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I have a C2 and a Wahoo Kickr. I think you are targeting the wrong market if you intend to build a machine. As a cyclist, the market sweet spot to me is the a

by useful 6y ago

I have a C2 and a Wahoo Kickr. I think you are targeting the wrong market if you intend to build a machine. As a cyclist, the market sweet spot to me is the ability to set a wattage on a rower and have the machine automatically adjust the resistance so that I can hit the correct wattage/hour. On the bike, holding a steady cadence and having the machine adjust the resistance so I can hit whatever % of FTP I'm wanting is the killer feature the C2 is missing. All the other comments referencing injuries/etc are reflective of the need to make an ERG that allows you to just say "do 25 strokes/min" and if you blow up or cant hold the pace, drop the target wattage. It's harder to hurt yourself if the machine is setting the difficulty based on your pace and putting some sane max limits in.

cycomanic 6y ago
I have a tacx bike, no rower at the moment, but I get on them every time I'm at the gym. I think the smart bike and rower are very different in terms of what you'd do with them. In contrast to a smart bike a rower who constantly adjusts is much harder to use. In fact on low resistance rowers are almost impossible to use. It's also much easier than on the bike to row at a specific wattage without ever adjusting the resistance (mind you that requires some technique).
- useful 6y ago
  Once you get the "feel" doing wattage is pretty easy on a static trainer if you change gears or your pedal stroke rate. That amount of practice and effort to learn when you only want to spend 10-20 minutes working out is beyond a beginner. Aviron's whole website is built around games and varied resistance. Having the rower do all the thinking for the user ala zwift workouts on a tacx is attractive. I don't understand why pelotons are popular when a tacx/wahoo/etc are lightyears ahead in feel and blunting the peaks of "pain" from beginner mistakes. The more advanced ERGs that adjust are super forgiving and the same would be for rowing, avoiding pulling too much lbf and having your arms hurt for weeks = avoiding the workouts. People doing HIIT cardio usually blow up if they put out 10% more wattage for a minute or two than their FTP. If a machine makes it so you can workout "forever" and simplifies the interface of games/workouts so users only need to focus on a single metric for game while adjusting all the others, it would be a killer feature.
  - cycomanic 6y ago
    Peleton is popular because it's going for a very different market. Those are people who do spinning classes, which has only a very small overlap with spinning classes. In particular they don't really look for the same things that someone who buys a smartbike is looking for. Also I would add that in terms of build quality, spinning bikes are much better IMO than tacx or wahoo. A bit of a tangent, but it's a shame that Kettler bikes never became popular, their hardware is top-notch (proper cycling bar, campagnolo ergopower grips), but they never implemented ANT or bluetoothsmart so were not compatible with Zwift and instead tried to push their own platform.
FullNameAndy 6y ago
Thanks for the feedback, that's actually a great idea and something I think we would consider implementing in a future release.

by useful 6y ago

cycomanic 6y ago

I have a tacx bike, no rower at the moment, but I get on them every time I'm at the gym. I think the smart bike and rower are very different in terms of what you'd do with them. In contrast to a smart bike a rower who constantly adjusts is much harder to use. In fact on low resistance rowers are almost impossible to use. It's also much easier than on the bike to row at a specific wattage without ever adjusting the resistance (mind you that requires some technique).

useful 6y ago
Once you get the "feel" doing wattage is pretty easy on a static trainer if you change gears or your pedal stroke rate. That amount of practice and effort to learn when you only want to spend 10-20 minutes working out is beyond a beginner. Aviron's whole website is built around games and varied resistance. Having the rower do all the thinking for the user ala zwift workouts on a tacx is attractive. I don't understand why pelotons are popular when a tacx/wahoo/etc are lightyears ahead in feel and blunting the peaks of "pain" from beginner mistakes. The more advanced ERGs that adjust are super forgiving and the same would be for rowing, avoiding pulling too much lbf and having your arms hurt for weeks = avoiding the workouts. People doing HIIT cardio usually blow up if they put out 10% more wattage for a minute or two than their FTP. If a machine makes it so you can workout "forever" and simplifies the interface of games/workouts so users only need to focus on a single metric for game while adjusting all the others, it would be a killer feature.
- cycomanic 6y ago
  Peleton is popular because it's going for a very different market. Those are people who do spinning classes, which has only a very small overlap with spinning classes. In particular they don't really look for the same things that someone who buys a smartbike is looking for. Also I would add that in terms of build quality, spinning bikes are much better IMO than tacx or wahoo. A bit of a tangent, but it's a shame that Kettler bikes never became popular, their hardware is top-notch (proper cycling bar, campagnolo ergopower grips), but they never implemented ANT or bluetoothsmart so were not compatible with Zwift and instead tried to push their own platform.

FullNameAndy 6y ago

Thanks for the feedback, that's actually a great idea and something I think we would consider implementing in a future release.