Best retailer to buy expensive smart trainer?

[Get Karter]

I’m about to buy a smart trainer (sick of the weather). Going to go for the Direto. £750 is a lot of money and having read loads of reviews, I’m nervous of getting a dodgy unit and struggling to get it changed/refunded.
I have Evans, Halfords and Cycle Republic in my area.
Which is my best bet for no quibbles replacement should worst case scenario prevail?

[upsidedownmark]

Wiggle, or chain reaction? In both cases, a basic British Cycling membership will save more on the cost of the turbo than the membership will cost..

[Dannbodge]

I've only heard good things about Evans when it comes to returns and issues.

I've not heard any bad reports about the Direto though, so I wouldn't worry too much.

I know from Tacx that if you have an issue, you deal with them directly rather than through the shop.

[E65Ross]

I got my Kickr via wiggle. I buy most of my stuff through wiggle and when needed I've been very happy with their returns policy.

[Chicken Chaser]

Its out of stock in Wiggle

[Usget]

upsidedownmark said:

Wiggle, or chain reaction? In both cases, a basic British Cycling membership will save more on the cost of the turbo than the membership will cost..

And, more to the point, the same applies at Halfords or CR.

OP do a search on this forum for Halfords voucher trick...

[RLE]

Can’t see you having any issues with any of the main players. I bought mine from Sigma as they had them on offer at £695.00. Think they have gone up a touch but subscribe to their newsletter for an additional £5 off and the cost delivered is £707. Not a massive saving over Wiggle etc but the difference pays for a cassette and cassette tool in my case.

[jockinthebox]

Sigma sport have a few different models set up, they will let you try before you buy.

[Your Dad]

Usget said:

And, more to the point, the same applies at Halfords or CR.

OP do a search on this forum for Halfords voucher trick...

Looks like the site is down for maintenance, which is a shame as I need to pay for a few bits from Halfords.

[counterofbeans]

Just out of curiosity, how does a £750 trainer get you fitter than a £150 trainer?

[Usget]

counterofbeans said:

Just out of curiosity, how does a £750 trainer get you fitter than a £150 trainer?

Some improvements:
- Direct drive instead of wheel-on-tyre drive. Much, much quieter, means that you can ride for longer without getting fed up (or the other half shouting at you to knock it off)
- Able to provide much higher resistance (for example simulating an incline of 18% instead of 6%) so you can throw in some intervals at high power/low cadence
- Much heavier flywheel means it "feels" more realistic
- Almost none of the £150 trainers (unless you can find a Tacx Flow on a very good deal) will be controllable by a third party app such as Zwift or TrainerRoad. You don't need to spend £750 to get this capability though.
- A £750 trainer will contain a power meter of some sort. Training with power is known to be one of the best ways to structure your workouts.
- New, shiny kit is better than old cheap kit. This is a universal truth and if you don't believe it, see literally every other cycling post on any forum ever.

Edited by Usget on Friday 12th January 11:32

[Usget]

OP, I've posted this on a few turbo threads so apologies for sounding like a stuck record. But this does *almost* everything the Direto does, in some cases to a higher specification, but for £450 with BC discount.

https://www.cyclerepublic.com/elite-real-turbo-mui...

The only advantage of the Direto is a true strain-gauge based power meter whereas the RTM has a model-based power meter which gets less accurate the higher your power output - supposedly. Personally this isn't an issue as I use a separate power meter for transmission but if you don't have a meter on the bike itself then you may prefer the Direto.

[Get Karter]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I keep changing my mind on which one to go fo! Throw everything at it and get a Neo, or go for the cheapest fully smart trainer possible (whatever that is?! Tacx Vortex?)

One further question if I may, does the British Cycling 10% discount work for online orders/collect in store?
I’m sure the cycle Republic and Halfords sites say store purchases only.

[E65Ross]

I've been pleased with my kickr but if going for another I'd be going for a NEO.

[russy01]

I went through all of them for weeks reading various reviews - trying to talk myself into a cheaper model. All along I wanted a Neo...

Anyway I went down to my LBS with the goal of buying a Neo if the deal was right, my mate also wanted a flux. So I offered him £1500 for the two, take it or leave it - do the deal now not a penny more.
He accepted and I walked out with both.

Can’t recommend the Neo enough, very clever piece of kit and virtually silent. The flux is also very good...

[Usget]

Get Karter said:

One further question if I may, does the British Cycling 10% discount work for online orders/collect in store?.

Yes. Click and collect - pay in store and it works fine.

[Dannbodge]

Usget said:

OP, I've posted this on a few turbo threads so apologies for sounding like a stuck record. But this does *almost* everything the Direto does, in some cases to a higher specification, but for £450 with BC discount.

https://www.cyclerepublic.com/elite-real-turbo-mui...

The only advantage of the Direto is a true strain-gauge based power meter whereas the RTM has a model-based power meter which gets less accurate the higher your power output - supposedly. Personally this isn't an issue as I use a separate power meter for transmission but if you don't have a meter on the bike itself then you may prefer the Direto.

That one is basically a fluid trainer and has no real changeable resistance levels like a direto. The resistance on it is controlled by flywheel speed rather than magnets or a brake.

So for training purposes you would have to use your bike gears to set wattage levels whereas a Direto would adjust to the wattage (ERG mode) regardless of what gear you are in

[ED209]

E65Ross said:

I've been pleased with my kickr but if going for another I'd be going for a NEO.

I went all in with a NEO for my first trainer, expensive yes but absolutely excellent. £999.99 on Tredz who have been pretty spot on with me customer service wise in the past.

[Usget]

Dannbodge said:

That one is basically a fluid trainer and has no real changeable resistance levels like a direto. The resistance on it is controlled by flywheel speed rather than magnets or a brake.

So for training purposes you would have to use your bike gears to set wattage levels whereas a Direto would adjust to the wattage (ERG mode) regardless of what gear you are in

Nope. You've fallen for Elite's stupid naming convention. The Turbo Muin is as you describe (and is available for £290). The Real Turbo Muin has changeable magnetic as well as fluid resistance and is fully controllable by Zwift.

[Dannbodge]

Usget said:

Nope. You've fallen for Elite's stupid naming convention. The Turbo Muin is as you describe (and is available for £290). The Real Turbo Muin has changeable magnetic as well as fluid resistance and is fully controllable by Zwift.

Oh in that case I apologise!