Proform has just come out with a very new Indoor Cycle that is unlike any indoor cycle currently on the market. The Proform Tour de France (TDF) Indoor Cycle uses the existing  iFit Livetechnology (powered by Google Maps) and a new Intelligent Wind Resistance technology to simulate realistic road (and/or Tour de France stage) riding conditions. 

Proform Tour de France

Proform has used the iFit Live technology on their Elliptical Trainers and Treadmills for some time now but, to my knowledge, this is the first exercise bike (indoor cycle, spin bike) to use this technology.  What you do is select a course (anything that Google Maps has indexed) and the bike takes you down your course and adjusts the incline/decline to match the actual terrain of the course. Wind resistance is also calculated (and the bike wheel resistance adjusted) based on your height and weight.

Naturally, the Tour de France and other popular routes and courses are already programmed into iFit, but you may also be able to set your own neighborhood route if it has already been indexed by Google Maps.

There are, of course, many big advantages to the new Proform TDF Indoor Cycle. The most obvious advantage is the realistic riding environment and the variety in your workout. Other advantages are that the iFit Live technology has already been available for some time now and has proven to be reliable and just to have an indoor cycle that is more fun than most indoor cycles out there with the advantage of  relieving the potential boredom of  indoor workouts.

The disadvantages of this bike are that it is still very new and there is not a lot of customer feedback or customer reviews online and of course the price is still a little high at this point.

At this point I think that the advantages out weight the disadvantages and this looks to be a pretty exciting new kind of Exercise Bike technology.

For Our Full Review and more details on this indoor cycle see our ProForm Tour de France Indoor Cycle Review. 

Also one final note: You don’t really need to wear your helmet on this bike as pictured above (this is much safer than this year’s real Tour de France)! 🙂