I have been doing some research on this trainer, but can’t find a phone number for Tacx. Anyone have it? can the trainer be used without a computer. From what I can tell, you have to have it hooked up to the computer to get power readings etc. Is this true, or is there a separate meter on the bike for power output? Overall, what do you guys think of it?
no it cannot be used without a computer. The resistance unit takes its cue from the computer program. There is no separate display for power etc so you must have a computer to look at.
Having said that i have been using one for the past 12 months, though only more seriously in the past 9 months, and have enjoyed the VR rides very much.
Being a dinosaur who hasn’t embraced the 21st century, and my pea sized brain not smart enough to know I must evolve or perish, I know nothing of the newTacx trainers.
I have a circa 1994 Tacx magnetic trainer, still going strong. I bought it because it was cheap! No bells or whistles. It’s good to hear the company is still in business.
When all else fails, try google.
My favorite workout on the I Magic was a crit race course I setup and just kept racing against as many as 5 of my recorded rides. I love the drafting effect. You can race as hard as you can then record the race, then draft the hell of of the recorded racer and then sprint past him for a win. Just keep doing this and the sprint will need to be faster and faster to win.
I did this on 2 courses. One was a flat 3 mile crit circuit for 21 miles and the other was an uphill and back down again, 15 miles total.
I and a couple of others on the tacx forum are having issues with the i-magic reading 100 - 200 watts too high and speeds being commensurately too fast.
I have limited expectations of accuracy, but 100% error is more than I can live with.
Hmm…
I’m considering purchasing the Fortius VR for University research for my M.S. degree. The reason for the Fortius is that it simulates a higher incilne and is hopefully more “accurate” (take that word however you wish) to real life situations…
Good to know that the I-magic reads high for some. Anyone else experience this? I need to figure out what machine to purchase.
For research I’d be looking at a computrainer lab but mostly looking at a velotron.
I’d definitely avoid the tacx stuff for research if you can.
wow…100-200 watts seems excessive. What does Tacx have to say about that? Is it just a matter of better calibration? I realize that trainers have a reasonable amount of error (not 100 watts), and I am okay with that, as long as the results are reproducible. Are you finding that the data is variable from day to day, or do you end up being consistently X% above the actual wattage?
What does Tacx have to say about that?
You really don’t know much about tacx service do you?
Tacx service pretty much consists of a forum where a helpful guy named Michael answers lots of questions; he doesn’t work for tacx or anything he’s just a guy and he’s pretty nice about sharing what he knows.
Then there’s a guy who is a subcontractor for tacx, he will also answer questions to the best of his ability. He is the guy they hire to produce the real life videos as far as I can tell. But he’s not a tacx employee either just a subcontractor, he’s also quite helpful.
And there is an actual employee who will pop in every month or so.
I have had one question answered by emailing the us distributor, that was nice of them I guess.
The support email seems to be quite good at helping you if your multiplayer account gets screwed up somehow.
If I were to do it over again, I’d either go computrainer or go with the realaxiom from performance with one of their coupons. The realaxiom has other shortcomings, but it costs a lot less as well.
you have to caliberate it with a powermeter if you are concerned about the accuracy of the watts. What i can say is that the power readings are consistent but not accurate. I ride it with a PT so i use the watts from the PT. As far as speeds reading too high i have not experienced that, especially after caliberating. The speed is very *consistent and accurate *when compared to the PT speed readout.
Like others have said the benefit of the I-Magic is more for the VR functions which i love, and the ergometer mode is OK too, but don’t expect to be able to use it for research.
The courses i like are the IronHorse Classic course, Milan-San Remo and the IM Roth course.
I have been doing some research on this trainer, but can’t find a phone number for Tacx. Anyone have it? can the trainer be used without a computer. From what I can tell, you have to have it hooked up to the computer to get power readings etc. Is this true, or is there a separate meter on the bike for power output? Overall, what do you guys think of it?
Computer a must.
Learn Dutch.
I love my Tacx i-Magic 1900, but I found cyclocross and ride all winter now, so rarely use it. Am thinking of selling it on eBay.
I forgot to answer all your questions.
The imagic works with a computer only, but the tacx flow is the same resistance unit with a stand alone head unit. So it works this way resistance unit + stand alone = flow. Resistance unit + imagic head unit = imagic.
About the 40% errors, did more testing last night and it seems to be specific to a given head unit. The part that is on the handlebars. In my case using the t1915 head unit gives 40% too high readings. Using a newer head unit that is currently sold gives pretty accurate results.
I’ve read that the readings in “ergo” mode are a lot further off than in “slope” mode, have you observed this? I upgraded my flow to I-magic, butthe crappy software and poor service made me crazy, so I returned it.
I have one, an I-Magic. Use it a lot in the winter. My impressions:
-the power and speed is accurate if your bike is properly mounted in the sled. The speed, cadence, and power is almost identical to what I have on my bike for comparison. Your bike must have the correct settings/tension in the sled to assure proper pressure on the rear spindle/sensor.
-the real life video gets old and boring fast. Just a gimmick. A cool gimmick though.
-the VR mode is something I now never use. Again, a gimmick, looks cool, but hardly gets used.
-I use the catalyst mode all the time now. I can do time trials, and see watts, speed, cadence, and HR and compare it monthly to track my progress. Its also really good for interval training at set watts/cadence/time. Very easy to use for this and quite a useful tool. This feature I really like!
-I cant download files that I can send to my coach. Very unintuitive here. This I dont like.
That said, its ok. I wish I had looked more closely at a computrainer. Do this before you buy. Hope this helps.
TT