Best Budget Turbo

BobbyTrigger

anybody know of the best budget turbo trainers?

need a turbo as cant get out at the minute, and im on a strict budget

was gonna go for the Elite Magnetic from Halfords until i saw the review on Bike Radar.

any ideas anyone? i fancy new rather than Fle Bay etc..

cheers in advance.

diamonddog

I totally disagree with the BR review as I have an Elite Mag trainer and it has served me well for getting on for 2 years, not particularly noisy and the 5 tension levels I have found very useful.

BrandonA

Without specifying a budget I don't know if your idea of budget is that same as mine. In the £200 range I used to love my Tacx Satori.

Have you searched the forum? There have been loads of threads on this subject so with a bit of effort you should find them.

darkhairedlord

I had an elite mag from hellfords.
smelled awful when caned and assumed it was the tyres on the roller, wifey evicted me to the shed.
The smell didn't go away but got much worse, particularly under high (for me) load when the resistance also seemed to get higher on its own. Eventually I realised that the now acrid stench of burning plastic was just this! The flywheel heat was making the cover warm up, expand and rub against the main body causing friction:Heat: Melting: Smell.
Outcome: returned to Halfarts.

hstiles

I own an Elite Mag trainer.

Yes it is very noisy, but that's part of the fun. Most importantly, the variable resistance feels like riding along the road and you can do interval work with sudden bursts of acceleration. I compared it to a friends Elite fluid based roller and I hated the difference. Whenever I accelerated on the fluid trainer, the resistance level suddenly shot up, which was completely counter intuitive.

I paid under £100 for mine.

wishitwasallflat

Tacx Speedmatic - can be got for not much over £100 - search on here for previous discussions and reviews of them. I got mine about four years ago after it came best on a budget in a C+ group review of turbos - its still going strong. For a budget/occasional use I don't think you can get better.

goonz

So one person said the elite mag didnt sound too loud and another says it was very noisy? Which is it?

darkhairedlord

goonz wrote:

So one person said the elite mag didnt sound too loud and another says it was very noisy? Which is it?

depends if it's a friday afternoon build and if someone drops it between the factory and your house.

KonkyWonky

Minoura B60-R for me, great little trainer, paid around £115 for mine.

Review - http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/accessories/resistance-trainer/product/review-minoura-b60-r-trainer-12-42691/

diamonddog

goonz wrote:

So one person said the elite mag didnt sound too loud and another says it was very noisy? Which is it?

Obviously the noisy one was faulty as it had other issues, mine has no problems and is really not overly noisy.

wishitwasallflat

Noise is in the ear of the beholder (my Tacx makes a noise that just sounds like pain to me!).

BrandonA

goonz wrote:

So one person said the elite mag didnt sound too loud and another says it was very noisy? Which is it?

Just like the word "best". This is purely subjective. What is the best or loud to me may not be the same to you.

Colinthecop

If you want Budget, this might be worth a punt.

Turbo trainer £32 at Amazon reduced from £135. :shock:

Clicky link

Anonymous

Have you considered rollers?

goonz

Colinthecop wrote:

If you want Budget, this might be worth a punt.

Turbo trainer £32 at Amazon reduced from £135. :shock:

Clicky link

Sold out unsurprisingly

pinno

Turbo Trainers are the invention of the devil.

As carbonator said, Rollers.

I bought my Turbo Trainer off some bloke and then I sold it to this bloke who quickly sold it to another bloke. Says it all.

Miles253

Is it easy to do intervals on rollers?

iron-clover

You can't do high power efforts on rollers, and you have to concentrate more when you do intervals on rollers.
I personally use an Elite Crono fluid turbo at about £150, so not cheap but not expensive either. I find it much better than the old mag trainer (I'd still be able to spin out in highest gear at full gas- plus it makes a racket) I had borrowed, it's quieter than my chain and wheel spokes even when giving full effort and is kind on the tires so it doesn't bother me if I don't swap to the turbo wheel occasionally.

As long as you have the gears on your bike, you can get as much power out as you like. I'm not particularly powerful (Anaerobic power about 300-350W) but find 50x12t too hard to keep a decent cadence on. I like the simplicity of just using the gears/ cadence to regulate power rather than have to mount a dial on the handlebars etc.

Miles253

iron-clover wrote:

You can't do high power efforts on rollers, and you have to concentrate more when you do intervals on rollers.

Yeah I thought as much...

I can recommend the Tacx Satori, I borrowed it from a friend for a month, couldn't find anything wrong with it.

pinno

Rollers are great for maintaining 'Souplesse', improving your pedaling technique and keeping a steady cadence.

Although I thought my pedaling technique was good after 27 years, the Rollers exposed every flaw. I find that I am riding in a better line and using less effort since buying rollers. I have spent a lot of time on Turbo Trainers but despite this and the fact that resistance training is possible, the rollers have been more effective at staying fit than the Turbo Trainers.
Probably because my heart doesn't sink every time I contemplate a session on the rollers and I am more likely to jump on them.

Miles253

pinarello001 wrote:

because my heart doesn't sink every time I contemplate a session on the rollers and I am more likely to jump on them.

Hmm this could be reason enough to go rollers