Tacx Cosmos
- Thread starter spaley
- Start date
i bought one last week and for the most part its great.
found the best price was at wiggle
the red vittoria tyre is slipping on the steep climbs but thats a tyre issue and probably not the fault of the cosmos.
ive no idea how accurate the speed is in relation to the road or track but it feels like its in the park
found the best price was at wiggle
the red vittoria tyre is slipping on the steep climbs but thats a tyre issue and probably not the fault of the cosmos.
ive no idea how accurate the speed is in relation to the road or track but it feels like its in the park
I have one and I also have a power meter on my bike. It seems to be pretty accurate as far as power output goes. Both the power meter and the Tacx have similar perceived power and my HR confirms this, so I can train using the same relative wattage. It's a very good winter tool and if you don't have a PM on your bike it's a good way to judge fitness and to train using watts.
Hi all,
The tacx Cosmos is a very good training tool to simulate or prepare during the winter a particular outdoor workout for the spring or the summer (I use it for 3 years now). You may purchase it, but take care about the temperature of the roll of the motorbrake, it may influence the behavior of the measurement and the friction effort.
After 1 hour training between 250W and 400W the roll temperature may create trouble. To prevent such problem I finaly decided to watercool the body of the motorbrake (like you can do it with your CPU of your computer). Now temperature is constant, measurements reliable, and efforts regular (the unit never trip), and the lifetime of your tacx training tyre will be much longer.
The tacx Cosmos is a very good training tool to simulate or prepare during the winter a particular outdoor workout for the spring or the summer (I use it for 3 years now). You may purchase it, but take care about the temperature of the roll of the motorbrake, it may influence the behavior of the measurement and the friction effort.
After 1 hour training between 250W and 400W the roll temperature may create trouble. To prevent such problem I finaly decided to watercool the body of the motorbrake (like you can do it with your CPU of your computer). Now temperature is constant, measurements reliable, and efforts regular (the unit never trip), and the lifetime of your tacx training tyre will be much longer.
Dear Mtnclimber1,
You will find attached some pictures to better understand how it has been made.
pic 1 : The whole system
pic 2 : MotorBrake with the cooling pipe
pic 3 : Tank which contains the water at ambient temperature
pic 4 : 12V water pump + pipe (easy to find in a camping shop)
pic 5 : 12V Battery charger (easy to find in a car shop)
It is quite simple and quick to make it (I spent around 70 Euros)
To make it just roll up the pipe around the motor brake and use 2 screws of the motorbrake to fix it with metalic plates. Put the pipe on the pump and the pump in the tank with the water at ambient temperature. Connect the 12V wiring to the battery charger (be careful, don't invert + with -). When you put the power just move the pump into the water to expluse the air from the pump and it will works.
Before starting your workout, put the watercooling system on, then run your bike during 3 min with a slope at -5 (this will warm-up the motorbrake at the correct temperature the speed should be around 41 Km/h), and then calibrate the power (setup + calibrate menu).
Use always the same pressure for the tacx type (the best is 7,5 bar) and tune the screw below the motobrake to get a calibration value at -2.0 when calibration is completed (you likely have to do it several time for the first tuning to find the correct position of the motorbrake, after you don't need to touch it anymore).
Once done, you should be able to develop a constant power around 350W - 400W during 30 min without any over temperature. The best speed to avoid any unstability of the regulation and slippage of the type is higher than 20 Km/h.
Enjoy.
You will find attached some pictures to better understand how it has been made.
pic 1 : The whole system
pic 2 : MotorBrake with the cooling pipe
pic 3 : Tank which contains the water at ambient temperature
pic 4 : 12V water pump + pipe (easy to find in a camping shop)
pic 5 : 12V Battery charger (easy to find in a car shop)
It is quite simple and quick to make it (I spent around 70 Euros)
To make it just roll up the pipe around the motor brake and use 2 screws of the motorbrake to fix it with metalic plates. Put the pipe on the pump and the pump in the tank with the water at ambient temperature. Connect the 12V wiring to the battery charger (be careful, don't invert + with -). When you put the power just move the pump into the water to expluse the air from the pump and it will works.
Before starting your workout, put the watercooling system on, then run your bike during 3 min with a slope at -5 (this will warm-up the motorbrake at the correct temperature the speed should be around 41 Km/h), and then calibrate the power (setup + calibrate menu).
Use always the same pressure for the tacx type (the best is 7,5 bar) and tune the screw below the motobrake to get a calibration value at -2.0 when calibration is completed (you likely have to do it several time for the first tuning to find the correct position of the motorbrake, after you don't need to touch it anymore).
Once done, you should be able to develop a constant power around 350W - 400W during 30 min without any over temperature. The best speed to avoid any unstability of the regulation and slippage of the type is higher than 20 Km/h.
Enjoy.
A friend of mine has been using a Fortius for six months. It died on him last week.
He replaced it with a new Cycleops.
He had told me that the power was usually nowhere close to what his powertap read.
He's not happy. I wouldn't recommend a Tacx electronic trainer.
He replaced it with a new Cycleops.
He had told me that the power was usually nowhere close to what his powertap read.
He's not happy. I wouldn't recommend a Tacx electronic trainer.
crakatoas said:
