Welcome to our ultimate guide of the world’s leading indoor cycling apps. Find out what app is right for you, and check out our other indoor cycling app reviews.
Ride Type: Real-life videos of popular routes from across the globe
Compatibility: iOS, Windows, Mac
Required Equipment: A smart trainer/power meter or speed sensor
Integrations: Strava, TrainingPeaks, Today's Plan
Cost: $12.00/month or $8.30/month with an annual membership, which includes one free family member
Website: https://fulgaz.com/
FulGaz is for riders seeking to transform their basement pain caves into a simulation of real-life routes from across the globe. The videos are filmed from bikes at normal riding speeds on real roads, which makes the speed, turns, and descents feel more realistic than comparable apps that are primarily filmed from cars or motorcycles. If your primary objective in an indoor cycling app is its high quality real world feel then FulGaz could be the app for you.
Getting set up to ride on FulGaz is arguably the easiest of all indoor cycling apps (but, admittedly, none of the apps we reviewed are particularly difficult to set up). Users download the app onto their platform of choice, and it immediately asks the user to pair devices before proceeding to select a route to ride. During your first visit to the app, you will get stopped by an account creation/pay wall, but when you set up your account, you are automatically enrolled in the 14-day free trial without requiring any up-front payment or additional information.
FulGaz offers hundreds of real-life courses ranging in length from a quarter mile to the 113-mile Hawaii Ironman World Championship course. That means, the hardest part is picking which course to ride – and FulGaz aims to facilitate this process by allowing users to select a route based on distance, elevation gain, and a toughness score. While FulGaz has a fraction of the number of courses offered by Rouvy, users would have to choose a different course every day for a couple of years before exhausting the options, which means the selection is plentiful.
If you are seeking structured workouts, FulGaz probably isn't the app for you; however, there are a limited number of fairly short workouts, which could satisfy you if you are craving a change of pace on occasion. Moreover, FulGaz offers specific programs built for core focus areas, such as FTP building and climbing (here again, this is not comparable to indoor cycling apps dedicated to structured workouts, or even Zwift). That said, FulGaz offers the option to upload your own workouts (in .ZWO format) from TrainingPeaks or other similar apps.
Group rides can be arranged on FulGaz although the process is a bit different compared to other apps. Setting up a ride requires sharing a code with your riding buddies for you and your crew to ride the course together (but you will not see each other and you cannot draft the way you could in other more gamified apps). Instead, your screen will project a leaderboard to indicate your proximity to the others as well as the instantaneous watts/kg that riders are producing. While this is not as interactive as other apps, it can still be thrilling to chase down your friends in real-time.
What differentiates FulGaz from other indoor cycling apps is its simulation of real-life captured through realistic videos (hence its tag line 'less virtual, more reality'). We were particularly impressed by the way the bike leans into the curves on long, fast descents – it is a detail that made the ride come to life, and even more thrilling than real descents. Additionally, the way the metrics are captured on screen in the form of a virtual handlebar mount computer rather than an overlay on the video lends to a more realistic riding experience. The road feel as our smart trainer adjusts to the various gradients is as close to real life as we have found in any app/trainer combination.
FulGaz is officially our favourite real-life video indoor cycling app based on the ease of the overall app set up, and the superior filming and quality of the video. Granted it does not feature all of the bells and whistles that you will find on Rouvy or as many courses or structured training sessions, but when we are seeking real-life video, everything else is just a distraction.
Full Disclosure: We're cyclists – not marketers – and we are not affiliated with FulGaz. This cycling app review is an independent review based on our own experience with the app – to help you decide if it’s right for you. For more, check out our other reviews of cycling apps.
