(Image credit: Andy Carr)
Muov is a UK-based brand that aims to offer a more realistic experience during indoor training. It also boasts extremely high levels of accuracy with a claimed +/- 1%.
In my view however, excelling at being an indoor trainer doesn’t necessarily mean achieving perfect realism. From my experience over several months of riding the Muov I’ve found it enhances and makes indoor riding it’s own thing and that in turn, makes it more fun.
That’s not to say the Muov bike lacks realism. In fact, short of riding on your own bike this is the most realistic indoor cycling experience available, featuring moving bars and a tilting action that, once you get used to it, is genuinely brilliant.
I first learned about the Muov TiltBike at an event a few years ago where they hosted demos featuring pros and punters riding the bikes, seemingly having a great time. Seeing the row of Muov bikes set up in front of large screens reminded me of waiting for my turn on Sega Rally in our local arcade.
The bike has undergone several updates since then, likely improving feel and appearance, and the current version feels very polished.
The frames are made from carbon fibre here in the UK, where they can also be custom painted to order. The frame comes in three sizes – small, medium, and large – and stem, bar width, and saddle options are configurable to match your fit. The cranks are adjustable in seven increments, ranging from 150mm to 175mm, simply by placing the pedal axle in the threaded hole marked for your preferred length, just as you would attach a normal pedal to your crank. Q-factor – the distance between the pedals across the axle – is similar to that of a road bike, 150mm.
When detached from the heavier base, the frames are quite light (5.9kg) and could be neatly stored against a wall in your garage or training space. If you’re compromised on space, it’s good to know you can actually tidy it out of the way if you need to. The base is portable too, although not light at 35.9kg. All up the device is 41.8kg total.
Swapping or fitting the frame is straightforward, with a solid, secure, and squeak-free connection designed to last and withstand regular changes. I’ve hardly needed to adjust mine, but it’s simple and feels logical. The base system, like most smart bike trainers, has most of its mass at the rear, making it easy to move around, without the frame on top, and it’s designed to be stored against a wall if needed. I’ve kept mine set-up constantly but tried storing it temporarily, which proved straightforward. It’s not light to move around, but you’re not stuck with it in place like you would be with a Wahoo, Stages, or Wattbike product. Thankfully it’s also easy to set up when needed.
That said, it somewhat reduces the point of a dedicated trainer if you put it away each time. The main benefit of a smart bike trainer is to jump on and ride without set-up sapping your motivation.
The custom painting option is cool. You might say what’s the point of fussing over a custom paint job for a bike that never leaves your house? It might seem extravagant, but it’s perfect if aesthetics matter to you, or you enjoy the thrill of styling something just the way you want it. Few training devices – treadmills, ergs, rowers – come in anything other than black, so having a Muov bike painted to match your training space, gym, or existing fleet, might be a big plus. The one I borrowed was painted pale blue with a pink dazzle camo style pattern and it looked the bee’s knees.
(Image credit: Andy Carr)
What is the Mouv like to use?
My unit was delivered via the ‘whiteglove’ service by the Muov team, which they initially promised to the first few customers. Whether or not they’ve sold enough to maintain that service for everyone that orders one now, I don’t know. However, they set up the frame and handlebars to be millimetre perfect for me, carried it upstairs, fitted my pedals, and explained the product thoroughly. That kind of service is typical for us pampered journalists, but for Muov to offer it to customers is really pretty special.
Once set up, connecting to your chosen app Bluetooth is simple and reliable. It connects via Bluetooth BLE FTMS, or Wifi and there’s even an Ethernet port. The Muov bike is basically a big Zwift controller, that fits and feels like you’re sitting on your real bike. Apart from the disconcerting initial wobble, which is fine once you realise you’re not actually going to fall off – it’s actually really easy to use.
Where other systems need buttons added on, this one has them mounted in the shifters, just like a Playstation or Xbox controller. It’s really neat integration, and you could almost imagine riding them on the road. Whilst it’s not quite as spot on as Zwift’s own controllers, all the buttons are essentially there, and you drive Zwift or other platforms with it straight out of the box.
The really cool aspect of it is the steering. Yes you can turn the bars, but we don’t actually turn bars to steer a bike once moving, or not in the direction some might assume. I was expecting it to feel a little more strange than it does, but the way the ‘fork’ at the front of the bike connects into the tilting mechanism to the middle of the bike, allows you to steer using lean, and in a way that feels like the physics of an actual bike. They could have set the front end up differently, and many people wouldn’t have noticed the absence of the counter steering feel.
And they may have been satisfied with just turning the bars, but the fact that the engineers thought about the physics of a two-wheeled vehicle is really impressive. The result is a pretty decent simulation of how you might steer an actual bike. It’s certainly much better than just being ‘passable’ and feels fun.
In Zwift and other games you’re guided around the route by the software, unless you have access to compatible steering controls. That opens up a wider world, in that you can position yourself on the track, steer around corners, and add another level of interaction, collecting power ups, and drafting. To some advantage I’m told, although I just enjoyed the added interaction of moving around the world I was riding in in a slightly freer way.
Although impressive, that realistic aspect doesn’t matter so much, but still, what Muov has achieved here is quite successful; while trying to create a more realistic experience, it has ultimately resulted in a better indoor cycling experience. Think of this as a bike-like Xbox controller that aims to make you feel like you’re in a cycling game rather than creating a hyper-real experience. There are no potholes in that simulated world; there’s no need to catch power-ups in real life either, and in that sense, it’s better to view it as just a great way to play a cycling game. Although it is certainly realistic, insofar as that matters.
Pedalling resistance feels as real as any of the other trainers out there. And it maxes out at 2500w which is plenty for me and most of you. Cadence is all the way up to 165rpm which I can’t manage. The machine will simulate up to a 25% incline. And the data refresh rate is 30hz with an accuracy of +/- 1%. Which is very accurate, if true. I had no reason to believe the electronics we’re exactly as described however. There’s also two USB’s located at the front for convenient charging.
Mechanically speaking, I did enquire as to how the bushings are made in the tilting mechanism, and the tech they’re using is surprisingly simple, and extremely strong in use, with no wear or sogginess, or change in the movement in months of using it. No odd noises either, and it’s belt drive, so isn’t horrendously noisy in use.
You can lean it right over (12 degrees in total) and it will hold you there. I certainly couldn’t destabilise the bike on its base in normal use. Leaning it right over is pretty fun to do the first few times, especially when showing it off to mates. Which I did, at every opportunity.
The way it works when riding requires some engagement of your subconscious mind, and presumably muscle groups you may not use on a static system, but it doesn’t feel arduous or energy sapping, and moving the bike underneath you just feels as good as an indoor experience could reasonably get. With rollers you physically have to concentrate to not fall off, it’s not at all like that, but does require some engagement with your brain, and that’s a positive, not a negative, in terms of engaging with it long term.
(Image credit: Andy Carr)
Is the Mouv value for money?
With something this expensive, it really is hard to discuss value without recognising that this is a product targeted at the very well-heeled N+1 community.
Who’s got £5k laying around for an indoor trainer? You could buy an actual bicycle that many would consider a dream machine for the same amount of money.
That said, I have to appraise it from the point of view of someone who might buy it. And those people deserve a good rundown of the value available here too. We also have to consider in the context of other, similar products.
The Stages SB20 bike, which I have owned in the past and used extensively, claims to be “the most realistic and immersive virtual cycling experience available”. Muov can challenge that position pretty confidently now I’d say.
However, the Stages set up is strong. With it’s realistic position, adjustability, and very good pedalling feel, I’d have to say, I don’t think you can really do much better than it and it’s nearest competitors, such as the Wahoo bike, in terms of a static virtual riding experience.
The former costs around £1,699 and the Wahoo Kickr Bike all the way up to the Pro model is around £3,499. The latter arguably has a much broader, simpler range of adjustability than the Mouv. Both the Stages and Wahoo are directly comparable to the WattBike Atom in the middle at £2495. The WattBike probably has the most bike-like pedalling system, but they’re all pretty good, and the pedalling doesn’t feel massively better or worse on the Muov.
But none of those tilt.
For a similarly immersive gaming experience to the Muov you can get close by adding the Zwift Play system to your existing smart trainer setup. They’re relatively cheap at £79.99. Or you could just buy the Zwift bike with Kickr Core 2 for just over a grand.
Still, none of those tilt.
So the question is, how much do you need the tilt?
As much as I have raved about how much fun it is, there’s some practical aspects to the movement available on tilting systems. The movement does better recreate the movement you need to make to keep a bike upright, and as such, can mean fewer problems with comfort in the long run. Being more comfortable for longer is critical to performance on the road or indoors, but in the case of indoor cycling, it’s also pretty important for motivation. The tilting systems simply reduce the impact of a fixed position.
An alternative option for a tilting trainer is my colleague Aaron Borrill’s favourite, the Saris MP1 NFinity Motion Platform. That costs around £1699, along with everything else you need, including a smart trainer and decent bicycle to go on it.
That means, if you’re using your best bike, or even second bike, your set-up could easily stand you at twice what a Muov bike costs.
(Image credit: Andy Carr)
Conclusion
If I were testing a normal bicycle here, I’d feel very comfortable commenting on almost any aspect of its design, handling dynamics, construction, or geometry. I am a subject matter expert in those areas. When it comes to indoor trainers, I’ve used a ton of them, but I’m judging the product based on whether or not I enjoy the experience and how many aspects of it worked well or didn’t. I’m appraising it in the way any normal user might, with a similar level of experience.
When it comes to the best smart trainers, smart bikes, or even the best exercise bikes, if you want one you can custom paint, boast to your mates about how the carbon fibre frame was made in the UK, use at home in your fancy space, and have more fun than anyone using almost any other system, then the Muov bike is absolutely, emphatically, unrivalled.
As an Xbox controller for your Zwifting experience, Zwift’s Play or even Zwift’s own static bike may have a slight edge in terms of the electronic interface, but in terms of an integrated system that feels like riding your bike in an amusement arcade — and is just as much fun — I am very confident that nothing compares to this for the experience.
The Muov TiltBike is an outstandingly fun and convenient way to gamify your training and enjoy it even more. Yes, it’s more expensive than a month in the Maldives, but for an activity that wasn’t even particularly fun until Zwift, Rouvy, My Whoosh, and others came along, Muov made the controller that makes that experience even better – without any of the limitations or fussiness that some competitors, or the many accessories you could buy, just intrinsically have built in.
If you even like indoor training at all, the Muov bike is arguably the most outlandish and fun way to experience it and if anything is going to get you doing more of it, it’s this. If you already love indoor training, you’re just going to absolutely love it. Period.
Providing you’ve got the readies to go out and buy one.
(Image credit: Andy Carr)
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