Wattbike has launches a new and improved Atom, its award-winning smart home trainer. Since 2017, the company notes that its ‘Wattbike Atom has offered the closest experience a rider will ever get to the feel of the outside road, inside.’
The next-generation Wattbike Atom’s electromagnetic resistance system is designed to take the rider experience to the next level. It incorporates a wider resistance range, faster reactions to third-party apps such as Zwift and crisper gear changes, while updated electronics increase data-sampling precision.
Wattbike adds that the recent lockdown has only accelerated the trend towards indoor training; and an ‘ever-increasing number of riders who have discovered its fitness benefits are demanding more sophisticated hardware to match the expanding immersiveness of the online platforms as well as to enable a wider range of workouts.’
The next-generation Wattbike Atom is well-timed to meet their expectations.
Faster, more powerful resistance system
The new Wattbike Atom uses a custom-designed electromagnetic resistance system. Instead of using motors to move the magnets up and down, the new system changes the current to the magnet to change braking force instantly. This means not only does the bike react faster to gradients in third-party apps such as Zwift and The Sufferfest, but its own gear changes are crisper and faster.
The new system also enables an improved experience for a greater range of workouts including HIIT and standing starts. In addition, maximum resistance is increased to 2500 watts at 130rpm.
More data via new sensors
Wattbike has also added a cadence sensor to the flywheel and a new crank angle sensor that not only allow sbetter accuracy for simulated gradients in Zwift, but also provides more granular data from which to gain performance insights.
The new crank angle sensor reads 48 times per revolution, compared with the two per revolution of the Atom launched in 2017. This enables the smart bike to make faster decisions, adjusting the resistance system without having to wait for either a half or full turn of the pedals.
Richard Baker, CEO of Wattbike, said “Since its launch in 2017 I am immensely proud of what we’ve achieved with the Wattbike Atom; a radical, innovative smart bike that opened up a new era in home training.
“Three years on, the next-generation Atom represents another huge step forward for Wattbike. These major upgrades have fundamentally changed and improved its performance and further enhanced user experience. The Wattbike Atom again sets a new benchmark for the smart home trainer.”
Andy McCorkell, Head of Product, said “We didn’t down tools and pat ourselves on the back when the Atom was launched in 2017. We really listened to our customers and the community to continually improve the product, both with regular content updates and improvement of software, firmware and hardware.
“The next generation Wattbike Atom takes this a step further, to combine the latest innovative technology and learnings from our range of home and commercial products. The result is a product packed full of features to enhance your experience on third party apps, a phenomenal ride feel; and, of course, an unrivalled level of accuracy.”
The next generation Wattbike Atom will retail at £1,899.99 and is available on finance from £88 per month at 9.9% APR.
