About to buy an indoor trainer, so some questions..?

jimmcdonnell

Hi all - I'm not getting enough miles in on my bike; there don't seem to be enough hours in the day or days in the week! So I'm going to get a trainer; and although I get the basics, I have some questions the answers to which aren't immediately obvious to me.

One: turbo or rollers? Am I correct in thinking that rollers are more to develop the biomechanics of your riding - balance, smooth pedalling etc - rather than a workout? It seems to me that riding rollers you'd just be spinning but regardless of gear not under much load? Which leads me on to
Two: on rollers, do you vary resistance solely with the flywheel adjustment or your gears, or both?
Three: I get the need for a specific tyre for a flywheel trainer (I'm not considering a rim-resistanced trainer), but I think a spare wheel would be easier (I really dislike changing tyres and it's be a sure way to guarantee a trainer wouldn't get used), so based on the response to point two above, would I a) need a particularly good wheel or would a cheap & cheerful one do and b) do I need a geared wheel or will a single speed do?

Oh, and another reason for the trainer is I'm going to do a charity cycle at school, but the plan is to set myself up in the hall on the trainer and pedal 100 miles in a day, with students being able to drop by and support/heckle/point and laugh as the day wears on.

Any info much appreciated -

- Jim

shockedsoshocked

A cheap mag turbo will be fine. Get yourself a HR monitor if you want to do anything more structured. I use a cheap spare wheel too, much easier. Having it geared will enable you to get better work outs.

stjohnswell

budget for a big fan. you'll cook otherwise :oops:

Bronzie

One: turbo or rollers?
There have been a few "turbo v roller" threads on here in the past - use the search function - but generally I find turbo is best for "all out" efforts where you don't have to concentrate on staying upright at the same time.
There are rollers available with resistance units and riding rollers will improve your balance and smoothness, so it's a matter of personal choice really.

Two: on rollers, do you vary resistance solely with the flywheel adjustment or your gears, or both?
Presume you mean turbo here? Some turbos have a variable resistance, others you just use your gearing. The ones with variable resistance are perhaps a bit easier to fine tune to the effort level you're aiming for but probably not much between them otherwise.

Three: would I a) need a particularly good wheel or would a cheap & cheerful one do and b) do I need a geared wheel or will a single speed do?
A cheap geared wheel is the best solution I think. Having a single speed rear wheel restricts the variability of the resistance a lot.