Ride Mt. Ventoux or Alpe d'huez, without leaving the comfort of your livingroom. Introducing the Tacx Fortius virtual trainer. It’s like a video game where you get to take your bike. You can even race against others via the internet. With a plethora of courses and lengths, you’ll never get bored with indoor training ever again.
Tacx has put out some pretty nice trainers in their many years of great service. The Fortius is the most advanced Virtual Reality Trainer in the Tacx arsenal. The trainer is pretty simple to use, much like an Xbox or a Wii, except you get to use your own bike and your own computer.
Powerful engine brakes provide a more realistic resistance to simulate climbing. And they even allow you to coast during descents. We particularly liked how natural the other riders are, their pedal strokes are very realistic. They will cheer, stand on their pedals, shift gears, drink from their water bottles and provide some spectacular crashes for your viewing pleasure.
Much like a Wii, you can choose your opponents, team, jersey and even the bike you prefer. Say you want a sunny day. Just choose the direction of the wind add some sunshine and you are on your way. Or if you prefer, make the virtual weather cloudy with some rain or fog and then pay your kid to squirt you with water and splash mud on you for that super realistic riding experience.
Our favorite part of this unit is the “Powerback System” which actually feeds the energy that you produce by pedaling back into the system so it uses very little, if any, power. Go Green baby!
There are other accessories that you can get to enhance your training experience. One is a Steering Rack that attaches to your fork (via a quick release attachment) so you can actually steer around the VR course. You can get a Training Mat to deafen the sound so your downstairs neighbor doesn’t bang on the ceiling with his broom anymore. It also helps protect your flooring from the sweat that won’t be drying up in the wind, because there is no wind. There’s also a nifty Sweat Set to help cut down on the sweat. You can also get a shiny blue Trainer Tire and a set of Real Life Video DVD’s to enhance the experience even more.
Don’t expect to be up and riding in a few minutes though. Set up can be tedious, but if you’ve slapped together a kid’s swingset in your time, you should be okay. Then there’s the software setup to do. It consists of entering all your vitals and choosing your basic setup, or you can choose the Quick Start function which is easier.
In comparison with Tacx IMagic, the Fortius has more resistance, better graphics, easier calibration, more real-time data and better avatars. It also offers the addition of Real Life Video that gets you right there on the actual course.
Note - Does not include front steerer. Ships with Tacx 3.0 software. Add the Tacx Steerer unit to get steerer and make it the Multiplayer version. Tacx support will be supporting software version 3.0 from this point further. Due to the complexity of the system we are no longer offering trouble shooting/support on this item. Should you have a warranty claim, you deal with us directly.
Need more information? Check out this video from Tacx it should get your interest pumping even more.
Recommended system resources
Processor: minimum Pentium IV (3.0 Ghz)
Memory: 1024 MB for XP, 2056 MB for Vista/Win7
Hard disc space: 2GB
Graphics card: DirectX9 compatible 3D card with 256 MB of memory (not shared) GeForce FX or equivalent
Sound card: DirectSound compatible
Various: 1 free USB port; DVD player (for use of Real Life Video & ErgoVideo only)
OS: Windows XP SP2, Vista SP1 or Win 7 (32 or 64 bit)
Recommended internet connection: 2 MB downstream and 500 KB upstream (only for Multiplayer)
Please Note - This item only ships
ground. Please do not select another method when checking out. Contact
us if you need it faster.
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