Indoor cycling: Truetrainer offers real shifting with (almost) endless virtual gears
Marc Strucken
· 12.12.2023
Right now - at the beginning of December - there was a lot of snow in southern Bavaria. So much snow that you could hardly get out on your bike for a long time. Mountain biking in particular was difficult or even dangerous on the frozen-thawed-frozen snow. That's when you learn to appreciate the possibilities of a Smarttrainer in the flat or on the balcony. So I ended up doing a few kilometres with a view of the garden: On the Truetrainer 6.2 - the more expensive model from Truekinetix.
Basically, this "roller trainer" offers as equipment:
- Physical cassette (selectable from 8- to 12-speed)
- tens of virtual gear combinations
- Electronic resistance control (no flywheel, brake magnet)
- an app for setting and recording training
The Smarttrainer Truetrainer works without a heavy flywheel
What sets the Truetrainer apart from other smart trainers is that it does not have a large flywheel. As a result, it only weighs 15 kilos instead of the 20 to almost 30 kilos of various other indoor trainers. Truekinetix has replaced the missing iron flywheel, which generates resistance by braking, with a motor and its own robotics. The first advantage of this is that the resistance can be varied very quickly - whereas a fast-spinning flywheel cannot slow down as quickly. Anyone who remembers spinning bikes will know how you have to work to stop quickly. The riding impression on the Truetrainer should be as realistic as possible, similar to the rapid succession of different loads on the track in reality.
My impression is consistent with this. If you change the incline or wattage in the Truekinetix app (more on this later), it takes effect immediately - in both directions. The Truetrainer also starts off without any resistance from the motor. It just feels a little rough on our test trainer, comparable to a hub with slight bearing damage. However, once you reach normal pedalling frequencies, the motor runs quietly and smoothly.
From Transalp MTB to time trial bike: endless choice of virtual gear combinations
On its Smarttrainer, Truekinetix combines a physical cassette with a huge selection of virtual options for shifting on the clamped bike. This has the advantage that you can shift gears mechanically as usual: no electronic buttons, no new shifting logic and ergonomics. On the other hand, the Dutch offer an endless selection of gear combinations in the app. So I can swap my physical 11-speed MTB cassette with 11-42 teeth for a road bike cassette with 11-28 teeth without any problems.
In practice, you notice the work of the electronic motor or the processor for the virtual gears by a very short delay before the virtual gear change takes place after the physical gear change. In this way, you can, for example, train threshold training with "thick" gears that your own bike (clamped in the trainer) does not offer. Or, conversely, you can ride uphill stretches that would be very arduous with the physical road bike gear ratio on the bike.
Good connections: Zwift, Rouvy, Strava, Garmin
Even though we only tried and tested the Truetrainer as part of this test, we should also mention the device's ability to connect to all the usual platforms, such as Zwift or Rouvy, via Wifi, Bluetooth and ANT+. So you can the virtual worlds of the platforms can be used with the Truetrainer.
The results of the indoor rides can also be shared with Strava, Garmin Connect, TrainingPeaks and others. Merging the data from the power meter in Truetrainer with the tracking on my Garmin Fenix sports watch worked smoothly and extremely quickly. Truetrainer reported automatically and I only had to confirm the connection.
Who is Truekinetix and how did Truetrainer come about?
The Dutch company Truekinetix was founded in 2018. In the BIKE interview, Bas van Rens, the founder, explains that he did this out of personal frustration. After a winter of indoor training in preparation for the Ironman in Hawaii, he missed out on qualifying by 8 minutes. He concluded that he had trained the wrong muscles on an indoor bike.
Bas assumed that normal indoor cycles did not reflect the riding behaviour and power distribution of riding outdoors. So he started to develop his own indoor racing bike using the latest technologies. Robotics and a powerful motor are designed to replace the flywheel to simulate riding a real bike more accurately and realistically. The technology was developed in the Netherlands in collaboration with the Technical Universities of Delft and Eindhoven. According to the manufacturer, the system in the Truetrainer measures the movement 10,000 times per second and thus simulates the forces and resistance that occur on a bicycle on the road.
Bas van Rens, founder of Truekinetix, is a medical-technical engineer and has always enjoyed working on the boundary between tech and business. He started riding BMX bikes at an early age, progressed to MTBs ("I'm too old for that now.") and then to road bikes, which he also uses for triathlons.
What is the Truetrainer 6.2 good for in practice?
Like every customer, we received the Truetrainer 6.2 from Truekinetix by delivery service. We therefore also took a close look at the setup. We then looked at what needed to be set up (app, trainer) and how the app works with its tracking of training data. Of course, the Truetrainer was then tested over several training sessions of different lengths.
Setting up the Smarttainer
In any case, it is positive that Truekinetix offers a wide range of options as to which wheels can be clamped into the Truetrainer. Both modern thru-axles (142 mm and 148 mm) and quick-releases (130 mm and 135 mm) are included. This is realised using different adapters, which are included in the package. The assembly is simple. However, I did not initially understand from the enclosed instructions that the mounted quick-release adapter can simply be loosened using an Allen key. You have to decide on the cassette (8, 9, 10, 11 or 12-speed) when you buy it. Another one including the freehub body costs 79 euros at Truekinetix. Once the chain has been placed around the cassette on the trainer, the wheel is simply secured with the thru axle/quick release.
The legs are foldable and are fixed with screws. The soft feet can be adjusted for uneven surfaces. If you ride an oval chainring, you don't need to worry. These are also compatible with the Truetrainer - virtual oval chainrings are already available for the more expensive Truebike from Truekinetix.
Setting up the Truetrainer - difficulties due to prototype
Setting up the trainer with the app on our test device took a little more effort. After contacting the manufacturer, this only seems to occur with the prototype we tested. In contrast to the series, this also required a power connection for starting or after a longer period of inactivity. Nevertheless, it should be mentioned here that the necessary Wi-Fi connection only worked in the direct vicinity of the router (max. 4 m with a clear view).
If the Truetrainer is not online, but the app is, and there is a Bluetooth connection between the two, the training will work, but no performance data will be displayed (watts, speed, cadence). The Truetrainer still records this data and transfers it as soon as it goes online.
Once the Truekinetix trainer is connected to the internet via Wi-Fi, everything else runs smoothly. Firstly, you should create a "bike" and select the physical gear configuration and the desired virtual gears. Initially, only a few virtual gears are available in the app. More virtual gears are available in the "Shop", but this is free of charge - even if the name is a little confusing at this point. Several bikes can also be created in this way, for example if you want to use a road bike and MTB for training on the smart trainer. Overall, the Truekinetix app is not as intuitive as we are used to from other apps. But the pages on offer are clear and I quickly got to grips with it.
The two LEDs on the Smarttrainer are actually only confusing in practice. Theoretically, they show what is going on with the different colours. But nobody can really remember the combinations and you can say: only start cycling when both have stably adopted a colour. Otherwise they are of little use.
The first training session on the Trueinetix Smarttainer
The first thing I liked was that I could use my bike without any major conversion. The fact that the standard model of the Truetrainer works independently, i.e. without a power connection, means that you are very free to choose where to place it. Also the Dimensions of the Truetrainer including MTBs are not very spacious. As a result, the bike initially came to a standstill on the balcony and later also in the living room. Supporting the front wheel was not necessary with 29 inch/2.3 inch wheels. Rather, the greater freedom of movement of the front wheel together with the flexible feet of the Smarttrainers was very positive when things got really rough.
Speaking of hard: If you play around a lot with the wattage or incline setting during training because you don't want to or can't use pre-set workouts with Zwift etc., the Truekinetix App not so user-friendly. Both values are set using very small sliders, which are also located exactly above the huge buttons for "Add lap" and - even more impractical - "Finish". One wrong touch while pedalling and you hit a wall because the controller jerks to 900 watts. The changeover on the trainer's motor is gradual, but still quick. You end your training briefly because you hit the finish button. The watt gradation in steps of 10 is also quite large. The incline is the classic 0.5 per cent increments.
The Driving experience on the Truetrainer is all in all quite smooth and very realistic. The aforementioned slight delay between physical and virtual gear changes takes some getting used to at first. The same goes for the somewhat rough start. Although the engine does not immediately start up at full power, it does rumble a little. The usual heavy pedalling required by trainers with a large flywheel to get the mass moving is completely absent. The Truetrainer also pedals more easily when changing from a heavy load to less resistance - just as it does on a road when the incline leads to a flat section.
As I have also ridden my MTB on the Smarttrainer and know my gear ratios when riding off-road, I was able to compare them with the corresponding virtual gear ratios and the displayed watt and speed values. Result: it definitely works!
The Maximum load of 2600 watts according to the manufacturer, I was unable to test it due to a lack of such legs. But even 1200 watts in the standing climb is fun on the Truetrainer and I didn't have the feeling that I was pushing the device and bike to their limits. The slight instability, i.e. the deflection of the bike to the right and left when pedalling, relieves the strain on both the buttocks and the entire postural muscles during longer training sessions and actually creates a very realistic riding impression.
It is also practical that the Truetrainer only weighs 15 kilos and has a small handle at the top that allows us to push the device away or reposition it quite easily, even with the wheel clamped. However, the handle could offer a little more space for the fingers and be a little easier to grip.
Conclusion on the Truekinetix Truetrainer 6.2
In our test experience, the Dutch Smarttrainer is a good alternative to the well-known major brands. The Truetrainer 6.2 we tested makes a durable, stable and high-quality impression. The combination of physical and virtual gears offers the advantage of shifting as usual with the option of selecting the shifting specs depending on the training session.
The Truekinetix app still has room for improvement in terms of usability. I also think that the LEDs should only display a few variations: ON, START-UP, READY, ERROR.
With a price of 1299 euros for the 6.2 and 949 euros for the Truetrainer 4.2, the Smarttrainer is absolutely competitive. However, this would also include a Zwift subscription, which other providers already offer as part of a bundle. This means that the new indoor trainer is not primarily convincing in terms of price, but in terms of its function. But even without gamification of the training, the "rolling Dutchman" is fun. For older bikers like me, it might be enough to look out over the landscape from the balcony while pedalling.
Key features of the Truekinetix Truetrainer 6.2
(Truetrainer 4.2. and Truebike use the same technology)
- No flywheel
- Motor gives cranks resistance > realistic load, better muscle variation because the rebound is also realistic
- Lateral movement thanks to flexible feet
- Physical shifting with familiar gearstick combined with virtual gears
- According to the manufacturer, 0.5 % precise force calculation (compared to 3.5 % for other trainers with flywheel)
- Maximum power 2600 watts / 26 % incline
- Choice of cassettes: 8, 9, 10, 11 or 12-speed
- Compatible with quick release (130 and 135 mm) and thru axle (142 and 148 mm)
- Compatible with 24- to 29-inch tyres
- No additional devices required - but possible: trainer saves data and transfers it to the app and cloud when connected to the internet (Wi-Fi)
- Zwift, Strava or other platform integration possible
- Dimensions: 62 cm long, 46 cm high, 72 cm wide (supports unfolded) or 31 cm
- Weight: 15 kg
- Price: 1299 Euro
Brief comparison of different smart trainers
Truekinietix Truetrainer
- real cassette + virtual gears
- Price: 949 or 1299 euros (Truetrainer 4.2 or 6.2)
- Weight: 15.0 kg
Wahoo Kickr Move
- real cassette
- Price: 1,599 euros including cassette (eleven-fold)
- Weight: 29 kg
Zwift Hub One
- Purely virtual gears (optional physical cassette)
- Price: 599 euros incl. one year Zwift subscription
- Weight: 17.0 kg
Tacx Neo 3M
- real cassette
- Price: 1999.99 euros (incl. Shimano/Sram 11-speed cassette)
- Weight: 23.6 kilos
Marc Strucken
Editor
