Tacx Neo 2 Smart Exercise Bike Special Edition 2021 Roller Trainer

Product Information

Once you’ve got the trainer ready/unfolded, you’ll attach your bike to it using the included trainer skewer: In combination with Tacx films or Zwift, the NEO 2 can simulate different road surfaces such as cobblestones or gravel through vibration. One area that power does matter is that nifty color projected onto the floor below you. The more watts you put out, the more vibrant that color gets. Easy pedaling and it’s blue, while throwing down in a sprint and it gets angry red. I kinda like it. However, I’m really not impressed. And this is probably related to my set up in combination with a virtual flywheel.

Train with your favourite cycling software like Zwift, TrainerRoad and Sufferfest. The Tacx Smart trainers are easily connected to and controlled by most popular training apps. Race online in the virtual worlds of Zwift, achieve your cycling goals with the training plans of TrainerRoad, or anything else. Compatible Software: The ability to function without a cable means you can set up in a garage, shed or out on the balcony without having to trail an extension lead across your lawn. It also means you could take the trainer to a race or sportive to do warm-ups beforehand. Once clipped in on the bike, the unit feels extremely stable and the ride feel is superb. Not only does it feel better than most of the competition, the Neo 2T simulates a wide range of surfaces including regular roads, cobblestones, gravel and dirt roads. When used with Tacx Films or Zwift, this provides a truly unique ride experience, and in a positive way.I absolutely loved setting up and using this trainer when it first arrived. The underneath is lit with LED lighting that changes color based on your wattage output is a nice touch. I was also impressed with how quiet the trainer was, and the novelty of the road feel when crossing wooden structures or cobble.

The Tacx NEO 2 Smart measures your power with incredible precision, making sure you that your data is accurate and reliable. This Smart trainer is the only trainer that doesn’t require a calibration process. This Smart trainer measures your power accurately within 1%. Control by - Smartphone, Tablet, ANT+FE-C bike computers, Stand alone, Connect to computer via ANT+antenna Suitable axles - Width of rear fork: Race 130 mm, MTB 135 mm, 142 mm & 148 mm. Adapter for 135 x 10 mm available. The accompanying Tacx Training App, however, is less impressive. Its selling point is a series of videos of famous climbs including the likes of the Koppenberg, Passo Giau and Mont Ventoux.Linking the NEO 2T to a variety of training apps using both Bluetooth and ANT+ didn't present any issues: everything worked first time. For an even more realistic training experience, this turbo trainer can be combined with the Tacx Neo Motion Plate that is designed to add multi-directional movement and more immersion to your indoor training session. We also sell the Motion Plate here.

I was dissatisfied with how the electromagnetic tension would slip when I would hammer into a sprint it feels like the wheel is slipping on ice. I have been able to hit 1250 watts on the Tacx Flux without any negative effects and was disappointed in the NEO 2 which I perceived as an upgrade. However, really, really bad got it with the Tacx app. Tried a few videos and there it is almost impossible to ride any gradient smoothly. Both Rouvy and TDA are connected via Bluetooth. But with Rouvy my bike powermeter is connected. I assume Rouvy takes this as input and controls the trainer accordingly. Hence, I assume there is some smoothing going. Cadence measurement seemed accurate too although while it worked faultlessly with both of the road bikes I used on the Neo 2T, it might not work with short crank arms, as I found out with my mountain bike. This is because the cadence sensor is housed in the body of the trainer, which the crank arm passes. Short cranks don't reach the sensor and therefore don't create a reading.Here’s a look at the cadence on that ride. You can see that for the most part it’s almost identical. There are a few quirks around the 14-16 minute marker where it varies by a few RPM in comparison to the others, but hardly enough for anyone to be concerned about. This is likely because there wasn’t much in the way of larger shifts like I had in the other file. For Zwifters, this will be a big selling point. Not only is the pedalling action remarkably smooth and consistent, if you are riding in a virtual world such as Zwift’s Wattopia, you will feel the vibrations of wooden slats on a bridge or the judders of cobbles – it all helps to make the indoors feel more like the outdoors. ANT+ FE-C Control: This is for controlling the trainer via ANT+ from apps and head units. Read tons about it here.

ANT+ Power Meter Profile: This broadcasts as a standard ANT+ power meter, with speed baked in as well. For me personally, it’s hard to separate the fact that I’m riding indoors from outdoors. It’s still a trainer, and I’m still looking at a wall in front of me. My brain can only turn off so much of that. To illustrate the challenge of getting good 1-second matching between units, here’s another ride from a few days earlier. You can see on this ~800w sprint that the units are all separated like airplanes flying at different altitudes. There does appear to be a case or two where it slightly overcommits on power – such as here in going a bit higher than the others:

Tacx Neo Motion Plates

Given the Tacx NEO 2 is a smart trainer, it’ll change resistance automatically in a few different ways, primarily driven by different applications/methods. But most of this all boils down to two core methods: Sure, it gets it right about 95% of the time, but there are cases above where you see that blue line waver – primarily when I’m shifting cadences significantly (i.e. from 60RPM to 90RPM). Minor shifts and it appears spot-on. We’ll dig into this more over the other files.