Turbo trainers/Zwift/Peleton

[Ares]

Tim O said:

WestyCarl said:

Agree, but at the base level even smart trainers are just resistance machines (all be it automatic and more accurate)

I'm not being argumentative but how do Smart Bikes up the game even more compared to a wheel off smart trainer?

I’m not being argumentative either, but IMO they don’t.

Kickr Climb or Kickr Wind? A solution looking for a problem that nobody has.

KICKR Wind is a game changer.

Climb is fun, helps the ride, helps with the fluidity but its little more than a fun feature which makes a ride more enjoyable.

[Ares]

Mastodon2 said:

Gareth79 said:

The old Atom is "only" £1600 at the moment which seems pretty good value compared to £1000-£1200 for a top-end smart trainer. The advantage is it doesn't wear your existing bike, the bars won't get sweaty, it won't need adjustment/maintenance, it won't collect dust/dirt or throw out crud from the chain.

Even if you take the bottom end figure of £1000, how much indoor riding would you have to do to run up a grand of repair and maintenance bills on a wheel-off turbo trainer set up?

That is a lot of chains, chainrings, cassettes and lube.

As mentioned, you do sweat a tonne in indoor riding, I just put a towel over the bars. I'd probably still swap some fresh bar tape on if I was making a long term switch of which bike was on the trainer. So that's £20 for some new bar tape. Only £980 left in the kitty.

It is all down to how much you ride. I've done over 5,500km since getting mine in June.

If the decent DD trainer is £1000, the rest of the wear comes from the bike you have on it. If it is an old snotter, then the fit isn't the same. If you have your decent bike on it, the wear becomes telling - I had £500 of service and maintenance needed to my 65.1 after it had sat on the turbo.

But if you only do a couple of thousand KMs a year, it becomes less relevance.

[Ares]

J4CKO said:

Ares said:

J4CKO said:

Anyone a convert ?

I have always thought Turbo Trainers look a bit pointless, may as well just go out for a ride which I appreciate gets more difficult this time of the year onwards, like tonight was going to go out but it was lashing down, so do I get one and set it up in my man shed ? Its not like I am "in training" for anything, just need to occasionally get some exercise and am avoiding the gym even more than usual.

Zwift looks good but might be a flash in the pan with me, is it much better than just a bike on a TT ?

Peleton, the adverts are just vomit inducing and its expensive, but get past that, its probably pretty good.

Anyone gone from sceptical to the Turbo trainer being their favourite thing ?

Edited by J4CKO on Monday 5th October 19:28

I'm a full Zwift convert.

Of the 25,000km I've ridden this year, at least half have been on Zwift. Great training sessions, group rides, or just spinning away.

I do 60-90mins every morning....Zwift certainly isn't a flash in a pan!!

I still prefer outdoors, but a lot of time, outdoors doesn't fit with life very well to get a good level of training in....especially with UK/NW weather!!

I couldn't imagine the turbo without Zwift.

If you are going to use it, make sure you have a smart trainer as minimum. I had a Wahoo KICKR for 4years, now upgraded to a KICKR Bike. Fantastic realism.


Peleton is a different proposition - it isn't like bike riding, it's like a spin class. It is a bloody great product, fantastic concept, but it isn't cycle training.

Good god man you spend some cash and seemingly never sleep.

Three grand on an exercise bike, I am still getting my head round a grand for a thing you stick your bike in so it doesn't go anywhere !

At least you do get a lot of use out of it, most exercise bikes seem to be a way to hang clothes.

Spending on something that gets a lot of use is sense. But I agree, many bikes won't see the distance in their lifetimes that mine has seen in the 4 months I've had it.

As per the other thread - I base value on cost per km. Even at 4mths old, the KICKR Bike is c50p/km. By the time is it a year old it'll be under 15-20p/km.

[Ares]

J4CKO said:

Ok, placed my order on the Wahoo website, says 2 or 3 weeks, must be loads of middle aged tubbers wanting to sweat away in their garages and pay a grand for the honour

Will sort out the bits as I go,

Will use my normal road bike for now, though know where there is an old Claud Butler going spare, that said, not got space in there for a permanent setup really and dont want it down the garden in my cabin as its a Treck (Trek ?) down there and I like my bike in the garage for quick access.

Cassette, I'm on a 10 speed, this comes with an 11, so guess I need to either upgrade my groupset to 11 speed or put a 10 speed casssette on it, the latter sounds cheaper.

Sort the sensors side out.

Got a small desk fan inverted under the shelves, amazingly in the best position, should do for now, got bigger ones I can "draft" in.

Computer with a 24 inch monitor in there already, again in the right spot on the face of it



Beer fridge next to it all....

You won't regret it. Get a fan, and a mat!

To start with, if you use the ERG setting, you own't need to change gear, but long term, or for more natural riding you'll want to. A cheap 11sp cassette is an easy fix. Make you your KICKR comes with the correct hub though, if not, order one

[cerb4.5lee]

J4CKO said:

Good god man you spend some cash and seemingly never sleep.

Three grand on an exercise bike, I am still getting my head round a grand for a thing you stick your bike in so it doesn't go anywhere !

At least you do get a lot of use out of it, most exercise bikes seem to be a way to hang clothes.

We've just ordered a Peleton, and I'm not that bothered about it because I still enjoy going out running 2 to 3 times a week. My mrs really wanted one though, but as you mention I can see it just turning into a very expensive clothes horse! We'll see.

[J4CKO]

Ares said:

Mastodon2 said:

Gareth79 said:

The old Atom is "only" £1600 at the moment which seems pretty good value compared to £1000-£1200 for a top-end smart trainer. The advantage is it doesn't wear your existing bike, the bars won't get sweaty, it won't need adjustment/maintenance, it won't collect dust/dirt or throw out crud from the chain.

Even if you take the bottom end figure of £1000, how much indoor riding would you have to do to run up a grand of repair and maintenance bills on a wheel-off turbo trainer set up?

That is a lot of chains, chainrings, cassettes and lube.

As mentioned, you do sweat a tonne in indoor riding, I just put a towel over the bars. I'd probably still swap some fresh bar tape on if I was making a long term switch of which bike was on the trainer. So that's £20 for some new bar tape. Only £980 left in the kitty.

It is all down to how much you ride. I've done over 5,500km since getting mine in June.

If the decent DD trainer is £1000, the rest of the wear comes from the bike you have on it. If it is an old snotter, then the fit isn't the same. If you have your decent bike on it, the wear becomes telling - I had £500 of service and maintenance needed to my 65.1 after it had sat on the turbo.

But if you only do a couple of thousand KMs a year, it becomes less relevance.

£500 ? Don't spend that on car services ! What needed replacing ?

I have had new wheels and tyres (£150 brand new off eBay, £300 from a shop) bar tape, derailleur, drop out, top chain ring and chain this year (due another soon), spent £240 or so, you need to change your username to 2manybikes ;

Gets expensive with the more exotic machinery !

Do you not do any work yourself ? working on bikes is so easy with a stand, few tools and Youtube, I quite enjoy it as well, plus its quicker usually to just do it than take it, wait and pick it up. Fixed my bike the next day after the spoke went at 6pm, had collected and fitted the new wheels by 7pm, removing the cassette didnt even cause any flesh wounds.

[Ares]

J4CKO said:

Ares said:

Mastodon2 said:

Gareth79 said:

The old Atom is "only" £1600 at the moment which seems pretty good value compared to £1000-£1200 for a top-end smart trainer. The advantage is it doesn't wear your existing bike, the bars won't get sweaty, it won't need adjustment/maintenance, it won't collect dust/dirt or throw out crud from the chain.

Even if you take the bottom end figure of £1000, how much indoor riding would you have to do to run up a grand of repair and maintenance bills on a wheel-off turbo trainer set up?

That is a lot of chains, chainrings, cassettes and lube.

As mentioned, you do sweat a tonne in indoor riding, I just put a towel over the bars. I'd probably still swap some fresh bar tape on if I was making a long term switch of which bike was on the trainer. So that's £20 for some new bar tape. Only £980 left in the kitty.

It is all down to how much you ride. I've done over 5,500km since getting mine in June.

If the decent DD trainer is £1000, the rest of the wear comes from the bike you have on it. If it is an old snotter, then the fit isn't the same. If you have your decent bike on it, the wear becomes telling - I had £500 of service and maintenance needed to my 65.1 after it had sat on the turbo.

But if you only do a couple of thousand KMs a year, it becomes less relevance.

£500 ? Don't spend that on car services ! What needed replacing ?

I have had new wheels and tyres (£150 brand new off eBay, £300 from a shop) bar tape, derailleur, drop out, top chain ring and chain this year (due another soon), spent £240 or so, you need to change your username to 2manybikes ;

Gets expensive with the more exotic machinery !

Do you not do any work yourself ? working on bikes is so easy with a stand, few tools and Youtube, I quite enjoy it as well, plus its quicker usually to just do it than take it, wait and pick it up. Fixed my bike the next day after the spoke went at 6pm, had collected and fitted the new wheels by 7pm, removing the cassette didnt even cause any flesh wounds.

All cables, chain, BB, bar tape, hoods, steerer bearing, plus a full strip down service.

I do simple work myself, but too easy with TSC a 2 min ride away where an ex-Pro Team mechanic can do the work so much better, and quicker.

[Ares]

cerb4.5lee said:

J4CKO said:

Good god man you spend some cash and seemingly never sleep.

Three grand on an exercise bike, I am still getting my head round a grand for a thing you stick your bike in so it doesn't go anywhere !

At least you do get a lot of use out of it, most exercise bikes seem to be a way to hang clothes.

We've just ordered a Peleton, and I'm not that bothered about it because I still enjoy going out running 2 to 3 times a week. My mrs really wanted one though, but as you mention I can see it just turning into a very expensive clothes horse! We'll see.

If you embrace the Peloton eco-system, it s great tool. A have a lot of non-cycling (or non-serious cycling) friends that love theirs and use them daily.

[snotrag]

Ares said:

All cables, chain, BB, bar tape, hoods, steerer bearing, plus a full strip down service.

I do simple work myself, but too easy with TSC a 2 min ride away where an ex-Pro Team mechanic can do the work so much better, and quicker.

a bit of Chain wear and possibly bar tape are literally the only thing that could be attributed to mileage on zwift.

Your headset does not seize through zwifitng

[cerb4.5lee]

Ares said:

cerb4.5lee said:

J4CKO said:

Good god man you spend some cash and seemingly never sleep.

Three grand on an exercise bike, I am still getting my head round a grand for a thing you stick your bike in so it doesn't go anywhere !

At least you do get a lot of use out of it, most exercise bikes seem to be a way to hang clothes.

We've just ordered a Peleton, and I'm not that bothered about it because I still enjoy going out running 2 to 3 times a week. My mrs really wanted one though, but as you mention I can see it just turning into a very expensive clothes horse! We'll see.

If you embrace the Peloton eco-system, it s great tool. A have a lot of non-cycling (or non-serious cycling) friends that love theirs and use them daily.

Yes and to be fair it has come highly recommended to us by the people we know who have one.

[Mastodon2]

Ares said:

All cables, chain, BB, bar tape, hoods, steerer bearing, plus a full strip down service.

I do simple work myself, but too easy with TSC a 2 min ride away where an ex-Pro Team mechanic can do the work so much better, and quicker.

I'm not sure how using your bike on an indoor trainer knackered your cables, hoods or steerer bearing, or why it needed a full strip down service, unless you've been particularly neglectful or careless. Also, it would have been easy to do that lot yourself.

There's no reason you can't use nice bikes on a turbo trainer, just clean the sweat off them and don't let sweat drip onto the headset. At the same time you don't need to use SRAM red chain rings and cassettes either, top end lightweight components don't make a difference so there is money to be saved there.

[okgo]

Mastodon2 said:

I'm not sure how using your bike on an indoor trainer knackered your cables, hoods or steerer bearing, or why it needed a full strip down service, unless you've been particularly neglectful or careless. Also, it would have been easy to do that lot yourself.

There's no reason you can't use nice bikes on a turbo trainer, just clean the sweat off them and don't let sweat drip onto the headset. At the same time you don't need to use SRAM red chain rings and cassettes either, top end lightweight components don't make a difference so there is money to be saved there.

As snotrag said above, it costs nothing to maintain a bike that lives on a turbo trainer. And its even less when you can fit bartape a chain/cassette yourself.

Sweat cover thing probably a good idea if you're a sweater though.

[J4CKO]

Ares said:

J4CKO said:

Ares said:

Mastodon2 said:

Gareth79 said:

The old Atom is "only" £1600 at the moment which seems pretty good value compared to £1000-£1200 for a top-end smart trainer. The advantage is it doesn't wear your existing bike, the bars won't get sweaty, it won't need adjustment/maintenance, it won't collect dust/dirt or throw out crud from the chain.

Even if you take the bottom end figure of £1000, how much indoor riding would you have to do to run up a grand of repair and maintenance bills on a wheel-off turbo trainer set up?

That is a lot of chains, chainrings, cassettes and lube.

As mentioned, you do sweat a tonne in indoor riding, I just put a towel over the bars. I'd probably still swap some fresh bar tape on if I was making a long term switch of which bike was on the trainer. So that's £20 for some new bar tape. Only £980 left in the kitty.

It is all down to how much you ride. I've done over 5,500km since getting mine in June.

If the decent DD trainer is £1000, the rest of the wear comes from the bike you have on it. If it is an old snotter, then the fit isn't the same. If you have your decent bike on it, the wear becomes telling - I had £500 of service and maintenance needed to my 65.1 after it had sat on the turbo.

But if you only do a couple of thousand KMs a year, it becomes less relevance.

£500 ? Don't spend that on car services ! What needed replacing ?

I have had new wheels and tyres (£150 brand new off eBay, £300 from a shop) bar tape, derailleur, drop out, top chain ring and chain this year (due another soon), spent £240 or so, you need to change your username to 2manybikes ;

Gets expensive with the more exotic machinery !

Do you not do any work yourself ? working on bikes is so easy with a stand, few tools and Youtube, I quite enjoy it as well, plus its quicker usually to just do it than take it, wait and pick it up. Fixed my bike the next day after the spoke went at 6pm, had collected and fitted the new wheels by 7pm, removing the cassette didnt even cause any flesh wounds.

All cables, chain, BB, bar tape, hoods, steerer bearing, plus a full strip down service.

I do simple work myself, but too easy with TSC a 2 min ride away where an ex-Pro Team mechanic can do the work so much better, and quicker.

Do you replace cables as a matter of course ? am never sure whether to as my thinking is, if its working and isnt stiff, is well adjusted, leave it alone.

I changed the gear cables on my MTB as they went sticky but my road bike is still on the originals, but might order some new brake cables to be on the safe side, dont fancy having one snap.

Need some steerer bearings as noticed a little bit of play.

I had a bad experience with Royles doing some shoddy work, suspect it was because it was a bit of a cheap bike, cant imagine their high end owning customers got crap work like that, bought the bits and sorted it myself.

[J4CKO]

Mastodon2 said:

Ares said:

All cables, chain, BB, bar tape, hoods, steerer bearing, plus a full strip down service.

I do simple work myself, but too easy with TSC a 2 min ride away where an ex-Pro Team mechanic can do the work so much better, and quicker.

I'm not sure how using your bike on an indoor trainer knackered your cables, hoods or steerer bearing, or why it needed a full strip down service, unless you've been particularly neglectful or careless. Also, it would have been easy to do that lot yourself.

There's no reason you can't use nice bikes on a turbo trainer, just clean the sweat off them and don't let sweat drip onto the headset. At the same time you don't need to use SRAM red chain rings and cassettes either, top end lightweight components don't make a difference so there is money to be saved there.

My mate sent me a picture of his Kickr setup, no brakes whatsover, the bloody lunatic

[Ares]

snotrag said:

Ares said:

All cables, chain, BB, bar tape, hoods, steerer bearing, plus a full strip down service.

I do simple work myself, but too easy with TSC a 2 min ride away where an ex-Pro Team mechanic can do the work so much better, and quicker.

a bit of Chain wear and possibly bar tape are literally the only thing that could be attributed to mileage on zwift.

Your headset does not seize through zwifitng

The bike had been sat on the KICKR continuously for 2yrs/20-25,000km. Despite being wiped down after each use, sweat had got into the steerer (which hadn't moved for 2yrs) and the BB - hence their replacements. Cables not surprisingly needed doing after that distance, plus a couple has corroded internally (again, probably sweat). Hoods were manky and one had split. The chain was 80% worn, again, unsurprising after that distance.

Please feel free to tell me if I got all that wrong though "" ....

[Ares]

Mastodon2 said:

Ares said:

All cables, chain, BB, bar tape, hoods, steerer bearing, plus a full strip down service.

I do simple work myself, but too easy with TSC a 2 min ride away where an ex-Pro Team mechanic can do the work so much better, and quicker.

I'm not sure how using your bike on an indoor trainer knackered your cables, hoods or steerer bearing, or why it needed a full strip down service, unless you've been particularly neglectful or careless. Also, it would have been easy to do that lot yourself.

There's no reason you can't use nice bikes on a turbo trainer, just clean the sweat off them and don't let sweat drip onto the headset. At the same time you don't need to use SRAM red chain rings and cassettes either, top end lightweight components don't make a difference so there is money to be saved there.

Bikes wear. A stationary 20-25,000km will have its toll on a bike.

And yes I could have done the most of that myself. I also sometimes get someone to wash my car for me when I could do it myself. And have a cleaner, when I could that myself. ....but as my old boss once told be, never do a job yourself at a higher hourly rate that someone can do better at a lower hourly rate for you.

[Ares]

J4CKO said:

Do you replace cables as a matter of course ? am never sure whether to as my thinking is, if its working and isnt stiff, is well adjusted, leave it alone.

I changed the gear cables on my MTB as they went sticky but my road bike is still on the originals, but might order some new brake cables to be on the safe side, dont fancy having one snap.

Need some steerer bearings as noticed a little bit of play.

I had a bad experience with Royles doing some shoddy work, suspect it was because it was a bit of a cheap bike, cant imagine their high end owning customers got crap work like that, bought the bits and sorted it myself.

Cables, like pads/tyres/etc are consumables. How often they need replacing varies, but you'll do well to get more that 20,000km out of a set unless you don't change gear a lot.

[MOBB]

Recent Peloton convert here.

I do about 1k miles road cycling per annum, run a bit, still a couple of stone overweight. 48 y/o.

I've tried Zwift/turbos and they are good, but I just got bored with them.

I've had the Peloton for a few weeks now, and so long as you take it for what it is - a very slick expensive spin bike, not a cycling trainer etc, its superb imo.

If the weather is cack and I fancy a spin class, I just do it, dont need to travel, book in advance, mix with diseased folk, travel back etc.

If the weather is cack and I really must go out riding, the MTB gets used instead.

Edited by MOBB on Wednesday 7th October 15:32

[WestyCarl]

okgo said:

As snotrag said above, it costs nothing to maintain a bike that lives on a turbo trainer. And its even less when you can fit bartape a chain/cassette yourself.

Because I'm tight I've taken this as far as I can. Old steel MTB frame (set up to mimick my outside bike postion) on direct drive trainer, no brakes or levers, 10 speed cassette.

Chain and grips get replaced annually, maybe £20. No idea if headset has gone as bars haven't turned in maybe 4yrs.

[J4CKO]

WestyCarl said:

okgo said:

No idea if headset has gone as bars haven't turned in maybe 4yrs.

You need to name that bike "Maggie"