Turbo Trainers (pros and con ?)

[Jason]

I have used a dumb basic turbo witn zwift for a month now. The program keeps me interested and ride for longer without getting bored, however the resistance doesn't change. At the end of January the plan is to invest in a wahoo kickr snap which currently retails at £499 , unless someone can recommend a cheaper (but as good) smart trainer.

 

[mgs315]

Bought one of those cheapo Lifeline ones for £50 recently and tbh I find turbo too boring (despite the fact I’m happy to do spin class or jump on the exercise bike for half an hour at the gym if I’m going). I guess I’d just rather go get cold and wet for a change of scenery. I’m sure that’ll change once the pro road racing kicks off again as I’ll stick the turbo in the living room and pedal for a few hours watching the racing but then the weather gets better too!

 

[greenmark]

Pros – you will get fitter

Cons – you will do less riding outdoors.

 

[PaulSB]

I don’t understand the attraction but if I had the chance would give it a go. I don’t have the option to try as my cold, damp, unlit garage is 500 yards from the house and we have nowhere in the house to leave everything set up.

A couple of observations though. My club run cycle specific spin sessions. Since the advent of Zwift attendance has dropped from two full classes of 24 per week to one class of 9/10. I suspect these will not happen at all in 2018/19 winter. In almost every case those who dropped out now have Zwift. I find it disappointing people prefer the virtual world to a good work out with friends and colleagues twice a week. During the annual Facebook chat re miles ridden one member commented “mine are all real road miles” a view I have some sympathy with.

I feel riding through the winter is the more beneficial option. I only managed three rides in December against the usual eight per month - ice, fog and rain making conditions too dangerous, I stopped when my buddy broke his collar bone on ice. I was pleased to find on the NYE ride my fitness was good and possibly my body has benefitted from three weeks with only one ride. Should be back out on Sunday, forecast is +1 and sunny.

 

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

People need to accept that others have different ways of getting things done and leave them to it. An awful lot of people stop riding entirely in winter (is this not an inclusive forum?)

I don't give anyone riding outside grief for doing so and they don't give me any for being on zwift all the time.

Simple fact is, I can work harder for less time in a safer environment that isn't dark. I emerge in spring leaner and fitter than many of those to battled the elements/lost skin due to road rash.

 

[johnnyb47]

Hi again.
I've been looking around today for one and have come across one in Halfords. It's only a basic one from Bike Hut, and is on sale for £50. I,m tempted by the reduced price and could even fit my spare wireless cycle computer sensor to the back wheel for a rough guide to recording my time/speed average. Has anybody here got one of these to vouch for them.
Thanks for all the recent feed back on this subject.
Much appreciated,
Johnny.

 

[vickster]

I think the cheap(er) ones can be very noisy - not good if the plan is to watch the TV while using (I have a quieter fluid one and I still have to turn the TV right up)

This might be a decent bet https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/tacx-satori-trainer.227696/ if @maroon still selling (retails around £170 new)

 

[Tin Pot]

Hi again.
I've been looking around today for one and have come across one in Halfords. It's only a basic one from Bike Hut, and is on sale for £50. I,m tempted by the reduced price and could even fit my spare wireless cycle computer sensor to the back wheel for a rough guide to recording my time/speed average. Has anybody here got one of these to vouch for them.
Thanks for all the recent feed back on this subject.
Much appreciated,
Johnny.

If you haven’t got a power meter, you won’t get the best out of online training but some will accept speed and cadence if you have a turbo they support, and a speed and cadence sensor they support.

Otherwise you can just follow YouTube videos and go hard or easy as they dictate.

I borrowed a mates Tacx and bought the cheapest S/C that would work (Wahoo), and tried TR. I quickly decided I needed a power meter.

 

[Heltor Chasca]

And if you do go down the speed and cadence route only, Wahoo do a pretty good deal on both sensors.

 

[froze]

There are all kinds of trainers on the market from cheap fan type that make the most amount of noise to computer jobs that take most of your money to buy, it just depends on what you can afford. If you just want something simple to train on the get a good fluid trainer the the CycleOps Fluid 2, it's quiet, it can be quite a challenge, it can give you more of workout then you're capable of doing, and it's boring.

As far as the sweating issue goes, yes you will drip all over your bike and onto the floor...so ask yourself a question, why don't you sweat that profusely when your riding outside? because of the wind that you create by pedaling forward, the breeze keeps you fairly comfortable from being soaked and dripping, so apply this inside a house, but how? simply put a larger diameter fan that sits on a pole high enough to hit you in the face and upper body and aim it straight at you to mimic being outside. But even though you use a fan you still need to use a mat, any thin rubber mat will work, even an old piece of carpet will work, or go to a carpet store and get a small 4 to 5 foot wide x 6 or so foot long remenant piece, most of the time they'll give it to you for free.

 

[HLaB]

It might just be an advertising piece as I've not read it but this cycling weekly article claims to give advice on trainers.

 

[johnnyb47]

I took the plunge today and bought the Halfords Bike Hut turbo trainer for £50.
I'm no expert with cycling or turbo trainers and my budget is tight, so I went ahead bought this one. Incidentally it was reduced from £70 so I thought I might as well make use of a bargain.
As a novice to these things it was really easy to set up and seems very well made. With a towel dropped over the cross bar ,the central heating turn off , kitchen door wide open and a large fan blowing in front of me I gave it my best for 40 minutes. I was dreading the horrendous noise after hearing how loud they can be on YouTube clips ,but to my surprise it was really quite. Obviously there's a noise but nowhere near as bad as I was expecting. In fact it was fan that I used to keep me cool was more noisy. As its a basic no frills turbo trainer I fitted a spare cycle computer ( wireless type) to the rear wheel so I can roughly record my progress. The signal from the sender was not strong enough for it to reach the computer on the handle bars so I've simply mounted the spare computer to the turbo trainer. Its easy enough to read when you look down.
Wow you seriously get a good sweat on them too when going for gold. With the tv on in the living room it kept the boredom factor at bay.
Overall I'm really pleased with it and I'm sure I will get my money's worth out of it through the rest of the winter. It's certainly not a substitute for outdoor cycling but whilst the weather is poor I'm sure it be a big help in keeping my 6 chins and 5 bellies in check.
Thanks for all the advice, you good folk have given over the last few days,
Very much appreciated,
Johnny :-) :-)

 

[Heltor Chasca]

Good work. I hope you are happy. Decathlon sell a ‘Y’ shaped sloth that you Velcro between your bars and saddle so it catches sweat. They also do cheap floor mats. I have taken to wearing an old pair of mits to stop the sweat running onto the bars. Have a look at YouTube for some scary examples of corroded bars due to sweat.

 

[johnnyb47]

Cheers Heltor.I will take a look. I think the only problems I will encounter with the turbo trainer is that I won't be able to pass any pubs along the way lol. Never mind ,I've got a good supply of Guinness in the kitchen , :-) :-) :-) :-)

 

[johnnyb47]

There's one other good thing too about a turbo trainer that I never thought about up until now. They make a brilliant bike stand and are ideal for finely tunning your derailleur with the bike in situ :-) :-)