Dedicated turbo bike - any pointers?

[JhnBssll]

I used the turbo with Zwift quite succesfully last winter but got annoyed having to lock and unlock bikes and swap wheels around; the plan this year is to keep the turbo set up permanently so I've bought an old Giant SCR 2.0 and am now upgrading it slightly to 11 speed. As it stands my setup will be as follows:

Tacx Vortex smart trainer
PC with ANT+ dongle, 24" display and speakers
Zwift account
Giant SCR 2.0 aluminium framed road bike
23mm Tacx trainer tire
2x11 upgrade and saddle/stem change to mimic my other road bikes
Big wall mounted fan!

Are there any other mods or upgrades I should be considering for the bike or turbo setup? For example are the sweat covers worth having? I've used carbon bikes on the trainer in the past so haven't been too concerned about corrosion but it's potentially more of an issue with a cheaper bike made from less exotic materials

I'm limited in space in the garage so can't get a bigger screen but any other pointers, hints, tips or photos of your setups will be gladly received TIA!

 

[bobinski]

I used the turbo with Zwift quite succesfully last winter but got annoyed having to lock and unlock bikes and swap wheels around; the plan this year is to keep the turbo set up permanently so I've bought an old Giant SCR 2.0 and am now upgrading it slightly to 11 speed. As it stands my setup will be as follows:

Tacx Vortex smart trainer
PC with ANT+ dongle, 24" display and speakers
Zwift account
Giant SCR 2.0 aluminium framed road bike
23mm Tacx trainer tire
2x11 upgrade and saddle/stem change to mimic my other road bikes
Big wall mounted fan!

Are there any other mods or upgrades I should be considering for the bike or turbo setup? For example are the sweat covers worth having? I've used carbon bikes on the trainer in the past so haven't been too concerned about corrosion but it's potentially more of an issue with a cheaper bike made from less exotic materials

I'm limited in space in the garage so can't get a bigger screen but any other pointers, hints, tips or photos of your setups will be gladly received TIA!

Apart from replacing the Vortex with say a Kickr core all looks good to me.
I don’t bother with sweat covers. The large fan I have blows on my upper body and seems to blow most of the sweat away. I do have good quality bar tape fwiw and occasionally wipe the bike down.
WiFi or hardwired. If former consider, if possible, power line adapters.And join the CC Zwift group when you register on Zwift power

 

[CXRAndy]

Upgrade the trainer, put some towels over handlebars and get a bigger or another fan . everything else is fine.

I'll have my new setup complete next week, here is stage one

 

[JhnBssll]

Cheers, upgrading the trainer is on the horizon but I can't justify it yet, besides I've had pretty good results with the Vortex to date and I don't intend to do any racing etc where accurate power is important.

I guess I'll just adapt it as and when needed

 

[JhnBssll]

I've got the bike built now, it needs some tweaking but that will have to wait until my leg has healed as I'm not allowed to cycle until the stitches come out in 10 days time. I'm quite pleased with it, pretty good spec for the money I spent and it's quite light for an ally frame, tipped the scales at 9.8kg

I'm collecting a Tacx tablet mount for the bars tomorrow from Halfords, on offer at £23. Last year I used my phone to run the companion app but I didn't own the tablet then, makes sense to use the bigger screen and have it mounted to the bike.

Anyway here's my setup so far. I'd like to have the fan closer but realistically until I move and get a bigger garage thats the best I can do I've got a USB extension cable and power extension to sort tomorrow to get power and signal to the trainer - last year I just rolled the extension out and wound it in again each time I used it but I don't want any trailing cables if it's going to be left setup longer term.

The bottom of the two screens is on a moving wall mount, it will be square to the bars and a bit closer when being used for Zwift A friend suggested a white sheet and a projector which in theory sounds good but I think the fan might screw that up a bit - anyone else using a projector? Maybe projecting on to the back of the roller shutter door if I painted it white? Hmm...

I must get some bottle cages for the bike too... It came with two fitted but they don't match and are a bit scruffy - new ones are so cheap it seems a shame to refit the scabby ones

I've just renewed my Zwift membership and after a look through the training plans I've decided I'm going to start with the 6wk beginner FTP builder. I'll do my first ever FTP test once the bikes all set up and the turbo calibrated and go from there - quite exciting

 

[JhnBssll]

I investigated the projector option a bit more today and figured it was worth trying so I've got a cheap Benq one on the way to play with. I think I'll try and get hold of some matt white vinyl to stick on the back of the roller shutter door then run a knife down between each of the slats... This is the door I'm aiming to project on to, has anyone tried anything similar?

I picked up the tablet mount, quite pleased with it. I struggled to get Zwift in to landscape orientation on the tablet for a while, ended up having to download a new orientation control app to achieve it which seems odd, I've probably missed something obvious

This is the full setup as it stands before I start to play with the projector. The wonders of Amazon Prime mean I should get that tomorrow

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

I know the weather has been really crap today, and will likely be just as crap tomorrow too, but I'm still struggling to see the attraction of "cycling" whilst staring at a screen in my garage!

 

[JhnBssll]

I know the weather has been really crap today, and will likely be just as crap tomorrow too, but I'm still struggling to see the attraction of "cycling" whilst staring at a screen in my garage!

I don't necessarily like the idea but it's the best of a bad bunch. I'm in the position where I absolutely have to stay fit as I have a few important organs missing, or parts thereof. In the words of my consultant; "stay fit or you won't last long". So i cycle in my garage in front of a screen

 

[CXRAndy]

I know the weather has been really crap today, and will likely be just as crap tomorrow too, but I'm still struggling to see the attraction of "cycling" whilst staring at a screen in my garage!

Indoor training is huge and increasing rapidly. Zwift offers a great platform which is entertaining and is a great workout. I've added a large screen monitor, a home made rocker and next week it will have inclination function to follow the gradients on Zwift courses. I already spend 5-7 hrs per week and will increase possibly 10+ /week in the coming months.

 

[Whorty]

I know the weather has been really crap today, and will likely be just as crap tomorrow too, but I'm still struggling to see the attraction of "cycling" whilst staring at a screen in my garage!

Unfortunately not all of us can get out into the real world that often due to home commitments so indoor cycling is the only option. Thankfully indoor racing is fun so it's no big hardship

 

[JhnBssll]

Got the projector today and hung it this afternoon. I've ordered a roll of matte white vinyl to stick to the roller shutter but it's not here yet so I'm projecting on to blue gloss which is causing horizontal white stripes which isn't the greatest Even so it's looking good, I think we're on to a winner

Once the vinyl arrives I'll experiment a little with it, if it all goes well I've just got the fan to move to this end of the garage and it'll be good to go

 

[JhnBssll]

I moved the fan this evening and had a play with the projector settings, managed to get the display a little larger. It's now measuring 70" across, a significant upgrade from the 21" monitor I've been using until now

I've washed and degreased the garage door too in preparation for the vinyl which should be here any day now. The wife has quickly gone from ridicule to asking if we can watch films in the garage

 

[JhnBssll]

Urgh I didn't order enough vinyl

Well, I ordered enough for one mistake. Then made two mistakes what I have done so far looks pretty good though, now I'm waiting until early next week for the new supply of vinyl to arrive

I've had to slit between each slat of the door so it opens properly, not really sure how durable it will be in the long run but should be easy to replace strips

 

[JhnBssll]

Replacement vinyl arrived this morning so I've finished the screen off and gone for my first ride in my jeans... Only a mile as it was a bit naughty, I could feel the stitches tugging so stopped before anything went ping Really pleased with it, the image is a lot better than I expected to achieve with my experimental roller-shutter vinyl screen There are still visible horizontal stripes due to the concave shape of the roller shutter slats focusing the light but the matte vinyl has reduced that significantly so I'm happy to live with it. The flexibility of having it always set up yet the door being available 24/7 is well worth the small sacrifice in image quality. It's only a cycling simulator afterall, its not like we're going to be watching blockbusters in the garage*

Whilst the lights are all off in the photo that was only so the camera could pick it up properly - it only loses a little bit of clarity with all of the lights on and daylight streaming in

I'm pleasantly surprised with the vinyl's adhesion - originally it kept lifting around the contours of the shutter slats but the stuff that I fitted a few days ago is now properly adhered with no air bubbles etc. It has shrunk ever so slightly too so the little bits of overlap where I'd cut between slats has reduced and stuck itself down

I've whizzed the door up and down a few times now I'm confident the vinyl is properly attached and it doesnt seem to have affected it at all, time will tell how hard wearing it is. I am confident I'll have to replace bits of it at some point but I have about 4m of it spare so have enough to do it all over again if needs be


*Since installing the screen wifey has decided that instead of going out for dinner and to the cinema for our wedding anniversary next week we're now going to make nacho's and sit in the garage to watch films If she'd mentioned this before instead of taking the p*ss I would have sourced a better projector

 

[theboxers]

*Since installing the screen wifey has decided that instead of going out for dinner and to the cinema for our wedding anniversary next week we're now going to make nacho's and sit in the garage to watch films If she'd mentioned this before instead of taking the p*ss I would have sourced a better projector

Order a 4k projector and say it's a shared anniversary present