am sick and tired of not riding for long periods of time due to the weather and depression and am thinking about finally saving towards a zwift trainer/exercise bike of some sort.
am not rich so would rather not spend a fortune on one but just wondering if i can get a cheap exercise bike that is still good to use with zwift if possible?
just wondering what you might recommend?
thanks 🙂
a cheap road or gravel bike and cheap turbo trainer? then you can use the bike at other times out and about? think my pinnacle turbo was under 300 a few years ago
You say "us" - does that imply it's for multiple users? That'll make a difference to any recommendation depending on whether or not it needs to (easily) adjust to suit different sizes of folk.
ah apologies have changed the title to me now. yes just for me to use.
I have the Zwift version of that Kickr Core. Use it with one of my bro's old road bikes he crashed and didn't want to ride anymore. Even if you don't want to use your own bike, you can find something in a skip that'd probably work.
The virtual shifting is definitely worth having over a standard mech/shifter set up. Not sure if the Zwift / Kickr turbos only still work with Zwift? That might have changed now. Couple of friends have exercise bikes and use apps like BitGym. I would much prefer a "normal" bike and a trainer over one of those.
It's all hateful tho.
ah apologies have changed the title to me now. yes just for me to use.
In that case a Kickr Core or the Decathlon Smart Trainer with a suitable cheap bike. Likely you could pick up a second hand frame and wheel on eBay or Facebook marketplace. It doesn't need to be fancy, just the right sort of size and with a bit of adjustment. You can go the Zwift Cog route rather than a cassette but then you are tied into Zwift and its subscription. Budget for a good fan or two (Screwfix) and a few towels. Also consider where it's going to be used a d think about a floor mat to reduce noise and whether you have sufficient ventilation.
The Zwift Ride bike with KickR Core is £1100 new, I have seen them second hand on FB groups from about £600. As others have said, a good alternative if you can find an old bike that fits you is the KickR Core with Zwift cog, at £400. So that plus a £200 second hand frame and front wheel would work.
Remember you’ll also need a reasonable sized tablet or Apple TV and phone to get the data and ride route etc in front of you, and some form of table to put them on, and a good fan.
WattBike sell reconditioned models sometimes
Got me one of these and built it up w stuff from the shed. Empty brifters for bar position, static RD as use ERG, decent 105 bb and cranks, fork, bars from a crashed bike. Only thing I bought was a shorter stem. Already had a cheap jet black trainer from an Evans stock clearance
I'd scour facebook and second hand shops for an old bike and hook it up to a decent trainer. It doesn't even need to be the right size, just stick and obnoxious stem and long (or short) seat post on it until it fits. Road bikes do seem to bottom out at about £300, but the occasional Zwiftable bargain shows up, I saw a cabon cannondale synapse disk with 105 2x11 the other day for £200 as the mudguards had rubbed through the seatstay, it was the perfect zwift bike.
You will probably need to budget for a new drivetrain. I'm not sure if virtual shifting works with MyWhoosh yet? But it's free and zwift annually is more than a new drivetrain. The big advantage I assume is noise, it's surprising just how noisy some gears are compared to others when you don't have the wind in your ears.
I got one of the Pinnacle trainers when they were £110, there's probably no way that offer will be repeated, but Kickr Core's come up for very little more on marketplace as post-covid the market is well and truly saturated.
I wouldn't get too hung up on which trainer (Saris, Tacx, Wahoo, Elite) as long as it's a smart one that works with Zwift et.al. It doesn't need to be their premium model, anything that can deliver ~600W and a 8-10% slope will have plenty of headroom for intervals down to about a minute. Because sprint work above and standing starts are much better done on a real bike on the road or velodrome.
There's been a bit of a backlash in opinion recently after years of everyone being sold "your trainer must be in ERG mode and accurate to =/-1% or the session is wasted" now people have realised that the trainer holding your FTP for 20minutes does not translate to you being able to replicate that on the road and actually the natural +/- 10% with occasional micro-rests you get in slope mode in a virtual world is possibly actually better. And I said this all along, if you can find a way to motivate yourself, and a way to keep yourself honest (i.e. you need entertainment, a structure and you need a power number) then any trainer does the job. I was just as motivated to use sufferfest* on a dumb trainer, as I was zwift on an inaccurate wheel-on smart trainer, as I am mywhoosh on a direct drive trainer.
*it's nowhere near as funny since wahoo took it over though
I've got a renpho AI bike, it's way quieter, and takes up less space than a bike on a turbo and can fit the whole family if needs be. Comes with a variety of workouts you view on your smart device. I usually watch TV while using it rather than zwift. Only downside is getting the mileage to sync into garmin or strava but zwift would do that for you.
Only downside is that if youre much over 6ft you might find it a bit small.
I've a second hand Tacx Neo which I stick an old road bike on. I don't use Zwift though.
I got one of the Whoosh smart trainers for about £60 and a second hand (hardly used) Road bike for another c£80 both from Facebook. Seem to work adequately for me. Used to use Zwift but stopped when prices went up and then moved to one of the free ones.
I've been tempted by all the fancy Zwift bikes and Atoms etc but haven't been able to justify paying the hundreds of pounds for them.
Beware the cheap "non smart" trainers that seem to be all over (my) facebook et al currently. They state that they work with Zwift which is technically true, but they do not interact with it so you don't get any of the benefits like changing resisitence on climbs etc.
I bought a Jetblack Victory turbo last November after my Saris H3 died, came with Zwift Cog and Click so could do virtual gears plus easily chuck any bike on it.
Kickr Core 2 similar price at mo, £400.
Then either chuck a bike on you already have, or buy something that would suit your requirements outside, for example a Carrera Fury in the sales or a Voodoo Bizango.
Cheap trainer second hand off ebay or Facebook and a second hand road bike BSO type thing and you'll be up & running.
You'll just need a tablet or computer of some sort to run Zwift, or A.N.other package. MyWhoosh is free at the moment, and you will probably want a heart rate strap & maybe a bluetooth or ANT+ dongle.
Don't forget a fan.
My old Tacx wheel-on smart trainer (Tacx Flow) sold for only £10 on ebay when I upgraded to an Elite Direto.
Don't assume any tablet/device will run Zwift.
My Samsung S6 Lite tablet will run Zwift and that's what I used to use, whereas my Wife's Samsung A-something tablet won't run it and it doesn't even appear in the Play store.
Kickr Core hooked up to an old hardtail and an Apple TV box works for me. Kickr Core's are good value for money I think.
to add.. why are people mentioning the zwift cog etc? when i was using the indoor trainer, there was no need to change gear really?
the training programme would alter load and give me rpm targets...
I did need to add a cadence sensor though...
I went the exercise/spin bike route as a bike + turbo would have taken up too much room. I got a used Echelon - Smart Connect EX3, which seemed to be the best bang got buck at the time. Think I paid about £200. You need to use a tablet or phone as a screen and then have the option of a) signing up for Echelon's own Zwift & Peleton a-like subscription thing, b) using an app called "qdomyoszwift" (you'll need a second device in addition to the 'screen') that allows you to use the bike (and others), with Zwift/Peleton/Rouvey etc.
I found I just prefer watching shite on YouTube to distract me, but the app above tracks all my ride stats and shoves them into Strava.
to add.. why are people mentioning the zwift cog etc? when i was using the indoor trainer, there was no need to change gear really?
the training programme would alter load and give me rpm targets...
I did need to add a cadence sensor though...
Depends what you're looking to do. This is ERG mode (I think), which is fine for some programmes, but you're not going to be able to do rides/races that require you to be in charge of your gear changes.
I'd not seen that Zwift Cog before, I'd love something like that as I use a bike that I also ride normally and the indexing is not great between the two, the Cog would solve that. Unfortunately my trainer (Elite Zumo) is not compatible, so an upgrade may be in order further down the line.
ah yes, i forgot that some nutters use these things recreationally 😀
I looked into this a while ago - seriously considered a reconditioned Wattbike Atom - but it was going to work out expensive. I was also slightly put off by reports that could be a bit inconsistent on ERG mode - but that doesn’t matter if you want to race on Zwift as you’ll be changing gear (and therefore not using ERG).
I’ve got a Wahoo KickR Core and I picked up a cheap roadbike in the CRC meltdown as well as a rocker plate from them also cheap. I run it mostly with an Apple TV box and old tv - but if I want to watch tv and do a (boring) zone 2 workout I just run Zwift on my iPhone and use the Apple for Disney / Netflix.
You could most likely pickup a decent secondhand wheel on smart trainer for £200 and then just look for a cheap road bike - find something unfashionable with rim brakes. If the drivetrain is old then you could pickup a Zwift cog - although that ties you to Zwift only I think.
Don't use Zwift and use MyWhoosh, save £15 a month. Cheap, than look for a Tacx T2240 turbo trainer and a bike you can fit to it. Had my Tacx about 10 years, does a good job, especially when injured. MyWhoosh has come on loads. Don't download the HD version unless you have a really powerful PC - it struggles on my I7 11th gen laptop, but the normal version runs very smooth.
Zwift isn't worth the money these days.
Some nutters only ride using Zwift, they don't do real world. Don't go overboard on spending as it's a dull as dishwater on a turbo. I resort to it for injury recovery. Only dug my turbo back out last year following a broken pelvis. Lasted a couple of weeks on the turbo before going outside on the bike. Used it recently as been off the bike with icy/frosty mornings (how I broke my pelvis).
We're in our 4th year of ownership of a second hand watt bike atom 1. I don't quite get the hate for indoor 'training' but I guess it depends what you're trying to do. I want to be doing something active more days than not for physical and mental health.
As an alternative to going out in the dark/wet/icy in winter it's great. No interest in racing or long rides but 30-90 minutes on a 'workout' programme on Rouvy with some decent music on a couple of times a week is fine. You can sit and read internet forums on your phone in the less intense bits.
And it works to keep your fitness - I've been recovering from a broken collarbone so this week was the first time I'd ridden outdoors since the end of October and my legs feel strong.
I’d not realised how cheap smart trainers had got. Just opened the CTC mag and they’re listing the Evans/pinnacle at £210 and the Decsthlon/van rysel for £230 (on sale at £180). Both direct drive.
I looked at this recently - but went down a rabbit hole of Zwift bikes at £1100 - plus £18 a month for Zwift.
Eventually just joined a Gym and sit in their spin bikes for now running a Concept2 program - working so far. Would take me years to justify doing the same at home with Zwift/Turbo thing - especially if it's a winter only job...