How loud are turbo trainers?

JohnBoyUK

Been looking at getting a turbo as the roads around me in Kent are far too icy to be even thinking about going out on when I get home from work now but my major concern is the volume.

Have read many reviews and still not sure what one to go for. Reading the customer reviews of Wiggle and Evans seem to give contrasting opinions, some think its quiet, some loud. The reason I ask is that I live in a 2 bed flat and I would like to set the turbo up in my living room so I can ride whilst the football/cricket is on (see, there are some advantages to being divorced!) but obviously I dont want to upset the people that live below me.

I've got concrete floors with lamitated wood floor on top of that with the proper thick board insultating underlay so would a turbo be quiet enough not to get me evicted by the neighbours?

Also I see some talking about using turbo-specific tyres. Is this really necessary? All I want to do it put my Allez on it to ride and then if its not too cold/wet/icy, will go out on the road without the hassle of changing tyres or the cost of buying another wheel to do that.

Any recommendations around the £200 mark?

nonameuser

I have an old cycleops mag and its a bit noisy but not too bad. Apparently putting the turbo onto a yoga mat can supress some of the noise. I think the fluid ones are supposed to be quieter but are more expensive.

sungod

noise depends a lot on the type of turbo

i've got a tacx magnetic one, sounds a bit like a washing machine on spin

the elite chrono series is supposed to be among the less noisy, and their elastogel roller reduces vibration and tyre wear

wiggle has a special offer on this one at the moment, imho well worth it...

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/elite-crono-flu ... l-trainer/


with concrete floors i'd think you'd be ok, if you are doing it in the living room you'll need to put a mat underneath to catch the sweat

if you haven't got one, buy a big fan to cool you - i use my turbo in an unheated outbuilding, so pretty nippy in this weather, but i'm baking hot once i get going

cougie

I'd think most were too loud for a flat. Turbo tyres and a mat would help deaden the noise, but you say you dont want to do the tyre swapping.

How about finding a spin class nearby ? It's cheaper than £200.

HadronCyclist

I find noise isn't a huge issue, especially if you put something like a cheap hiking mat underneath the bike + turbo setup, and have any of the more modern turbos. If anything, you can lessen it even more by putting an old rug or towel underneath the mat.

I would however suggest a turbo tyre, or at least using an old tyre, as the rate of wear on a turbo is quite excessive. Don't be surprised when you are wiping off a fine rubbery residue from the floor/turbo after a hard session. I don't like ruining a nice pair of my winter Conti Gatorskins when changing a tyre only takes a minute, plus a couple of goes on the floor pump!

MrBibble

Youtube turbo trainer, noise levels can be heard esp on the reviews ive looked at

Drags a bit .... but .....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7zlo0lo47g

Lucky Douglas

I use my Cycleops fluid turbo on a solid floor and it isn't particularly noisy - can hold a normal conversation while using it (apart from the panting!)
I think you'd probably be all right.

Zachariah

I just got an Elite Crono Mag with the elastogel roller. It's not quiet by any stretch of the imagination, but nor is it super noisy. When going at about 20mph I can just about make out conversation on a video my laptop is playing in front of me at top volume.

Putting things underneath the turbo is useless, at least for this model. The noise comes from the spinning flywheel.

Chiggy

Not as loud as....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BToiEdQL-3U&NR=1

JohnBoyUK

Cheers guys.

I've took the plunge and ordered the Elite fluid one. With the mat and riser it came to £220 from Wiggle with my platinum account thing, so not too bad.

I'm gonna try it just inside my kitchen so the turbo is in the kitchen and the front wheel of the bike is in the living room pointing at the TV, so the plan is to ride while watching TV/DVDs etc but just hope to god its not too loud to disturb my downstairs neighbours.

Having watched the video Mr Bibble posted up, it doesnt sound too loud at all but you never can tell until you try it yourself in your own environment. Hopefully it'll turn up tomorrow and I'll give you an update!

MrBibble

Aye let us know please, im loking at getting one in the new year ..... just cant afford it before xmas :oops:

Mark Alexander

they can be loud so a soundproofed room get good music, sod the neighbours.

Mark Alexander

they can be loud so a soundproofed room get good music, sod the neighbours.

schweiz

I live in a flat and I've had the moaning neighbours from downstairs (although not under my flat, from under next door) complain once. I was doing sprint intervals so high cadence with lowish resistance for 1 minute every 5 minutes and it was loud. Like others have said though, I don't think it's louder than a washing machine on a fast spin cycle.

We had some old felt place mats and I put them under to dampen the noise now. This year the other half is on the turbo and I'm on the rollers and we've not had any complaints yet.

MrBibble

Theres an idea, time your ride with the washing machine to cover the noise :idea:

JohnBoyUK

MrBibble wrote:

Theres an idea, time your ride with the washing machine to cover the noise :idea:

To be fair, my washing machine really doesnt make that much noise, not even on a full spin. Really disappointed the turbo STILL hasnt turned up, despite it being due for delivery last Wednesday.

Amazing considering the depot was in Maidstone and only about 25 miles away and there wasnt even a drop of snow until Saturday afternoon here.

suzyb

Did you order it from Wiggle?

I'm still waiting on an order from them but though it was the weather that was holding it up (probably is but if it was already delayed...).

JohnBoyUK

suzyb wrote:

Did you order it from Wiggle?

I'm still waiting on an order from them but though it was the weather that was holding it up (probably is but if it was already delayed...).

Yep, unfortunately so. To be fair to them, their delivery schedules are normally spot on. Saw through the tracking option that it was going to be delivered on Wednesday so took the day off to receive it then it never came. Then they cant understand why I'm upset lol.

Fair enough the whole country is backlogged but as I said, we'd had no snow in the SE until Saturday morning!

suzyb

I've never had any problem with wiggle before either (or the post in general).

But the CRC order that was placed at the same time was received in less than a week even with the bad weather we were having. And I've returned part of that order and received an exchange from CRC but am still waiting for the wiggle order to arrive

suzyb

lol I got in contact with the person who made the order from Wiggle (it was a gift). They checked and found there was a problem with the transaction so the order failed.

And here I was waiting for it all this time and the order hadn't even went through :roll:

Il_Diavolo

I used to live in an old flat with wooden floors - was a nightmare with the trainer, it just amplified the vibration.

Taking the yoga mat idea, what I did was to go to my local branch of Millets, and grabbed a couple of camping crash-mats. I think they were somethign like £3.99 each.

I put the bike and trainer on top, and it did a really good job of cutting vibration and noise.


Hope it helps!

Wilflfc

I use a CycleOPs Jet Fluid Pro, on a mat on top cheap piece of carpet and have no problem with the noise.

JohnBoyUK

Well its a lot quieter than I imagined. No complaints from the neighbours at all so far after 100 miles.

I have to say I never realised how hard an hour on the turbo feels. Not hard on the legs but mentally. Even with the tv on, watching a film, watching the football or Sky Sports News or listening to music, the hour just so seems to drag on for an eternity.