Basically, I want to be able to keep my fitness up during bad weather and I’m thinking of buying either a turbo trainer or exercise bike to use at home about 4-5 times a week.

Are turbo trainers a hassle to set up and/or would I automatically need to change to a slick tyre?

Any recomendations for either turbo trainers or exercise bikes? Don’t want to spend a huge amount of money either.

Cheers 🙂

May I be the first of many to say MTFU. 😉

I’d look at a set of rollers. No set up required at all and alot more “fun” than a turbo!

I use an exercise bike and have tried a turbo trainer. Preferred the excerise bike, however, I promise, you WILL get bored out your skull on either of them!! Not tried the rollers though.

I can only comment on this after breaking some bones and trying to keep active.

Either is torture, a turbo less so:

An exercise bike (unless you spend a fortune) wont take any kind of spd / clipless pedals. The one my other half has ends up in a really odd riding position (weird bars, saddle moves in 3 inch forward / aft movement, height is changed in full inch).

A turbo means you can ride you normal position, saddle, pedals. In the garage. Cold. Bored. Gaining a few pounds was so much easier.

If you’re determined, get a turbo and a spare wheel with a slick.

Unless I’ve broken bones I’d much prefer to ride outdoors in a howling gale with hail at -10 than sit on a bike indoors – but thats just me!

+1 on rollers.

Turbo trainers are surprisingly noisy – less so when you’re running a slick but could be problematic if you’re using it in a flat as I have done in the past.
But it’s never going to be anywhere near as good as getting outside if you can make yourself do it.

-1 on rollers – teaches you to spin, but doesn’t allow any decent level of effort.

less so when you’re running a slick

Why on earth would you run anything other than a slick on a turbo? 😯

Used a turbo and sufferfest all last winter. Thought it was fine for <60 min sessions and it definitely get my fitness up.

A turbo means you can ride you normal position, saddle, pedals. In the garage. Cold. Bored. Gaining a few pounds was so much easier.

If you’re cold on a turbo you’re definitely doing it wrong!

Most of the other comments above are spot on: they’re pretty dull, good for fitness, and noisy (despite using a road bike with thin slicks on). If you do get one, get the Sufferfest videos: they’re worth every penny!

Just spend the money on a decent jacket, some leg warmers and some gloves and go and ride in the bad weather.

I use a turbo, great for doing interval training which is programmed into a Garmin on the bike, which can be a bit awkward on the open road. Handy if you can get a cheap rear wheel for turbo duties, one of the blocks to raise the front wheel and headphones with a long lead. They can be noisy, dull, if your doing it right you get extremely hot but they are a useful tool for training. Not sure I’d want to do it 4-5 times a week tbh, in summer I’m mainly a slow TT’er I did most of my off season / winter base fitness training on night rides using the mountain bike and am now using the turbo more for intervals.

i have turbo and rollers. can get more resistance on the turbo for sure but of the wide range of settings i’m at the lower (resistance) end. my rollers (elite varion parabolic) have a resistance attatchment, its hard enough on the high setting in big gears. rollers require fast smooth pedalling technique which i liken to riding at speed in a bunch. turbo feels more like push – push technique. they work you legs differently. if i could only have one i’d go for rollers, but they’ll both do a good job for you if you ride hard.

Your weather must be very bad if you are planning to use a turbo 4-5 times a week!
A turbo is extremely effective for focussed interval training. Rollers are good for spinning your legs, and track riders traditionally use them to develop high cadence technique. However, if you want to improve your fitness, a turbo will be much more effective because of the range of riding resistance it offers.
Turbo riding is a head game, and without structured, progressive sessions you will get very, very bored. If used properly, they are useful, particularly for training in the dark winter months, but I would get outside to train whenever possible.
If you do get one, a big fan is essential, even when riding in a sub-zero garage!

I bought a turbo trainer, but don’t use it as much as I had intended.

It is good for interval stuff & I find that is the only way I can keep my interest up. Going at a fixed rate, becomes too boring.

I had bought a set of wheels & stuck slicks on to use on the road anyway, so it was quite cheap to get started. I use two phone books taped together to jack the front wheel up & since moving house, I get a wi-fi signal in the garage so can watch stuff on the iPlayer while using the trainer.

As above – I could really do with a pedestal fan too – even when it’s literally freezing outside, within a few minutes of starting you can work up quite a sweat.

If you’re going to get a bike specifically for it, I’d get a spinning bike – the ones with the heavy, fixed flywheel. If you use a normal bike you can’t really get out of the saddle – at least not with my turbo. The whole setup swings about a bit too much, and if you shift your weight forwards you lose traction on the roller. I’m also a bit concerned about the possible effects all that movement has on the frame.

+ 1 Rollers

I have the one with the resistance unit. I actually really like riding mine and can do intervals.

Problem with exercise bike is if you want stats. I’ve got my garmin with HR, cadence and now a power meter

(not saying you need these to train but i’m a data man and it helps me)

OK, folks. Thanks for all the input. To be clear about the ‘bad weather’ that’s had a few comments – where I live has had extremely high winds over the last 2 weeks. Such that cyclists have been blown across roads into vehicles etc. Also last year we had 2 ft deep snow for at least 2 months. So that’s why I was asking. I do actually quite enjoy cycling in the rain or bad weather but there is a limit! 😉

nice to have options to mix up your riding/training regardless of weather conditions. i’ll sometimes use the rollers/turbo when the weathers fine because thats what i need on a particular day. if i just go out and enjoy mountain biking i will lose speed and power. a few sessions will sort it out and make my riding more enjoyable.

nice to have options to mix up your riding/training regardless of weather conditions. i’ll sometimes use the rollers/turbo when the weathers fine

same here.. An hour on a turbo/rollers can sometimes get you a better training session than outside because of the cnostant effort (easier to keep your HR in certain zones)

i tend to view riding outside as my enjoyment, although its still training. riding rollers/turbo (often followed by a short hard run) is purely training and i find it more effective.

I have both a turbo trainer and a set of rollers. I find the turbo trainer harder ( a bit more resistance) and I have an old winter training bike positioned on there which stays there constantly, once you get it set up just right best to leave it.

Rollers I find a bit easier but you do have to concentrate otherwise your off!! I can do a 18 minute 10 mile session on the rollers flat out (pushing a 52 13 gear) which I can only ever dream about doing on the roads. It is quite boring though and good to have some background music and time seems to stand still when you do that kind of training.

Buy an ex-gym/”health” club spinning bike: more realistic than a typical home exercise bike, can add stupid amounts of resistance (on mine at least) and decent ones allow you to replicate your “real” bike’s riding position. I don’t use mine very often but was brilliant when we had a few foot of snow on the ground for weeks during December last year.

Ebay is your friend for them.

OK guys, that’s really helpful. Thanks for that 🙂