Thread revival for some newb questions. I used Zwift paired with a wheel on trainer during lockdown but I've never used a smart turbo.
Are Wahoo still the go to? Is there much difference between that and a Decathlon alternative £200 cheaper?
I've got enough spares for everything bike wise aside from drivetrain. Do you need shifters and derailleur or does the smart turbo do that?
Head over to DC Rainmaker for smart trainer reviews. Shifter and cassette are needed, unless you get Zwift Click which does gear changing electronically. For this you need to use Zwift, or Rouvy. Not sure if it works on Mywoosh or TrianingPeaks.
Used MyWhoosh a bit recently, enjoying some shorter sub 20Km routes, especially those with short inclines. Did a ramp test too.
Better than it used to be, but as much as I hate Zwift ZRS racing system, I can see myself signing up for a month at least to get some Zwift Insider Tiny Races in on Saturdays, during the expected wet winter weather.
Yeah I’m fully back to Zwift. Not using it much just yet due to weather not quite killing trails just yet.
Slight thread derail, but i did my first Zwift race in years yesterday!
Was only a 17km lap around a new NY route, and currently in high end Cat C - was hard and fast, but fun!
Will try to get fit to get back into group B soon!
DrP
After the last price increase of Zwift I said never again, now I’m looking at giving it ago again over winter. I tried Mywoosh and wasn’t keen on it and the sport white washing doesn’t sit well with me and I did also try Trainer Road when it was the free version.
Currently just been setting power on my Garmin through the smart trainer and watching some YouTube for an hour but want something more so looks like I be paying the £18 a month to go back on Zwift over the winter months.
Yeah I’m fully back to Zwift. Not using it much just yet due to weather not quite killing trails just yet.
I said the same, cancelled in mid 2024 and rode outside instead, tried Rouvy in late '24 early '25 but for my set up with an Apple TV the app wouldn't work with the remote properly and found it quite dull to use, so canned that after a month and didnt ride indoors till yesterday when I signed back up to Zwift and did a ride and it just works!
I do really hope Zwift are feeling this brunt of this decision, as I had the pay monthly set up for a few years and left it running even in the summer, I then cancelled for 15months and will now run a subscription till Feb and cancel again, if they'd done nothing and left the price, they'd easily have made more money from me over this period and the future to come!
I do really hope Zwift are feeling this brunt of this decision
Doubt it unfortunately. That's Wahoo/Sufferfest now also increased to £18/month
There's also Biketerra. Not that I've tried it.
I'm retired and can choose when I ride outside so, for me, turbo training is very much "ride-of-last-resort" when the weather is really bad. And when I need to, I (usually) just do short, high intensity workouts of various types on the free Garmin (aka Tacx) Training app.
But out of curiosity, I splashed out for a month of paid Garmin Training premium which give access to thousands of hours of real road videos to follow.
Frankly, I don't know why I bothered...
For me, turbo training is something to get over and done with as fast as possible and there is sooooo much choice of routes, that I ended up spending more time in analysis paralysis deciding which route to ride. And this isn't unique to Garmin - when I used Zwift and TPV in the past, both were the similar with too much route choice!
When I want to do ERG workouts, just give me a pan flat route. When I want to simulate a long climb, just give me one long climb option with fairly consistent grade....
But my usage is probably atypical.
I use the Tacx Desktop App. I like that it's "just like going for a ride", so that I can attack, cruise, whatever, whenever I want. I'll occasionally fire up a workout if there's some specific training I need to do that isn't just Z2 cruising. Ideally, the videos would work alongside the workouts though. It was handy scouting out some of the rides I did in Majorca before getting there and also works for uploading gpx files of any route I'd like to preview.
It's a lonely experience though. If folk want a gamified and busier experience like Zwift, it's definitely the wrong thing.
I do miss the smash fest of the STW races. Not enough to spend the hours Robbo did organising it though...
I'm currently on my whoosh because, free. It's fine for something to look at whilst I do an erg workout.
I do really hope Zwift are feeling this brunt of this decision
Doubt it unfortunately. That's Wahoo/Sufferfest now also increased to £18/month
Wahoo X/sufferfest is £14.99 ($17.99) per month
It recently raised from £12.99 but is still one of the cheaper options by a couple of quid. I prefer the workouts on there as they hold my attention better than noodling around of zwift chasing red or green arches but everyone is different.
I do miss the zwift racing though so maybe I should have a look on mywoosh sometime
I have a JetBlack Volt EMS v1 that I bought nearly-new off these forums two years ago (I upgraded to Elite Justo this summer). Still got box and accessories. Note this is the original v1 Volt- JB never updated firmware to officially support virtual shifting (via play/click controllers) in Zwift. I'm in Coleshill north Warwickshire if you want to make an offer that doesn't involve me arranging delivery 😉
Edit: Bearings OK and works fine but I put a lot of kms on it and it is far from pristine. Got me from lockdown weight to Zwift cat A.
I have tried Biketerra and liked the quirky graphics. Works with Zwift Play controllers now. I have mostly done free ride and erg workouts. No races yet. You can connect with Strava and Intervals.icu. It has a route creator from GPX files but I haven't tried that.
FWIW I'm back on Zwift too for ZRL racing primarily. I'm grumpy about the cost and Zwift dropping support for elite racing. I agree with comment above comparing to gym. I'd want gym regardless of bike training. Council run, around £25/month if paid annual lump sum. Well maintained, clean showers, ... etc. However, I made a lot of friends on Zwift and not found that community (which is largely volunteers, not paid from the subscription fee) elsewhere.
I did the IndieVelo Grand Tour in September 2024 and enjoyed the physics (cornering, headwinds, ..) a lot more than Zwift. Would have considered paying for TPV but had already bought a Zwift annual subscription to combat price rise. Again, the issue was lack of humans. I did the Grand Tour with Zwift team mates- all of them are back with Zwift.
I tried Rouvy a few weeks ago. The video with rider floating on top, sometimes getting ploughed through by camper van, just didn't grab me.
Tried MyWhoosh around a year ago. The canoe motion -especially around corners- gave me travel sickness.
I’m back to Zwift after a collarbone break and operation and then an appendix out bigger operation.
Just easing back in - 3rd ride (not race) and found myself bouncing off 180bpm on one of the climbs trying to keep up with the little group I was riding with. I do like Zwift but I almost always end up at a higher intensity than intended…..
I do like Zwift but I almost always end up at a higher intensity than intended…
Very realistic then, just like going out with mates when everyone initially agreed Z2...
After Zwift put the prices up a while back I was all for ditching it. Tried some others and realised that £17.99/mth was fair value for what I use it for during the winter months.
I've tried gyms and they're really not my thing and there's a lot to be said for the convenience of it being in the garage and ready to go whenever - no faff getting stuff together and going somewhere, plus I can make good use of a lunch hour when WFH and the weather's rubbish.
Don't know why they bother with the annual 'deals', 5 or 6 months is all I use a year.
I think zwift is decent value. I’m also a winter user and it’s the cost of a coffee or pint once a week.
I think zwift is decent value.
I definitely groaned when it went up in price but, having recently restarted my membership for the winter and just spent lunch racing people, I'm not finding that I can really grumble anymore
I’ve ended up back on Zwift, even ended up taking the yearly membership package.
I've been impressed by Biketerra (which I only heard about recently through this thread)
I'm never going to pay for Zwift as I'm not interested in racing or any social aspects of using a turbo.
I only started using a turbo this time last year and had been happy using MyWhoosh up until now. I find it fine but have been getting increasingly frustrated that the courses that I like aren't available on the days that I can swing my leg over.
I've just paid the £45 for Biketerra as I really like the simple graphics and course choices. I find the ride data and route profile much easier to read than MyWhoosh. I don't have a fancy set up, I just run it from my phone on a bar mount.
