Considering a turbo trainer....
freehub
Posts: 4,257
Hi.
Considering buying one of these things.
I'd be looking under 100 quid.
But things I'm wondering:
Tyre - Will I need a specific tyre for turbo trainers as I've heard about people getting flats on em.
Noise - I'm in a flat, people above me, how much noise will they hear?
Wheel - Assuming I need a specific tyre for turbo trainers, I have an Open Pro wheel with 9 speed cassette, can this be used with my bike with 10 speed drivetrain? I know it works, as in, you can move about and gears change, but does extra wear occur?
Thanks
Will.
Considering buying one of these things.
I'd be looking under 100 quid.
But things I'm wondering:
Tyre - Will I need a specific tyre for turbo trainers as I've heard about people getting flats on em.
Noise - I'm in a flat, people above me, how much noise will they hear?
Wheel - Assuming I need a specific tyre for turbo trainers, I have an Open Pro wheel with 9 speed cassette, can this be used with my bike with 10 speed drivetrain? I know it works, as in, you can move about and gears change, but does extra wear occur?
Thanks
Will.
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Comments
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A brand new turbo for less than a ton will be basic, maybe even cack. Yes, they are noisy.
Just use and old tyre, for example one of your worn Krylions. Don't use a 9 speed cassette, the spacing is not right, it will sound like it's in between a gear change permanently.0 -
Whats the minimum amount I could spend to get a turbo that is not "cack"?0
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£100 will get you a decent turbo. If you keep an eye out on ebay and cycling forums you might get a bargain (I paid £70 for an as new Elite Elastogel turbo that has an RRP of over £300).More problems but still living....0
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In comparison to music, how loud are turbo trainers? I don't want to waste my money if I find It'd be too loud to use in these flats.0
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freehub wrote:In comparison to music, how loud are turbo trainers? I don't want to waste my money if I find It'd be too loud to use in these flats.
old building or new..? Wooden floors, or concrete..?? If it's an old building with wooden floors, then I give it 48hrs max before your neighbours start plotting to kill you.....0 -
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I'm on the ground floor, but the floors are wooden. Building does not seem that old, certainly not new though.0
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When my brother uses his turbo upstairs I can hear it pretty loudly. They aren't quite. Think washing machine when it's on its fast spin. Think Kurt Kinetic do a mat which is meant to help reduce the noise but not sure how effect it would be. Try going on youtube and watching turbo vids and seeing how loud they sound on there. Might work, might not, just a thought.0
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Most of the noise problem is due to a low frequency rumble more than a noise as such. It could be a problem if you're on a suspended floor above another flat. Can somebody else comment ?
The magnetic ones are quiter than the air resistance ones and I think the fluid (hydraulic) ones are quieter still.
I have a fairly basic Tacx Sirius turbo which cost around £100 and it's been great, so don't worry too much about spending much more than that. Just about everybody I know (including a few high level racers) have the same model with no complaints. The only person I know who has a much more expensive one with all the virtual reality stuff, never uses it anyway...so go figure.
You wil lalso need a fan and probably something to divert your attention like a DVD player.0 -
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Yep, wood under carpet.
Why would I need a fan? Is it essential? I can just open the window in this weather
, I've got my pc in front of where I'd put the turbo, I could just sit none handed and play abit of Test Drive Unlimited 
I'm looking on youtube for videos, if they're loud it'll be out of the question
, shame really, I'm not loosing weight sitting here
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Elite ... 360045855/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7zlo0lo47g
This guy says it's apparently extreamly quiet and you can hear the gears and chain and all that over it? Or maybe that's due to him riding slow?0 -
Fluid trainers are the quietest. I have a cycleops fluid trainer, not a expensive thing but still the wrong side of your £100 budget.
You could always have a look on eBay for a secondhand one?0 -
What would you say to rollers? Are they quieter and just as good? I don't want them if they mean no matter what gear you are in you end up spinning super fast.0
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freehub wrote:What would you say to rollers? Are they quieter and just as good? I don't want them if they mean no matter what gear you are in you end up spinning super fast.
I used rollers years ago & would take the turbo route to be honest. You can't go as "hard"
on rollers & no standing efforts either. They are good fun for a while, then as soon as I mastered them they lost half of their appeal! That says more about me than the apparatus tho.
I once slid off the side of them in my Mum's kitchen & the rear tyre burnt thru the lino...she was well pleased.
From memory mine weren't the quietest of things either. For stealthy turbo sessions you gotta get a fluid jobby....0 -
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The fan is because you'll sweat buckets and it's nice to have a breeze. You'll probably want the window open as well.
I spent most of last winter on a turbo and just got some rollers a week before Christmas. I see them as different as the rollers seem to be better at developing balance and smoother pedal techniques whilst the turbo is better for intervals. Funnily enough, even though there's not much resistance on the rollers, I can still get my HR higher on the rollers than the turbo, but some of that could be fear....
At the moment I prefer the rollers because it's more like being out on the road. It's not quite as boring as you have to concentrate to avoid falling off.
The noise isn't really loud, and it's unlikely anybody outside the room would hear it. As I said it's more of a rumble that's the problem, part of which is due to the bike. Whether it's a problem depends upon how much tolerance the rest of the house has towards it. As somebody else said it's about the level of a tumble dryer or washing machine. The biggest problem would definitety be if you were in an upstairs room above somebody (neighbours etc) as it will travel.
Bottom line, is that if anybody else in the house wants to make it an issue then you won't be able to use either a turbo or rollers (which I think are probably noiser). If they are reasonably tolerant, then you'll be OK.0 -
Pointless. But smoooooooooth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiCdm5FsJpg&feature=related
Bhima -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrKvguARxJo&feature=fvw0 -
Redjeep! wrote:The fan is because you'll sweat buckets and it's nice to have a breeze. You'll probably want the window open as well.
I spent most of last winter on a turbo and just got some rollers a week before Christmas. I see them as different as the rollers seem to be better at developing balance and smoother pedal techniques whilst the turbo is better for intervals. Funnily enough, even though there's not much resistance on the rollers, I can still get my HR higher on the rollers than the turbo, but some of that could be fear....
At the moment I prefer the rollers because it's more like being out on the road. It's not quite as boring as you have to concentrate to avoid falling off.
The noise isn't really loud, and it's unlikely anybody outside the room would hear it. As I said it's more of a rumble that's the problem, part of which is due to the bike. Whether it's a problem depends upon how much tolerance the rest of the house has towards it. As somebody else said it's about the level of a tumble dryer or washing machine. The biggest problem would definitety be if you were in an upstairs room above somebody (neighbours etc) as it will travel.
Bottom line, is that if anybody else in the house wants to make it an issue then you won't be able to use either a turbo or rollers (which I think are probably noiser). If they are reasonably tolerant, then you'll be OK.
I get the impression that rollers would be too easy, in the way that, if I wanted to push myself, I would have to pedal at an insane cadence. I don't want that, I don't like pedaling at super high cadence, between 70 and 120 for me.
Allthough if the roller is good for lower level training then I might consider it, I find it hard to do steady rides when I am out, and I know steady rides can be important, I know inside I could do a steady ride cause I'd have stuff to watch on the computer, if I could manage to whilst still keeping balance.0 -
I have just put my cheap turbo on the 3rd floor of our house with our 3 year old in the room directly below.
Last night my wife & I did 20 mins each with music on & he didn't screem the house down. Its on carpet, with a woodern floor below.
Do you know anyone with one you can borrow to test?0 -
freehub wrote:What would you say to rollers? Are they quieter and just as good? I don't want them if they mean no matter what gear you are in you end up spinning super fast.
I got some Tacx Antares rollers for xmas and have an Elite fluid turbo trainer. The turbo is significantly quieter than the rollers, but I'd say either would be okay in a ground floor flat.
As for not being able to get a high HR on the rollers - well I can get to 85% HRmax with 3 bigger gears to spare (52-12 top gear) at a cadence of ~120rpm. Without some added resistance then you just can't do low cadence power sessions on rollers so if that's what you want to do then you'd be better off with a turbo (I do the higher intensity low cadence stuff on the turbo).More problems but still living....0 -
matthew h wrote:I have just put my cheap turbo on the 3rd floor of our house with our 3 year old in the room directly below.
Last night my wife & I did 20 mins each with music on & he didn't screem the house down. Its on carpet, with a woodern floor below.
Do you know anyone with one you can borrow to test?
Nop, even if I did I'd not be able to transport the turbo. I could risk it, I predict I'm not going to be able to ride for weeks, the weather is a nightmare, mind you it's going to be warm on Sunday.....
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/ ... ather.html
I found a "Beto turbo trainer" on ebay, the name I've not heard since looking, not on wiggle, wonder if they're ok?
Or something like this?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TRANZ-X-CYCLE-VAR ... 518f8fc2b4
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Jet-Black-Mag-2-T ... 3efa7c1f43
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TACX-CYCLE-FORCE- ... 35a53a8f830 -
Don't believe the hype/myths.
Rollers are NOT easy. The only thing you usually can't do on them (without spinning really fast) is hard efforts below, say, a minute. Anything longer than that and they provide enough resistance to make it very hard if high-cadence isn't your thing. Sure, you can grind a big gear for ages if you want. You can get rollers with resistance anyway, which solves this "problem". Besides, for anything under a minute, (sprints especially) you'll probably be doing high cadence anyway.
I could do standing efforts on them within a couple of days. It just takes practice. It only takes about an hour to get used to balancing at first. In fact, sorry to blow my own trumpet but, I used rollers exclusively for 5/6 days solid when I first tried them and found my bike control was totally awesome when I returned to the road. Get rollers. You'll have a more realistic experience.0 -
Rollers seem too easy still... I really do not want to pedal super fast...
I might go down to Evans see if they have this in:
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/cyc ... 20trainers0 -
I don't know if it would actually be safe to ride to your place due to the roads.
Whats yer post code?0 -
Kreitler do a wattege chart showing what's possible in terms of power output on their rollers. Smaller diameter rollers = more resistance, but you'll probably find most rollers at the cheap end do not give you enough resistance. Here's the link
http://www.kreitler.com/wattage.php
I mostly use a fluid trainer. Pretty quiet, but you can use a trainer specific tyre to cut down the noise further if it's an issue.0 -
I've had one of these for 18 months: http://www.probikekit.com/display.php?code=NP10484
It's fine for what I want (5*4, 2*20, 45mins tempo, 1hr 30 steady). I've not done any hard standing sprints on it, so I can't say how it would respond to very high intensity efforts.
It's not the quietest thing in the world; however, that's a bit of a moot point when I've also got a fan going at full blast and Metallica on the Hi-Fi.
I use old tyres on an old spare wheel and use a cheap BBB cassette (£19) that goes from 21-12 straight through.
I sure you could spend more and get a better set up, but this seems to do the trick for me.0 -
I don't think I'd call rollers easy, it's just a different sensation. I can actually get my HR higher on them than the turbo.
I prefer them to my turbo as it's more like the real thing, but I'd say if I had to choose one I'd pick the turbo (and a DVD player, and a big fan), but that's down to personal choice.0 -
Yeah Will, I wouldn't come round now as the smaller roads near me are tretcherous. When it clears up, just let me know if you want to test them out.0
