FulGaz Review: Ride and Enjoy Worldwide Routes in High-Quality (2023)

FulGaz is an indoor cycling app with a rich collection of high-quality footage from worldwide.

The question is, is it worth your time and money?

In this FulGaz review, you learn its pros & cons, how it stands out compared to its alternatives, and much more.

Let’s dive in.

FulGaz Summary

What is FulGaz?
FulGaz is an Australian indoor cycling app with a rich library of pre-recorded high-quality footage from all parts of the world.

You can create (or join) group rides, race, ride solo, or follow structured workouts.

Who is it for?
FulGaz is perfect for people who want to visit beautiful places from the comfort of their homes.

Thanks to the high-quality video, you will almost feel like you were riding outside.

Who is it not for?
FulGaz is not for performance-oriented riders because it is not focused mainly on improving your performance.

Additionally, you need to be motivated because FulGaz doesn’t leverage many motivation mechanisms.

My Experience with FulGaz

Here is my experience with the initial setup, routes, user experience, and more you can find in FulGaz.

Initial Setup

Pairing my smart trainer (Wahoo KICKR v5) and HR monitor (Wahoo TICKR) with FulGaz was as easy as with other indoor cycling apps I tested.

If you don’t have a smart trainer, don’t worry. You don’t need it for using FulGaz.

But you need a speed sensor so that FulGaz can calculate your power. A cadence sensor is optional and cannot be used on its own.

INDOOR CYCLING TIP: Improve your comfort and engagement with a cycling rocker plate and its swinging motion. I also recommend buying an indoor cycling fan that will keep you cooled down.

In-App Experience

FulGaz is known for its rich library of routes from around the world. Anybody can become a contributor and start uploading their routes.

Not every route is approved, though, because the FulGaz team has pretty high-quality standards, so users get the best routes possible.

After launching the app, you will see this easy-to-navigate dashboard.

You can sort routes by A-Z, date, distance, elevation, and toughness. Unfortunately, the app has no filter to make browsing and choosing the desired route easier.

Before you start riding, I recommend checking out the settings. This is where FulGaz has an advantage compared to other indoor apps.

It allows you to set standard features like video quality as well as aerodynamic drag, rolling resistance, or wind speed.

The steady mode is ideal if you know what time for the training you have. You can choose a route based on its duration, and don’t worry about a slower tempo.

However, use the reactive mode instead if you want to leverage your smart bike trainer features (like the resistance adjustments).

NOTE: When testing Fulgaz, their reactive mode didn’t work properly. The video played even when I didn’t pedal. I contacted FulGaz support, and they confirmed they are working on a fix.

FulGaz, unlike ROUVY, Wahoo RGT, or Zwift, doesn’t feature drafting or power-ups. This means that the ride feels more challenging than these apps.

So, be prepared to do the hard work. As in other apps, FulGaz also allows you to change the trainer’s difficulty to make steep climbs feel easier.

Engagement

FulGaz doesn’t include a very sophisticated motivation system, but you can join challenges against others.

You simply choose a route, turn on the Challenge Mode, and start riding. Your goal is to beat the best time.

Better engagement is an area where FulGaz can improve. Except for the beautiful routes, there are not many things that would keep me engaged.

For example, apps like TrainerRoad or SYSTM don’t leverage as many gamification elements as Zwift.

These apps are designed to improve your performance. People use them because they want to get better.

Additionally, they include at least achievements or other rewards. You won’t find these things in FulGaz.

Zwift is a pioneer in indoor cycling app gamification. It has the most sophisticated gamification of all apps.

Routes

One of the things I like the most about FulGaz is its online route library. You can easily browse hundreds of routes and choose the one you want.

If you don’t pick any route, you can become a FulGaz contributor. Although FulGaz won’t accept every footage due to their high standards, you can try to apply.

I think it is great that they don’t accept every route because there is much work behind the scenes. Additionally, they can keep the riding experience high.

Did you know that FulGaz engineers have to spend 8-10 hours on every hour of footage?

The only thing I miss in the routes library is a filter. Simple sorting doesn’t help me find the best route for a given situation.

Training

FulGaz has a workout library. It includes dozens of workouts and a few structured plans.

However, this is an area where FulGaz can improve because the offer is pretty narrow compared to FulGaz’s closest alternative – ROUVY.

ROUVY is the most similar app to FulGaz because it also uses real-world footage, but unlike FulGaz, it augments it with virtual objects.

If you are looking for more training-oriented apps, check out TrainerRoad or Wahoo SYSTM.

They feature more sophisticated and personalized plans based on your strengths & weaknesses.

I tried a few FulGaz workouts, and I like how clean the interface looks. It includes only the info you need for your training, and the rest of the screen is used for the footage.

User Friendliness

FulGaz is perfect for advanced users because it allows them to adjust multiple settings, including aerodynamic drag, rolling resistance, ERG mode reaction time, and many more.

I also like the cleanliness and minimalistic interface that don’t disturb the riding experience.

Unlike in ROUVY, the routes in FulGaz were working and stable without needing to download them in advance.

When I tested FulGaz for the first time, I encountered multiple issues when using the app.

Once I updated my operating system to the latest one (from Big Sur to Monterey), they disappeared.

So, if you encounter issues, double-check if you run the latest OS because it seems, FulGaz is not well-optimized for the older ones.

Platforms Availability

FulGaz is available on all major platforms, including iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, and Apple TV.

As mentioned above, you may encounter issues if you don’t run the latest operating system. I recommend updating it accordingly.

FulGaz Alternatives

There are plenty of indoor cycling apps out there, but only a few of them are worth it. The following ones are my favorite.

• TrainerRoad – is a fully performance-oriented cycling app with a comprehensive workout library. It only shows you your ride data, no virtual world or video footage.
• Zwift – utilizes a virtual world built from scratch. It doesn’t have as wide a route library as ROUVY. It is much closer to being a game.
• ROUVY – is the closest alternative to FulGaz. It also uses real-world footage, but ROUVY augments it with avatars and other objects. It has a huge route library and allows you to explore beautiful places from the comfort of your home.
• Wahoo SYSTM – includes traditional cycling training, yoga for cyclists, strength and mental training to make you a better, faster, and more resilient cyclist.
• Wahoo RGT (formerly known as RGT Cycling) – features a virtual world inspired by real-world roads. Its graphics are more realistic than Zwift, but it doesn’t offer as sophisticated motivation mechanisms.

I created a rating system for evaluating the following features. It helps to keep the comparison between training apps consistent.

• Price – how expensive is the app relative to other indoor cycling apps?
• Ease of setup – is the app easy to set up with a smart trainer? Can it be used without it?
• Engagement – does the app keep you engaged and motivated?
• Routes – does the app offer a wide route library?
• Training – does the app include prebuilt workout plans? Do they help you get faster?
• User-friendliness and intuitiveness (UX) – is the app easy to navigate, easy to use, clear, and intuitive?
• Platform availability – is the app available for multiple platforms like iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, AppleTV, etc.?

The following table shows my ratings of specific areas on a scale of 1–5 (5 is the best).

FulGaz FAQ

My Verdict

Do I recommend FulGaz?
Yes. If you want to “visit” new places from the comfort of your home and enjoy high-quality footage, FulGaz is perfect for you.

I can guarantee you that you won’t be able to try all routes because their library is enormous.

Do I recommend it to everybody?
No. FulGaz is not for people who lack motivation because it doesn’t include any motivation system like Zwift.

It is also unsuitable for performance-oriented riders because its pre-build workouts are not the best quality and apps like TrainerRoad or SYSTM are on another level.