I know this has probably been done to death before but conscious that technology etc is evolving all the time.
Also not the time of year for indoor training but that also means might be some bargains to be had (especially 2nd hand).
What are peoples views on the most optimum set up for indoor riding at a reasonable cost? Thinking I might give Zwift a go again (despite the price!) but I'm also interested in Rouvy, Trainer Road, My Woosh etc.
At the moment I have a Saris smart trainer with an old bike on it, but I am increasingly interested in the idea of either a direct drive or even possibly a Zwift ride or even Watt Bike.
Must admit I'm particularly tempted by the gamified style of the zwift cog and click - I know it's a gimmick but still tempted but not sure if this will then limit me to using Zwift.
My number one aim will be that I have it all set up in the garage and can just ride with no (or minimum) hassle.
I use MyWhoosh, it's not as slick as Zwift but it is free an works fine. Saying that, the fact that I rarely use it probably says all you need to know about how enjoyable it is to use...
No idea what the optimum set-up is.
Personally I would be wary of going down the Zwift equipment side of things in case it just gets turned into more of a closed ecosystem where you can't use it without a Zwift subscription, rather than Rouvy, MyWoosh etc. Not sure if that would ever be the case.
I know that Zwift has just bought Rouvy & are running them as separate entities, but no idea if that would change in the future.
I have a Elite Direto direct drive trainer - much better than the wheel-on I had before that, but quite long in the tooth now.
I use an old stripped down road bike on it, with a PC for running Zwift - a £200 second-hand desktop allows Zwift to run in it's highest quality setting. I use it with a 32" monitor that I got from e-bay.
I have one of those turbo trainer tables for dumping all my stuff on; sweatband, watch, Bluetooth speaker etc. and 2 fans. Could do with another fan too, I reckon 😁
I am selling a Wattbike Atom V2….its in the classifieds. Glasgow area.
I am selling a Wattbike Atom V2….its in the classifieds. Glasgow area.
Did see that! too far from me and I think beyond the budget I really want to spend ..even though probably ticks a lot of the boxes for what I want!
I have a Elite Direto direct drive trainer - much better than the wheel-on I had before that, but quite long in the tooth now.
Interested to know what is is about direct drive that makes it so much better than a wheels on?
I bought a Stages SB20 before Stages went bust - if I was buying again I'd get a Zwift bike paired with a Jet Black Victory.
Zwift cog and click works great, I'm very happt with my Wahoo kickr core, and you can pick them up cheap second hand. I use Zwift in winter when I will be using it more and doing races etc. In summer, I just use offline and unpaid options, the Wahoo app (simple) or Golden Cheetah (more complex) work great if I just want to use erg mode to ride unthinkingly at a pre-determined pace while watching a film.
I had a dumb wheel-on trainer before, and it takes much more willpower and concentraction to get a good workout. A smart trainer with erg mode makes this way easier, you just need to keep the pedals turning and otherwise not think about it. Direct-drive vs wheel on is otherwise just smoother and quieter.
Just for info: Now that Rouvy have been taken over by Zwift, the one click buttons now work in Rouvy.
Did see that! too far from me and I think beyond the budget I really want to spend ..even though probably ticks a lot of the boxes for what I want!
that’s a pity, it’d be too heavy to ship, I’d be happy to drive an hour or so if that was halfway ?
Search old threads - was a long one on here not long ago.
Have they made Zwift cog open yet? there was a promise that it wouldn't be locked to Zwift at one point.
Wattbike and Rouvy user here. Wattbike is great if you've got limited space (smaller that a bike on trainer), are going to have more than one user (easy to adjust) or indoors (the chain is enclosed). We've had ours a few years now and I'd buy another. There are bargains to be had in the off season for sure.
An old bike on a trainer is cheaper.
Zwift seems to have the best racing community. I prefer the real world images of Rouvy and it was cheaper by some margin. not sure if that's still true. Must try whoosh. you can suspend your Rouvy sub for 6 months a year and pay-per-day for the odd times you use it.
In terms of bargains,
I've got a smart wheel on trailer (B-kool connect+) that works fine with Zwift but I've literally been unable to give away.
I just bought a £800 RRP set of Elite Nero rollers for £10.31 on ebay and feel a bit guilty about them!
Although I'm struggling with the Nero, the lowest resistance reports ~200W @ 32km/h, which probably isn't that far off a flat road. But it's a lot when I'm using them with the track bike for knee rehab! I'm going to have to find a small chainring and a massive sprocket as I'm currently churning away in 48/17 (the smallest gear I have) at 70rpm which is hardly easy spinning! I need to be doing 100-150W at 85-90rpm!
Interested to know what is is about direct drive that makes it so much better than a wheels on?
Noise, slope and accuracy.
Pretty much every direct drive trainer will be +/- 2% or thereabouts, a wheel on trainer can be +/-25% or worse. Although they can be consistent, i.e. the answer might be 25% out, but only varies by +/-5% from there.
Wheel on trainers are limited by how quickly you can spin the small flywheel without it becoming deafening. And beyond a point the tire loses grip on the roller. This isn't as bad as it seems because (IMO anyway) sprints are best done on the road anyway for realism so topping out t ~600W isn't such an issue.
They're substantially quieter as well.
What are peoples views on the most optimum set up for indoor riding at a reasonable cost?
Impossible to answer because it depends on your view of 'reasonable'.
The main thing that works for me is getting a permanent setup that is ready to go whenever. No shifting stuff around or swapping bike on/off. A pc or apple TV that is always connected up and a permanent monitor, second hand TVs are cheap as chips. I also have a crate in my airing cupboard that just contains the kit I use for turbo, so as to minimise searching faff.
Interested to know what is is about direct drive that makes it so much better than a wheels on
Direct drive are more accurate, quieter, etc, but they are not a 'must'
Zwift cog and click works great, I'm very happt with my Wahoo kickr core, and you can pick them up cheap second hand.
Is that the v1 Kickr core or the V2? Wasnt sure if V1 is compatible with zwift cog?
I also missed tyre wear, unless you use a trainer tyre then the roller tends to shred them pretty quickly.
Although as llama said, none of those issues make a direct drive trainer a must. I only upgraded from the B'kool because prices crashed so far that the cost of the upgrade IMO justified the benefits. In terms of actual training though, it's all just turning the pedals against resistance, that's the only thing that really matters.
Impossible to answer because it depends on your view of 'reasonable'.
Cheap as chips option would be:
My B'Kool trainer (free), but look on marketplace, ebay, or ask around local road clubs. It won't be the only turbo gathering dust and taking up space.
Mywhoosh (requires a PC with a moderately high spec to run with useable graphics)
There are now quite a few web based options if you don't want any bells and whistles. I use Auuki.com, no fancy gimmicks, just pick a workout and either it controls the trainer or you follow the graph. No instructions, videos, subscriptions, just number and lines on a screen. You can do similar with a garmin head unit but I've never learnt how.
The main thing that works for me is getting a permanent setup that is ready to go whenever. No shifting stuff around or swapping bike on/off. A pc or apple TV that is always connected up and a permanent monitor, second hand TVs are cheap as chips. I also have a crate in my airing cupboard that just contains the kit I use for turbo, so as to minimise searching faff.
+1 for all that.
Have a dedicated bike for the turbo trainer and leave everything ready to go for the next session when you're done. If you're anything like me, your motivation to ride indoors hit's it's minimum 10 minutes into searching around the house for the HRM strap, the correct shoes, the laptop charger, an extension lead for the fan, trying to sort the wifi that I promised myself I was going to setup the mesh for last week, etc.....
I'd go as far as suggesting a laptop stand over a TV because once I'm on the bike and warming up then the faff of all the login pages and connecting sensors is somehow less faff.
Depends how dumb the wheel on trainer is - mine has nothing, so you need a speed sensor to be able to talk to any apps, and no erg.
So i bought a cheap JetBlack, and a 40£ ebay frame and put some old forks, BB , Cranks and seat post on it and hey presto i have a single speed erg trainer (no need to faff w Zwift cogs or owt). Decathlon trainer table and a fully charged laptop and I am good to go w TrainerRoad and Netflix. TrainerRoad is so much quicker to get going and uses less battery than Zwift, and TR's programs are adaptive so I dont get burnt out like i did on Zwift programs
