Turbo thoughts

pgibbo

Over the past 5 years or so I've had the opportunity to try a few different turbo setups.

1. Tacx Satori
2. Tacx Flow with PM on the bike
3. Wahoo Kickr

Number 1 above was great and it got me in to the discipline of training regardless of weather or daylight issues. At a minimum I think everyone that wants to bike through the winter in Ireland need a turbo. I use the turbo year round. When you're time crunched it's an essential piece of kit.

Number 2 has served me very well for the last 3 years and has near broken me with some of the sweatfest sessions - efforts at over 110% FTP and the Hour of Power come to mind. A fantastic way to train if you're that way inclined. Not for everyone I know.

I have to say when I had a chance to try a Kickr this week I was shocked at the difference. I thought that a turbo with a PM was great for keeping you honest and making sure you hit your numbers. Don't get me wrong, this is a great setup if you use a PM. However, using a smart trainer like the Kickr takes it to a whole new level. Program up your workout with iMobileIntervals or some of the other tools out there and away you go. No fiddling with resistance for intervals, no changing gears, etc. The trainer just applies the load and you either hit the programmed numbers or grind to a halt - which is what happened me when my ego was setting the numbers for the on efforts There is nowhere to hide with one of these bad boys.

If you get the opportunity to try a session on one of these then grab it.

I know Power Meters, smart trainers and other tools are not for everyone but I'm a fan. Now I just need to start suffering and build some consistency for 2016 :pac:

Bambaata

the slope on my Flow has stopped working It has served me well for about 5 to 6 years!

ray o

DT Troublemaker said the kicker was sh!t. And the Kaiser would have us all on some contraption made from old tubes.

I'll stick with something in between.

pgibbo

ray o wrote: »

DT Troublemaker said the kicker was sh!t. And the Kaiser would have us all on some contraption made from old tubes.

I'll stick with something in between.

I had to check his review after that comment. Looking at the summary here, your definition of sh!t is very different to how I would interpret his summary. Was there somewhere else that he slated it?

ray o

pgibbo wrote: »

I had to check his review after that comment. Looking at the summary here, your definition of sh!t is very different to how I would interpret his summary. Was there somewhere else that he slated it?

Sorry I thought it was obvious that I was referring to someone closer to home! Not Ray Maker.

pgibbo

ray o wrote: »

Sorry I thought it was obvious that I was referring to someone closer to home! Not Ray Maker.

LOL...multi tasking is obviously not my strong suit

joey100

Look at the kickr reviews of some other forums and you will see that there is some big problems with its accuracy. For me pm and turbo is the way to go, I got an elite muin and power2max for same price as a kicker. Now have power on the turbo and out in the road.

Would definitely agree that the turbo is needed in Ireland. Think I've around 300 hours done on the turbo in the last 3 years!!

RacoonQueen

I've a taxc flow which served me well last year through winter...have been consider a kickr for ages but don't have the dosh.
Kickrsnap is out now which I may look into in the new year

pgibbo

joey100 wrote: »

Look at the kickr reviews of some other forums and you will see that there is some big problems with its accuracy. For me pm and turbo is the way to go, I got an elite muin and power2max for same price as a kicker. Now have power on the turbo and out in the road.

I hear you. That was always my thinking. However, my experience this week firmly changed that. I would never use a Kickr or the likes without the PM on the bike as a reference. There was a delta - the Kickr was 15W or so higher. Even taking that in to account it's a far better workout than a PM + Turbo. However, it's costly and a luxury IMO.

The other minor plus is not having to have a turbo wheel

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Love the Kickr, seem to be in a minority in terms of its accuracy though. It was always out by about 2% to the SRMs when i cross checked at the time.

peter kern

pgibbo wrote: »

LOL...multi tasking is obviously not my strong suit

My favorite turbo is one that works
And my powermeter brings food
And makes sure I don't go of the bike to early as I do a lot of virtual training right now on my own

peter kern

pgibbo wrote: »

LOL...multi tasking is obviously not my strong suit

My favorite turbo is one that works
And my powermeter brings food
And makes sure I don't go of the bike to early as I do a lot of virtual training right now on my own

Dory Dory

I have a LeMond trainer and I absolutely love it! You pop the back wheel off and attach the bike's drive train to the cassette - simulates road cycling very well. You can purchase a little thingy to track power (which I did but could never figure out how or where to attach it (but I am also very bike ignorant!)), however I have Vector pedals so that little thingy is obsolete for me!

RacoonQueen

Dory Dory wrote: »

I have a LeMond trainer and I absolutely love it! You pop the back wheel off and attach the bike's drive train to the cassette - simulates road cycling very well. You can purchase a little thingy to track power (which I did but could never figure out how or where to attach it (but I am also very bike ignorant!)), however I have Vector pedals so that little thingy is obsolete for me!

Ah now this is bike language I can relate to.

I just caught a glimpse of the turbo trainer I'm getting for Christmas. My first - so no real point in getting a top of the range one just yet until I see how I get on. Christmas Day will be fun

https://www.tacx.com/products/trainers/booster

pgibbo

Deleted User wrote: »

I just caught a glimpse of the turbo trainer I'm getting for Christmas. My first - so no real point in getting a top of the range one just yet until I see how I get on. Christmas Day will be fun

https://www.tacx.com/products/trainers/booster

I believe that's the replacement for the Flow. Great piece of kit.

fully floating

Didn't want to start a new thread on this but I could do with some help on turbo training and trainers, I have a very basic tacx turbo at the minute just use it with training book programs and a cadence sensor speed senior paired to a garmin 520 or either 310xt works ok,

But I might upgrade to something better if I can get a deal in the sales, I'm looking something to work with trainer road or the various other training sites, I have an iPhone with wahoo dongle never used it, I also believe if I buy an ant+ turbo trainer I should be able to use the edge also but I haven't really got my head around this yet

Now if any of you people have been through all this and have any advice I would really appreciate your input,
The other things is I don't want to break the bank on this so as cheap as possible is what I'm looking
Thanks

viperlogic

I've the Tacx T2180 smart turbo. Can be got for ~€300. Highly recommend it. Once warmed up and calibrated is within 2-4% of my powermeter.