Wattbike Atoms have, worryingly, become an integral part of my existence. In fact, at last count I’ve spent a total of 39 days, two hours and 16 minutes sat astride one. Dedicated or doolally. You decide.
So what is it about the Wattbike Atom that so clearly rings my bell? Through its three iterations – the third of which is on test here – Wattbike has fine-tuned what already started out as a premium quality product. The first Wattbike I tested, and later went on to buy, was released in 2017. At this time my daughters were young and my wife was working shifts, so I had very little time to venture out onto the open road. After working my way through a series of (comparatively) sub-standard smart trainers (the selection was admittedly sparse eight years ago) I was fortunate enough to find the Atom in my crosshairs and the world suddenly became a better place. Pedalling was fluid, transitions were smooth, it provided a steady platform to wind up big watts and the sound never – I know this because I asked her – never penetrated the adjoining wall to my next door neighbour’s living room. “No,” she said, “I’ll occasionally hear an anguished howl, but there’s no mechanical drone disturbing my evening soaps”. To be slightly more scientific about the matter, the first Wattbike emitted some 70 decibels at 200 watts – similar to that of a washing machine and this has remained more or less a constant through each of the three additions.
