Turbo trainers and bike computers

[ELL]

As the nights are drawing in at the moment and the roads where I ride are not the best in the dark i have been going back to the gym. The problem is the gym i go to is about 20mins in the car each way so tends to eat petrol. I don't get home till about 7:30 so don't get to the gym till about 7:50 so is getting late by the time i get there. I used to run (treadmill) but because of a problematic ankle and the fact i love to ride i now go on the bike. I do about 45 mins on it but its a long way to go for a ride on an exercise bike. I always go with the wife as we tend to push each other whilst exercising. I have been looking at canceling the gym and getting exercise bike for at home but tbh we don't have the room for them.


Therefore (and to get to my first point) I have been thinking of getting a Turbo Trainer each for our bikes. I Just have a few questions about them. 1st are they any good i don't want to spend too much money on one but like the idea of them? Do they pretty much turn your bike into an exercise bike? How do you attach your bike to them and are there any special requirements for them.
I know its says on a lot of them that you need slicks but I have MTB with the tyres that are slick in the middle with the nobbies on the side would these be ok?


2nd thing i wanted to ask about was getting a computer for the bike to tell me how far I have been and how long it took etc any recommendations for these. I don't need anything to fancy as don't do mega miles but just wanted to be able to keep an eye on what i do.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[blindmanpugh]

Computer for turbo

hi, i use a turbo during the winter, and am lucky due to the fact my old hack had a cadence computer on it, which runs off the crank and a magnet take off off the back wheel for speed. So i can see how quickly I am pedaling, and get a distance average speed etc etc. So the main thing is to ensure that whatever computer you get can take the readings off the rear wheel and have a wire long enough to reach the handle bars.

it gets boring but watching TV for an hour while exercising is fine

 

[gavintc]

Some of the Cateye computers allow speed and cadence from the back wheel/crank

 

[Rykard]

I have a Kurt Kinetic road machine and the comp that comes with it. Tells you max speed,average speed,max watts, average watts, time - does me for now.

 

[Slim]

Some of the Cateye computers allow speed and cadence from the back wheel/crank

Yep!!

The Cateye Strada Cadence is the one. I don't have a heart rate monitor so I use the computer to keep my workrate up and to set targets (speed, distance, etc).

 

[saddlesoar]

I know its says on a lot of them that you need slicks but I have MTB with the tyres that are slick in the middle with the nobbies on the side would these be ok?

I have tyres like these on my bike which I use with a turbo trainer and they are fine.

I use a wireless BikeMate comp with the sensor on the back wheel but if I put the comp on the handlebars the signal doesn't reach it so I have to stuff it under the saddle. It might just be mine but's it's something to bear in mind.

The boredom after five minutes on a turbo trainer is amazing, but you can do things on it that you can't do whist riding, like reading or taking your clothes off if you get too hot!