About the project
FrankenTrainer is a personal workshop with an open door.
I am James Terrell. This is where I document the machines I have adapted while working around the edges of connected fitness, family needs, and my own curiosity.
A side project
Fitness hardware is more interesting when software does not dictate its shape.
FrankenTrainer grew from years of tinkering with connected fitness hardware and asking what useful resistance units could power besides upright bicycles. It is independent, informal work: a place to test ideas, document mistakes, and see whether overlooked machines can become engaging trainers.
For now, the project is my maker journey rather than a formal community organization. Publishing it gives the ideas a home that anyone can read without joining a service first, while Discord remains the place for conversation.
Find me elsewhere
Follow the work. Find me on the road.
Discord is where the workshop conversation lives. These are the other places I ride and share the work.
Ownership and names
Generic site code is available under the MIT License. ExerScreen Inc. retains all rights to the editorial copy, project photography, project content, and non-code branding unless a file says otherwise.
Product and company names, including Wahoo, KICKR, Zwift, Rogue, Assault Fitness, Bowflex, Schwinn, BH Fitness, Gates Carbon Drive, and others, are trademarks of their respective owners. They are used here only to identify equipment in personal projects. FrankenTrainer is not sponsored, endorsed, or affiliated with those owners.
See the project journals