Have no idea on how to use it.
It has eight resistance settings, so do I sit in one gear and use these settings,
Or do I pick a setting that is blinking hard work in the highest gear and use the gears to make my work out harder and easier.

Any help is appreciated as I have done little cycling this year due to losing my mojo and thought this may help me get it back.

Also I am going to be using a cheap cx bike on the turbo that currently is shod in conti travel contacts, so I want to change the rear tyre for something that will be very quiet on the turbo but can still be used on road with some puncture protection.

Re the tyre…..road rubber gets very dirty on a turbo, it sheds all sorts of (rubber) goo and globules all over the place. Get a proper turbo tyre if you are using the turbo indoors. I found it easiest to buy a cheap back wheel, put the turbo rubber on that and just swap the wheel out as and when required.

Another thing, turbos wear ordinary tyres out quite quickly so it could become expensive using softer compound tyres.

Middle setting and use the gears, see how you get on?

+1 to what @slowjo said: road tyres are too soft to last long on the turbo and turbo specific tyres have a warning on them not to use them on the road. I got a red turbo tyre so it would be obvious that I shouldn’t use it outside.

If you use a road tyre be prepared to go round sweeping up the bits of rubber that will get pulled off the tyre and spread around behind the turbo setup.

Programs like Trainerroad with their virtual power have you set in one resistance setting and you use the gears to change resistance. Find a resistance that you can spin along in bottom gear OK but struggle in top (or as high as you can pedal) gear.

Serious question … is a turbo worth it, or is it better to buy a (2nd hand ) spin bike?

is a turbo worth it, or is it better to buy a (2nd hand ) spin bike?

I bought a reebok spin bike some years ago and then got rid as it was boring.

I have just bought a wahoo kickr and it is still boring but Zwift and Trainerroad make it a bit better – especially as they can control the resistance and have training plans.

I think the turbo is better as it is more akin to normal riding, but the fixed nature of the turbo removes some of that. I ave put some sorbothane padding under the rrar feet to allow the turbo to rock a little to get some of that back.

i have one as well and am a bit lost as to what i can do with it i have an edge 500 with hrm and speed cadence sensor, i have heard ant dongles mentioned can i link this to a mac or ipad ,

As above stick resistance in middle and use gears, can always adjust as you see fit.
Have used a 38c conti commuter tyre on back of my cx bike seems to last well and not too noise although I’m in one of the sheds.
Sufferfest videos and a decent sound system makes a lot of difference to boredom too.

@mav12 check out the trainerroad thread. You’ll only need an ANT+ dongle if you want to use an app on your computer/tablet/phone

If I was going to do indoors training I’d use rollers, but you can do what you want with the resistance. I used to use gears and resistance to adjust it between warmup/sprint levels.

Obviously if you get rollers you can only use your gears to alter the resistance.

LOL. a turbo will certainly get you out riding. In any weather.

It’s least favourite part of cycling, including cleaning dog shit off my bike.

thought this may help me get it back

Good luck with that!

Use trainer Road and get some good wireless headphones and some audiobooks.