Today, Garmin-Tacx brings an updated smart bike – the Tacx Neo Bike Plus – to market, in a move which marks not only an update from a single company but also an acknowledgement of the ever-growing role of indoor training in the larger ecosystem.
Years ago, you’d have taken an old bike and put it on a turbo trainer, or maybe rollers, and spent your time staring at a timer managing intervals or watching reruns of Paris-Roubaix on a DVD you found at the back of the video store. These days, the old bike on a turbo-trainer often still encapsulates the experience of riding indoors but now the turbo-trainer is smart and you ride in an immersive virtual world. There are even other people in the world to ride with. It’s changed the whole ecosystem of cycling but it continues to grow and change every year.
The natural next step is to stop using an old bike and, instead, optimise your indoor bike for indoor riding. Broadly, this is referred to as an exercise bike but that actually covers a few different types of products. You can get more details and options in our list of the best exercise bikes but among the offerings is a small list of options that offer to take your outdoor riding inside.
These are better known as ‘smart bikes’, and they replicate the experience of riding a bike outdoors but optimise the hardware for the rigours of indoor riding. It’s a small category and the new Tacx Neo Bike Plus is the latest option.
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What is the Tacx Neo Bike Plus?
Where the Neo Bike Plus – and its predecessor the Neo Bike Smart – stands apart from competition like the Wahoo Kickr Bike and the Stages SB20 is primarily in the absence of a standard flywheel. Instead, you’ll find a virtual flywheel which uses magnets and a motor to create the same effect, and that allows for some unique features. This is unchanged from the outgoing model, but it’s an important distinction from the competition.
With a motor-driven flywheel, Tacx can actively speed up the flywheel to better mimic a descent, which makes for a more realistic feel as you ride downhill in a virtual world.
As before, it’s capable of a maximum resistance of 2200 watts and a simulated gradient of up to 25% but there are also ride-feel features. The unique flywheel design can do more than just provide resistance and…
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