Comment Re:Expresso S3 review (I've used one) (Score 1) 143
We have one of these at work, and we're expecting another. It's a blast. And I'm not a gamer.
First, the downsides:
1) The shifter is not very well designed. It's a single lever mounted on the stem, which is an inconvenient spot. With 30 "gears" and very sharp changes of gradient, it's not uncommon to have to shift by 10 gears or more in a matter of seconds to avoid stalling out. The shifting doesn't seem all that responsive either, so there's a tendency to overshift, which usually leaves you moving too slowly. I'd rather have two shifters mounted on the bars, with the left shifter giving you 3-5 gears in one shot (i. e. something like front and rear derailleurs on a "real" bike). This is by far the weakest part of the setup. If they would fix that, it would be a much stronger product.
The S3 model has shift buttons on the handlebars, are you sure you don't have an S2 model (the S3 has a widescreen 17" monitor where the S2 has a 4x3 14" monitor)? Also, on all the models, you can shift using the up and down arrows on the control panel, but the beeping can get annoying after a while.
3) The saddle simply isn't very good. It's adjustable in maybe 1/2" increments both vertically and front to back (which is OK for this purpose, but finer increments would be better). However, it's a wide, heavily cushioned saddle, which really isn't very comfortable for long rides. It would be nice if there were a couple of different saddles to pick from, and you could just plunk down the one you like at any given time. It's a much better saddle than the usual exercise bike saddle, but that's not saying much.
There are several models of saddle available and you can easily swap them out, maybe talk to your facilities person and see if they'll order a different seat?
Good points:
4) The bike can be connected to the internet, with some additional features (I don't know what they all are; ours isn't connected yet).
The back-end support is where the EF 'experience' really shines - If your bike is connected to the net and you choose to create an rider account (which is free), your ride data is uploaded to the web site expresso.net and you can have online access to your ride statistics and performance history, view leaderboards, participate in contests, choose saved rides (yours and other peoples') to ride against, and view achievements you've attained while riding. A basic bike account is free and gives you access to some of the features on the web site, upgrading to a paying member unlocks the extra tracks and expands the features available on the back end.
Neutral points:
1) While your avatar responds to the steering, it doesn't really affect the riding in any way, except on the game course. It won't let you go off the course (if you try to steer off, or don't try to steer on, it just keeps you at the side of the course). You can also ride right through other riders, and they can ride through you if you're slower. It doesn't really feel natural, but without actual movement, it would be very hard to make the steering feel natural. I don't care all that much.
The Chase courses (where you chase down dragons to earn points) are "free range". Since quite a bit of the Route experience is designed around the idea of a repeatable "lap", we need to be able to constrain the riders to a course.
