Turbo virgin

mattsaw

I'm thinking of splashing out for a turbo. I put in a fair few commuting miles each week, not now with two kids at home it's difficult to escape for longer rides.

However I've never really looking into turbos before, and I know nothing about them. Doing a bit of reading around last night has only really confused me more. :oops:

Can anyone give me some tips on what to look for?

I'm also pretty conscious of the boredom factor. Whats the cheapest way of hooking it up to the laptop for some kind of competitive edge?

cyclingprop

By competitive edge do you mean online-head-to-head?

mattsaw

cyclingprop wrote:

By competitive edge do you mean online-head-to-head?

No, nothing that sophisticated, just something where I can either race the computer or previous times set by myself.

I've seen some that do that, but wondered if was worth paying the extra for.

cyclingprop

I've got a Tacx Satori, and use that with existing (Garmin) sensors on my bike and Trainerroad.com.

That and telly, surround sound, a mat under the bike and a BIG fan.

bushu

Aye, i was thinkin these were a good idea recently too but, quite an investment if i'm not going to put it to use near 200 beer tokens o_0

Green Brompton

I picked up my first ever turbo last night... yet to try it. It was second hand off of a friend of a friend, as I wasn't sure if it would sit in a cupboard for months!

prawny

I had one for a couple of years, I sold it this winter as it wasn't getting used.

My top tip for extra training with young kids is get up dead early. I'm out a 6am at the weekend, earlier in the summer, and can normally get 35-40 miles in before the wife get miffed. I'm lucky though, my kids don't normally get out of bed until 8:00

meanredspider

When you say that you're missing the "longer rides", how long were you hoping you were going to spend on the turbo? I find them mind-numbing - an hour is the very most I can sustain. They are also quite noisy (even the Elite gel one I have). Fortunately my son uses it for his post-op rehab so I'm under no pressure to use it.

pastryboy

Why would anyone want a turbo when you could have rollers? I've not used them but they look far more enjoyable.

itboffin

Buy the cheapest 2nd one you can find then if you actually use it for more than 4-6 splash out on a better one.

I think I've probably only done about 1000 miles on mine in 4+ years and most of those whilst recovering from injuries

mattsaw

prawny wrote:

I had one for a couple of years, I sold it this winter as it wasn't getting used.

My top tip for extra training with young kids is get up dead early. I'm out a 6am at the weekend, earlier in the summer, and can normally get 35-40 miles in before the wife get miffed. I'm lucky though, my kids don't normally get out of bed until 8:00

I'm the other way around, I'm lucky if they stay in bed past 5.50, and then I take the eldest to Rugby at 8.30 on Sunday mornings.

Can anyone recommend any good boarding schools?

mattsaw

meanredspider wrote:

When you say that you're missing the "longer rides", how long were you hoping you were going to spend on the turbo? I find them mind-numbing - an hour is the very most I can sustain. They are also quite noisy (even the Elite gel one I have). Fortunately my son uses it for his post-op rehab so I'm under no pressure to use it.

I really want to start building-up to 100 miles +, so as I said, I'm ideally looking for something that includes some form of competition to keep it interesting.

Noise isn't too much of an issue, we have a large garage on the other side of the house, so I'm not going to be disturbing anyone but myself in there.

prawny

Mattsaw wrote:

prawny wrote:

I had one for a couple of years, I sold it this winter as it wasn't getting used.

My top tip for extra training with young kids is get up dead early. I'm out a 6am at the weekend, earlier in the summer, and can normally get 35-40 miles in before the wife get miffed. I'm lucky though, my kids don't normally get out of bed until 8:00

I'm the other way around, I'm lucky if they stay in bed past 5.50, and then I take the eldest to Rugby at 8.30 on Sunday mornings.

Can anyone recommend any good boarding schools?

Go out at night?

mattsaw

itboffin wrote:

Buy the cheapest 2nd one you can find then if you actually use it for more than 4-6 splash out on a better one.

I think I've probably only done about 1000 miles on mine in 4+ years and most of those whilst recovering from injuries

At the moment I'm thinking of getting a half decent one second hand rather than forking-out for a new one just in case I don't get on with it.

Has anyone bought one and uses it often?

petemadoc

IMO this is the best turbo available for sensible money, nice and simple, no wires to break, just change the resistance by using the gears.

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

And forget about any other fancy computer gubbins, all you need is sufferfest

http://www.thesufferfest.com/

Seriously, an hour on the turbo flies by and you'll have done one of the best interval based workouts you can do. I run a cycling club and we run weekly turbo sessions through the winter. People keep coming back for more pain so it must be good :twisted:

petemadoc

Oh and a heart rate monitor can be useful but is not essential.

notsoblue

I've acquired a second hand turbotrainer recently. How badly do they wear out normal tyres?

itboffin

notsoblue wrote:

I've acquired a second hand turbotrainer recently. How badly do they wear out normal tyres?

Well I'm not sure about the rest of you but when I use the turbo earth actually spins faster ...nails!

bobinski

PeteMadoc wrote:

IMO this is the best turbo available for sensible money, nice and simple, no wires to break, just change the resistance by using the gears.

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

And forget about any other fancy computer gubbins, all you need is sufferfest

http://www.thesufferfest.com/

Seriously, an hour on the turbo flies by and you'll have done one of the best interval based workouts you can do.

+1 for the Elite...and the sufferfest videos.

SteppenHerring

pastryboy wrote:

Why would anyone want a turbo when you could have rollers? I've not used them but they look far more enjoyable.

I've just got some rollers. Got to the point where I can go half an hour without having to lean on something. It feels really difficult at first but is definitely more like "real cycling" than the turbo. The thing is, when I get tired I can't keep straight on the rollers but on the turbo you can completely do yourself in for a satisfying workout.

meanredspider

PeteMadoc wrote:

IMO this is the best turbo available for sensible money, nice and simple, no wires to break, just change the resistance by using the gears.

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

:

I'm another +1 for that model

bushu

Also where on earth would i get a quick release wheel for a 120mm O.L.D spaced single speed track bike, I'm out..


maybe next year when i have a road racing push iron worth protecting from the elements 8)

mattsaw

Thanks for the recommendations chaps, I'll look into them.

Underscore

I considered that Elite turbo but ended up getting their Hydro-Mag hybrid turbo instead - and I've been pleased with it. Whichever you go for I would choose one that has a profile on TrainerRoad: I've just recently joined up and I've used my turbo more in the last few weeks than in the whole of last winter. Even if you don't join up straight away, it probably worth having the option...

_

dal105

I've recently started using "TrainerRoad" as well, to add some structure and direction to turbo sessions.
It has a library of power/speed curves for various turbo trainers, so with a ANT+ speed sensor and a ANT+ USB dongle, you get power (ish) based workouts on a conventional (cheap) turbo trainer. You can do a workout that will calculate your Threshold (and calibrate any inaccuracies in you turbo power curve). All other workouts are then set at levels based on you threshold.

http://www.trainerroad.com

Really enjoying it so far - definitely good for motivation. Strangely addictive matching power output to the lines that are on the screen.