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TECH NEWS

Bkool have stopped making turbo trainers to focus on their training app

Whle promising customers that they will still guarantee a full after-sales service, Bkool will no longer be manufacturing hardware, which includes their recently launched Smart Bike

Indoor training brand Bkool have announced that they will no longer be manufacturing their range of turbo trainers and exercise bikes, instead deciding to focus fully on their Bkool Simulator training app. Bkool's hardware rights have been sold to Versa Design, who will market the products under the Zycle brand name. 

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Bkool said the decision was made so they could focus on the 'most important' part of their business, the Bkool Simulator training app, which they say now has over 100,000 active users and over 250,000 users in total. Bkool's CEO Wences Sevillano said: "For Bkool, this agreement is essential for us, as it allows us to focus on the development of the best cycling simulator in the market.

"Each day we have more users who use other brands' trainers in our simulator. Our future as a company is to offer the best simulation experience, no matter what trainer you may have. And this agreement allows us to put all our effort into it, developing the best digital product for every cyclist.”

Bkool Cycling Simulator - 3.jpg

A quick scan of Bkool's website now prominently displays various other brands of smart trainer that the Bkool Simulator is compatible with. Despite the changes, Bkool have given assurances that anyone who currently owns a trainer or Smart Bike with the Bkool branding will still get a full after-sales service, and that Bkool software will continue to work with their trainers exactly as before. 

Re-badged Bkool trainers carrying the Zycle name are already available on the Spanish Zycle website - we're not sure if they will be distributed in the UK yet. 

 

 

 

 

 

Jack has been writing about cycling and multisport for over a decade, arriving at road.cc via 220 Triathlon Magazine in 2017. He worked across all areas of the website including tech, news and video, and also contributed to eBikeTips before being named Editor of road.cc in 2021 (much to his surprise). Jack has been hooked on cycling since his student days, and currently has a Trek 1.2 for winter riding, a beloved Bickerton folding bike for getting around town and an extra beloved custom Ridley Helium SLX for fantasising about going fast in his stable. Jack has never won a bike race, but does have a master's degree in print journalism and two Guinness World Records for pogo sticking (it's a long story). 

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3 comments

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Rik Mayals unde... | 5 years ago
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I'm a little pissed off with Bkool. I have had one on order for three and a half months, with excuse after excuse given to my local bike shop by the supplier why it was delayed time and time again. Now I know the reason why. Poor show from them. 

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atlaz | 5 years ago
1 like

As above. Hopefully their support gets better. I'm lucky enough to have a "spare" power meter to use instead of the one on the trainer that bkool aren't interested in fixing. 

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Rick_Rude | 5 years ago
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They should focus on folding up. I had a bkool pro which was a piece of crap, really hard to connect to anything and ended up giving really high resistance and only reading about 50w.

The software is also rubbish imo. The front end of Zwift is simply 'ride' if you want to just get on with it before choosing anything. Bkool is (or has been in the past)totally convoluted. I remember at one point having to go the bkool website to load in a route of gps data as you couldn't do it directly from the app.

I see VirtuGo also folded as well. Not surprising if you've used it.

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