Worth the step up from basic turbo?

londoncommuter

My commute is going to drop to a ludicrous four miles so I'm pondering a turbo to try and do some top up sessions. I could maybe do with more structured interval sessions anyway as I've definitely lost any top end I used to have.

I've bought, used briefly, given up and sold trainers four times now but this time I need to make it stick so was after people's thoughts on them. I've only ever had Tacx Satori as they've always been good value at the time. I kind of like the Tacx workouts which you can follow, changing the resistance as you go. The one time I had a fluid I was a bit clueless with what I should be doing.

I'm a bit of a Luddite on the whole linking to PC's/tablets etc etc and, although I'm not sure I'd want to, maybe shouldn't get something that would rule it out later. I really can't see me wanting to race others on-line (Zwift?) but maybe on-line tools or videos (Sufferfest?) might be handy.

Anyway, sorry for the ramble. With summer almost here, the used market is about to go through the floor I'd have thought and there are some great deals on new ones at the moment. Not sure about any of these (I have kind of focused on Tacx just as I'm bit overwhelmed by choice):


Tacx Blue Matic £53: basic but would offer enough resistance for my puny legs. I'd have an ANT+ speed/cadence sensor on the bike anyway so not a big deal it's not "smart"?

Tacx Booster £79: same as above but only a few quid more and maybe more solid (and with a higher resale when I give up again.....)

Tacx Flow Smart £143: is this a decent toe in the water for a trainer to use with a PC/Tablet or a bit of a half way house? Looks like you have to control it with a computer as it doesn't have it's own head unit?

Cyclops Fluid 2 £137: is the benefit of a fluid trainer enough to compensate for a lack of controls and anything smart on it?

Again, sorry for the ramble. Suppose I'm just after some thoughts on whether it's worth spending that bit more to step up from something "simple" like the Booster.....

cougie

If you've had four turbos and given up then I can't see that the fifth is going to work.

It all depends why you are using them? Do you have a goal in mind that you can use to motivate you?

Turbos are hard work and you need to suffer on them.

I love trainerroad when I have a goal and need to follow a plan. Other than that though I stay well clear.

Seeing as you're on your bike commuting - why not extend the route home? I can't see the turbo working unless something has changed.

Grill

Cyclops is the best of those. Try and get a KK Rock n Roll of possible.

londoncommuter

cougie wrote:

If you've had four turbos and given up then I can't see that the fifth is going to work.

It all depends why you are using them? Do you have a goal in mind that you can use to motivate you?

I was fine with them when I had an event coming up to focus on but after that they lost their "appeal". I'm also stupid enough to still go out at the weekend whatever the winter weather.

Seems like it would make sense though now as it will fit in with my evenings a little better. Anyway, enough of my life story. Back to trainers.

With one of the Tacx smart trainers, am I right in thinking you don't need a ANT+ dongle to plug into a tablet as long as you're just using Tacx's own software to run the trainer?

DCRainmaker mentioned:

"The challenge however, was that while the Tacx Smart trainers (Bushido, Vortex and Satori) broadcasts open ANT+/BLE, they didn’t allow for control of the trainer. Instead that required the Tacx suite of applications, albeit available on Android, iOS and PC."

I'm a bit puzzled by this as the hardware in the trainer is the same, the tablet is the same so why does Zwift etc need the ANT+ dongle? Does Tacx's software make use of a tablets Bluetooth smart broadcasting ability and the others not? Bit clueless with all of this.

I've really no clue about tablets and the like (very dull compared to carbon fibre things) but what would be a good basic one just for using with a turbo?

Any horror stories about the Flow Smart?

daniel_b

londoncommuter wrote:

My commute is going to drop to a ludicrous four miles so I'm pondering a turbo to try and do some top up sessions.

So presumably your commute used to be longer?

Can't you leave the same time you used to, and take a longer\nicer route?

With regards to TT's, I have a Elite fluid one, and it's been faultless, and I find great for intervals or whatever type of riding really.
I do have rollers, but have yet to master them.

When on the turbo I use either a workout I have created via the TC cyclist book on my garmin, or some cycling related video, be it actual footage or a GCN workout etc etc

londoncommuter

Daniel B wrote:

londoncommuter wrote:

My commute is going to drop to a ludicrous four miles so I'm pondering a turbo to try and do some top up sessions.

So presumably your commute used to be longer?

It's about to drop from 7 miles of pretty much uninterrupted ride to 4 miles with the Greenwich foot tunnel in the middle. I can't see me voluntarily extending it as, much as London is a joy to cycle in, it's not completely risk free! The new place has got a free gym so I guess I could try something in there to make up for the drop in distance although that's not as fun as buying something shiny to clog another bit of the house up....

ayjaycee

I've never used the cheap turbos but really can't imagine that they would be much cop. That said, I have actually got the Cycleops Fluid 2 and don't get on with that either (I gave up on it after about 10 miles of riding!). However, I think that's more a reflection on me not liking turbo trainers than the quality of the machine itself which is usually well thought of. Shame I'm not in London as we might have been able to do a deal. Don't forget that if you do eventually buy a turbo trainer, you will probably have to budget for other stuff like a riser block and, depending on your attitude, maybe even a dedicated wheel with a turbo trainer tyre as they can be pretty rough on 'ordinary' road tyres.

As an alternative, you could just get out more often in the real world and ride your bike more.

markhewitt1978

londoncommuter wrote:

With one of the Tacx smart trainers, am I right in thinking you don't need a ANT+ dongle to plug into a tablet as long as you're just using Tacx's own software to run the trainer?

You still need the ANT+ dongle, that's how the signals from the trainer get into the PC. Without it, they can't! Edit: You're talking about tablets. That's changed a bit recently so it's a bit confused, a few months ago it was all about the ANT+FEC but now Bluetooth FEC is being implemented but far from being universal. I know Kinomap app have done it so it may be worth looking at that.

DCRainmaker mentioned:

"The challenge however, was that while the Tacx Smart trainers (Bushido, Vortex and Satori) broadcasts open ANT+/BLE, they didn’t allow for control of the trainer. Instead that required the Tacx suite of applications, albeit available on Android, iOS and PC."

I'm a bit puzzled by this as the hardware in the trainer is the same, the tablet is the same so why does Zwift etc need the ANT+ dongle? Does Tacx's software make use of a tablets Bluetooth smart broadcasting ability and the others not? Bit clueless with all of this.

That sounds like an old article (i.e. pre mid-2015) the trainer market has changed a lot since then so that's best ignored. The Tacx trainers now are NOT locked down to their own software and can be used with anything, Trainer Road, Zwift etc.

I've really no clue about tablets and the like (very dull compared to carbon fibre things) but what would be a good basic one just for using with a turbo?

A PC will give you a much better experience overall. However a basic smartphone or tablet can run Trainer Road - I used to use it on my iPhone.

Any horror stories about the Flow Smart?

There were a few problems when they first came out but that always seems to happen with newly released trainers. But it seems a good value entry level for smart trainers.

londoncommuter

markhewitt1978 wrote:

You still need the ANT+ dongle, that's how the signals from the trainer get into the PC. Without it, they can't! Edit: You're talking about tablets. That's changed a bit recently so it's a bit confused, a few months ago it was all about the ANT+FEC but now Bluetooth FEC is being implemented but far from being universal. I know Kinomap app have done it so it may be worth looking at that.

That's what's confused me. Other than a couple of obscure ones I think tablets/phones don't broadcast in ANT+ of any flavour (without a dongle). Did you need one for your iphone to control the trainer before? If not, I guess you were using Bluetooth and the Tacx basic software/app supports that?