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Turbo trainers - advice needed

Doc ScoDoc Sco Posts: 38
in General Chat
Hi I am thinking of investing in a turbo trainer this winter and have been looking at various reviews. The Tracx Flow seems very popular, but its all quite new and daunting. I have tried to find any comments on the 220 forum but the search engine doesnt seem to come up with anything. Does anyone have any advice/ experience with the Tracx? Are there any others readers would recommend?



Thanx! [:D]

Comments

  • treefrogtreefrog Posts: 1,242
    There is not really that much difference between them. In my opinion avoid those with too much resistance adjustability - keep it simple and use your bike's gears to make things tighter or lighter.

    A few things to bear in mind when buying one. 1. They are noisey air resistance oes are the worst, the fluid and magnetic ones are quieter. 2. I think that they are not good for bikes - think about it ... the bike is clamped and you re epeating the same movements over a prolonged period, this repetitive strain must weaken the frame. I use a knakered old hack in mine. 3. Turbo trainers eat tyres so get the indoor trainer specific tyre for your bike and better still put it on its own wheel, if you are not going to use a turbo bike. 4 Turbo sessions lead to lots of sweating and sweat is very corrosive so make sure you protect your bike from the salty stuff. 5. If you intend to do timetrials and use the turbo trainer to warm up then make sure that your turbo is easy to disemble and to transport

    Recently Tacx (I think!) have produced virtual routes that connect into the turbo; they are actually quite good but very expensive, I use an ipod on random. As far as sessions go I've tried various and to me the best two are a full Winter (once a week October - April) of 60kM as fast as possible - great for hills and an interval session of 10 min on (flat out) 5 min off (recovery pace) x6 this one is good to turn this fitness into speed. All my sessions are done on the big ring (53) with 14 0n the casette

  • LegacyUserLegacyUser Posts: 0
    Doc Sco thanks for bringing this subject to the forum. i have just finished my first full season in tri and am looking forward to a big winter of training but feel like i need a turbo trainer to progress my bike work. i too have struggled to find good information/advice on the web.

    treefrog, thanks for your input and other advice from other forumites would be greatly appreciated.

    i dont know about you Doc Sco but my budget is about £150.
  • stevedavis82stevedavis82 Posts: 110
    I've just ordered the Tax-X Flow with Ergo from Chain Reaction Cycles, in sale from £280 to £219.99. Good trainers and has an ergo meter, HR, Cadence and distance etc so you can really get scientific with your training and see how you progress, i think its really important to know your power output and cadence when training so this can be transferred to racing.
  • julesojuleso Posts: 279
    Hiya. Quick comment - CycleOps magneto. My other half is a hardcore cyclist and swears by the cycleops magneto ones - not too noisy and not subject to 'drift' apparently. Wiggle, about £130. Recommended! Oh and get a big fan and a towel to drape over the bars.......and you're away. :-)
  • Doc ScoDoc Sco Posts: 38
    Thanks for the info so far, treefrog you have me worried now about potential damage to the bike - is this a serious problem cos I've only got the one bike! the spare wheel with dedicated tyre sounds like a good idea, I will look into it- Juleso do you or your hard core partner have any experience of long term damage? I'll also look into the CycleOps magneto thanks. [:)]





  • Doc ScoDoc Sco Posts: 38
    The more I read the less I know - so after another 2 hours of researching turbo trainers on the web I have a question - just what is the difference between ergotrainers, and cycletrainers and which type do I want?????
  • julesojuleso Posts: 279
    I asked my hardcore cyclist the difference between ergo and cycle trainer and the answer was 'dunno'. We think that ergo implies more readouts from the thing itself. With our turbo, we have the bikes set up so that the cycle computer reads from the back wheel. I know people have mentioned damage to the bikes but I've never heard of that - surely riding on uneven surfaces would cause more damage over time? It's never a subject that's come up in our house. I should explain also that when I say 'hardcore cyclist' I mean a man who wins the club BAR every year (and it's a good club) so he really does know what he's talking about.

    Where a separate wheel is concerned - it's probably worth getting a separate wheel and tyre if you plan to do lots of turbo sessions. I always use my bike as it is - it's just been explained to me that this is to avoid overcomplicating things (for the female mind I suppose...). I only do about half an hour at a time and the wheel already on the bike is fine for that. My other half always changes the wheel when he's going to do a session - his are up to an hour long and from the noises he makes they sound like pretty hard sessions!
  • jon_gjon_g Posts: 318
    I've got the Cycleops Fluid 2, got it as it's supposed to be the quietest, and as i've been up at 5 in the morning 4 days a week to do an hour session on it and i live in a flat and i've never had any problems or complaints from the neighbours so it must be quiet! i've been training for ironman on it so been doing lots of miles on it on my normal bike (changed the tyre, but no dedicated wheel) and no problems with regards to damage to the frame (i check when i'm cleaning it-no damge to welds etc) and no damage from sweat, and i leave a big sweat puddle after my sessions! i drape a towel over the bike while i'm working out and then give it a quick wipe over after the session. but then i do give it a thorough clean once a week (ok maybe every other week!)[:D]
  • Doc ScoDoc Sco Posts: 38
    Found this review online re The Flow - no idea which month/year the article appeared, anyone know?

    Review from 220 Triathlon

    The Flow, with its nifty computer set-up, has everything for the athlete that's serious about training...once it's up and running, the Flow is great to use...it's quiet and offers a superb ride feel.

    In conclusion...

    Precision turbo-trainer with all the technical info in place.

    Rating: Performance 10/10 | Value 8/10
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