Bike for turbo trainer

[lulubel]

Since the weather is so random here from autumn through to spring - no long wet spells, so not worth changing the tyre on my road bike - I'm looking at getting a bike specifically to sit on the trainer all year round to be used when it's wet or very windy. I'm a fair weather cyclist - I cycle for fun, and getting rained on isn't my idea of fun!

I know I could get another wheel for my road bike, and just swap the wheel over when I want to use the trainer, but I probably wouldn't bother, so it will be better for my fitness to have a bike permanently on the trainer so I can just get straight on it. I'm also not in a position to get a new "best" bike and put my current one on the trainer!

So, with that in mind, what are people's opinions of this:
Raleigh Pursuit

Pluses for me are:

It's cheap (don't want to spend more than £250)
Amazon will deliver it to Spain
It's about the right size - I ride a women specific 48cm Trek
It's a drop bar bike - since riding with drops, I'm not comfortable with flat bars

It's a man's bike, so the reach will probably be too far for me. I could put a shorter stem on it. I'd also need to change the saddle.

 

[rockyraccoon]

I've got a turbo trainer and never needed a second bike for it. Changing wheels is a 2 minutes job. Also buying a road bike online is very risky. You should try it first and ensure is the right fit.

Get another rear wheel with the cassette and tyre and invest the money on your bike or winter gears?

 

[Dan B]

I have approximately two thirds of a bike dedicated to turbo training (accident-damaged frame made up with parts from the "bits box") which means that it's always set up and I'm not dripping sweat over parts of a bike I actually like. I wouldn't have bothered if it meant spending serious money though - try ebay or gumtree or small ads?

 

[lulubel]

I've got a turbo trainer and never needed a second bike for it. Changing wheels is a 2 minutes job. Also buying a road bike online is very risky. You should try it first and ensure is the right fit.

Get another rear wheel with the cassette and tyre and invest the money on your bike or winter gears?

Not meaning to seem rude, but I did explain why I'm not going to get another rear wheel. I also don't need "winter gear" because I don't plan on taking the bike out in the wet, and winter here is usually about the temperature of an average UK summer.

 

[lulubel]

I wouldn't have bothered if it meant spending serious money though - try ebay or gumtree or small ads?

I would do that, except that it would be quite difficult getting it to Spain. I have looked around locally for a second hand bike, but very few women cycle here and even less ride road bikes - I've only seen one other female roadie since I've lived here - so there's a lack of small framed bikes around.

 

[monnet]

Without deviating from your original question, I'd say it should be fine.

If it's going on the turbo, then there's not too much need for reliable gears as presumably the resistance settings will take care of that. The set up might not be ideal (as you say, changing the stem might help) but you should be able to get close enough and on a turbo it's not a problem just to ride sitting upright to get a bit of a stretch.

Of course, you'll probably not be on it a great deal - bad weather being rarer for you (lucky thing) and as everyone will tell you, turbo sessions are insufferably boring! No more than an hour for me.

 

[lulubel]

Of course, you'll probably not be on it a great deal - bad weather being rarer for you (lucky thing) and as everyone will tell you, turbo sessions are insufferably boring! No more than an hour for me.

That's why we moved here. They say you shouldn't move abroad just for the weather, but it worked for us!

I was kind of thinking the quality and fit wouldn't be as important on the trainer - fit because you can just sit up for a bit if you need to, and quality because all you're actually using is the drive chain and rear wheel - and that was why I hoped I could get away with ordering something cheap online.

As for the trainer, I've got an i-magic, which relieves the boredom somewhat, but I still don't think I could manage much more than an hour!

 

[zexel]

I think it'd be perfect for the job (assuming roughly correct size).

I've got a CycleOps turbo trainer and in the end going out in the rain was less faff than getting the bike on the trainer.

Like you say on the trainer position not as important. Weight/components won't be an issue either if it's purely a turbo bike.

Plus all your +'s