Anyone use these? Tacx and Elite make them – turbo trainers with video output so you can watch a route whilst riding it and the speed correlates to your pedalling. A good investment for roadies?

They're a lot of money – rollers with a dvd of Paris Roubaix would be better IMO.

I got a second hand tacx i-magic and it is far far more interesting than a normal turbo. The real life vids are good, but for training I must admit I mainly just use it in ergo mode and watch the numbers. Still bloody boring compared to a real bike ride – I'm getting fed up with it again (can stick it for a couple of months over winter) and am looking forward to putting it back under the bed in the spare room soon.

No doubt it keeps the fitness up and lets you address specific weaknesses though.

I use a normal turbo with one of the videos from http://www.thesufferfest.com

No time to be bored!

Well I bought an Elite one off Ebay in a moment of not really thinking – just got my bonus through…. It's the Elite Realaxiom and it does look good with some DVDs of well known climbs. Always kept clear of turbos as think I'd get bored quickly but hoping this'll work out OK. Riding in the week in the winter is hard for me so hoping I'll manage to motivate myself to do an hour or 2 on the turbo each week.

I prefer going out rain or shine but rain can be a pain and snow/black ice.

Just a normal turbo for me, laptop with training dvds (as above) and some decent speakers, cateye V3 for distance/time/HR/cadence and self motivation.

Seen a friends setup with auto adjust for hills and displays this onscreen -it's the dogs basically. £1000+!!!

I want to get a video camera like muvi and film my summer rides with some music.

Ive built up a tacx over the years that can do the real life videos..Other than the boring alpine climbs theyre great. My favourite is the world cup mtb courses (germany and spain) – you can race against yourself (previous rides) or try to catch that guy in front (never managed it though!) Even in summer Ill do 2 hours fast on one of these the week before a race – the fortius ones are really realistic too with the dvd adjusting the resistance at the back wheel during the ride…

Few of my mates got them, race each other online, you can do all sorts with them… race yourself on known loops as a quick fitness check, ride tour stages, classics etc seem a bit addictive…more sense than riding in blizzards like I did on Tuesday! and defo more fun than just sitting in your garage looking at your heart rate 🙁

Yep, I am one of the owners that Whytetrash mentions, I have my road bike setup on a Tacx I-magic with the steering frame as well. I still think you have to have the turbo training mentallity to use it, I doubt anyone is going to completely change, if they are someone who detests using the turbo its doubtful it'll make the difference. TBH I quite enjoyed battering myself on a regular trainer before I got this one. But it certainly helps ease the boredom. The real-life videos in Ergo mode are probably the best (i.e Rabobank training, Training with the Schleck brothers etc)