Which one? Turbo vs exercise bike vs spin bike at home

p1tse

Potentially have the room for a permanent setup so space isn't an issue

Looking for easy setup, jump on and away I go
Wanted for to build on cardio and general fitness, 30 mins at a time style

Actually have a cycleops fluid 2 not used much yet as still setting up space and don't get much time to get on a bike, so looking for a home setup in the evening when kids gone to sleep.
Garage is separate to the house so road noise isn't an issue

Cycleops fluid 2 turbo trainer is good
Main down side is having to put my only carbon cube agree gtc pro on it which can be a faff
Also I'll require to get a spare training wheel
If I decided to sell I guess I could get £100-150 for it?

So what else could I get for £100-150 max (don't mind searching used) on exercise bike or spin bike, less if possible

I like the idea of something permanent, don't need to worry about damage to only road bike, setting it up, it means my wife could also use it

Thoughts?

paulmon

Elipitcal cross trainer. Get one with a decent set of programs (power, cardio, weight). Great for the quads and gives you a bit of change from spinning the pedals on the bike.

I have one. The wife loves it because its easy to use. I like it because I can simply jump on and do 60 minutes hard graft without getting my bike and associated clobber out.

P

imposter2.0

PaulMon wrote:

Elipitcal cross trainer. Get one with a decent set of programs (power, cardio, weight). Great for the quads and gives you a bit of change from spinning the pedals on the bike.

I have one. The wife loves it because its easy to use. I like it because I can simply jump on and do 60 minutes hard graft without getting my bike and associated clobber out.

P

i suspect the OP wants to focus on cycling - not XC skiing.

DeVlaeminck

Just leave a bike on your turbo, big fan and an MP3 player are all you need. Look for a cheap hack bike - I use an old steel 5 speed racer on the turbo. For that money I imagine any exercise bike will be rubbish. Cross trainer is probably fine for general fitness but wont do that much for your cycling if that is the aim.

bahzob

For £100 couldn't you just get a cheap bike off Gumtree/local paper and just set that up?

Ideally if cycling is your main sport you want to be doing turbo on a real bike. It's one of the best forms of training you can do. In terms of ratio useful time:time spent it is way better than going on the road and allows much easier planning/doing of sessions, especially those that include really hard intervals or non-stop long ones. Doing turbo sessions also helps build up a good pedal stroke that may make riding in the real world easier. And you can tweak things like postion/cleat setup that can make a big difference to comfort/power.

Also if you go for this setup you could save up and keep an eye out for a cheap second hand powertap or similar. Couple on ebay now with offers <£100. This would give you a great training setup.

PS. I wouldnt worry too much about rear wheel, I use Zipp one because it has power meter and hasnt come to any harm. I fashion a sweat guard out of alu foil to extend back from the seatpost to catch drips. Don't waste money on a turbo tyre, old gatorskins or similar are much better. And whatever you choose need to budget for the best fan (or 2) that you can get. Overheating can be a bigger limiter than power output.

cougie

+1 on the turbo. As bahzob - I dont need another wheel/tyre - my turbo is fine. Turbo tyres are the invention of manufacturers to con people into buying a tyre that we all know will get about 30 mins use per year... ;-)

You need a bigger budget though.

Get a fan and trainerroad - or maybe sufferfest.

You need a plan as just doing 30 mins on the turbo probably wont happen or be effective.

paulmon

Imposter wrote:

PaulMon wrote:

Elipitcal cross trainer. Get one with a decent set of programs (power, cardio, weight). Great for the quads and gives you a bit of change from spinning the pedals on the bike.

I have one. The wife loves it because its easy to use. I like it because I can simply jump on and do 60 minutes hard graft without getting my bike and associated clobber out.

P

i suspect the OP wants to focus on cycling - not XC skiing.

You don't have to be sat on a bike to improve your cycling fitness. You did know that didn't you.

cougie

But specificity surely ? Its not like he can't do cycling at home, or he's injured ?

If you can have a cross trainer - you could have a bike set up permanently on a turbo ?

Granted - if you haven't the bike then cross training is better than nothing.

imposter2.0

PaulMon wrote:

Imposter wrote:

PaulMon wrote:

Elipitcal cross trainer. Get one with a decent set of programs (power, cardio, weight). Great for the quads and gives you a bit of change from spinning the pedals on the bike.

I have one. The wife loves it because its easy to use. I like it because I can simply jump on and do 60 minutes hard graft without getting my bike and associated clobber out.

P

i suspect the OP wants to focus on cycling - not XC skiing.

You don't have to be sat on a bike to improve your cycling fitness. You did know that didn't you.

I think it is generally accepted that the best type of training for cycling is......er......cycling. If you want to be a cross-fit god, then by all means buy a multi-gym - but the OP was asking about cycling.

michaelede

+1 on turbo and trainer road, made such a difference to my performance on a bike. Think I've been back on a bike for less year. Bought a spin bike (used to do spinning years ago) on ebay used it once and almost died of boredom. Started off using my hybrid on the turbo (before it was written off) and now use my road bike with its current road tyres on.