Turbo Trainers (pros and con ?)

[johnnyb47]

Hi.
The last few weeks I've been thinking of buying a turbo trainer to try and keep cycling when the cold wet winter evenings get the better of me.
I have a very large living room where I could use it and have already got a large pedestal type fan to keep me cool. I could well imagine that I would get bored pretty quickly of it ,if I was just stuck in the garage using it and thought if I had it in my house , I could at the least watch the TV, to pass the time away or even use zwift.
I've never used or entertained the idea of one these before so I thought I would ask here for some advice.
Are they noisy in use ,do I have to use a dedicated rear tyre for them. Also do they make a mess as in chain oil being flung off and splattering the carpet or walls.
Sorry for all the questions but are they easy and quick to attach my road bike to them.
Also whilst on this subject would rollers be better bet over a turbo trainer.
Thanks for reading and any answers given.
All the best,
Johnny

 

[Dave 123]

I tried rollers a few years back and didn't get on with them. They were noisy.

I'm contemplating buying a 2nd hand spin bike at present. They don't have a rear tyre to wear down.

 

[Heltor Chasca]

Newbie user, but as you hint, I have done over 500km that I wouldn’t have done over the last 6 weeks. In answer to your questions:

Are they noisy in use? Not my Kickr Snap and as you’ll see in the reviews.

Do I have to use a dedicated rear tyre for them? No. My wheel on trainer has reviews saying this is one of the good things about a Snap. I use Schwalbe Durano and I check for wear and rubber dust on the roller. None.

Also do they make a mess as in chain oil being flung off and splattering the carpet or walls? If that’s happening, you are oiling your chain incorrectly. You’ll need a mat to soak up the sweat anyway.

Are they easy and quick to attach my road bike to them? Yes

Also whilst on this subject would rollers be better bet over a turbo trainer? Not the same resistance differentiation on dedicated interval programmes like TrainerRoad. Warm up, sweet spot, threshold, warm down etc. Rollers are great for warm up and some core strength building. Hard to settle into long term workouts. Lose concentration while changing music, podcasts or while drinking or eating, you’ll be off and project yourself through the French windows.

I love mine. Utterly amazed at the tangible change in my fitness, muscle development and fat loss in just 6 weeks. It is also very convenient for busy people.

 

[Alan O]

I've got one that I ride in front of the telly (though not as much as I thought I would). It's very easy to put a road bike on it and off quickly, but I do swap my rear wheel first for one with a dedicated tyre - it does seem to wear the tyre quickly, so I just got a couple of very cheap ones for the purpose. I don't get any problems with oil splashing, but I never have enough oil on the chain to splash.

 

[screenman]

I go along with what Heltor says, I have been using turbo's for nearly 30 years, I have never used a specific tyre nor noticed any excessive wear of the tyre.

 

[johnnyb47]

Thanks for all this invaluable info. I would much prefer to cycle outdoors but the cold weather and dark evenings does get the better of me sometimes. An hour on the turbo trainer watching something in the tv would be a God send some nights :-)

 

[HLaB]

When I was doing my MSc I used a cheap magnetic Turbo to keep me fit and it did that but its a bit boring and could have worn the rear tyre out fortunately I had a turbo bike with a turbo tyre.
I've now got a semi smart direct drive turbo and work on power (initially virtual via Trainer Road and now actual via a PM). It seems to give me a much more interesting workout based on interval and there's no chance of wearing out the rear wheel/tyre.
Rollers for me are somewhere in between interest wise. As you have to concentrate more there more interesting than a basic turbo but you can't (unless you are extremely talented or spend big bucks) get a more interesting structured work out of a more advanced turbo.

My direct drive turbo if you had the volume up would allow you to watch tv but a basic magnetic turbo would be too noisy.

 

[Tin Pot]

Hi.
The last few weeks I've been thinking of buying a turbo trainer to try and keep cycling when the cold wet winter evenings get the better of me.
I have a very large living room where I could use it and have already got a large pedestal type fan to keep me cool. I could well imagine that I would get bored pretty quickly of it ,if I was just stuck in the garage using it and thought if I had it in my house , I could at the least watch the TV, to pass the time away or even use zwift.
I've never used or entertained the idea of one these before so I thought I would ask here for some advice.
Are they noisy in use ,do I have to use a dedicated rear tyre for them. Also do they make a mess as in chain oil being flung off and splattering the carpet or walls.
Sorry for all the questions but are they easy and quick to attach my road bike to them.
Also whilst on this subject would rollers be better bet over a turbo trainer.
Thanks for reading and any answers given.
All the best,
Johnny

I thought similar, but when I put it in the garage and tried the TrainerRoad FTP test I realised it would be a long time before I got bored.

Trying to maintain a power output, or follow interval profiles takes a lot of concentration, not to mention physical effort.

I tried watching movies on the very long 2-5hr rides but I couldn’t concentrate on them. Music or podcasts is what I use to distract me from the effort rather than eleviate boredom.

I put it outdoors if it’s not raining, and wouldn’t bring it indoors. I work really hard, it would be dangerous with kids around, imo.

Oh, and you need a serious fan, not those funky heater fans on cold - I bought a huge one from screwfix. No matter how cold it is.

I don’t get the attraction of Zwift now that I’m training properly.

 

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

Are they noisy in use ,do I have to use a dedicated rear tyre for them. Also do they make a mess as in chain oil being flung off and splattering the carpet or walls.
Sorry for all the questions but are they easy and quick to attach my road bike to them.
Also whilst on this subject would rollers be better bet over a turbo trainer.
Thanks for reading and any answers given.
All the best,
Johnny

No No No No

 

[huwsparky]

I have a direct drive type trainer and the fan makes a lot than the trainer. Make the setup as

I thought similar, but when I put it in the garage and tried the TrainerRoad FTP test I realised it would be a long time before I got bored.

Trying to maintain a power output, or follow interval profiles takes a lot of concentration, not to mention physical effort.

I tried watching movies on the very long 2-5hr rides but I couldn’t concentrate on them. Music or podcasts is what I use to distract me from the effort rather than eleviate boredom.

I put it outdoors if it’s not raining, and wouldn’t bring it indoors. I work really hard, it would be dangerous with kids around, imo.

Oh, and you need a serious fan, not those funky heater fans on cold - I bought a huge one from screwfix. No matter how cold it is.

I don’t get the attraction of Zwift now that I’m training properly.

Some of the best cyclists in the world train on Zwift. Have you not considered this? Are they not training properly?

 

[Tin Pot]

I have a direct drive type trainer and the fan makes a lot than the trainer. Make the setup as

Some of the best cyclists in the world train on Zwift. Have you not considered this? Are they not training properly?

I’m not going to go there with Zwift, but you’ve misunderstood me - my point was that before I started using a turbo I thought I would need something like virtual cycling to make it interesting. Now that I’m training properly I don’t think that I need virtual cycling or anything else to make it interesting beyond TR.

 

[Heltor Chasca]

I’m not going to go there with Zwift, but you’ve misunderstood me - my point was that before I started using a turbo I thought I would need something like virtual cycling to make it interesting. Now that I’m training properly I don’t think that I need virtual cycling or anything else to make it interesting beyond TR.

I agree. I dint need any further stimulation at this stage. Virtual rides don’t interest me much at this rate. (Interesting points on the ‘Strava Cheats’ thread elsewhere btw) The TrainerRoad programmes are high quality stuff and need a degree of concentration to keep your power and cadence consistent with the intervals. I’m very happy to lock myself into the zone with podcasts and music. I’m amazed at the increase in motivation, the faster and upbeat the music is.

 

[Tin Pot]

I agree. I dint need any further stimulation at this stage. Virtual rides don’t interest me much at this rate. (Interesting points on the ‘Strava Cheats’ thread elsewhere btw) The TrainerRoad programmes are high quality stuff and need a degree of concentration to keep your power and cadence consistent with the intervals. I’m very happy to lock myself into the zone with podcasts and music. I’m amazed at the increase in motivation, the faster and upbeat the music is.

Yeah, Cowboys From Hell or repeat is my emotional crutch for FTP testing. I don’t know if the rage helps or hinders but it gets me through it!

Happy - Pharrel Williams for the warm down as applause and to keep me from collapsing

 

[Tin Pot]

Oh and towels!

You need at least one towel for the bike and one hanging nearby for you.

One for the floor or a mat if you’re indoors I suppose.

It’s all in the set up. If all your stuff is in place and ready to go you’ll do fine. If you have to ass about because you forgot to bring water, towels, headphones, gels, charge devices, pump tyres, etc. it becomes a struggle.

 

[JhnBssll]

I invested in a Tacx Vortex, a low end smart trainer, about a month ago. I was fortunate in that I already have a PC in the garage so only had to install an Ant+ dongle and a big fan and I was away..! Zwift is great but I haven't yet tried anything else and to be honest at this stage I don't intend to. I listen to music too while I go, the Vortex isn't too noisy but I believe you can get quieter ones if you're prepared to spend a bit more than I did

turbo

• JhnBssll
• 4 Jan 2018

As has been said you will get super sweaty so if you're doing it indoors you'll need a mat. I would certainly recommend going ahead and buying one, I did about 100 miles worth of training at the end of last year that I would otherwise have missed out on and you know what they say about winter miles