The Tacx Votrex Smart T2180 was released in 2015 aimed at the fully controllable by Computer or Mobile market thanks to Bluetooth and ANT+ FE-C technologies. Originally priced at £399.99, now in 2016 we see this unit down to a very respectable £260 price bracket.
Specifications
- Software Tacx apps & Third party apps. PC software via upgrade.
- Operation Automatic
- Resistance unit Electro
- Realistic slope 7%
- Descent simulation – No
- Max brake power (10 sec.) 950 Watt
- Sprint power (1 min.) 750 Watt
- Mass inertia 11,81 kg
Suitable for all bikes, if necessary with axle skewers or nuts
Wheel diameter 26″- 29″ and 700c; 29″ with trainer tyre
Setting up the Tacx Votrex Smart T2180
Opening the well packaged box you get the frame and a resistance brake unit that has to be assembled using the supplied allen key, care needs to be taken in selecting the correct notch for the wheel you need to use.
The guide shows notch 1 for 26″ MTB wheels, notch 2 for Race / Road bikes, notch 3 for 29″ ATB, so if you have a 27.5″ MTB wheel (650B) use notch 2.
Next you need to swap out your rear quick release over to the one supplied by tacx , this makes sure the bike locks into place in the trainer. Locking the bike into the trainer stand is easy to do you need to adjust a nut and then close the quick release lever. This makes sure the bike is locked in rock solid.
Make sure you have the supplied Tacx skyliner front wheel riser block under the front wheel.
The blue lever on the back of the unit allows to you to engage the unit up against the wheel fairly easily, but you will need to set up the correct wheel tension to make sure that the wheel wont slip or that you are creating too much drag, a simple procedure is called a spin down. [How to calibrate a turbo trainer spin down procedure]
This was the only part we found to be a bit of a fiddle, the nut to raise or lower the resistance unit was hard to adjust. The the best way to do this was have the lever open, then turn the nut right to raise the unit as much as you needed, then close the lever. The small adjustments at the end to fine tune needed two hands using the tips of our fingers. This was just down to ground clearance.
Using mobile apps for the tacx vortex
In our software review we will use an iPad Mini, LG QTAB Tablet and a Samsung S6 Edge
- Best entry level smart trainer
- Good range of mobile apps
- Competitively priced
- Bluetooth and ANT+ FE-C
- Fiddle to adjust tension wheel
- Wheel size adjustment requires allen key
- App error in wheel calibration
