different. I have enjoyed the tdf and it has been rock solid so far. If you have any specific questions on the tdf feel free to ask, I think I know it better than their customer support, which isn’t the best… Thanks,

[charleslcso]

Hello shulessjoe,

From the photos of the trainer, I could not see clearly how the crank is bolted into the trainer. Would you suggest that part of the trainer is built solidly?

How does the small monitor do besides showing a small, red arrow on where you are on the course? Does it also show incline, power output, speed and etc?

From http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/20/idUS234144+20-Jul-2011+BW20110720, it states “To see Google Street View of the course with a tablet, a tablet shelf that connects to the bike is sold separately.” Can you advise how we use a tablet with the trainer?

Must the GoogleMaps be downloaded from ifit.com? Can I go straight to google.com/maps and use the maps from there? I need to factor in the yearly cost of the membership.

Also, does the trainer has enough memory to store the whole stage of the TdF?

Thanks alot!

[shulessjoe]

Yea, the cranks and really the entire unit seems to be built very solid. The only issue I have had is a corrupt firmware on the console, the unit still works except for one of the onboard workouts. They are sending me a new replacement console. The display can be toggled between 4 different displays, the google maps display is much as you described with also the incline and gear readouts, the others displays have speed, distance, watts, cadence, time, a graphic of the incline, and calories. You can toggle between these by pressing the display button on the console. I don’t have the tablet or stand. I have played with the street view and just simply used my Mac and set it on a bar stool in front of the unit. Its pretty cool to see the actual video of the street you are riding as you go. One thing to keep in mind though it is not real time, but is updated I would guess every 3-5 seconds. Remember this is being streamed via the Internet. Making a course is stupidly easy… but must be in segments of 50 miles or less. So basically you go out to iFit from your PC/Mac and make the course first, its a 2 minute deal. When you initially setup the tdf bike you set it up to login to iFit and it does so every time you turn the unit on. So you have the map built, the tdf bike downloads the course to the tdf console and you are all set. If you want the street view, you login in to iFit from your Mac/PC and you click on a link to have the view from the PC/Mac. It comes with 10 tdf stages on the bike when you get it, as well as a dozen or two other onboard workouts. You can purchase the entire tour on their site for around 30 bucks. This thing will kick your ass, at least it is kicking mine, as I am not used to all the climbing! If you have any other question feel free to ask. Thanks,

[charleslcso]

Thanks shulessjoe for the info!

Has anyone found a valid coupon for buying the TDF? Here is a site that I found, but clicking on the coupon link gives me Error 403.

http://www.proform-coupons.com/

at link “Click Here To Save $75 Off The Sale Price Of The ProForm Tour de France Bike!”

Anyone got a coupon?

[charleslcso]

Hello shulessjoe,

In proform website, there are no download links for User’s Manual for either PFEX01311 or PFEX01310.

Does TDF come with an electronic copy of the User’s Manual? If you have it, would you mind sending me a copy?

Excuse me, I still have a question.

I believe I can see a top-view of the route and my whereabout. Can I have a Streetview of the routes? Do you think the Tablet adapter is for this purpose? I can’t find this adapter in proform.com…

[shulessjoe]

The owners manual I received is a hardcopy. Yes you see a small google maps “top view” directly on the tdf console. To get the street view you need a PC/Mac. Like
I mentioned I simply use a bar stool and my Mac and set it up in front of the tdf. I really don’t know what additional this adapter would buy you if you already have a
notebook computer at your disposal. If you find a value to using the adapter let me know. Thanks,

[j_p_o]

Thanks shulessjoe for the info!

Has anyone found a valid coupon for buying the TDF? Here is a site that I found, but clicking on the coupon link gives me Error 403.

http://www.proform-coupons.com/

at link “Click Here To Save $75 Off The Sale Price Of The ProForm Tour de France Bike!”

Anyone got a coupon?

Go to Sports Authority and whine about how much it costs. Seriously. I was looking at it and debating about whether or not I wanted to plunk down that much. They guy helping me handed me a 25% off one item coupon that was good for a week. Not that it changed my mind but that would have knocked their price down to about $750.

[charleslcso]

Fantastic! And thank you to “j p o”.

The only thing I’m missing right now, and couldn’t find in proform.com, is the dimensions and weight of the package. I need it to calculate the cost to ship it out.

Do you have the dimensions and weight of TDF in box?

[screamin]

Being my fellow slowtwitchers, if you want a bike, PM me, I will cut you guys del as, we want these bikes in people’s hands and using them.

We are at the inter bike show right now and the bike has been a hit, even to the “picky” bike shop owners. The q factor is not as narrow as a regular bike, but not wide either, you barely notice it. The best way to use it is with a computer close buy or iPhone or iPad, the street view works that way also.

The bike is cool and makes the hour or hours go by much quicker.
Let me know if you have any questions.

[charleslcso]

It seems that Sports Authority doesn’t carry the TDF anymore.

I searched thru the catalogue, and used the site’s search function, and nothing can be found.

Worse still, they only have phone numbers to call… they don’t have email addresses that I can contact them with…

Ummm…as you said, I need to go there… which is impossible…