You kill it in your spin class, revving up a big, caloric muscle burn. But there’s that niggling feeling that there’s a big difference between a stationary bike and a mountain bike. So, you wonder if maybe you couldn’t hack it on the road, on a real ride. Want to prove to yourself that you could? Technogym has the means with the launch of its new Skillbike, the latest piece of equipment meant for the home or gym in the exercise giant’s Skill line (like the SkillRun treadmill), meant to emphasize and improve performance for athletes or those who just want to train like one.
The sleek black bike—accented with the Italian company’s signature flashes of showy yellow—mimics the real deal at every opportunity. This goes way beyond the bells and whistles that at-home spin devotees love, but it’s also engineered to improve the performance of serious cyclists who ride real bikes on real roads. This ability comes courtesy of Technogym’s patented Real Gear Shift technology, allowing riders to replicate the feeling of hill riding by flicking paddle shifters—yes, like those on your Ferrari Portofino (which, perhaps uncoincidentally, is manufactured just hills over from Technogym’s Emilia-Romagna factory)—from one position to the next. It is the first stationary bike equipped with real gears, which, when paired with real-time data displayed on the center console, allows riders to monitor their power and cadence for maximum efficiency.
The first stationary bike with real gears. Photo: Courtesy of Technogym
The bike’s Multidrive Technology puts the new gear system on full display—allowing riders to switch between typical training routines to hill-climbing simulations, many of which can be modeled after your favorite real-life routes thanks to GPS integration. That means you can test-ride your favorite stretch of the Tour de France while receiving detailed feedback on your performance. And in true Technogym style, this feedback goes far beyond the standard information on speed, rpm, and heart rate most spin bikes provide—it is also the first to be equipped with technology that gives you visual information on the circularity and symmetry of your pedaling. With each revolution, the bike measures and records the torque symmetry between your right and left legs, ensuring you don’t develop any bad habits while you’re sweating it out on your own, and flagging ways to improve bad form you may otherwise never have noticed.
