Training Indoors - Exercise Bike, Turbo Trainer or Rollers?

Caligari_uk

I'm out and about on my bike almost every day, but sometimes I get an urge to just 'stay in' (not that I can use the weather as an excuse anymore).

I was thinking of buying a semi-decent exercise bike. Would anyone recommend the use of one to aid their cycle training?

I've owned a turbo trainer, but removing the rear axle on my bike to use it was just too much hassle - BUT then the price of a good exercise bike could probably buy me a cheap road racer to use solely on a trainer.

Rollers have always interested me - but I really don't have the space (at the mo) to safely use one.

Hmmm - any ideas?[/i]

Wheelspinner

Didn't realise there was any such thing as a decent or semi-decent exercise bike..

Out here, every six months the local councils have a collection of all the household junk you no longer want and which doesn't fit in the regular weekly bin collection. People pile the stuff up on the footpath in the days before the collection is due, and scavengers roam in trucks and vans looking for any salvageable items.

One of the most popular categories of junk is exercise equipment, like the bikes, rowing machines and other crap bought on TV shopping network infomercials...

LivinLaVidaLotus

Most turbo's these days you just drop the bike in to - providing your skewers are round and knobly at each end so the cup can fit over them (sorry for the poor technical description), then you close the clamp and you're done - no messing about changing anything or undoing anything.

Wheelspinner

Oops, meant to say instead of a cheap road bike, just get a new back wheel with one of those specific tyres for a roller, which are hard as.... Provided you are fairly smooth on the trainer the wear and tear on the frame is minimal.

sheffsimon

Caligari_uk wrote:

I'm out and about on my bike almost every day, but sometimes I get an urge to just 'stay in' (not that I can use the weather as an excuse anymore).

I was thinking of buying a semi-decent exercise bike. Would anyone recommend the use of one to aid their cycle training?

I've owned a turbo trainer, but removing the rear axle on my bike to use it was just too much hassle - BUT then the price of a good exercise bike could probably buy me a cheap road racer to use solely on a trainer.

Rollers have always interested me - but I really don't have the space (at the mo) to safely use one.

Hmmm - any ideas?[/i]

You should get out more

Caligari_uk

SheffSimon wrote:

Caligari_uk wrote:

I'm out and about on my bike almost every day, but sometimes I get an urge to just 'stay in' (not that I can use the weather as an excuse anymore).

I was thinking of buying a semi-decent exercise bike. Would anyone recommend the use of one to aid their cycle training?

I've owned a turbo trainer, but removing the rear axle on my bike to use it was just too much hassle - BUT then the price of a good exercise bike could probably buy me a cheap road racer to use solely on a trainer.

Rollers have always interested me - but I really don't have the space (at the mo) to safely use one.

Hmmm - any ideas?[/i]

You should get out more

My book case is completely FULL of books all about rollers - I have the complete set of DVDs based around the history of rollers - I have 'I love rollers' T-shirts and my desktop background is of - a roller.

@ Spinner and Lotus - thanks for the replies. I agree that exercise bikes can be fairly pointless if they end up being used as an expensive hanger for clothing.

I didn't realise that you could buy a Turbo Trainer than you can just 'clip into' - rather than having to play around with your axle etc - that would be perfect (and probably - quite a bit cheaper than the other options).

LivinLaVidaLotus

Check out Tacx - As an example: http://www.tacx.com/producten/fietstrai ... /index.dot - You can see the orange lever/clamp, that just pushes the "cup" over the end of the nut/skewer and holds it tight (same on the other side, no level, just an adjustable one. Takes 10s to fit the bike to it.

Daimler

Turbo trainers give you a more complete work out using your own bike.
Simple to change the skewer needed to fit in the turbo trainer frame too.
Rollers offer you some resistance as you know but perhaps the biggest draw is their ability to teach you handling and good posture, keeping the bike straight and therefore improving your efficiency.

Exercise bikes can be good, ie Spinning classes but most people would like to ride their own bikes as it's simply more comfy.

Thats my view on it all...

Caligari_uk

Excellent - thanks for all the help, guys.

That Tacx looks perfect - it seems to get really good reviews on Wiggle, too.

Does anyone know of any other models that do not require 'skewering'?

I know that changing the skewer over SHOULDN'T really be a hassle - but I'd end up not using the machine at all if I had to do that every day.