Very cheap turbo trainers - any reason not to?

pastryboy

Have a power meter, not concerned about the trainer being noisy.

Any reason not just get a cheap £50-ish turbo?

super_davo

Only the fact that absolutely loads of people buy them, use them once or twice and decide it's far too boring, so you can often get a bargain second hand if you're prepared to wait.
For what it's worth, I started with a budget Elite trainer on one of Halfords special offers (£70) and used it for a couple of years. When I put in any efforts, it sounded like a jumbo jet taking off. I know you say you're not bothered about the noise, but it was horrendous, and really limited the times I could use it (never late at night or first thing in the morning). I sold it on eBay for £40 and bought a slightly more upmarket fluid/mag version, still Elite, which was a similar price after a big discount at Wiggle. It's in a different league for noise, so gets much more use.
If I was buying now I'd definitely pay a bit more and get a smart trainer though.

londoncommuter

Completely agree about used. Spend the same £50 and you'll get some great deals if you're patient on ebay. August is a great time to buy one. Maybe something like a Satori for around that?

fat daddy

I bought a cheap magnetic trainer from Halfords, when I did my shoulder in and was unable to use the rowing machine or lift weights.

Its Crap ! ...... really it almost put me off cycling for life, just the feel of the resistance through the back wheel is so unrealistic, you cant really sustain power, do a pedal stroke too hard and suddenly you over come friction and suddenly it drops 50w ..... momentarily slow and the mag grips and for 2 strokes its like doing 300w before regaining and doing 250 again.

It feels nothing like actual cycling, which in your head you can justify, but its for training, but in reality its a frustrating and doesn't feel natural.

HOWEVER !!!!!

I had a go of Zwift, got addicted and bought a £500 wahoo kickr snap ..... its a whole different game now, just having the flywheel on the back and controlled by app, its sooo much better. to the point that I don't need zwift to do the workout, just pedalling on it controlling power with a phone app is acceptable.

if you do get a trainer, get one that feels like a real bike when you are on it ...... ie a big assed flywheel !

Anonymous

Do you have a very cheap bike?
If not then I am guessing you will not like a cheap turbo.

Its the same difference between most cheap things and not so cheap things IME.
Theres no magic that makes cheap things work as well.

Cheap turbos I have seen (Minoura) have that awful cheap burnt oil/plastic smell when you take them out the box (anyone know what I mean?).
A lot of fakes/copies (bike boxes, Oakleys, Go Pro mounts etc.) have the same sickly smell.

optrexeyedrops

Ive had Elite trainers that have been good and I've had a Minoura trainer that was alright but once i bought a Cycleops Power Beam Pro i realised how crap the other 2 were (well maybe not the Elite so much)

You get what you pay for. I would suggest saving up a bit and getting a much better trainer. You will thank me in the end :-)

simon_masterson

Some cheap turbos are workable if you just want something to set up in the garage and use a couple of times a year when it's raining, and don't mind it having a mediocre ride feel, not offering much adjustment or resistance, and being a bit noisy/wobbly/fiddly to set up/etc. My Elite Crono fluid turbo falls down on all of the above.

I race TTs and train pretty much exclusively indoors. My Kurt Kinetic magnetic turbo is probably the best investment I've made - it's rock solid, very quiet, has a big flywheel (I haven't yet bought the pro flywheel upgrade), and has a range of resistance that allows me to go down to warm up spinning even with a 104" gear on.

itboffin

i bought a £30 mag one years ago and whilst i try and avoid using the turbo unless its icy or snowing its fine, why pay more unless you're an all year round turbo nutter

never noticed any slip myself

daniel_b

I have an Elite fluid turbo thing which must be 8 years old by now, still going strong.

However I have recently become a convert of trainerroad, so asked for, and was fortunate enough to recieve a Tacx Vortex smart trainer, so will be intrigued to see how that pans out.

dazz_ni45

Daniel B wrote:

I have an Elite fluid turbo thing which must be 8 years old by now, still going strong.

However I have recently become a convert of trainerroad, so asked for, and was fortunate enough to recieve a Tacx Vortex smart trainer, so will be intrigued to see how that pans out.

Have you tried it yet Daniel, I keep going to press the buy button but then get put of by the lack of resistance compared to some of the other smart turbo's, but I'm not sure in the real world how much difference it would actually make. Tempted by either the Wahoo Kickr snap or the upcoming Elite Rampa but both still twice the price of the vortex....

markhewitt1978

dazz_ni45 wrote:

Daniel B wrote:

I have an Elite fluid turbo thing which must be 8 years old by now, still going strong.

However I have recently become a convert of trainerroad, so asked for, and was fortunate enough to recieve a Tacx Vortex smart trainer, so will be intrigued to see how that pans out.

Have you tried it yet Daniel, I keep going to press the buy button but then get put of by the lack of resistance compared to some of the other smart turbo's, but I'm not sure in the real world how much difference it would actually make. Tempted by either the Wahoo Kickr snap or the upcoming Elite Rampa but both still twice the price of the vortex....

How much power do you put out though? Yes the gradient is only 7% too but 7% is still mighty tough for indoors.

In any case new trainers are often announced end of August / start of September so I wouldn't buy now.

daniel_b

dazz_ni45 wrote:

Daniel B wrote:

I have an Elite fluid turbo thing which must be 8 years old by now, still going strong.

However I have recently become a convert of trainerroad, so asked for, and was fortunate enough to recieve a Tacx Vortex smart trainer, so will be intrigued to see how that pans out.

Have you tried it yet Daniel, I keep going to press the buy button but then get put of by the lack of resistance compared to some of the other smart turbo's, but I'm not sure in the real world how much difference it would actually make. Tempted by either the Wahoo Kickr snap or the upcoming Elite Rampa but both still twice the price of the vortex....

Not yet, but did assemble it yesterday - aside from one of the two screw holes not lining up properly, it seems well made, mechanism to lock the wheel in is quite a bit different to the Elite, so will see how I get on with that.

I might manage to try it at the weekend, family life permitting.

My power output is such that it will be plenty for me I think, but yes I can see that would be a serious consideraton if your a powerful rider, or sprinter for example.

You are so right though, to move above that resistance, is pretty much doubling the price :-(
I expect in a fw years things will be different, but I was impatient.......

step83

I had a cheap mag one for a few years knocked up plenty of miles on it an yes it was stupidly noisy. Replaced it recently after the locking mechanism which was plastic chewed itself up.
Replaced it with a cascade fluid trainer difference is incredible you can hammer along and its not loud, plus I no longer had a remote which is a plus knock it up a couple of gears. Though the slosh of fluid when you start is a bit novel still invoking a childish smirk.

Slip wise I cant say I ever noticed any on mine I always used an old road tyre on a spare rim an never had problems I would say though its worth waiting toward the end of summer the new units come out so you can get some cracking deals on last years models.

daniel_b

Have swapped the bike onto the Tacx this evening, struggled to make it work on the correct wheel setting, until I found a dial at the back that adjusted the position of the roller.

Vectors removed, and Shimano R540's fitted.

Have also worked out that for where I want it the provided powerlead is too short, so have ordered a 3m one, might be here on Saturday.

Will be riding outside on Saturday, but might be able to give this a go on Sunday morning maybe, if not, Monday night.

dazz_ni45

Look forward to the feedback!

daniel_b

dazz_ni45 wrote:

Look forward to the feedback!

No worries dazz - additionally, there were no instructions with this at all, and a forum search found other people like me who were unable to get it to fit on the middle setting - basically 1 is for 26", 2 is for 700C, and 3 is for 29".
I too tried it on the 26", but that was too tight, but I saw posts from other people where that was the only way they could get there road bike to fit, and I can only assume they did not discover the dial at the rear.

dinyull

pastryboy wrote:

Have a power meter, not concerned about the trainer being noisy.

Any reason not just get a cheap £50-ish turbo?

The only thing I would say is feel.

I replaced an old (talking 5-10 year old) mag trainer last winter with the cheapest fluid trainer I could find and the difference is night and day. Simple way to explain it is it feels more natural - if you stop pedalling on a mag the wheel will stop instantly, you feel like your always having to fight it especially on higher power efforts whereas with the fluid it's smooth and more natural.

Think I paid £100 new (Cascade Fluid Pro - Planet X) but for £50 you'll probably find a sparingly used fluid trainer on ebay.

simon_masterson

Dinyull wrote:

pastryboy wrote:

Have a power meter, not concerned about the trainer being noisy.

Any reason not just get a cheap £50-ish turbo?

The only thing I would say is feel.

I replaced an old (talking 5-10 year old) mag trainer last winter with the cheapest fluid trainer I could find and the difference is night and day. Simple way to explain it is it feels more natural - if you stop pedalling on a mag the wheel will stop instantly, you feel like your always having to fight it especially on higher power efforts whereas with the fluid it's smooth and more natural.

Think I paid £100 new (Cascade Fluid Pro - Planet X) but for £50 you'll probably find a sparingly used fluid trainer on ebay.

Roll down is down to the size of the flywheel and the overall quality of the resistance unit; I'd say exactly the same about my Elite fluid turbo vs my KK magnetic one. A rubbish turbo is a rubbish turbo.

darkhairedlord

Boring and they break your frame. Try the road or at a push, if you must, perhaps rollers.