Thursday, November 01, 2007

Ultimate indoor trainer




You have heard of indoor trainers. Many of them are foldable and operate on air / hydraulic / magnetic resistance.





Cateye has a higher end model: the CS-1000.





There are even some which let you hook up to your Sony Playstation 2 to race virtual opponents (or otherwise).





And then, there are rollers.

The purpose of a roller is to develop your form, balance, technique and cadence and it can only do that by challenging your weaker skills, which means it will probably be very challenging to ride. You will find that riding rollers is a lot like riding a bike on ice. It is not very forgiving of leaning or steering. So unless you are experienced or have trained supervision, it would be best to start out by placing the roller in a doorway such that you can easily reach out or lean against the doorway for balance.

There's no need to search. The best rollers are made by TruTrainer. Read this review.

But these offerings are nothing compared to this German product:



h/p/cosmos saturn cycling system

Specifications

Moving surface area: 3 m x 1 m (9' 10" x 3' 3").
Elevation (gradient) range: -25% to +25%.

Drive options:
7.5 kW motor: top speed 40 km/h
11 kW motor: top speed 60 km/h

Reverse belt rotation for downhill
Optimized surface for cycling (simulates asphalt)

6 channel POLAR heart rate receiver network

2 interface ports (COM 1 / COM 2) for PC, ECG, ergospirometry, blood pressure meter systems.

You will probably need an entire room for this. After which, a dedicated 3-phase power supply is but an afterthought.

More info (PDF)

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