Today sees the announcement that Zwift, the largest* specialised indoor cycling platform, has bought out the second largest platform, ROUVY. With that deal, they now also own FulGaz. The first I heard of this acquisition was a WhatsApp message from a friend, linking me to the DC Rainmaker article announcing the deal, so there’s that…
* Technically PELOTON is the largest, but it’s lives in a slightly different ecosystem.
If you’ve been following along, you’ll know that I work for FulGaz. Around a year ago FulGaz was sold to ROUVY by IRONMAN. Their initial plan was to shut down FulGaz, but community sentiment changed their mind. After buying FulGaz, ROUVY also bought another indoor app (BKOOL Virtual Cycling) and promptly shut them down, absorbing all of those customers into ROUVY.
I’ve been with FulGaz since it was a small privately owned Australian company. Those were epic days. Owned by passionate riders, run by passionate riders, for even more passionate riders. FulGaz was eventually acquired by IRONMAN, then a couple of years later IRONMAN sold FulGaz to ROUVY, and now ROUVY have been bought by Zwift. The cycle continues.
FulGaz: Great times with great people.
Zwift, the biggest player in the virtual indoor cycling scene, now owns three indoor cycling apps. While the word on the street is that there will be no major cuts or changes to any of the three apps, the world of indoor cycling choices and ownership is definitely getting smaller, and I’m not sure that’s always a good thing…
Two Wheels with TC 
I was and I am a Rouvy fan. Zwift was too video game like for my taste. I hope Zwift doesn’t destroy the brand.
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Me too. Likely nothing happening for now, but it will be interesting to see how the plan changes once Zwift completes their IPO share offering.
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customers will have to pay for it in the end with higher subs
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In the past I’d used Kinomaps, I tried Rouvy during my last recovery, but it was an absolute pain t get working with my old 2021 Wahoo KickR, wheel on and all the other sensors. I finally just stuck with Zwift. If Zwift can move the other apps to a common system interface that would be great improvement. I preferred the Rouvy real world video to the video game style of Zwift. That is what I liked so much about Kinomaps. Being able to interface from a smart TV app, (AppleTV here) made life pretty good, but that limits the number of BT devices, so with HRM, power meters and smart trainer things get to be a pain when outside the Zwift tools.
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I agree with you. This is monopolistic, anti-competitive behavior Zwift is showing. More competition means customers win overall.
If nothing else, it’s all the more reason why I am not using Zwift any time soon. I’m still on TrainingPeaks Virtual (nee indieVelo) precisely because I believe they’re good enough to be an alternative to the 800-pound orange gorilla in the virtual indoor training space.
Ride on!
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TrainingPeaks Virtual (indieVELO) has certainly come on leaps and bounds since it was bought by TrainingPeaks. I think it’s one of the few acquisitions that has actually been GOOD for the product.
I use it from time to time, the pace groups are good and their workout integration is super easy (I have all my files in TrainingPeaks). Not tried any of the racing. All it needs is a larger customer base to fill the roads with more real riders.
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Hoping for the best for you, my brother.
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Thanks, man. It’s been an “interesting” couple of years.
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