Bike provides improved performance testing for professional cyclists

Cyclists can use this new bike to receive more detailed and personalized results regarding their fitness and cycling technique.

We have seen many innovations related to cycling, from the smart bike light that improves cyclists’ safety, to the electric bike that can ride on water. Another addition to these cycling-related innovations comes from the Bakala Academy who have recently designed a new bike. Aimed at professional cyclists, their new bike gives detailed insight into a users performance.

The Bakala Academy is based in Belgium and offers sport science innovations and education to athletes. They have a variety of services targeted at professional athletes, from pro-endurance tests to elite bike fit. In their own words, ‘The Bakala Academy aims to be an international centre of excellence to stimulate innovation and education in sports performance and training, and to facilitate the transfer of up-to-date knowledge in sport sciences to exercise performance and training.’ The Bakala Academy’s recently released isokinetic bike is one of the ways in which they do this.

The bike is modifiable to fit with the cyclist’s own customised bike frame. This makes the results from the tests more accurate and representative of how a cyclist might perform on race day. Firstly, professionals take an isokinetic strength test in which they undertake a set of six short intermittent sprints. From this, information about their power-cadence relation is available for extracting. In addition, the cyclist completes six submaximal sets of one minute each. This provides information into the riders pedalling technique, including any right-left imbalances. The new isokinetic bike is unique in its ability to provide more detailed and personalized feedback than ever before, proving a useful training tool for professional cyclists.

Although the unique isokinetic bike is currently only aimed at professional cyclists, perhaps this innovative technology will expand to other sports. How could unique inventions such as this impact the professional sporting industry? What role does innovation have to play in modern-day athletic training?