I love a bit of virtual riding, because it’s an incredible workout and very time efficient…. the trouble is, I have absolutely no chance against my old climbing records. My Alpe du Zwift time was set when I had more watts and less weight. Frankly, it’s just not fair!
The challenge: more watts or a shortcut?
Ahead of me lay a challenge where I’d normally have little hope. The goal was to beat my time up Alpe du Zwift. I could have put in months of very hard training to boost my watts, religiously stuck to a strict diet plan, and read motivational quotes to optimise my mind.
Or… I could cheat. This sounds much, much easier.
And that’s where the Hypershell’s X Pro Exoskeleton comes in. This device claims it can give riders a staggering 800 watts of extra power. So how does it work?
How the exoskeleton works: bionic legs explained
The Hypershell Pro X is not like clipping into your pedals; it’s a completely new layer of technology for movement. It consists of a lightweight, body-worn frame made of materials like aluminium alloy and carbon-fibre reinforced polymer that acts as a powerful, wearable motor system for your legs.
The core of the technology is the AI MotionEngine. Using a dozen or more built-in sensors, the system constantly detects your natural movements in real-time. This intelligent algorithm then predicts your next move, allowing the motor system to provide adaptive and natural-feeling assistance.
Power delivery
Much like the subtle lag you get when starting an e-bike, the exoskeleton takes a split second to detect your motion and engage. Once it does, the motors, located in the hip section, activate.
This is where the magic happens, with the motors provide assistance by generating two forces: one to assist with pushing down (the power phase of the pedal stroke or stride), and another for pulling up (the recovery phase or leg lift). This push-and-pull dynamic works in both directions simultaneously, enhancing your leg movement throughout the entire cycle.
The claims
The manufacturer makes some bold promises: a peak output of 800 watts of assistance, an improvement in perceived leg strength by 40%, and a lowering of effort by 30%.
Controlling the boost
The device connects to a companion app, allowing you to track performance and adjust settings. You can switch between various activity modes, but for maximum virtual advantage, I’m setting it to Hyper mode. This is the most powerful assistance setting available.
With the Hypershell strapped on and set to maximum boost, I dived into the race. You can see how I got on in the video above.
Ride impressions
The immediate ride impression is… bizarre. Mechanically, however, this isn’t a perfect system. It’s clear I wasn’t getting a genuine 800 watts of extra output in that effort, otherwise I’d have smashed my time by minutes.
In the end, I missed out on my own climbing record by just over a minute. The exoskeleton helped me to produce more power, averaging 272w, but nothing could account for the 6kg I’ve gained since I stopped racing.
There was, however, clearly assistance being delivered to my legs. If there wasn’t, I’d have been scuppered by the first hairpin. The motors are definitely making cycling a bit easier, smoothing out the effort and making the virtual gradients less painful.
The effect of the Hypershell system is somewhat like riding a fixed gear bike, where the inertia of the rear wheel pulls your legs around if you try to stop pedalling.
So… is this cheating, or an enabler?
Is using this futuristic tech ‘cheating’? Obviously yes, if your objective is to beat your times on Zwift and get a result based purely on your biological output – I just used the device indoors to demonstrate how much of a difference this device makes in controlled conditions. In reality, however, no one is going to spend this much money on a high-tech harness just to make a silly YouTube video.
In reality, the Hypershell Pro X is simply an enabling device. This kind of assistance could genuinely help people to stay active, tackle steep hiking trails with ease, or simply extend the distance of their daily commute. It could even be enough to mean you don’t have to spend a lot more on a new e-bike.
While it won’t make you faster than a Tour de France rider in the real world, it’s a fascinating glimpse into a future where technology gives us all a subtle, bionic boost.
8 thoughts on “Cheating on Zwift with an exoskeleton: is this the future of assisted cycling?”
How does it stand up to
How does it stand up to combat with xenomorphs?
Depends if you have the M56
Depends if you have the M56 Smartgun option
GTN have also featured the
GTN have also featured the Hypershell to see how it can assist running, it’s a good watch.
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How much money?
£860 as tested. £1600 for
£860 as tested. £1600 for the bells and whistles version (lighter weight and more peak power).
Which if it has medical applications is a bargain.
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Um, have you actually seen YouTube?
How is this kind of thing
How is this kind of thing going to fit into the e-bike/EAPC narative? Maybe the Torygraph’s 54mph will become a thing, in the future. 😉
Setting aside any stuff about
Setting aside any stuff about how it could benefit people with some neuromuscular dysfunction etc., I will be overjoyed if I see some tit with one of these while I’m on my next trip to the Lakes or Scotland toiling up some slope with all the camping gear and provisions for a few days. As for cycling, we need some standardised testing using, say, average heart rate as proxy for ‘effort’, in which the same amount of electrical energy is expended on the same multi -lap route by the same person on different days using the exoskeleton one day and some cheap EAPC another day, to determine which device gets you further. My guess is that even an add-on front wheel motor will give you more metres for your joules. If someone had asked me yesterday about a device such as this being predicted, I would have said ‘it’ll never work’, which shows how much I know! You have to admire the people with vision who made it work, but when the day comes to admit defeat it will be an EAPC for me!