Rollers vs Turbos
Discussion
I need to get one or the other as I'm finding it impossible to get out during the week whilst it's still light and the weather is so bad I don't want to ride wearing a life jacket and carrying a paddle.
I have a fairly good budget, would like to use http://www.trainerroad.com/...
Which one would you choose and why?
I have a fairly good budget, would like to use http://www.trainerroad.com/...
Which one would you choose and why?
I did really like the idea of rollers but when it came down to it the ones that seemed to be the best, especially given the sort of training plans/regimen on offer from TrainerRoad, were the Elite e-Motions. These seemed to start at £600 and go up from there...
Whether you can stand up, do full power etc on rollers that are not e-motions I don't know all I know is I didn't want to spend time learning the trainer if you see what I mean. The turbo, whilst "boring", offered the simplicity of just bolting the bike and going with no concern around setting up in door way, corridor etc etc.
Whether you can stand up, do full power etc on rollers that are not e-motions I don't know all I know is I didn't want to spend time learning the trainer if you see what I mean. The turbo, whilst "boring", offered the simplicity of just bolting the bike and going with no concern around setting up in door way, corridor etc etc.
So the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine arrived yesterday, along with the riser block and a Garmin ANT+ USB stick. I didn't get a chance to get everthing setup until this afternoon so here we go:
The Kurt Kinetic seems to be well made, some assembly is required and it came with a replacement skewer for the real wheel. Total setup time was probably 5 minutes at most.
Mounting the bike is trivial although I'm trying to think of a good solution to ensuring you get a repeatable amount of pressure between the resistance unit and the rear time (even at my risible power levels it needed more than the 2 turns they suggest to prevent slipping).
Setting up TrainerRoad is trivial. The Garmin ANT+ USB stick made the cadence/speed and heart rate sensor available to TrainerRoad. Once the devices were paired and I selected the Kurt as the power source I was able to see my "virtual power" in the TrainerRoad software.
I then subjected myself to the 8 minute test which on the face of it sounds easy but turned out to be an "experience" - 28 minutes of warm up followed by 2 x 8 minute blocks at threshold. At the end of the test it calculates new FTP and LTHR for you - which is good since it defaulted to 200 for me and thankfully downgraded that somewhat optimistic figure.
One thing I can say is that at no time was I bored, I was shattered, mentally scarred, alarmed to see a HR I've not seen since I was 10 years younger and I was hot, very hot.
For those concerned about noise - I didn't think it was particularly noisy - not enough to drown out the sound of my own heart beat or the dodgy Bond film on in the background.
The Kurt Kinetic seems to be well made, some assembly is required and it came with a replacement skewer for the real wheel. Total setup time was probably 5 minutes at most.
Mounting the bike is trivial although I'm trying to think of a good solution to ensuring you get a repeatable amount of pressure between the resistance unit and the rear time (even at my risible power levels it needed more than the 2 turns they suggest to prevent slipping).
Setting up TrainerRoad is trivial. The Garmin ANT+ USB stick made the cadence/speed and heart rate sensor available to TrainerRoad. Once the devices were paired and I selected the Kurt as the power source I was able to see my "virtual power" in the TrainerRoad software.
I then subjected myself to the 8 minute test which on the face of it sounds easy but turned out to be an "experience" - 28 minutes of warm up followed by 2 x 8 minute blocks at threshold. At the end of the test it calculates new FTP and LTHR for you - which is good since it defaulted to 200 for me and thankfully downgraded that somewhat optimistic figure.
One thing I can say is that at no time was I bored, I was shattered, mentally scarred, alarmed to see a HR I've not seen since I was 10 years younger and I was hot, very hot.
For those concerned about noise - I didn't think it was particularly noisy - not enough to drown out the sound of my own heart beat or the dodgy Bond film on in the background.
okgo said:
Noise, does it make much? Mine hasn't arrived yet.
Have you any previous dealing with wattage, if so how accurate do you think it is?
I've also ordered the pro heavyweight flywheel for mine as apparently it makes it feel more realistic, did you find it slowed down really quick if you stopped peddling and felt a bit un-realistic?
Noise - not bad at all, I was able to hear background TV and the sound of my own exploding heart quite clearly.Have you any previous dealing with wattage, if so how accurate do you think it is?
I've also ordered the pro heavyweight flywheel for mine as apparently it makes it feel more realistic, did you find it slowed down really quick if you stopped peddling and felt a bit un-realistic?
I've never had any experience with real power meters so I've gone purely off what I see on their website where they compare it to a powertap IIRC.
It did not slow down particularly quickly - I was surprised at how "normal" it felt from a riding perspective. You want to generate more power - then pedal faster and/or shift gears for example rather than twist a knob with some vague notion of resistance.
okgo said:
Thanks for that.
I looked up trainer road, seems like it a good bit of kit, don't think I will need it with an actual powermeter though.
I look forward to the suffering.
The "value" in TrainerRoad is more in the workouts and plans they offer. It's all training based around power and they don't care if that's virtual power or a real power meter.I looked up trainer road, seems like it a good bit of kit, don't think I will need it with an actual powermeter though.
I look forward to the suffering.
Having said that given you're posting history I suspect you have access to proper training plans etc already so it may well be of less value to you.
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