Turbo Trainers - Some quick questions

Bronzie

chezzacad wrote:

He has a Ridley orion carbon bike will he have a problem if I just buy the trainer?

No, it'll be fine

chezzacad wrote:

Will he need a special tyre?

Not necessarily - turbos do wear tyres out faster than road riding, but unless he has a spare rear wheel, he'll have to swap the tyre on and off each time he wants to use on the road which is a major faff. See how he gets on with standard road tyres first as he can always buy later if he's finding it a problem

chezzacad wrote:

He's never used a turbo trainer. In winter he used to run but has an injury which has stopped all this, so usually goes out on bike but with the dark nights and cold wet conditions it puts him off!

The fact he's never used one before might indicate he's not sure it's for him. Whatever trainer you get (and others are far more able to offer advice on what model than me) make sure it'll be as interesting as possible for him otherwise he won't use it at all
- set it up with a TV / DVD player handy
- maybe get him some training or race footage DVD's to go with it
- budget for a big fan if using in the house otherwise he'll sweat to death
- maybe also consider a turbo training plan book to encourage him to use it