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Oreka brings £3,690 O2 bike treadmill to UKOreka O2 Trainer-1

Oreka brings £3,690 O2 bike treadmill to UK

New trainer claims "totally natural" movement
by Liam Cahill
Tue, May 12, 2020 13:45
9

Training indoors usually means bolting your bike to a trainer. There are solutions to this, with rocker plates and the Tacx Magnum treadmill, but while rocker plates offer some movement, you’re not totally free to move as you would outside. And that Tacx Magnum is a whopping £8,500.

Oreka thinks that it has a solution to the problem above. They say that the O2 trainer/treadmill offers all of the freedom of being outside, but with a friendlier price tag of £3,690.

Oreka O2 Trainer-3
Video: riding the world's most expensive indoor trainer, the Tacx Magnum

Oreka is keen to point out that the O2 is not like your traditional treadmill for running. They say that where a normal treadmill drives the belt under you, the O2 requires you to do the driving of the belt. They say this means that the “movement on Oreka is totally natural.”

The O2 is a smart trainer, able to pair with training apps like Zwift, Rouvy and trainer road. Oreka says that its “engineering team has worked very closely with professional riders to produce a device that permits all riding terrains, climbing or flats, for indoor cycling.”

“It gets harder when you climb and softens on the flats, so you can have the same feelings you have on the road.”

Buyer's Guide: 14 of the best turbo trainers

While the claims of a realistic road feel are all well and good, Oreka doesn’t yet offer a power accuracy value.

Oreka O2 Trainer-2

Oreka says that its “training technology consists of an electromagnetic system that regulates the belt’s resistance. It permits the measurement of power in real-time and the regulation of the resistance.”

“It also has an electronic system that measures the cyclist’s speed, resistance, and power.” When we asked, Oreka said that statistics relating to the range of these parameters are on the way. Maximum slope replication and maximum belt speed figures are also not provided and again, when we asked, Oreka said that more detail is coming soon.

Keeping you on the trainer is a tether that attaches to the rear axle of your bike. A bumper roller at the rear of the trainer stops you from drifting too far back. There is also a side rail to help you get going and when coming to a stop.

orekatraining.com

smart trainer
indoor training

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9 comments

Avatar
shufflingb | 4 years ago
1 like

This'd be the one that worked so well that DC Rainmaker thought it prudent to wear a helmet on it while testing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TT8ZfFqgnU

Avatar
Drinfinity replied to shufflingb | 4 years ago
0 likes

Thanks for the review link. Summary:

It has a scary 'fail to danger' feature

Power measurement is so bad it's useless without a separate power meter

It doesn't do 1 - 3% hills

It doesn't do short intervals

Ride experience is rubbish if you change speed 

And £3690.

I'm out.

Avatar
peted76 | 4 years ago
3 likes

Well I for one would love a biking treadmill, I'm not sure why.. but it's got to be easier than rollers or a turbo right.

Avatar
Secret_squirrel replied to peted76 | 4 years ago
0 likes

How can it be easier than a turbo?  There is no skill needed for a turbo unless you mean quickly putting the bike in and out.   Rollers are a whole different ball game.

Avatar
peted76 replied to Secret_squirrel | 4 years ago
1 like

It's all the faff around getting the bike secured in the turbo! I have to get it out, change the skewer, secure the back wheel, adjust the wheel, get the riser block out, plug it in, try and connect it to some device or two.. I prefer rollers for their simplicity. With a treadmill, it might just be a bit easier, I'd like to think that I'd be able to actually ride my bike in a more natural manner on a treadmill.

Avatar
destabilised | 4 years ago
0 likes

Training indoors hasn't meant bolting your bike to a trainer since the invention of rollers at some point so far in the past there probably isn't even a road.cc reader to tell us about their time using these new fangled things! Rollers also have the advantage of feeling much more road-like than a turbo claimed for this device, at a tiny fraction of the cost for basic rollers. Admittedly the first fifteen minutes were the most frightening I've ever had on a bike, but that passed. A power meter (from someone willing to give you accuracy and consistency data) and rollers with some adjustable resistance would be a lot cheaper and not require their own room given this thing's bulk. Is anyone actually looking at this and thinking, 'Great idea, I'll have one'. Pros paid to use it might be a different proposition.

Avatar
Nixster replied to destabilised | 4 years ago
0 likes

See here:

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/reviews/turbo-trainers-indoor-training/eli...

One review says they under read on power, one says they over read.  So, either good or bad for Zwift depending on how you look at it.

Avatar
Jetmans Dad replied to destabilised | 4 years ago
1 like

destabilised wrote:

Training indoors hasn't meant bolting your bike to a trainer since the invention of rollers at some point so far in the past there probably isn't even a road.cc reader to tell us about their time using these new fangled things! Rollers also have the advantage of feeling much more road-like than a turbo claimed for this device, at a tiny fraction of the cost for basic rollers.

I am not attracted by this device by any stretch of the imagination, but having owned rollers for two years on the advice of a friend of mine with the same attitude as you towards turbo trainers, I'll take that under advisement. 

Never got on with them, hated every godawful minute riding on them and have now logged hundreds of hours on the turbo trainer that replaced them.

Does that make me somehow a "lesser cyclist"?

Avatar
HLaB | 4 years ago
1 like

Its not April the 1st 7

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