Turbo Trainer Advice

[cseal11]

Hi All,

I'm new to the forum so sorry if this post is in the wrong category.

As the nights draw in and the weather is getting rubbish, I'm severely lacking in motivation to go out on my road bike.

I'm keen to keep training on my bike throughout the winter and have been looking at turbo trainers. I have gathered that magnetic or liquid ones are better than air resistance, but there are so many options and specifications I'm really confused as to which one to buy.

Here are my requirements for a turbo trainer:-

- A mid ranged priced turbo, nothing too cheap/budget but nothing top of the range
- I don't mind whether it is magnetic or liquid, as long as it doesn't sound like a plane taking off.
- I also would like some sort of display feedback capability. I've seen these Virtual Reality turbos that connect to your PC. This would be great but they seem to cost £700-800+ and you have to buy the software/subscription aswell. It would be good to have a display of graphs/cadence/power/speed/distance etc on a screen and Ive seen some software which uses google earth to track and set routes. (can mid ranged turbos be connected and used with 3rd party software?) Also software allows you to have a profile so records all your progress, each route and compares with rides with graphs etc.....this would be ideal if its possible.

Thats it really, I would appreciate it if any of you could share some advice or even recommend any models that you own/used.

I dont really want to pay more than £500 (im not sure, there might be some good ones which match my requirements for less?), but if there are some really good models around the border or slightly more, please inform me and I might have to reconsider.

Also would you recommend buying new or are second hand ones sufficient?

I have also heard from someone that you need to get a different wheel hub that fits the turbo....is this correct or can you just use your existing wheel?

Any help on this topic would be very helpful.
Thanks
Chris

 

[vspa]

what you wish for is top of the line on any brand of indoor trainers, if you are on a budget look for a second hand trainer, although 500 pounds is not a bad budget to start with, you could even find a new trainer for that price, i personally prefer fluid trainers from Elite, i own two of them, not noisely at all, they will do the job but there is no data given to you or softwares or anything like that, for me its ok because i get the data from my polar wristwatch device,

 

[Love Cycling]

The Kurt Kinetic Road Machine Fluid Indoor Bicycle Trainer seems to fit your criteria. at $339 it's budget friendly and a great bicycle trainer. The machine is rather quite, although I can's say silent, but I would hear my son calling me from upstairs, and if I listen to music, it totally drowns out the noise. Another great advantage is that it takes less than 3 minutes to change the bike on the trainer.

About the virtual reality feature; well, I doubt that you would find it on a trainer that's priced less than $800. I agree with Vspa, that wearing a cycling computer solves this issue.

 

[alienator]

The Kurt Kinetic Road Machine Fluid Indoor Bicycle Trainer seems to fit your criteria. at $339 it's budget friendly and a great bicycle trainer. The machine is rather quite, although I can's say silent, but I would hear my son calling me from upstairs, and if I listen to music, it totally drowns out the noise. Another great advantage is that it takes less than 3 minutes to change the bike on the trainer.  

+1. Another to consider is the 1Up USA trainer. Of all the units that are just trainers and don't use videos or a connected computer (i.e. a desktop, laptop, et al), I think the Kurt and the 1Up trainers get the best reviews, IMHO. It's rare for someone to have a complaint about either, save for the typical complaints about riding a trainer indoors.