Turbo trainer

dafman

Thinking of purchasing a turbo trainer to do bit over long wet winter nights ,any recomendations of some good value for money out there that will do the job and will last ,dont want to go for the cheapest with short working life in them but dont want to go crazy either with spend.Also would prefer to see before purchasing .Tks

Lumen

The Tacx Satori is good, they're usually cheapest from bike24.com, but they're currently out of stock.

There's a new one called the Tacx Booster which has more resistance (therefore quieter), see comparison here, but I can't see much difference in the numbers.

At the highest resistance setting 300W takes 21.5kph on the Booster vs 22.5kph on the Satori. I doubt the extra 5% wheel speed of the Satori would be noticable.

Maybe try and find a discounted Satori somewhere.

torydiver

+1 for the Tacx Satori,
Got my one from bike24 last year,
Nothing too fancy but sturdy and does the job well,
Also my one came with its own storage bag,
Folds up really neatly in a few seconds, and can be stored discretely in the press when not in use........

sherlok

They're all the same - hateful time machines that turn minutes into what seems like sweaty hours.

StaggerLee

I seen this one online - http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=74811

Would that compare to the tacx one?

I'm going to get one to keep me going over the winter. How do they connect to the back wheel? Do you need to remove the wheel at all?

smacl

StaggerLee wrote: »

I seen this one online - http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=74811

Would that compare to the tacx one?

I'm going to get one to keep me going over the winter. How do they connect to the back wheel? Do you need to remove the wheel at all?

The tacx one has multiple resistance levels which will give you more workout options. On the tacx I use, you don't have to take the wheel off, just change the skewer, although many people use a spare wheel on the turbo, as extended turbo usage wears tyres out quite quickly.

billyhead

I am also in the market for a good, reliable and less boring turbo trainer then the one I had before which was a basic Elite Voltare trainer from Halfords. So is the general consensus here that the Tacx trainers are the best on the market. I was also considering something like the below for winter indoor training

http://www.bike24.com/1.php?product=4828;prev=4735;page=3;content=8;navigation=1;menu=1000,5,69

Any feedback on anyone who uses a spin bike for indoor training would be appreciated

AverageJoe82

hi im also on the look out for a turbo trainer, so it a bit confusing , so would you be better off just changing the tyre on the wheel or better to have a sperate wheel altogether

JMcL

AverageJoe82 wrote: »

hi im also on the look out for a turbo trainer, so it a bit confusing , so would you be better off just changing the tyre on the wheel or better to have a sperate wheel altogether

The main issue is that they're rough on tyres - after a session the back tyre tends to be nearly too hot to touch. Ergo if you've some nice expensive racing slicks, you're going to make sh1t3 of them in no short order if you use the trainer a lot.

You can buy special trainer tyres (selection here). Personally I haven't gone down that route as I've a Specialized Armadillo on the back which is tough as nails, so wear hasn't been too much of a problem.

If you are going to use it a lot, the ideal thing would be to have a second wheel (with same or compatible cassette etc), but that's going to be pricey enough. IMHO swapping tyres for a turbo session is just way more trouble than it's worth.

As regards recommendations, I've a Tacx Sirius which is a magnetic trainer with 10 levels of resistance. It's fairly quiet as such things go, and it does the job for me.

AverageJoe82

JMcL wrote: »

The main issue is that they're rough on tyres - after a session the back tyre tends to be nearly too hot to touch. Ergo if you've some nice expensive racing slicks, you're going to make sh1t3 of them in no short order if you use the trainer a lot.

You can buy special trainer tyres (selection here). Personally I haven't gone down that route as I've a Specialized Armadillo on the back which is tough as nails, so wear hasn't been too much of a problem.

If you are going to use it a lot, the ideal thing would be to have a second wheel (with same or compatible cassette etc), but that's going to be pricey enough. IMHO swapping tyres for a turbo session is just way more trouble than it's worth.

As regards recommendations, I've a Tacx Sirius which is a magnetic trainer with 10 levels of resistance. It's fairly quiet as such things go, and it does the job for me.

Thanks for the info man, will hopefully get one when the weather get really crap, as moving house at the minute and funds are low, how much would a wheel and cassette cost roughly as my bike has 10 on the back

kala85

Sorry to re open an old thread. Any more advice on Tacx trainers. Can you change the booster into a VR trainer. Where is the cheapest place to get a VR trainer.

smacl

kala85 wrote: »

Sorry to re open an old thread. Any more advice on Tacx trainers. Can you change the booster into a VR trainer. Where is the cheapest place to get a VR trainer.

Last time I checked it was BikeDiscount.de, currently €521 for the tacx i-flow with TTS4 software. I got the older flow for €369 from Bike24 with TTS3 software, but they've stopped doing them. New version takes a reasonably decent PC to run, but does look pretty awesome

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hwHc3cvcY8

harringtonp

dafman wrote: »

Thinking of purchasing a turbo trainer to do bit over long wet winter nights ,any recomendations of some good value for money out there that will do the job and will last ,dont want to go for the cheapest with short working life in them but dont want to go crazy either with spend.Also would prefer to see before purchasing .Tks

Is that you Michael, figured out what you are getting ?

Paul.

dafman

yea paul ,that me ,yea picked one up few weeks back.Tacx bluematic is the one I got and happy enough with it ,not exactly the quietest but i use it out in garage(tried it inside but cleared out fairly rapidly)and headphones in all the time (helps with boredom too) .sweat on concrete floor the best option cause it flows after bit .