Discussion
Morning all,
I’m getting back into cycling after a few years off, and have a garage, and a 4 month old baby.
As I don’t have the time to get out for any decent rides currently due to the aforementioned tiny hitler, a turbo trainer to stick my bike on in the garage seems like a great idea.
My question is, are they much of a muchness, and do they work as well as they seem like they would? Or are they flimsy things that are likely to cause more annoyance than just getting an exercise bike?
Prices seem to vary massively from around £40 up to £200 plus.
Anyone got one they’d recommend?
I’m getting back into cycling after a few years off, and have a garage, and a 4 month old baby.
As I don’t have the time to get out for any decent rides currently due to the aforementioned tiny hitler, a turbo trainer to stick my bike on in the garage seems like a great idea.
My question is, are they much of a muchness, and do they work as well as they seem like they would? Or are they flimsy things that are likely to cause more annoyance than just getting an exercise bike?
Prices seem to vary massively from around £40 up to £200 plus.
Anyone got one they’d recommend?
Edited by D4MJT on Monday 16th September 09:46
D4MJT said:
Morning all,
I’m getting back into cycling after a few years off, and have a garage, and a 4 month old baby.
As I don’t have the time to get out for any decent rides currently due to the aforementioned tiny hitler, a turbo trainer to stick my bike on in the garage seems like a great idea.
My question is, are they much of a muchness, and do they work as well as they seem like they would? Or are they flimsy things that are likely to cause more annoyance than just getting an exercise bike?
Prices seem to vary massively from around £40 up to £200 plus.
Anyone got one they’d recommend?
I think it depends how you want to use it. At the cheap end you'll get one that does resistance only which you can adjust yourself.I’m getting back into cycling after a few years off, and have a garage, and a 4 month old baby.
As I don’t have the time to get out for any decent rides currently due to the aforementioned tiny hitler, a turbo trainer to stick my bike on in the garage seems like a great idea.
My question is, are they much of a muchness, and do they work as well as they seem like they would? Or are they flimsy things that are likely to cause more annoyance than just getting an exercise bike?
Prices seem to vary massively from around £40 up to £200 plus.
Anyone got one they’d recommend?
Edited by D4MJT on Monday 16th September 09:46
Next level up will be a 'wheel on' smart type, where you clamp your back wheel to a roller and it will link with training apps like Zwift and vary resistance for you. I had a Tacx Flow for a year or so and it was great.
Next step up from that is a wheel off trainer, which do much the same as the above ones, but give a much more realistic feel if that's important.
TL:DR - save up and get a wheel on smart trainer and a subscription to your app of choice if you don't want to get bored with it after a week
I bought my wife a Elite Qubo Digital Smart B+ Turbo Trainer. She used it every other day to do some training before the London 100 race. She loves it especially connected up to Zwift. Way way better than an exercise bike, zwift is pretty good fun and they had some training plans which she used as a target. She like having a quick blast in the evening when kids have gone to bed. Only issue we found it is left a strange flat mark on the tyre so I just bought a new tyre for when she takes the bike outside.
If you can stretch to a smart trainer and a subscription to something like zift / rouvy (both have free trials), it is very likely that you will get a lot more use (and fitness benefit) out of it than if you buy a dumb trainer and have to sit starting at a wall whilst you pedal
Keep in mind that a smart trainer often needs to be plugged in (only some are self powered) and that you will need some sort of internet connected device (e.g. ipad / laptop / apple tv) on which to run the zwift / other software
And a fan. A big fan
Keep in mind that a smart trainer often needs to be plugged in (only some are self powered) and that you will need some sort of internet connected device (e.g. ipad / laptop / apple tv) on which to run the zwift / other software
And a fan. A big fan
Cheap magnetic resistance ones feel like pedalling through sand, not fun.
Look for one with a big flywheel. If you want a basic "dumb" trainer then I'd be looking for a second hand kinetic road machine, great bit of kit, very sturdy.
BIG fan is a must. If you don't go down the Zwift route then make sure you have a TV/ipad with Netflix etc. on in the same room as it gets boring quite quickly.
Look for one with a big flywheel. If you want a basic "dumb" trainer then I'd be looking for a second hand kinetic road machine, great bit of kit, very sturdy.
BIG fan is a must. If you don't go down the Zwift route then make sure you have a TV/ipad with Netflix etc. on in the same room as it gets boring quite quickly.
I could have quoted most of the above posts, but here is my opinion .....
After smugly riding through just about every winter for 30+ years I gave up this year (for a variety of reasons) and bought my first indoor trainer and havent looked back
Im using Zwift which is pretty good, some of my clubmates think its a toy but after several months I disagree strongly
Trainerroad give a free trial period however I had a go and still prefer Zwift. There are lots of places to go and their Alpe d'Huez creation is very, very good and my times mirror the real thing. You can race or freeride however I have spent 90% of my time doing structured workouts and training programs.
The initial 6 week FTP builder program was a bit easy to start with but I cant argue with a 10% improvement for 3-4h a week, Ive rarely ridden outside due to work issues this year which is what made me go for it at the time.
When I do get out with my club Im very happy with my bike fitness which is remarkable considering how much time I would have spent outside given the opportunity compared to my current time crunched schedule.
There is decent kit available from modest cost upwards.
The sweet spot is arguably around the £500 point - plus your spare bike
I wish Id done it years ago
Cheers
PS and a big bloody fan
After smugly riding through just about every winter for 30+ years I gave up this year (for a variety of reasons) and bought my first indoor trainer and havent looked back
Im using Zwift which is pretty good, some of my clubmates think its a toy but after several months I disagree strongly
Trainerroad give a free trial period however I had a go and still prefer Zwift. There are lots of places to go and their Alpe d'Huez creation is very, very good and my times mirror the real thing. You can race or freeride however I have spent 90% of my time doing structured workouts and training programs.
The initial 6 week FTP builder program was a bit easy to start with but I cant argue with a 10% improvement for 3-4h a week, Ive rarely ridden outside due to work issues this year which is what made me go for it at the time.
When I do get out with my club Im very happy with my bike fitness which is remarkable considering how much time I would have spent outside given the opportunity compared to my current time crunched schedule.
There is decent kit available from modest cost upwards.
The sweet spot is arguably around the £500 point - plus your spare bike
I wish Id done it years ago
Cheers
PS and a big bloody fan
Edited by numtumfutunch on Monday 16th September 22:58
Just throwing this out there.
£400ish on a decent power meter, £100ish on a “dumb” adjustable trainer. That way you can work to power indoors and out, all year round.
Or set aside £80ish and pick up a set of rollers from eBay. Not great for “proper” fitness/power training, but is fun, keeps the legs turning and saves your bike handling dropping off too much over winter.
£400ish on a decent power meter, £100ish on a “dumb” adjustable trainer. That way you can work to power indoors and out, all year round.
Or set aside £80ish and pick up a set of rollers from eBay. Not great for “proper” fitness/power training, but is fun, keeps the legs turning and saves your bike handling dropping off too much over winter.
All personal of course but I couldn't disagree more with the rollers suggestion - in fact I had initially intended to respond to say don't be fooled by getting rollers.
I spent 150 on elite rollers and used them for no more than 4hrs over the course of 2 weeks and haven't been back to them since - they're fine for warming up and down at a race but frankly there are better options even for that (in my opinion).
That 150 would have been better going towards the Taxc Neo I bought instead (yes I get this is going from one end of the spectrum to the other!).
I've done 90 hours on the Neo and it's 90 hours I wouldn't have spent on the bike otherwise - it has definitely given benefits. Very little of it has been 'junk miles' as I've raced and used training programs. I now work with a coach and Zwift links to Training Peaks so the benefits are even greater.
As someone above said - there is a bit of a sweet spot. It's something that's just about expensive enough to make it worthwhile saving and getting it right first time. Wheel-off in my personal view - they're quieter and they don't ruin tyres..or the wall behind.
Also in case nobody has menbtioned yet - get a big fan. I have a Dyson Tower from the front and my AC from behind. The Dyson would NOT be up to the job on it's own - just get a big fan.
I spent 150 on elite rollers and used them for no more than 4hrs over the course of 2 weeks and haven't been back to them since - they're fine for warming up and down at a race but frankly there are better options even for that (in my opinion).
That 150 would have been better going towards the Taxc Neo I bought instead (yes I get this is going from one end of the spectrum to the other!).
I've done 90 hours on the Neo and it's 90 hours I wouldn't have spent on the bike otherwise - it has definitely given benefits. Very little of it has been 'junk miles' as I've raced and used training programs. I now work with a coach and Zwift links to Training Peaks so the benefits are even greater.
As someone above said - there is a bit of a sweet spot. It's something that's just about expensive enough to make it worthwhile saving and getting it right first time. Wheel-off in my personal view - they're quieter and they don't ruin tyres..or the wall behind.
Also in case nobody has menbtioned yet - get a big fan. I have a Dyson Tower from the front and my AC from behind. The Dyson would NOT be up to the job on it's own - just get a big fan.
JPJPJP said:
And a fan. A big fan
I've got a recommendation on that. I haven't got one yet, but they had one running in the tattooist I was in the other day and honestly it was amazing. I had to ask where they got it from and was amazed at how cheap it was:https://www.toolstation.com/18-high-velocity-floor...
I have a Dyson fan at the moment and this is a lot better than that...
Usget said:
JPJPJP said:
And a fan. A big fan
I've got a recommendation on that. I haven't got one yet, but they had one running in the tattooist I was in the other day and honestly it was amazing. I had to ask where they got it from and was amazed at how cheap it was:https://www.toolstation.com/18-high-velocity-floor...
I have a Dyson fan at the moment and this is a lot better than that...
Jimbo. said:
Just throwing this out there.
£400ish on a decent power meter, £100ish on a “dumb” adjustable trainer. That way you can work to power indoors and out, all year round.
Or set aside £80ish and pick up a set of rollers from eBay. Not great for “proper” fitness/power training, but is fun, keeps the legs turning and saves your bike handling dropping off too much over winter.
That’s my solution, I have a 4iiii crank on the TT bike and a Powertap hubbed wheel that I can swap between bikes nice and easily too. £400ish on a decent power meter, £100ish on a “dumb” adjustable trainer. That way you can work to power indoors and out, all year round.
Or set aside £80ish and pick up a set of rollers from eBay. Not great for “proper” fitness/power training, but is fun, keeps the legs turning and saves your bike handling dropping off too much over winter.
No point training with power on a turbo if you’re not going to ride to power on the road and therefore you may as well have consistent data from both.
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