Which Cycleops Turbo?

carchie86

I'm looking to purchase a turbo and have narrowed my search down to two from Cycleops:

For £220 The SuperMagneto Pro - http://www.cycleops.com/en/products/tra ... ainer.html
or
for £240 the Jet Fluid Pro - http://www.cycleops.com/en/products/tra ... uct_id=160

I haven't used a turbo before and with some sportives booked this year I'm looking to build up my fitness with some sessions after work or at weekends during these wetter colder months in preparation for them. I really can't decide whether a fluid or magnetic turbo would be better for me and unfortunately I don't know of anywhere where I could test either one. Both seem to be rated highly by those that have them, so I'd appreciate any advice on which of these would be the better choice from anyone who may own or have used either one of them.

Thanks, Chris

MattC59

I had exactly the same issue a year or so ago. I went for the SuperMagneto Pro in the end. The only thing that swayed me towards the SuperMagneto was a few reviews stating that seals had eventually failed; the SuperMagneto doesn't have this issue.

It's a very solid and smooth turbo trainer. It has four resistance levels, so I generally set mine on road or climbing and use the gears to alter resistance. The resistance doesn't decrease with speed as it can with some turbos and it's very quiet (I use a turbo specific tyre). The road setting is excellent and is surprisingly realistic feeling.

To be honest, you'll be happy with either. Everyone will have an opinion and there's very little in it, so just go with the one that you think is best.

carchie86

Thanks Matt, I had read the odd occasion of seals failing on the fluids but with Cycleops lifetime guarantee I assume that will be covered, however it's handy to know the Supermagneto doesn't suffer from this. The variable resistance does sound good and it was making me edge towards the Supermagneto anyway so I'll probably just go with that one as you have obviously found yours to be very good.

MattC59

carchie86 wrote:

Thanks Matt, I had read the odd occasion of seals failing on the fluids but with Cycleops lifetime guarantee I assume that will be covered, however it's handy to know the Supermagneto doesn't suffer from this. The variable resistance does sound good and it was making me edge towards the Supermagneto anyway so I'll probably just go with that one as you have obviously found yours to be very good.

I'm sure you'd find either good. A lifetime guarantee is great, until you're trying to get the hot fluid off your floor !

Get yourself a couple of 'Sufferfest' training films, they relieve the boredom of the turbo trainer (I actually quite enjoy training with them) and add some structure to the session. Angels is a good starting point.

ice climber

Super magneto Pro and link to Trainer Road to use virtual power via a Ant+ USB device . Well pleased with mine in the month I have had it. I have seen the the Pro as low as £219 on the web in the last few weeks. The Pro still makes quite a noise but not as bad as some I have heard!

To get the best out a turbo you do need to be structured in its use.

kettrinboy

Ive had my Super magneto Pro since Nov 2011 and and have done around 1500 miles on it, in that time resistance has stayed very consistent assuming setup is the same every time, tyre pressure , roller pressure etc, the second or "Road" setting is where i spend 90% of the time , at 20-25 mph you need to put out~200-300 w which is the sort of area a lot of people do their intervals , for higher power intervals 300-500 w the top two settings will easily cope with that,for example on the mountain setting 25 mph needs ~475 w, and using a standard road tyre shows virtually no wear in hundreds of miles , perhaps due to the 2 inch dia roller, so i,m very pleased with mine a really useful tool for winter training.