Turbo Trainers with Power

willbevan
willbevan Posts: 1,241
edited October 2008 in Workshop
Hi all,

Looking for an article, roundup as such, of power based turbo trainers, wanted really a run down on featues as looking for one that i can download to the pc, download the data pc preferably, control power required for a certain speed etc, but dont know what is at what proce point to see if its in budget.

Thanks

Will
Road - BTwin Sport 2 16s
MTB - Trek Fuel 80
TT - Echelon

http://www.rossonwye.cyclists.co.uk/

Comments

  • polemann
    polemann Posts: 49
    Will, I just bought a trainder and its got the poewr reading but not the abiliaty to down load to a computer. My feeling is that for the price you'll pay for a goo trainder with all those features you might be looking at £750 pounds in which case you could get a proper powertap power meter and a cheap trainer.

    Just a thought.
  • bahzob
    bahzob Posts: 2,195
    polemann wrote:
    Will, I just bought a trainder and its got the poewr reading but not the abiliaty to down load to a computer. My feeling is that for the price you'll pay for a goo trainder with all those features you might be looking at £750 pounds in which case you could get a proper powertap power meter and a cheap trainer.

    Just a thought.

    Seconded. Assuming objective is use power for training for riding bike. Thats when having the ability to download to PC really helps. Most turbo sessions are typically at pretty constant watts (thats one reason to do them) so downloading to PC wont tell you much.

    One idea might be to rent a Powertap. If you have a turbo you could then run some tests and with a bit of experimentation you will find gearings/resistances/cadences/speeds that correspond to a given amount of watts. You could then use this for training if you want.
    Martin S. Newbury RC
  • andrewgturnbull
    andrewgturnbull Posts: 3,861
    Hi there,

    The advantage of a power-based turbo, rather than using a powertap is that they usually offer an ergometer mode. If you are training to a pre-determined programme, then the ergo will ensure that you hold x watts for y minutes (or fail...).

    When I have trained with a power meter and an ordinary turbo, I ended up 'trying' to hold x watts for y minutes, but my power output would fluctuate and on average I would end up undershooting.

    With an ergo there is nowhere to hide!

    Cheers, Andy

    ps I picked up a second hand tacx flow for £100 last winter. It's not necessarily the most accurate device, but the settings are consistent, which is all that really matters.
    http://www.andyturnbull.co.uk
    http://www.stirlingtri.co.uk
  • Monty Dog
    Monty Dog Posts: 20,614
    Second here for the Tacx Flow - you'd have to pay double purely for the functionality of the PC download function. The Flow often gets criticised for it's innacuracy in comparison to SRMs/Cyclops - but its a fraction of the price and 20 minutes sessions at threshold still hurts the same regardless of the numbers on the screen!
    Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..
  • willbevan
    willbevan Posts: 1,241
    cheers for all the info guys!

    I am renting a powertap at the moment, as as one ofyou chaps quite rightly identified its the ergo functionality i'm after, by the sounds of it I will just go get a scond hand Tacx or something :)

    Dont suppose you have one for sale anyone ;)

    Will
    Road - BTwin Sport 2 16s
    MTB - Trek Fuel 80
    TT - Echelon

    http://www.rossonwye.cyclists.co.uk/
  • Nuggs
    Nuggs Posts: 1,804
    Out of interest, do you need to use a special rear tyre on a trainer?
  • willbevan
    willbevan Posts: 1,241
    dont have to , but they do go through tyres so having one will probably save you money (not used one myself as have only got a old trainer that i dont use much)
    Road - BTwin Sport 2 16s
    MTB - Trek Fuel 80
    TT - Echelon

    http://www.rossonwye.cyclists.co.uk/
  • polemann
    polemann Posts: 49
    Nuggs wrote:
    Out of interest, do you need to use a special rear tyre on a trainer?

    tacx flow +1

    I recently bought the tacx flow as well... great device. I immediately bought a second rear whelel with a trainer, tire, tube and cassette for only £100 pounds... I didn't really want to change tires all the time and i didn't have a spare bike lying about so this ended up being a great cheap option. the wheels never going to be used on the road..... so quality wasn't important... if you do go this route don't by a secind hand wheel -- there's no point for the price as it won;t be 100% true which is annoying on the trainer..
  • method
    method Posts: 784
    polemann wrote:
    Will, I just bought a trainder and its got the poewr reading but not the abiliaty to down load to a computer. My feeling is that for the price you'll pay for a goo trainder with all those features you might be looking at £750 pounds in which case you could get a proper powertap power meter and a cheap trainer.

    Just a thought.

    More like £200
  • polemann
    polemann Posts: 49
    More like £200

    i got the Tacx flow for 200 and it certainly doesn't let me downalod to the computer.
  • method
    method Posts: 784
    Ok, £329 then, a lot less than £750 though.

    http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Tacx-I-Magic-Tu ... _18765.htm
  • wilwil
    wilwil Posts: 374
    willbevan wrote:
    cheers for all the info guys!

    I am renting a powertap at the moment, as as one ofyou chaps quite rightly identified its the ergo functionality i'm after, by the sounds of it I will just go get a scond hand Tacx or something :)

    Dont suppose you have one for sale anyone ;)

    Will

    Decathlon £200.00.

    How can you tell if they are inaccurate?
  • method
    method Posts: 784
    Its not so much about accuracy as consistency, my experience with the Tacx is they seem very consistent providing you calibrate it. If you want to compare you power readings to the real world then it may not be so good. But its good enough to build some meaningful interval sessions around.

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