So avoided all turbo trainers and smart Trianers, have done spinning classes and in all honesty prefer to actually go out but I have to admit that time and Injuries mean I am not getting out as often or regular so an indoor trainer may help with my recovery plan to strengthen and get fittish.
So what trainer would people recommended for a
94 kgs rider
Using swift or other app ( recommendation please)
Will be a mountain bike ....chain ring with 30 or 40 at the front
Cheers
Firstly it’s Zwift...it’s £13/month although you can set it not to auto renew if you’re not using it. Personally I found Zwift the most motivational mostly for the social rides/races and good workouts. I’ve tried Rouvy, RGT and the Wattbike hub, but keep coming back to Zwift.
Given what you’ve said I’d get the lowest cost smart turbo capable of taking whatever mtb wheel size you have. That way, if you don’t use it then it’s no great loss.
In a recommend what you ride, I've got a kickr core which is really good. At the start of lockdown I bought an Elite Zumo, it died after 2 months havi g lunched it's belt, this was a non-repairable issue!!!!
Any-hoo, replaced it with the kickr core which is much more robust feeling (heavy) and has been rock solid.
I'm a zwift newbie too and can wholeheartedly recommend it, good fun and gives great work outs. Plus one for the wahoo kickr core, very pleased with mine but admittably not cheap.
I've never tried it but I'd assume that a wheel-on trainer would be a nightmare with a mtb tyre - noisy, slippy and probably rapid wear-rates
... so I'd be lookig at a "cheap"(er) direct mount (or whatever we call them when you take the wheel off) tainer. You may also find that 40t chainring is a bit small - maybe weeksy'll turn up and tell you as he used a mtb for ages. If you hate it you can prob sell the trainer for more than what you paid for it on ebay if you time it all right (esp if you get an established brand - wahoo sells refurbs I think)
Looking at this myself, but as we are going to share a set up with wildly different bikes I am being swayed by the idea of a Smart Bike - swapping and changing things I can just tell will be a barrier to actually doing anything at the moment!!!
Interested if anyone has any suggestions ,- the Watt Bike Atom is looking interesting as it isn't insanely expensive.
MTB tyres are awful on a turbo. Slicks at the very least.
I messed around with an MTB set up but much prefer road gearing for Zwift.
Kronos, DC Rainmaker has some thoughts on the Wattbike https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2019/10/smart-shootout-wahookickrbike-wattbikeatom-tacxneobike.html
New wattbike out soon.... But months of wait to get it.
That is the issue, you might have to buy what you can get rather than what you want as turbos are in high demand.
An mtb with turbo tyre is doable.
If money allows than a wheel off trainer like the Core with a cheap road bike is very nice.
Cheap s/hand Arkose on Core here.👍
Definitely Zwift all the way.
Surely a 30 or 40t chainring will be fine on a smart trainer. I leave my bike in the 36t on the turbo almost all the time.
EDIT: Actually, I might be being a nob. I use mostly TrainerRoad and Sufferfest so am in ERG mode rather than 'riding around in zwift' mode.
More usefully for the OP: There are a few apps available other than zwift as well, and I think most of them have some kind of free trial. The most popular are Zwift, Sufferfest and TrainerRoad but RoadGrandTours, Fullgaz and Rouvy are all out there too. Once you have a setup it's probably worth giving one or two of them a bash to see which one motivates you.
I have just bought a kickr core and a zwift subscription due to breaking my wrist in 2 places.
Tried my mtb on it XT 1 x 11, 32t front chainring and 11-46 cassette, not great cadence of over 100rpm on the flat in the hardest gear, ok in erg mode but any other mode I wouldn't bother.
Just put a cheap road bike on it with a 50t / 34t front crank and 7 speed rear cassette and its a lot better, a lot more enjoyable and I can actually maintain a decent pace at around half the cadence of the mountain bike
Although one of the climbs I did yesterday felt like I could do with the mtb gearing !