What is it?
An indoor training bike aimed at those working toward goals such as weight loss and improved performance.
Good points?
It may have been around for a year or so now, but a recent price drop of several hundred pounds has meant this trainer is no longer the stuff of payday bonus pipe dreams.
While a handsome beast that will be a slick addition to any home gym, the main selling point of this machine is that it allows you to input any route you wish from the familiar twists and turns of beloved local roads to the famed 21 hairpin bends of Alpe d'Huez. Any gradient on the course is matched by the internal incline motor and it becomes harder to turn the pedals – just like a real climb.
All the usual training metrics such as heart rate, speed, cadence and distance are catered for with the addition of a power meter so you can genuinely gauge your effort with every watt you produce.
iFit technology is used to analyse your performance and the in-built gadgetry also utilises Google Maps so you can view the virtual route in street-view mode as you pedal away.
Bad points?
An Allen key is required to adjust the saddle and handlebar height so unless you’re of a similar stature to your better half it won’t be long before you grow weary of re-tweaking it after every use.
Best for ...
Those content to emulate their cycling heroes from the privacy of their own home while pushing fitness levels to a new level.
Avoid if ...
The great outdoors is more your speed.
Score
9/10.
ProForm Le Tour De France Indoor Cycle, £1,199 (proformfitness.co.uk)
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here