My turbo set up

[Jimmy Welch]

My turbo and road bikes are slightly different sizes so stem , reach etc are all slightly different I do 3 workouts per week on my turbo but at the weekend my road bike feels completely different , different muscles used etc takes an hour or so to settle into the ride , is this a common problem and is the only way round to put road bike on turbo

 

[Ming the Merciless]

You can change turbo bike to be closer to road bike fit by fitting a different length stem and adjusting saddle fore / aft and height. Take some measurements of road bike and see how close you can get turbo bike by adjusting things as is.

 

[fossyant]

Change the turbo bike to be as close to the road bike. I just use one of my road bikes on the turbo, then ride it on the road too. No problems with tyre damage either (from the turbo).

 

[cougie uk]

Depends how sensitive you are to change. FWIW my indoor workouts are on my TT bike but I'll rarely ride that outside. My other bikes are clearly very different to the TT bike but I'm happy within minutes.

Riding outside is very different to indoor anyway.

I would just try your outdoor bike on the turbo and see how you feel next time you ride outside - at least there's no cost doing that.

 

[Milkfloat]

Even with a rocker plate on the same bike I use different muscles and have different pains on the turbo compared to outside. I think it is the nature of the beast.

 

[cyberknight]

You can change turbo bike to be closer to road bike fit by fitting a different length stem and adjusting saddle fore / aft and height. Take some measurements of road bike and see how close you can get turbo bike by adjusting things as is.

my bikes are all set up the same to within a few MM
i measure
seat height from BB ( bikes all have the same same crank lengths )
saddle set back from BB ( same saddle on all bikes )
reach from saddle tip to centre of stem
reach from saddle tip to hood
drop from saddle to hood

i have 2 boardmans both nominally the same geometry but one has a shorter reach bar so needs a longer stem to give the same measurement for saddle tip to hood .
Ribble build needs a flipped stem as the steerer was cut short so i can only get a 2.5 mm spacer under the stem .

 

[CXRAndy]

Your turbo setup should be nearly identical to your road bike. Then there is very little adaption once on road.

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

It will be very difficult if not impossible to get two differently sized bikes to fit the same without compromise

 

[fair weather cyclist]

I'm going to buy a turbo trainer soon and I'll use my good carbon race bike on it to do all my training indoor. I'll use the same bike for sportives and triathlons.

For the casual weekend outdoor rides at low pace and in Z1-2, I'll use my gravel bike with a more relaxed geometry.

 

[fossyant]

I'm going to buy a turbo trainer soon and I'll use my good carbon race bike on it to do all my training indoor. I'll use the same bike for sportives and triathlons.

For the casual weekend outdoor rides at low pace and in Z1-2, I'll use my gravel bike with a more relaxed geometry.

That's fine to do that.

My two road bikes are set up almost identical, but only one goes on the turbo.