Wattbike

[PaulH]

Just saw this mentioned, and checking the company details it appears to come from the Concept2 UK people:

http://www.wattbike.com

[Nosmo]

Looks like a nice machine, but I still think I would find it boring. I think I would use an SRM cranks which measure power on a normal bike and rollers instead. Rollers require more skill and one could use the SRM outdoors. The interesting innovation is the force curve and data on each leg.

[Dreadnought]

Just saw this mentioned, and checking the company details it appears to come from the Concept2 UK people:

http://www.wattbike.com

I looked at their website. I didn't see any mention of Concept2, but their air resistance unit does appear to be very similar to what's on the rowers.

A few years ago I asked one of the people at concept2 if they could devise a way of converting their resistance units to set it up for an indoor cycling trainer. They said the production costs would be very high, and they didn't appear to be very interested in the idea. It would seem to me fairly simple to make a adapter that would allow the bike chain to drive the unit. Just change the size of the gear and make a bracket to stabilize the bike.

The obvious question is why would I want to do that when there are so many indoor trainers out there: fluid, magnetic, friction, etc. In reality, most of those indoor trainers are not that good and they do a poor job of simulating riding on the road. The old low-tech wind trainers are actually much better, but they generate a lot of noise. Their small fans have to spin really fast in order to generate the wattage needed. The large fan of the C2 doesn't have to spin as fast, so it's not as noisy.

I'm currently using an old blackburn wind trainer (the noise doesn't bother me) along with a powertap on my rear wheel. I use powercranks for an even more challanging workout.