Second hand turbo question

lotus49

I have just bought a magnetic turbo with variable resistance on eBay and I have a question about it.

I am not at home so I cannot test it properly until tomorrow but should the variation in resistance be obvious when you are just turning the flywheel by hand? The turbo looks in excellent condition and clearly hasn't been used much but the difference between minimum and maximum resistance is not obvious when I'm only turning it by hand.

I did wonder whether the magnet doesn't do much until the flywheel is going at a reasonable speed.

TakeTurns

Would help if you named the turbo/model. I have a Tacx and it doesn't function the way you described.

MattC59

You'll probably notice more ;
1) when you've got a bike on it
2) as the speed increases, so will the resistance (if its anything like mine)

lotus49

TakeTurns wrote:

Would help if you named the turbo/model. I have a Tacx and it doesn't function the way you described.

I assumed (possibly wrongly) that all the magnetic ones worked the same. It's one of these http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... etic-28812.

MattC59 wrote:

You'll probably notice more ;
1) when you've got a bike on it
2) as the speed increases, so will the resistance (if its anything like mine)

Thanks, that's what I suspected. It's hard to judge the resistance by hand because I can't turn it very fast so I'll wait until tomorrow and see how it feels in actual use.

smidsy

You will not notice much difference spinning it by hand.

I am sure it will be fine.

lotus49

I have now tested it properly with my bike and it does indeed work fine.

I'm not sure to what extent the variable resistance will be important as I presume I can achieve more or less the same effect with the gears but thanks for the replies.

smidsy

lotus49 wrote:

I have now tested it properly with my bike and it does indeed work fine.

I'm not sure to what extent the variable resistance will be important as I presume I can achieve more or less the same effect with the gears but thanks for the replies.

I suppose it is to simulate undulating terrain. It is handy to get used to pedalling in the same gear on tougher terrain to avoid constantly changing gears.

It is a useful skill to be able to increase effort to maintain cadence without having to drop gears.

Bobbinogs

smidsy wrote:

lotus49 wrote:

I have now tested it properly with my bike and it does indeed work fine.

I'm not sure to what extent the variable resistance will be important as I presume I can achieve more or less the same effect with the gears but thanks for the replies.

I suppose it is to simulate undulating terrain. It is handy to get used to pedalling in the same gear on tougher terrain to avoid constantly changing gears.

It is a useful skill to be able to increase effort to maintain cadence without having to drop gears.

I find that the best use of variable resistance is to be able to set the turbo up to give YOU a good range of gears for intervals/zone work. I have set up my turbo so that when I am doing Sufferfests I can go from Suffer level 4 (Big ring, 2nd cog on the block and work my way up/down). Also, zone work (like zone 1 or 2) means that I am in the granny ring, right in the middle of the block. Hence, for both uses I am not having to change the chainring and lose focus, etc. Since I have set the resistance right, I haven't needed to change it for some time (perhaps I need to go up a notch and sweat some more :twisted: ).

lotus49

I only had a quick play with it last night but I shall have time to have a proper go on it this evening so I shall experiment with the variable resistance and gears.

It's not too noisy and I shall be using it in my cellar, which has a concrete floor. I wouldn't fancy having to use something like this in an upstairs flat though. I imagine the neighbours would start to get fed up with the loud whirring noise, not to mention the sweat dripping through the ceiling .

smidsy

If its not noisy you are not trying hard enough.

ShutUpLegs

smidsy wrote:

If its not noisy you are not trying hard enough.

WHAT :?:

smidsy

ShutUpLegs wrote:

smidsy wrote:

If its not noisy you are not trying hard enough.

WHAT :?:

Well my Taxc gets quite loud if you turn up the resistance and/or get up a really good turn of speed.

Although I suspect it would be much quieter with a turbo specific tyre.