Looking to buy a turbo trainer for my daughter to use whilst she is at uni. Will be used with her Specialized Diverge which has a bolt through 142 x 12 rear axle, I'm told.
Not wanting to spend a lot. What should I be looking at as I don't have a clue.
Thanks. Should have said Ideally she would like to keep the rear wheel in
Bskool pro trainer £335 at CRC, so not mega money for a smart trainer, very straightforward to use, not that heavy and you don’t need to calibrate every ride like the wahoo snap.
Tacx flux if the budget will stretch that far. I can’t describe how bad wheel on trainers are compared to direct drive. The flux is no where near as good as a neo but less than half the price. Whatever the reason for keeping the wheel on will easily be outweighed by the benefits of direct drive.
halfords have the flux at £399
that deal of jambo's/bigwatts is cracking value and (IMO) direct drive is better
Not sure about relative noise levels, would that matter where she's living ?
I went from a wheel on to direct drive last winter. The noise levels are appreciably different. Might be a consideration. Have a look at DC Rainmaker he does sound level readings.
As above, where will it be used? The noise from a conventional wheel drive will definitely not make any friends if she's in shared halls of residence or flats! My old turbo used to wake people in the house, even when using it in the garage.
halfords have the flux at £399
Can be had for about £320 if you stack AA / BC discount (10%), Zeek gift card (6%) and cashback (5%).
Flux looks OK but I think I'm missing something. On all the ones I've looked at how does it fit to a 142 x 12 bolt through axle Like her Diverge. They all seam to be Q/R to me
On the other end of the scale, my local Aldi had some turbo trainers in reduced from £50 (when they were first on sale) to £25. Looks to be the same as the Tacx one I had a few years ago and paid £100 for.
Worth the risk at that price, because ultimately all turbos are boring and you have to be an absolute sadist to enjoy using them. I used mine about 5 times then sold it a couple of years later.
Flux looks OK but I think I’m missing something. On all the ones I’ve looked at how does it fit to a 142 x 12 bolt through axle Like her Diverge. They all seam to be Q/R to me
You can get a thru axle adapter.
Is space a factor? If so, the Flux is quite bulky compared to the fold-up wheel-on trainers.
Thanks, think I'm getting it now. She is in a share with three others. So the ones that use the rear wheel are noisy compared to the ones where you remove the wheel.
Not much space
How noisy is the Flux one above and is it just a case of fitting a cassette that matches hers and fastening the bike in place or will the gears need adjusting.
I may end up telling her to get the lights out and night ride
Comparison of noise levels. Flux, Neo and Kickr2
Thanks I will send the link on to her.
you have to be an absolute sadist to enjoy using them
There are people that make others use turbos and sit and watch them suffer! Who'd of thought it 🙂
Another thing to consider is wheel on turbos eat normal tyres. I ended up getting a cheapo spare wheel with the same range cassette and sticking a dedicated turbo tyre (Schwalbe Insider) on it to use.
Can be had for about £320 if you stack AA / BC discount (10%), Zeek gift card (6%) and cashback (5%)
Not entirely true, the BC/AA discount doesn't work with sale items unless you have a very friendly cashier. it's still a great deal though.
you have to be an absolute sadist to enjoy using them
Fair, but if you think of them as functional and not fun they're oddly satisfying.
Not entirely true, the BC/AA discount doesn’t work with sale items unless you have a very friendly cashier. it’s still a great deal though.
The AA voucher (from the app) says only that it "cannot be used in conjunction with Cycle2work or any other voucher, colleague discount or exchanged for cash", and it worked for me.
