what turbo trainer

[a boardman]

What turbo trainer do people recommend,

is it worth spending a bit more for a better one
gel or magnetic,
or a high power one.

[madzo14]

Ive been using the Elite Qubo Power Fluid (elastogel) and I think its great, fairly quiet and gives really good resistance. Cost me around £220 at the time. I would say its worth spending the bit extra to get a good one. Kurt Kinetic Rock and Roll is another good one from what I've read.

[simonF10]

I have recently got a Wahoo Kickr. It's quite expensive but I have been impressed with it so far (after slight technical glitch).

I bought a Bluetooth speed/cadence sensor and heart rate monitor and started using trainer road (needed Bluetooth dongle with my PC).

I find indoor workouts have become strangely addictive with this setup.

[47p2]

Ditch the idea of a trainer and get out on the roads, much better and the good news is...your skin's waterproof

[Accelebrate]

I went for a Tacx Satori with mat and wheel riser for £150 from Decathlon in January. They also had Vittoria trainer tyres for £10. I was dubious but the trainer tyre did reduce the noise created, I can use it indoors without any issues.

I also added a BTwin speed cadence sensor to my spare bike so that I can record my trainer sessions on my Garmin. Then I purchased a Suunto ANT+ USB adapter to use with TrainerRoad. With this setup you can feed 'virtual power' readings back into your Garmin, which is a nice gimmick.

[Sarkmeister]

47p2 said:

Ditch the idea of a trainer and get out on the roads, much better and the good news is...your skin's waterproof

Good idea in theory, but it's not always possible to do certain types of training out on the roads (interval type stuff).

Anyway, I bought a Tacx Blue Motion a couple of months ago and use it with Trainerroad. Can't fault it, but I have nothing to compare it to as it's my first.

[bakerstreet]

I have an Elite Gel trainer. Paid about £160 for it from Wiggle. Meant to be a bit quieter than the magnetic ones. I don't use it much now, but when I was using it a lot, it was fine. My wife currently uses it with her hybrid.

Make sure you budget for a front wheel riser and something to catch the sweat.

There have been a few threads on this. Worth doing a search.

[Dan Friel]

Got an elite gel "kit" from halfords recently for less than £120. Has been great. Included Matt, block and bike sweat protector thingy. Very quiet and seems to be good quality..

[IroningMan]

Kurt Kinetic - very well-built and very quiet. Rock'n'Roll and an oversize flywheel if you're going to use it a lot.

[Barbarossa]

Kurt Kinetic +1

[arcticnick]

madzo14 said:

Ive been using the Elite Qubo Power Fluid (elastogel) and I think its great, fairly quiet and gives really good resistance. Cost me around £220 at the time. I would say its worth spending the bit extra to get a good one. Kurt Kinetic Rock and Roll is another good one from what I've read.

Just bought one of these. Much cheaper from probikeshop.fr, €219 (£180). Bizarrely it is slightly more expensive if you choose English language on the website.

Really quiet, feels quite natural under load which is the best praise I can give it really.

[Fer]

Has anyone tried the B-Kool? My LBS has a demo and it look kind of fun.

[Chicken Chaser]

Barbarossa said:

Kurt Kinetic +1

+2

[V-spec]

Sarkmeister said:

Good idea in theory, but it's not always possible to do certain types of training out on the roads (interval type stuff).

Anyway, I bought a Tacx Blue Motion a couple of months ago and use it with Trainerroad. Can't fault it, but I have nothing to compare it to as it's my first.

Does Trainerroad automatically adjust the resistance on the Tacx? If so, does it go via a PC?

I have a tacx Flow, use it with Sufferfest videos and love it, but would be great if the resistance could adjust itself automatically. No PC though, just an iPad.

Warning, once you get addicted to the trainer, you will want a power meter... And those are expensive...

[bigandclever]

Fer said:

Has anyone tried the B-Kool? My LBS has a demo and it look kind of fun.

I've got one

I like it, but I have nothing to compare it to; and I am a lardy arsed beginner. Seems to be doing the job though, nice and sturdy, not too noisy (but defo not quiet).

[Fer]

bigandclever said:

I've got one

I like it, but I have nothing to compare it to; and I am a lardy arsed beginner. Seems to be doing the job though, nice and sturdy, not too noisy (but defo not quiet).

I'm a LAB too, but not sure I could sell the idea to SWMBO.

[okgo]

Kurt road machine here. Though how anyone can say it is quiet I don't know, it's loud as fk. Mind you that will depend on how much power you're putting out. I had to sell the pro flywheel as the vibration and reverberation was a joke.

[IroningMan]

okgo said:

Kurt road machine here. Though how anyone can say it is quiet I don't know, it's loud as fk. Mind you that will depend on how much power you're putting out. I had to sell the pro flywheel as the vibration and reverberation was a joke.

Mine has the smaller flywheel and is on a stone floor, which might help, but it's a sight quieter that the old Elite wind resistance thing I have.

I'm unlikely to tax its capacity to absorb power...

[ChrisMCoupe]

Chicken Chaser said:

Barbarossa said:

Kurt Kinetic +1

+2

+3

As Okgo says though, they are not the most quiet of things when you are doing more than just a recovery/tempo session, but I live in a flat (concrete floor) and my neighbours have never said anything

[okgo]

I've sinced moved house, I was in a first floor victorian conversion, which as you can imagine made it a nightmate, I'm now in a terraced house, so it doesn't matter, but its a bit of a beast. But I think it will last a fair amount of time, bit of a pain to lump it about though for warm ups etc.