Turbo trainers .. noisy?

[elyob]

Am thinking about turbo trainers this winter .. I live in a first floor flat
with concrete and laminate flooring. Would the noise be excessive? I can
place on a rug if neccesary.

Thanks

 

[del]

On Wednesday 19 Oct 2005 15:51 elyob, wrote:

> Am thinking about turbo trainers this winter .. I live in a first
> floor flat with concrete and laminate flooring. Would the noise be
> excessive? I can place on a rug if neccesary.

Don't know about the mag trainers but the fan type can be. The one I
used to work out on sounded like a 747 on take off, the neighbours
never mentioned it but it sounded loud in the room. A rug wouldn't hurt
and a television is a must.
--
del
The age of the Universe is 13.7 +/- 0.2 Gyrs.
My Galaxy is 13.

 

[Arthur Clune]

elyob wrote:
> Am thinking about turbo trainers this winter .. I live in a first floor flat
> with concrete and laminate flooring. Would the noise be excessive? I can
> place on a rug if neccesary.

Very much depends on the type. Fan ones are very noisy. Avoid. Mag ones are quieter

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune

 

[[email protected]]

Fan 'turbo' trainders are very noisy but worst of all time stands still
whilst riding a turbo trainer.

Have you thought about getting some rollers instead? They really do
smooth out your pedalling style and riding them is much more rewarding.
Time will still stand still if you ride in the red zone though.

Some rollers are very light to ride (such as the standard 4 inch Tacx
ones) so you would have to ride in 53x13 all the time. However those
with smaller rollers are much more like hard work. These look like
particularly good value: http://tinyurl.com/93gt8 These also look
very nice if a bit expensive http://tinyurl.com/c2wjw

I have some old rollers which have steel drums and maintaining, say 28
Mph on them is no easier than doing this on the road!

If you get a 'turbo trainer' get one of the specially reinforced rear
tyres as well and for either a turbo or rollers a big fan makes things
much more pleasant.

The main problem with all indoor trainers is that most people find that
anything more than 30-40 minutes is really tedious. To have a
beneficial effect this means doing a warm up then, say, 20 minutes
right on the red line or doing a series of pretty flat-out intervals.
Effective indoor training takes a lot of motivation!

 

[Jim Price]

elyob wrote:
> Am thinking about turbo trainers this winter .. I live in a first floor flat
> with concrete and laminate flooring. Would the noise be excessive? I can
> place on a rug if neccesary.

Using my turbo trainer on the carpetted concrete floor downstairs was
too noisy with the original fan trainer I had (thats for me, never mind
those next door). I got one of the rim drive ones (Minoura RDA850) as a
replacement, and that was significantly better on the noise front. It
doesn't melt the inner tubes to the tyres either. The downside is that
if you want a lot of resistance from it, you have to use a bike with a
fairly high top gear. I also ended up getting a cateye gamebike to try
and make it less boring, which was worth it when they were half price on
Wiggle, but that may have been because they don't make them any more.

JimP

 

[Michael Thompson]

del bashed at the keyboard and came up with:

> A rug wouldn't hurt

Depends on who you ask.

 

[vernon]

> > Am thinking about turbo trainers this winter .. I live in a first floor
flat
> > with concrete and laminate flooring. Would the noise be excessive? I can
> > place on a rug if neccesary.
>
> Very much depends on the type. Fan ones are very noisy. Avoid. Mag ones
are quieter
>
Having bought a turbo trainer against the advice of regular u.r.c posters,
my experience
with a Tacx magnetic trainer sadly verified the cautions that I ignored....

it's boring
it's tedious
it's mind numbing
it's relentlessly dull
it's hot
it's sweaty
it's uncomfortable
it's a poor substitute for road miles
it'll get put away fairly quickly

Mine has not seen the light of day for nearly two years. It's about to be
sold. it was used
about a dozen times. It was much less hasstle to go out for a road ride.

However, it was silent-ish and did not transmit noise through a concrete
floor.

 

[elyob]

"vernon" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

I'm going to pick up up some of these points ...

> it's boring
So's the gym. I don't do the gym.
> it's tedious
I did get through by watching the women and the tv.
> it's mind numbing
A quick spliff can sort that one
> it's relentlessly dull
Another spliff.
> it's hot
Good.
> it's sweaty
I want to lose weight, I find normal cycling too windy for weight loss, same
with swimming.
> it's uncomfortable
Gel saddle? I have one spare.
> it's a poor substitute for road miles
Of course, but a lot less dangerous and salty.
> it'll get put away fairly quickly
Yup. That's the truth. I can't argue that one. However, I do still use my
skates occasionally. They still get put in the cupboard a lot.
>
> Mine has not seen the light of day for nearly two years. It's about to be
> sold.
Want to do a private sale? I'm looking on ebay and there's a lot of people
who want one. Thing is, mine will get some use, but may not. I don't really
know. I'd never pay full price knowing that.

>It was much less hasstle to go out for a road ride.

I dunno. I have to find that one out for myself. I suspect you are quite
correct. But 20 mins a day compared to "bugger that it's wet and it'll take
me ages to clean the bloody thing" argument.

> However, it was silent-ish and did not transmit noise through a concrete
> floor.

That's good.

Thanks

 

[Clive George]

"elyob" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

>> it's a poor substitute for road miles
> Of course, but a lot less dangerous and salty.

Less salty? A towel is recommended to cover the handlebars...

cheers,
clive

 

[Jon Senior]

elyob wrote:
> A quick spliff can sort that one

Not necessarily a good training technique. You may find that incentive
evaporates even faster! ;-)

> I want to lose weight, I find normal cycling too windy for weight loss, same
> with swimming.

Weight loss through sweating is not a good long term solution. If you
want to start burning fat you need to be exercising for 30mins plus. Up
to that point you basically just burn glycogen.

> I dunno. I have to find that one out for myself. I suspect you are quite
> correct. But 20 mins a day compared to "bugger that it's wet and it'll take
> me ages to clean the bloody thing" argument.

The excessive heat does mean that you'll drip all over it. Expect to be
cleaning the salt off.

Jon

 

On 20 Oct,
"Clive George" <[email protected]> wrote:

> "elyob" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>
> >> it's a poor substitute for road miles
> > Of course, but a lot less dangerous and salty.
>
> Less salty? A towel is recommended to cover the handlebars...
>
I found my bike started corroding. After 10 minutes it was like turning on a
tap from a salty barrel. I used to drape the bike with the terry nappies the
kids had grown out of. If it hadn't been in the garage i'd have needed a drip
tray as well. It seemed odd to me that for ten minutes everything was dry,
then it was as if the heavens opened.

You definitely need a TV or something to watch. I did manage an hour once,
but 20 minutes was more than enough to numb the brain.

--
BD
Change lycos to yahoo to reply

 

[elyob]

"Clive George" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "elyob" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>
>>> it's a poor substitute for road miles
>> Of course, but a lot less dangerous and salty.
>
> Less salty? A towel is recommended to cover the handlebars...

But less salt over the enitre bike (i.e. my road bike will become a training
bike, my MTB is a year round machine).

I really hated in the gym the sweaty people who didn't wipe up after
themselves. Must admit I'm a heavy sweater anyway!

 

[elyob]

"Jon Senior" <jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOT_co_DOT_uk> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> elyob wrote:
>> A quick spliff can sort that one
>
> Not necessarily a good training technique. You may find that incentive
> evaporates even faster! ;-)

Oh, I don't know.

>
>> I want to lose weight, I find normal cycling too windy for weight loss,
>> same with swimming.
>
> Weight loss through sweating is not a good long term solution. If you want
> to start burning fat you need to be exercising for 30mins plus. Up to that
> point you basically just burn glycogen.

I know, drinking beer regularly throughtout the winter because it's dark and
I can't cycle as much is a bad thing too. I just want to watch tv and do a
little cycle. There's no point getting a cycling machine if I can just get a
trainer though. According to my local gym cycling machine, I could average
at 35mph!

>
>> I dunno. I have to find that one out for myself. I suspect you are quite
>> correct. But 20 mins a day compared to "bugger that it's wet and it'll
>> take me ages to clean the bloody thing" argument.
>
> The excessive heat does mean that you'll drip all over it. Expect to be
> cleaning the salt off.

It'll have a towel cover. I'll also have a fan just to keep my body heat
okay. Also a cadence counter and heart monitor.

I'm not going out tonight. too wet.

 

[[email protected]]

Firstly, I'll second all those who say that Turbo's are boring as hell.

On the noise front; I use mine on top of a piece of 4' x 2' MDF, with
pipe lagging under it. (the dark grey foam stuff sold in metre lengths
by B&Q and co.... get the big size, slice in two longways, and glue
(with wood glue) to the base.


bad ASCII art follows:

< BIKE goes here>
---------------------------------------- <mdf
\/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ < pipe insulation

 

[Chris Malcolm]

Jon Senior <jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOT_co_DOT_uk> wrote:
> elyob wrote:
>> A quick spliff can sort that one

> Not necessarily a good training technique. You may find that incentive
> evaporates even faster! ;-)

>> I want to lose weight, I find normal cycling too windy for weight loss, same
>> with swimming.

> Weight loss through sweating is not a good long term solution. If you
> want to start burning fat you need to be exercising for 30mins plus. Up
> to that point you basically just burn glycogen.

I've discovered an amazingly simple way of losing weight. I don't know
why it's not more widely known. I just eat less. In my particular case
I've discovered by decades of experimentation that if I eat pudding
(aka dessert) every day I gain weight, if I don't eat it I lose
weight, and if I eat it roughly every other day I stay the same
weight.

Not only is it an amazingly simple way of losing weight, but it
actually *saves* you both time and money. What more could you want in
a weight loss method?

--
Chris Malcolm [email protected] +44 (0)131 651 3445 DoD #205
IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
[http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

 

[Mike Causer]

On Thu, 20 Oct 2005 18:17:30 +0000, Chris Malcolm wrote:

> In my particular case I've
> discovered by decades of experimentation that if I eat pudding (aka
> dessert) every day I gain weight, if I don't eat it I lose weight, and if
> I eat it roughly every other day I stay the same weight.

I'll bet it won't work if you're eating the recipe for pumpkin pie I've
posted today on cam.misc -- you'd need eat one skip ten.....



Mike

 

[Phil Cook]

[email protected] wrote:

>Firstly, I'll second all those who say that Turbo's are boring as hell.
>
>On the noise front; I use mine on top of a piece of 4' x 2' MDF, with
>pipe lagging under it. (the dark grey foam stuff sold in metre lengths
>by B&Q and co.... get the big size, slice in two longways, and glue
>(with wood glue) to the base.
>
>
>bad ASCII art follows:
>
> < BIKE goes here>
>---------------------------------------- <mdf
>\/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ < pipe insulation

That brings to mind a turntable isolation mount I once saw in a hi-fi
magazine. It consisted of two paving slabs with a small car inner tube
inflated to lowish pressure between them. You could probably do
something similar with a couple of MTB tubes under your bit of MDF

-----------------------------------------
0 0 0 0
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

 

[elyob]

"Chris Malcolm" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Jon Senior <jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOT_co_DOT_uk> wrote:
>> elyob wrote:
>>> A quick spliff can sort that one
>
>> Not necessarily a good training technique. You may find that incentive
>> evaporates even faster! ;-)
>
>>> I want to lose weight, I find normal cycling too windy for weight loss,
>>> same
>>> with swimming.
>
>> Weight loss through sweating is not a good long term solution. If you
>> want to start burning fat you need to be exercising for 30mins plus. Up
>> to that point you basically just burn glycogen.
>
> I've discovered an amazingly simple way of losing weight. I don't know
> why it's not more widely known. I just eat less. In my particular case
> I've discovered by decades of experimentation that if I eat pudding
> (aka dessert) every day I gain weight, if I don't eat it I lose
> weight, and if I eat it roughly every other day I stay the same
> weight.
>
> Not only is it an amazingly simple way of losing weight, but it
> actually *saves* you both time and money. What more could you want in
> a weight loss method?
>

Well, I'm afraid your foolproof method wouldn't work for me at all. I don't
eat loads, especially puddings, despite being six feet and 16 stone. However
I do like a few beers on a reasonably regular basis. So, drink less.
However, cycle more is my current train of thought.

Also, the important thing for me is to carry on cycling through the winter.
I think the difference between "Oh it's boring" to "It's bloody freezing out
there" .. it'd be easier to motivate the indoor option. Still, I have just
got back into my swimming too.

 

[James Annan]

Chris Malcolm wrote:

>
> I've discovered an amazingly simple way of losing weight. I don't know
> why it's not more widely known. I just eat less.

Yeah, right. You won't catch me out with that. Everyone knows that the
only way to "diet" is to devise a bizarre arrangement of foodstuffs in
an arbitrary order, and then eat them backwards. Apples and chocolate
diet. Rice and bacon diet. Raw potato and egg diet. These all _work_
(well, the last one actually might).

Eating less, huh? Who are you trying to kid?

James
--
James Annan
see web pages for email
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/julesandjames/home/
http://julesandjames.blogspot.com/

 

[Arthur Clune]

[email protected] wrote:
> Firstly, I'll second all those who say that Turbo's are boring as hell.

I must be odd since I don't find them too bad. I think the key is that if you
are getting bored you're on it for too long and going too easy.

A 40 min turbo session should be hard enough to really, really hurt and does
wonders for fitness. Spending two hours on a turbo at a low effort level is
too boring to contemplate (I know one person that does this sort of thing, but
I couldn't face it myself)

--
Arthur Clune