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IB14: Jet Black’s New Premium Z1 Pro Fluid & Whisper Drive Magnetic Trainers, Plus New Training App

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Jet-Black-Z1-pro-fluid-cycling-trainer

Jet Black’s new Z1 Pro model is the successor to the Z1 and gets the largest stock flywheel ever at 6.6 lbs, more than triple what it was before. There are heavier aftermarket flywheels out there, but they say this is the heaviest one that comes standard on any trainer. A heavier flywheel gives it a much longer coast down times for a more realistic feel.

It’s a fluid trainer, so it’s quiet, particulaly with it’s oversized gel roller, and gives you less tire wear. Beyond the flywheel and gel, the closure mechanism is all new and rather nifty…

Jet-Black-Z1-pro-fluid-cycling-trainer

Zach’s been testing the Z1 with the same Hydrogel roller and been very happy with it.

Jet-Black-Z1-pro-fluid-cycling-trainer

The axle lever has switched from a side mounted version to a rotating one that’s integrated into the frame. It’ll work with anything from track bikes to thru axle.

Jet-Black-Z1-pro-fluid-cycling-trainer

It uses a linchpin to make big width adjustments, then the non-drove side makes the fine adjustments via the usual dial. Once that’s done, it simply closes down to lock the bike into the trainer.

Jet-Black-Z1-pro-fluid-cycling-trainer

Both the M5 Pro and Z1 Pro get the new closure. The Z1 Pro retail is $369.

Jet-Black-Whisper-Drive-direct-drive-cycling-trainer

Their new Whisper Drive is aiming to be the quietest direct drive trainer on the market by swapping the usual fan for a magnetic resistance unit. At $699, it’s on the lower end of the direct drive trainer price range, and it’ll fight your efforts all the way up to 1,200 watts.

Jet-Black-Whisper-Drive-direct-drive-cycling-trainer

It’s very stable with 700mm wide legs that are pushed forward more under the rider’s body mass. They fold away for easy transport or storage, as shown on bottom of image.

It’ll work with 130/135 and 11×142 axles by swapping included end caps. Comes with SRAM/Shimano freehub body but no cassette. Campy and XX1 freehub bodies available separately.

 

Jet-Black-cycling-training-app-ipad

The new JetBlack Training App comes with purchase of a trainer (or you can buy it, price TBD). It’s a training tool that can pair with any of your existing compatible Bluetooth or ANT+ Sensors (power, cadence, HR, etc.) and provide sessions from an Olympic level coach. The sessions last from 45 minutes up to about 1.5 hours and have audio/visual cues to tell you when to go harder, faster, stand or whatever. The music’s beat is synced to the effort and cadence to keep you going full steam. ANT+ sensors will require and ANT+ dongle for your tablet.

Since it’s preprogrammed with the resistance of the trainer, once it’s reading speed from a speed sensor, it can figure out your estimated power. It has threshold and other fitness tiers to determine your baseline training zones. When done, it’ll upload your data to Strava or TrainingPeaks. Look for bundle packs of ANT+/BT speed/cadence and HR sensors.

JetBlackCycling.com

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Psi Squared
Psi Squared
9 years ago

How well do gel rollers hold up?

James - JetBlack
9 years ago

Psi Squared – The roller is very durable and will not wear under normal use, we have been selling this roller for several years now and they are still going strong, to back this we offer a lifetime warranty!

The Hydrogel roller will reduce the noise and tyre wear significantly when compared to a traditional steel or aluminium roller, no specific trainer tyres required and tyre wear is similar to what you would expect on the road. Best results are achieved with our recommended setup by simply setting your tyre pressure to 110 psi (or the manufactures max recommended pressure), then give the adjustment knob three half turns (1.5 complete revolutions) once the tyre fist makes contact with the roller.

Dave B
Dave B
9 years ago

The problem with any magnetic resistance unit is their “linearity”, i.e. pedaling twice as fast requires twice the power. That isn’t realistic since the power requires for a real bike is non-linear. The required power goes up with about the cube of the speed so going twice as fast requires about 8 times the power. Fluid and fan trainers do mimic this non-linearity but magnetics don’t.

Oscar de Casro
Oscar de Casro
9 years ago

God´day!!

I would like to know that with the Whisper Drive roller you are able to program up-hill and downhill percentage set ups for more intense workouts.

Thanks for your time

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