The Wattbike features in the Independent’s Indy Best – Top 50 Best Cycling Gear 

The description of the bike that they give is:

“Most exercise bikes fail completely to replicate the sensation of cycling. Several modern models do a better job, but the shiny new Wattbike is arguably the king of the gym. The only trainer sanctioned by British Cycling, it uses an air flywheel and a magnetic resistiance brake to simulate hills or flats, while a computer monitors every conceivable paramater to give a breakdown of your cycling that can be as detailed as you like.”

It’s all true of course, but the really interesting thing for most cyclists is the polar view displaying cycling efficiency, which can be viewed through the monitor or on the software and means that the wattbike is not just and exercise bike, but is really an education tool for cyclists to improve their efficiency whilst training and enable them to get more out of themselves. This becomes really interesting if you think about the difference in performance that a 1% increase in efficiency will mean over a 5 hour ride. Either, you would be able to go faster for the same effort, or in the case of a group ride, go the same speed for less effort, leaving more in the tank for a sprint finish.