Our first mini me is due any day now and I guess that I’m not going to have as much to get out on my bikes as much as normal so was thinking that a turbo trainer may be a good option to grab an hour or two especially with the nights starting to draw in.

I’m not looking to spend mega money but after a bit of research I think that I’ve narrowed it down to a choice of two – Tacx Blue Matic of Elite Fluid Force (the latter is what I am leaning towards at the mo).

Has anyone got or used either of these? Is there anything else I should be looking at for the same kind of money.

Thanks

What are you going to be riding on it – if it’s a MTB, it might be worth thinking about max resistance.

I have the Blue Motion, which has 950kg max as opposed to 750 for the blue matic. Because I ride an old MTB on it, the gearing means that it’s significantly easier to turn my biggest gear (42-11) compared with a road bike. I’m not superfit, but can just about spin the max resistance on the blue motion.

The tacx trainers are nice pieces of kit though.

I’ll be using my road bike on it.

Will look into the blue motion.

I’m by no means super fit but am hoping that it will help me maintain whatever bike fitness I have.

Father in law has the Tacx, lovely thing and very quiet.

I just picked up a Elite Volare mag turbo from ebay. Didn’t want to spend a fortune to find I hated it with a passion. It’s fine, a tad noisy but for £30 I couldn’t care less.

Congrats on the addition to the family.

Bluematic should be fine then. As above, it’s quieter than expected, especially with a bit of carpet underneath. Get a turbo trainer tyre though.

Thanks chaps.

It’ll be in the garage so noice isn’t too much of an issue. It’ll also be out of the way so SWMBO doesn’t complain.

I’ve still got my OE Spesh tyres n the bike so I’ll let them die and get some nicer ones for the spring I reckon.

Also looking to get a turbo this winter. Have a beginner’s question – do they all come with some sort of ‘speed’ sensor, or do you fit that separately on the back wheel? Don’t really know how they work.

Wondering how people train on them – HR, speed, power etc. Can a turbo give a power reading, or is that always something fitted to the bike?