By Andrew Liszewski
It might look pretty run-of-the-mill as far as stationary bikes go. But there’s a reason ProForm’s ‘Tour De France’ has been named the official training bike of the actual race. And it’s not just because of the yellow highlights that match the famed yellow jersey. Thanks to its Google Maps-powered iFit Live Technology, you can virtually ride on any road on the planet. Including the official Tour De France route, which is one of the 24 pre-mapped and pre-programmed courses it comes with. (You can create your own too.)
But watching yourself following a virtual route on a tiny scrolling map isn’t that interesting. Or challenging. So the ‘Tour De France’ will automatically incline and decline to match the contours of the route you’re taking, making it feel like you’re riding up and down on the actual mapped terrain. Still not enough for you? The friction on the rear wheel is also automatically controlled to recreate your body’s wind resistance. When you climb on the bike and adjust it for your body, its onboard computers will calculate your height and weight, and apply the same amount of resistance you’d experience from the wind out on the open road.
It’s also got built-in wifi for syncing your performance results to iFit.com, is compatible with Polar’s chest-based pulse monitoring systems and even includes the necessary hookups for connecting and listening to your iPod. All for just $1,299. And let’s just hope you can avoid looking like this after a particularly gruelling ride.
[ ProForm Tour De France Training Bike ] VIA [ Mobile Magazine ]
My trainer just arrived via UPS. After carefully unpacking and inventorying the unit, I discovered that the console was missing. My call to Proform was most frustrating. I was told that the consoles are not yet available to be shipped and they have no idea when they’ll be in from overseas to be shipped. They couldn’t tell me if it would be a couple of days, a week, a month or longer. I could only get the nebulus, “we’re working on it and I went ahead and ordered the part for you” This is a really bad business model. I hope they don’t mind my calling every day until it arrives in a week. Not happy.
Don’t buy this if you’re expecting a realistic workout. the RPM’s are not measured correctly, in fact I estimate it is measuring only half of the actual RPM and as a result the bike speed is half of what it should be. To prove this I mapped a ride that I often do on my real bike and using the proform it took me twice as long as I normally take when riding for real. When I contacted their customer services about this it was clear they didn’t know much about their own product. And didn’t care. So in summary, not at all satisfied…
Don’t buy this if you’re expecting a realistic workout. the RPM’s are not measured correctly, in fact I estimate it is measuring only half of the actual RPM and as a result the bike speed is half of what it should be. To prove this I mapped a ride that I often do on my real bike and using the proform it took me twice as long as I normally take when riding for real. When I contacted their customer services about this it was clear they didn’t know much about their own product. And didn’t care. So in summary, not at all satisfied…
Don’t buy this if you’re expecting a realistic workout. the RPM’s are not measured correctly, in fact I estimate it is measuring only half of the actual RPM and as a result the bike speed is half of what it should be. To prove this I mapped a ride that I often do on my real bike and using the proform it took me twice as long as I normally take when riding for real. When I contacted their customer services about this it was clear they didn’t know much about their own product. And didn’t care. So in summary, not at all satisfied…
Don’t buy this if you’re expecting a realistic workout. the RPM’s are not measured correctly, in fact I estimate it is measuring only half of the actual RPM and as a result the bike speed is half of what it should be. To prove this I mapped a ride that I often do on my real bike and using the proform it took me twice as long as I normally take when riding for real. When I contacted their customer services about this it was clear they didn’t know much about their own product. And didn’t care. So in summary, not at all satisfied…
After a month of having this, I have just partially had it working. Like Scott posted below, mine did not come with a console. When it did arrive and got it semi working, the incline/decline was broken out of the box. A company came out to fix it, and then the buttons on the console didn’t work. I received a replacement a couple days ago…worked for 5 minutes, then buttons on console stopped working again. I will be returning this junk…horrible experience with the machine. Customer service was decent…theyre doing their job and everything came as ordered…but one thing I did note and experience is that their are numerous versions out. You need to be specific with your model number and serial number as one serial number may need a different part depending on the “series” of bike you have, though you would think they were all built the same. Horrible…Thought it was a clever trainer, but have the absolute worst experience after having it. Not even one ride on it as it has never worked for more than 5 minutes TOTAL after a month of having it.
Don’t buy this bike!! I got mine today, no instructions, no screws and the console (which did come) doesn’t fit properly. Spent 2hrs on the phone and likely just going to have them come pick this piece of crap up…
Don’t buy this bike!! I got mine today, no instructions, no screws and the console (which did come) doesn’t fit properly. Spent 2hrs on the phone and likely just going to have them come pick this piece of crap up…
Does it come with steroids or do you have to buy them seperately?
i found the same thing, i just reported to customer service, no one had reported yet. i assume you weren’t able to do anything to fix it?
I would have given this product five plus stars after my first three
workouts. It was easily the most fun I have ever had on an exercise
bike and did everything as advertised. Google maps worked great, and
the exhilaration I felt and the quality of the workout replicated my on
road experience. However, the bike froze in a steep incline in the
middle of my fourth workout. (Ironic, it was a preloaded TDF route) I
called customer service twice. There was no option to hold
indefinitely, just a “try back later” message and my call was dropped.
To their credit, I received an immediate response via chat. Then they
wanted to to talk me through the diagnosis myself. I’m pretty handy
with tools, but the further I got into this, the more I thought “hey,
shouldn’t I be getting more support for $1400?” Bottom line: I need a
new motor, part on back order with no forecast shipment date. It’s
already been three weeks and still no estimate when the part will become
available. That after waiting two months to get the bike in the first
place. If this gets resolved soon and I don’t experience another
problem, I’ll revise this to four stars. I could just be the unlucky
0.1%. However, given that I can’t even get a live body to talk to, this
doesn’t look to be an isolated event.
Same problem. Told me the motor is on back order with no idea when it will be in stock. Suggested they cannibalize an unsold bike for the parts, send me what I need, and rebuild their unsold bike when the parts arrive. Told me that was not an option at this time. Funny they call their department Customer Care, because they obviously don’t.
Got my bike after 2 1/2 weeks and numerous calls to the company. Set it up and the computer won’t recognize my modem. 5 calls to customer service and they blame it on my modem (which has 4 other devices that connect just fine to it). I troubleshoot the modem with CenturyLink … no issues … call back and after a total of over 20 hours waiting and troubleshooting, I’m told to unplug the bike for 24 hours … that will allow the RAM to lose all it’s memory and I should be ok. Yeah, we’ll see how Day 5 goes because if this doesn’t work, it’s going back .. by the way, the number for returns is 866-896-9777 … not happy Pro-form! You’ve let me down and I just hope this is all worth it in the end!
I received my bike today and it was relatively easy to put
together. Once I got everything set and
upgrade the software I started experiencing intermittent problem with the touch
control panel. I called service and they
determined that the panel was bad. They then
told me that it would be 30days to get another one. That was unacceptable so I ask them to send
me a replacement. They wanted me to put
together another bike. Pack the other up and send it back to them. I have a 4 year maintenance contract. I would have had to install the new panel and
rebuild a bike when I receive a broken bike.
That is hardly good service!!!
I received my bike today and it was relatively easy to put
together. Once I got everything set and
upgrade the software I started experiencing intermittent problem with the touch
control panel. I called service and they
determined that the panel was bad. They then
told me that it would be 30days to get another one. That was unacceptable so I ask them to send
me a replacement. They wanted me to put
together another bike. Pack the other up and send it back to them. I have a 4 year maintenance contract. I would have had to install the new panel and
rebuild a bike when I receive a broken bike.
That is hardly good service!!!
I am on my second console, the new worked good for a couple of rides. Now the buttons stopped worning again.
Waiting for call back from customer service.
I think I want my money back.
………………………..
Guys,
I am looking to buy Proform TDF Gen 2 bike, but it is disappointing to see a lot of extremely bad reviews about the bike on different sites, not sure if those are Gen 1 problem. They released a Gen 2 version, not sure if that has improved on the quality and performance of the bike. Also, I heard Proform Customer service is the WORST it can be in the industry, on a scale of (best) 1 – 10 (worst), proform will easily claim the 10th spot on service.
Not sure if all of these quality issues are true for Gen 2 bike, need more customer experiences on the Gen 2 bikes.
I am not sure why should sane person would leave a negative feedback on product manufacturer website or even on facebook since both of these companies work in the interest of themselves and not in best interest of the customers. In this case, I wouldn’t be surprised if negative feedback is taken out of the proform or facebook website. Facebook is only a platform for advertising and sales for companies to the people on it who are the consumers and it could backfire if the product or customer service is bad.
I’ve had the same issues with all of this. I’m now waiting for a new console which they said would ship in 7-10 days. I’m not holding my breath since I got another email that they were out of stock. Yes, even with an extended warranty, I have to put it together myself. Waiting for customer service is horrible. Be prepared to wait at least 30 minutes if not longer. I’ve only owned this bike for 1month and have nothing but issues with getting up and going correctly. I’m thinking I’ve wasted my money. Hopefully that will change.
Sounds like I’m having the same issues with my Gen2 Tour de Crap! Bike worked great for about 5 days, then the console would not accept any input from the touchpad keys. Called Proform and actually got decent customer service so I can’t complain there. They sent me a new console to replace myself (even after purchasing the 5-year high-end warranty) which arrived in 4 days! Installed, but the unit did not power on. Had to disassemble the new console again and frigg with the connections, meanwhile stripping out the 4 holes that hold the console together (fixed with wood screws). Got the unit working, updated the firmware and the unit worked great again.
The very next morning, turned on the unit for a workout and discovered that the console ONCE AGAIN would not accept any input from the touchpad keys. WTF!?!? Is this an issue with the latest firmware, or is the computer just a third-rate Chinese piece of $__t?
Proform, your product sucks! Your warranty that I paid extra bucks for should come with a technician, instead of having to do it myself (even though I appreciate the free parts and shipping). Anybody reading this, and still not sure whether or not to purchase this equipment should think again, and wait to see if Proform gets these bugs ironed-out, or simply go with another product.
Did you ever get resolution of this problem?