Buying a turbo trainer

ArdRi71

After a month off the road due to work and family commitments I'm seriously considering buying a turbo. Reckon I probably could have squeezed in at least a couple of sessions a week at night during the past month.

However I have't a clue where to start and hence the thread. CRC have an offer on an Elite Super Crono Power Mag EastocGel Trainer and it seems to get good reviews. At 134 Euro it certainly seems an attractive price! Is this sufficient or should I be looking at something else? For a bit of background, I hope to start racing this year albeit in an inter club league at least initially.

Cee-Jay-Cee

I have that trainer. I managed to get it for €108 with a discount code in November. It an excellent but of kit, easy to set up and use and very quiet too (although that depends on the tyre you have on your bike, I'm using a Michelin Krylion Carbon and the noise level is very low)

I did consider a fluid trainer but could t justify the extra €100 in cost and the Elite Crono gets excellent reviews so plumped for it instead.

bazzamac

Try halfords sale

godtabh

I have the same. Not to many complaints either in use or from the wife. i think halfords have a good offer with a riser and mat but cant remember the price

wanderer 22

Apologies for jumping in on the thread C, but does anyone here use their turbo in an apartment/flat? Interested in getting one but worried about noise levels. Cheers

godtabh

colm18 wrote: »

Apologies for jumping in on the thread C, but does anyone here use their turbo in an apartment/flat? Interested in getting one but worried about noise levels. Cheers

I live in a duplex. No complaints from the neighbours yet and I'd be doing the sessions early in the morning.

For low intensity sessions the little lad can still watch dora the explorer without giving out too much

Dcully

I bought this trainer a few weeks back but im sorry i did.
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/elite-volare-mag-force-elastogel/rp-prod89087

I suffer from asthma and its a lot worse these winter months,damp weather is worse than freezing for me so i tend to avoid the road for a few months.
Its a great trainer but i cant for the life of me bring myself to use it, its mind numbing boring in the extreme.

Cee-Jay-Cee

Dcully wrote: »

I bought this trainer a few weeks back but im sorry i did.
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/elite-volare-mag-force-elastogel/rp-prod89087

I suffer from asthma and its a lot worse these winter months,damp weather is worse than freezing for me so i tend to avoid the road for a few months.
Its a great trainer but i cant for the life of me bring myself to use it, its mind numbing boring in the extreme.

I use mine in an u heated garage. It doesn't take long to get warmed up and I listen to music as loudly as I want as the garage is detached and away from the house. Time passes very quickly for me as its the only time I get to listen to music in peace saying that I only do 2 or 3 at most 1hr sessions a week.

godtabh

Dcully wrote: »

I bought this trainer a few weeks back but im sorry i did.
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/elite-volare-mag-force-elastogel/rp-prod89087

I suffer from asthma and its a lot worse these winter months,damp weather is worse than freezing for me so i tend to avoid the road for a few months.
Its a great trainer but i cant for the life of me bring myself to use it, its mind numbing boring in the extreme.

I use trainerroad to keep me motivated. Did a 2 hour session onit over the weekend. that was tough

Edit: thats actually the model I bought

dragratchet

colm18 wrote: »

Apologies for jumping in on the thread C, but does anyone here use their turbo in an apartment/flat? Interested in getting one but worried about noise levels. Cheers

i use mine in my first floor apartment and go to town on it doing sufferfest vids. no complaints yet. i throw down an old yoga mat

ard ri. i use this http://www.swimcyclerun.com/turbo-trainers/tacx-blue-twist-turbo-trainer-t2675.html

you're welcome to borrow it for a shot, hurt both my knees skiing so ill be resting up most of this week

mjp

Dcully wrote: »

I bought this trainer a few weeks back but im sorry i did.
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/elite-volare-mag-force-elastogel/rp-prod89087

I suffer from asthma and its a lot worse these winter months,damp weather is worse than freezing for me so i tend to avoid the road for a few months.
Its a great trainer but i cant for the life of me bring myself to use it, its mind numbing boring in the extreme.

Am in similar situation myself. New to cycling and bought one last month but find it boring as hell even though it have tv on the room and music playing. Not sure if I'm using it correctly. Do you adjust the gears on bike whilst using it or do you leave it at one gear. I have it at most difficult gear and have to have trainer at setting 1 in order to get motor in trainer to seem to work.

BoardsMember

I was looking at turbos too, someone posted this link on a similar thread: http://www.halfords.ie/cycling/accessories/turbo-trainers/elite-magnetic-force-trainer-pack?cm_re=Pillar+Pages-_-content2-_-elitepack

dragratchet

mjp wrote: »

Am in similar situation myself. New to cycling and bought one last month but find it boring as hell even though it have tv on the room and music playing. Not sure if I'm using it correctly. Do you adjust the gears on bike whilst using it or do you leave it at one gear. I have it at most difficult gear and have to have trainer at setting 1 in order to get motor in trainer to seem to work.

ya gotta learn to love the work. set yourself goals (loads of workouts online) using a speed and cadence/ heart-rate monitor and follow a trainer video like suffer-fest. sitting spinning in front of the tv with no goals/objectives might burn off the calories but wont necessarily make you fitter and its more boring.

BoardsMember

dragratchet wrote: »

ya gotta learn to love the work. set yourself goals (loads of workouts online) using a speed and cadence/ heart-rate monitor and follow a trainer video like suffer-fest. sitting spinning in front of the tv with no goals/objectives might burn off the calories but wont necessarily make you fitter and its more boring.

Can you not just bate the sh1te out of yourself for as long as possible, rest for a few mins, then repeat, and keep doing that? Ok, might need to time the I tervals of exercise and rest etc, but surely that could really improve fitness/strength

Cee-Jay-Cee

mjp wrote: »

Am in similar situation myself. New to cycling and bought one last month but find it boring as hell even though it have tv on the room and music playing. Not sure if I'm using it correctly. Do you adjust the gears on bike whilst using it or do you leave it at one gear. I have it at most difficult gear and have to have trainer at setting 1 in order to get motor in trainer to seem to work.

I have mine set on level 3 most of the time and go up and down the gears then every so often switch it to the highest resistance and get out of the saddle for a 30 second burn but mostly I use it for spinning (keeping cadence in the 90's) and try to maintain a steady speed.

Jim Stynes

Get a wahoo, cheap and cheerful!!!!

dragratchet

BoardsMember wrote: »

Can you not just bate the sh1te out of yourself for as long as possible, rest for a few mins, then repeat, and keep doing that? Ok, might need to time the I tervals of exercise and rest etc, but surely that could really improve fitness/strength

yeah thats what interval training basically is. though there are different drills with varying time/intensity/cadence and gearing you can do to strengthen your cardio or muscular fitness. something really simple i like to do is an hour spinning around 25kph with 30 second sprints thrown in at 10/15 minute marks, immediately returning to your 25kph pace. if nothing else it'll create an impressive amount of sweat

ArdRi71

Thanks everyone for the advice. The Halfords offer looks pretty good and better than the CRC.

Hey Colm18, no problem jump on board! Getting the practice in for the big adventure in September?😉

Sorry to hear about the knees dragratchet! I'm hoping to get out at the weekend. Been off the bike since that last spin in November :-(