Turbo trainer

♠ChumBucket♠

The time has come, I'm so fed up of the dismal weather here in the rural Scottish Borders that I'm gonna get a turbo trainer. All my hard work from last year has probably gone to waste as I'm getting so little riding time. I've been riding a MTB with slicks but will be purchasing a road bike in Spring. So I would like one that both bikes could use.

Trouble is, I have zero experience of them & as usual the choice is overwhelming & raises more questions. I would like something reasonable which gives some kind of realistic resistance.

I know it's all been covered before but hey, products & prices change on a regular basis so..... ANY TIPS BOYS????

What's this like?

http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Jet-Black-Z1-Fl ... =Froogle02

gllewellyn

I keep hearing good things about the Kurt Kinetic (http://www.kurtkinetic.com/) but it seems very pricey to me (£450ish).
So personally I'd get yourself onto eBay and get a second-hand turbo - it's one of those things that lots of people buy with the best intentions and then never use (like lots of fitness equipment!) I picked up a second-hand Tacx Swing and riser block for about £80 a few years ago which was a lot better than the price of a new one (plus I didn't know whether or not I would actually like using a turbo).

Whatever you do, I'd also recommend preparing to buy a spare back-wheel, cassette and a turbo-specific tyre (or use old tyres if you have them hanging around) - again a second hand wheel is fine.

wishitwasallflat

Search for NapDs guide thread as it is the best source of knowledge and don't forget to budget for Sufferfest videos as well.

logitech208

Have you considered rollers there a lot more fun.

VTech

I have no experience in cycling but after lots and lots of reading I purchased the TacX, its awesome, I love it.

gubber12345

i bought a tacx satori from decathlon.co.uk and to be fair its a pretty good trainer......but i had it about a week and was in the local halfords,they had an "elite volare" magnetic trainer setup for people to try.my god it nearly broke my heart as i thought it was a much better trainer than the tacx from first impressions.wasnt crazy money either,around £130,but i think they may have had a sale on.none the less the tacx was also on sale when i bought it for £140 delivered,was originally near £300.good trainer too cant fault it but would rather have the volare now lol

ForumNewbie

You could consider the Elite Cromo Gel turbo. I bought one new a few months ago new for £158 - with another £100 for mat, riser block and trainer tyre. It is fairly quiet and doesn't have different resistance levels - just the weight of you on bike with tyre pressing against the roller is similar to being on the road. You just use gears to vary resistance which I think is better than turbo resistance levels.

If you can also afford a computer so that you can monitor speed, cadence, heart rate etc., all the better to keep you motivated.

corriebee1

ForumNewbie wrote:

You could consider the Elite Cromo Gel turbo. I bought one new a few months ago new for £158 - with another £100 for mat, riser block and trainer tyre. It is fairly quiet and doesn't have different resistance levels - just the weight of you on bike with tyre pressing against the roller is similar to being on the road. You just use gears to vary resistance which I think is better than turbo resistance levels.

If you can also afford a computer so that you can monitor speed, cadence, heart rate etc., all the better to keep you motivated.

I bought one of these on Tuesday on a brillioant deal on Halfords online. It was advertised as being £379 reduced to £129! And then had another £10 off for an online sale thing (I topped up with 4% quidco to get it under £115!).

Can't really beat that value in my mind.

corriebee1

Wow

Just spotted that they've whacked the price back up to £228!! I must've timed that just right for a mistake on pricing!?

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_229901

Picked mine up yesterday (on click and collect) and am well chuffed.

Also picked up 3 cans of GT85 for £2.51 (for the lot), as the girl couldn't work out the code to reduce them from £5 to £2.49 each! What a good week i've had with Halfords (first time i've ever said that!)

ForumNewbie

corriebee1 wrote:

Wow

Just spotted that they've whacked the price back up to £228!! I must've timed that just right for a mistake on pricing!?

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_229901

Picked mine up yesterday (on click and collect) and am well chuffed.

That's a very good deal you got. This is the one I bought which I think is a model down from yours as a mere Cromo and not a SuperCromo
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/elite-crono-flu ... l-trainer/

lotus49

gubber12345 wrote:

... i thought it was a much better trainer than the tacx from first impressions...

Since a turbo is just a stand that provides a bit of resistance to your back wheel, what makes one better than the other?
gllewellyn mentions one above that is £450, which sounds like an absurd amount of money for a stand that slows your wheel down so I'm curious to know what could possibly justify spending 9 times what a (very) cheap one would cost.

Lightning

lotus49 wrote:

Since a turbo is just a stand that provides a bit of resistance to your back wheel, what makes one better than the other?
gllewellyn mentions one above that is £450, which sounds like an absurd amount of money for a stand that slows your wheel down so I'm curious to know what could possibly justify spending 9 times what a (very) cheap one would cost.

Road feel, consistency, noise, quality.. Some also have other stuff like VR and power measurement (of varying consistency). You do really notice a difference from a cheap turbo to a good one and I would never use a cheap turbo considering the amount of time I spend there at times. The thing is, most people don't even use it after buying it, so the only difference is the size of the hole in the pocket.

pride4ever

Turbos are just like Road bikes,its not the product its the dude on them. All you need from a turbo is a sturdy frame and a reliable wheel clamp. If you spend any longer than 30-40 minutes on one per session your wasting your time.
Get your sprint interval training done and then pack that sucker away till next time.

gubber12345

Lightning wrote:

lotus49 wrote:

Since a turbo is just a stand that provides a bit of resistance to your back wheel, what makes one better than the other?
gllewellyn mentions one above that is £450, which sounds like an absurd amount of money for a stand that slows your wheel down so I'm curious to know what could possibly justify spending 9 times what a (very) cheap one would cost.

Road feel, consistency, noise, quality.. Some also have other stuff like VR and power measurement (of varying consistency). You do really notice a difference from a cheap turbo to a good one and I would never use a cheap turbo considering the amount of time I spend there at times. The thing is, most people don't even use it after buying it, so the only difference is the size of the hole in the pocket.

+1 with lightning...and with a good turbo you a goood smooth pedalling action,not like an exercise bike that catches and lets go every half pedal you do with uneven resistance.

♠ChumBucket♠

Thanks for the replies.

p1tse

There's a review in one of the current cycling magazines, worth a read on comparisons

p1tse

lotus49 wrote:

gubber12345 wrote:

... i thought it was a much better trainer than the tacx from first impressions...

Since a turbo is just a stand that provides a bit of resistance to your back wheel, what makes one better than the other?
gllewellyn mentions one above that is £450, which sounds like an absurd amount of money for a stand that slows your wheel down so I'm curious to know what could possibly justify spending 9 times what a (very) cheap one would cost.

Same as anything else quality
Why ride a £1k bike when a £100 bike will still pedal same way to get you to a-to-b

Cheaper ones being wind, magnetic to fluid resistance which gives different characteristics
Cheaper ones maybe harder to set up, frame wobbles

Hawmaw

Like everything in this world it depends on how much you're willing to pay. Cycling is a hobby/pass time for me and making sure my kids are sorted is more important than cycling stuff. So I went down the bargain basement route ..
2nd hand Tacx turbo (£30) and an old steel Benotto racer off the free-ads (£25) . Front end is up on blocks of wood , no need for a proper support block. It all works fine. Noise is not too loud and there is no slip under load if you set it up properly.

lotus49

Hawmaw wrote:

Like everything in this world it depends on how much you're willing to pay. Cycling is a hobby/pass time for me and making sure my kids are sorted is more important than cycling stuff. So I went down the bargain basement route ..
2nd hand Tacx turbo (£30) and an old steel Benotto racer off the free-ads (£25) . Front end is up on blocks of wood , no need for a proper support block. It all works fine. Noise is not too loud and there is no slip under load if you set it up properly.

I like the sound of your solution.

I have never used a turbo but I have been thinking about it because the weather has been absolutely terrible in Yorkshire (and probably most of Britain) for months. I'm still not sure about it whether I would really use it though. My wife has an exercise bike that she uses regularly but I really don't like it. I'm sure a turbo would be much better since you are actually on a real bike but somehow, I can't imagine that it's much fun and I don't want to spend £450 or even £150 on something I use twice.

Also the weather is getting better. It was a beautiful day for my ride today

SMAC19

pride4ever wrote:

Turbos are just like Road bikes,its not the product its the dude on them. All you need from a turbo is a sturdy frame and a reliable wheel clamp. If you spend any longer than 30-40 minutes on one per session your wasting your time.
Get your sprint interval training done and then pack that sucker away till next time.

^^^^^Sorry, but that is utter nonsense^^^^^

If your serious about cycling, get a decent turbo trainer and a heart rate monitor. Trust me it'll transform the way you ride... But thats another topic altogether!!!!!!!!!!!

Scrumple

p1tse wrote:

There's a review in one of the current cycling magazines, worth a read on comparisons

try summarising the best buys etc for those like me who don't buy the mags...

I have a Kurt Kinetic Road Machine... and the pro flywheel. Does me.

itboffin

I have one of these but without the resistance settings http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-2013-BIKE ... 3a7dd0627f not bad for £60 and unlike mine it has a resistance adjuster