The Star Trac Spinner® Blade Ion is the latest Indoor Cycle with power to hit the market. The Blade Ion boasts strain-gauge technology and a cool blue light emanating from the flywheel hub that doubles as a battery charger.
There are only of handful of studios riding Ions and we only had responses from 14 Instructors.
I'm sticking with the same format we're using with each of these Indoor Cycle surveys – click here for the list.
Satisfaction while riding your cycles.
Using the Power Meter in class.
Accuracy / consistency in power displayed.
Would you recommend this Indoor Cycle to others?
First up, how do instructors like riding the Star Trac Spinner® Blade Ion
How about using the power meter?
If your responses are included here, I'd be interested to know more about the Heart Rate strap issues. Is this a difficulty pairing (connecting) the HR strap? Or something different like cross talking or a loss of connection?
Every Instructor I know is interested in the accuracy of wattage displayed and consistency between cycles.
All though this was a very small sample – the lack of accuracy / consistency does square with private conversations I've had with with multiple Instructors and studio owners. I'm aware that Star Trac has been trying to sort this problem and hopefully they will have it corrected soon.Â
Welcome to the Indoor Cycle Instructor Podcast | ICI/PRO Premium Education free podcast. This episode was recorded live in San Diego CA by Amy and Joey while at the 2019 IHRSA Event. This episode is a general commentary on the show and a brief rundown of the people that we connected with at the show. We will have several more indepth episodes with Amy and Joey and then several episodes with the indiviuals and their companies throughout the year.
Future Stages Master Trainer Doug Rusho hard at work during our last ICI/PRO conference.
The FreeMotion S11.9 Indoor Cycle and Stages Indoor Cycling education were a relative unknown to many of us before our 2011 ICI/PRO conference. Since then they've really gained a foothold in this market, becoming a solid choice for any club or studio looking to invest in power.
The S11.X series featured the first Indoor Cycle offering measured power/watts through an innovative strain gauge located in the left-hand crank-arm. The early bikes featured a conventional chain drive – which is a bit noisy compared to other brands. Now FreeMotion offers an optional belt drive (Gates Carbon) that eliminates 90% of any gear train noise, while still communicating the familiar feel of a standard bicycle chain.
So how do Instructors like them? Let's take a look…
Surveys are funny things – both bikes use the exact same power meter, and yet we're seeing different results.
My first exposure to the Schwinn AC Performance Indoor Cycle was back in the Fall of 2009. Since then I've seen them make a number of improvements > specifically to the console display with the intent of simplifying the calibration, improving the accuracy/consistency of wattage displayed and reduce the number of additional sensor batteries. I informed each manufacturer when I was preparing this survey, asking for direction that I hoped would improve the final results. Schwinn explained to me that their new red Echelon console is substantially improved over earlier versions and asked that I separate responses; older grey vs. newer red consoles – which you'll see that I did below.
Schwinn is now offering an updated AC Performance Plus using a conventional chain drive and an optional belt driven version (they call Carbon Blue) but this survey doesn't differentiate between the different cycle versions or include responses from owners of the belt drive.
What follows appears to show that Schwinn's new Red Echelon console is an improvement.
And the Echelon console is scoring higher on accuracy and consistency.
As promised, I'll be posting the results from our Indoor Cycles with Power survey. I'll start with the Kesier M3 which represented about half of the total responses. Which makes sense as Keiser has been selling the M3 consistently for much longer than any of the other brands.
Please note that we didn't separate out the older M3 from the new M3 Plus which includes the new handlebar design and updated (more accurate) power meter.Â
Focusing on the important bits, I will be presenting a series of graphs that I feel will best represent the findings for each of the Indoor Cycles included in the survey – click here for the list all of them.
Satisfaction while riding your cycles.
Using the Power Meter in class.
Accuracy / consistency in power displayed.
Would you recommend this Indoor Cycle to others?
Anyone familiar with Net Promoter Scores (NPS) understands the critically important “would you recommend us to your friends? question. It alone is the most accurate measure of someone's true satisfaction in a product or service.
First up, how do instructors like riding the Keiser M3?
Next, using the power meter in class.
How accurate / consistent are the power readings?
And then the percentage of Instructors who would recommend the Keiser M3. You can find more information and pricing for the new M3 plus here.
Welcome to the Indoor Cycle Instructor Podcast | ICI/PRO Premium Education free podcast. This episode was recorded live in San Diego CA by Amy and Joey while at the 2019 IHRSA Event. This episode is a general commentary on the show and a brief rundown of the people that we connected with at the show. We will have several more indepth episodes with Amy and Joey and then several episodes with the indiviuals and their companies throughout the year.
My first exposure to the Schwinn AC Performance Indoor Cycle was back in the Fall of 2009. Since then I've seen them make a number of improvements > specifically to the console display with the intent of simplifying the calibration, improving the accuracy/consistency of wattage displayed and reduce the number of additional sensor batteries. I informed each manufacturer when I was preparing this survey, asking for direction that I hoped would improve the final results. Schwinn explained to me that their new red Echelon console is substantially improved over earlier versions and asked that I separate responses; older grey vs. newer red consoles – which you'll see that I did below.
