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
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.
Mostly agree - the shoes I use sit under the Wattbike. I'm not convinced you need a screen and Apple TV - I've never felt the need for more than my iPad which is easy enough to grab from the kitchen on the way to the bike.
Theres an extension lead zip-tied to the front of the watt bike with a USB charger/cable for the iPad and that the fans plugged into so a single wall switch turns it all on. I need music so a bluetooth/wifi speaker lives there as well.
I use an old-ish but rather nice carbon Cannondale Supersix permanently mounted on a Tacx Vortex wheel-on smart trainer.
The bike is huge and would have been a pain in the arse to sell locally so it was relegated to trainer duties when I got a new road bike. I put a trainer tyre on after getting multiple punctures in standard road tyres.
My trainer, though, is horrendously noisy. I keep promising myself I'll replace it with a quieter wheel-off trainer but I've never got around to it as, frankly, I hate turbo trainers so ride outside when the weather is good/tolerable instead. (And, yes, my fitness isn't anywhere near what it could be if only I could MTFU and do proper structured training)
Edit to add: as llama says, make sure everything is setup/permanent as, if you are like me, anything which requires a delayed start is likely to lead to an abandoned session. Zwift used to really piss me off in the early days due to software updates taking ages to start up the program and missing race start times. Now I just use a very simple Garmin training app on my phone as it starts almost instantly...
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.
Although I'm now on a laptop, I found an iPad (which eventually died) to be a better option for minimal faff. My only gripe is I had it mounted to the bars so when the bike moved sos did the screen I was looking at.
I use a 32" TV connected to a PC. Pretty immersive.
- Apple TV box
- Old PC monitor
- Old hardtail
- Wahoo Kickr Core
- Zwift cog and click
- Cheap fan
- 25 year old microfiber towel...
Works for me.
Another one here in favour of a permanent setup. The last thing I need is any impediment or discouragement.
FWIW I have a 17 year old road bike on a Tacx Neo 2T, hooked up to a laptop and a 32" TV. The latter kit also provides music, fitness videos, YouTube and so on as it's all part of my home gym.
I'm not currently using Zwift. The over-gamification stopped appealing and I got a bit fed up of the cartoon graphics. I can see how it works for so many though. I'm currently enjoying the Tacx app with its real videos as it feels more like "just going for a ride" and I can use the Tacx or Garmin workouts when that appeals too.
I tried zwift over the winter, enjoyed it and the racing gave me some focus. However fitness plateaued somewhat and I reverted back to trainerroad, and tried out the new AI generated plans and workouts. Found it very effective and have no issue with the graph style for an hour or so - can listen to music, a podcast etc. Definitely got fitter using TR but sub is about to end for the summer.
I got a jet black victory at Christmas with a zwift cog . I dont have a dedicated bike for it but its not to big of a chore to fit it and it tends to stay on it for the during the week .
I carried on using zwift after the free trial and I'm ok with the cost at the moment as im using it about 3 times a week .
I have zwift on a tablet then have something that doesn't take to much concentration to watch on an old TV I got on marketplace , currently watching 30 rock whilst I zwift .
Ive been using it consistently since Christmas, mostly workouts with a couple of races and group rides thrown in and its really made a notable difference to my normal riding .
It's an hour max for me though, dont know how people can do 3 or 4 hour rides on it .
Have they made Zwift cog open yet? there was a promise that it wouldn't be locked to Zwift at one point.
The cog can be used anywhere, it's the buttons that are locked down. Rouvy did hack it for a few months but Zwift updated it to fix that. Rouvy updated their software to add on screen buttons to do the same as the hardware Zwift buttons. This was ok, but now Zwift own Rouvy the buttons should work. I haven't tested this yet, but I will when summer's over.
I got a jet black victory at Christmas with a zwift cog . I dont have a dedicated bike for it but its not to big of a chore to fit it and it tends to stay on it for the during the week .
only just seen the jet black victory and was wondering how that compares to the Kickr core 2 which was probably my most likely choice
I am lucky enough to have a dedicated spare room with a bike+Turbo+screen available full time. However, I am one of those weird people who quite likes indoor training.
I use Trainerroad and Zwift together (Trainerroad has much superior workouts but Zwift is a bit more "fun" to use) and my TR workouts automatically import into Zwift ready to complete in the Zwift world (this does mean 2 x subscriptions).
Having said all that, lately I have found TR a bit bewildering. They have launched a pretty major overhaul to their system and I'm not sure if its all getting a bit overcomplicated for me- every time I have a question I seem to get directed to trawl their forum or listen to a podcast which I have no time for. I am tempted to simply go back to basics and try one of the bread & butter apps people reference up there^^^
I think Zwift's strength is purely the number of people on it and the racing- I've always found the racing quite good fun and there's loads of them so you can always find one that is appropriate for you but I must admit I haven't tried the others.
I don't really have any top tips other than if you have a second fan it is worth having one that points directly at your saddle/ass just to try and avoid any saddle sores which seem doubly-unfair if they happen when you're on the turbo.
Also for some reason I never really clean the chain on my turbo bike and its now covered in some weird, thick dust-gunk which is probably losing me 10 watts but its so far gone I can't face stripping it now and just keep recklessly adding lube. So, I guess the lesson is purely indoor bikes still need the drivetrain cleaning periodically.
Is that the v1 Kickr core or the V2? Wasnt sure if V1 is compatible with zwift cog?
Both, the V1 received an update to support virtual gears (where the more expensive kickr v5 didn't 😠).
Is that the v1 Kickr core or the V2? Wasnt sure if V1 is compatible with zwift cog?Both, the V1 received an update to support virtual gears (where the more expensive kickr v5 didn't 😠).
Yep, I amongst others, were pretty furious about this - I had to sell my V5 as it was effectively bricked. I'm avoiding Wahoo in protest.
I'm just curious as to what sort of setup might make regular 'easy' workouts more achievable. I have my good summer bike on a dumb wheel-on turbo over winter, and anything beyond 45 minutes becomes a real chore, both comfort and boredom.
Would something like following a robo-pacer or ticking off routes in Rouvy make e.g. 90 minute zone 2 efforts more bearable? Does a fancier turbo help?
I sort of thought a bigger screen and all the graphical bells and whistles might help...
Slightly off topic, but I'm similarly looking to get a trainer setup in my shed. But wifi is a problem - it doesn't reach the shed. Has anyone tried running Zwift, Rouvy, etc, through a mobile data hotspot? Would be considerably easier than getting an ethernet cable put in. Figuring I could get a 4 or 5g dongle for my laptop with a PAYG sim just for this.
I'm just curious as to what sort of setup might make regular 'easy' workouts more achievable. I have my good summer bike on a dumb wheel-on turbo over winter, and anything beyond 45 minutes becomes a real chore, both comfort and boredom.
My solution to this was getting into a Netflix box-set and just watching that while riding rather than trying to get motivated by routes/races/etc. We had a cheap older 32" tv not being used so that's gone in the shed just above the ancient macbook being used for the mywhoosh workouts in erg mode.
Edit: re comfort - tried out every saddle we had including wifes/sons/etc and ended up finding a second-hand SQ Labs 612 has worked best along with raising the front wheel 2" on an extra block of wood.
for zone 2, get a smart trainer, figure out what wattage your zone 2 is, set it to that, and then watch Netflix or similar to kill the boredom. For harder workouts or racing, Zwift alone can hold my attention. But for easy zone 2 stuff, let the trainer set the pace so you just need to keep your legs spinning, and concentrate on something more interesting!I'm just curious as to what sort of setup might make regular 'easy' workouts more achievable. I have my good summer bike on a dumb wheel-on turbo over winter, and anything beyond 45 minutes becomes a real chore, both comfort and boredom.
Would something like following a robo-pacer or ticking off routes in Rouvy make e.g. 90 minute zone 2 efforts more bearable? Does a fancier turbo help?
I sort of thought a bigger screen and all the graphical bells and whistles might help...
I'm just curious as to what sort of setup might make regular 'easy' workouts more achievable.
Personally, I've never found that set-up. I use the turbo for 30-45 minute interval sessions where can't think as I'm to busy blowing out my arse. The idea of 2 hours at Z2 on a turbo sounds hideous to me.
I got a jet black victory at Christmas with a zwift cog . I dont have a dedicated bike for it but its not to big of a chore to fit it and it tends to stay on it for the during the week .
only just seen the jet black victory and was wondering how that compares to the Kickr core 2 which was probably my most likely choice
interested to know this as well. I've got an Elite Tuo which, going by dcrainmaker, is one of the best smart wheel-on trainers out there along with a dedicated trainer tyre but it's still got annoying quirks when either varying pace in a VO2 max workout or, worse still, if you stop pedalling for more than a few seconds and for some reason that causes the resistance to go sky-high.
Re: zone 2 I have found that either ERG mode and Netflix works.
Alternatively I find that (surprisingly) the group workouts on Zwift make it bearable also. If I'm on the turbo in resistance mode the distraction of adjusting my cadence/output to keep tightly in the group is just enough to keep my brain occupied for a while.
Still, I cannot ever imagine doing more than two hours of this either way- that would be my absolute max on the turbo. I watched a documentary on the "day in the life of a triathlete" or something like that and they were doing 5hrs+ on the turbo which seems unfathomable to me.
I'm just curious as to what sort of setup might make regular 'easy' workouts more achievable. I have my good summer bike on a dumb wheel-on turbo over winter, and anything beyond 45 minutes becomes a real chore, both comfort and boredom.
Would something like following a robo-pacer or ticking off routes in Rouvy make e.g. 90 minute zone 2 efforts more bearable? Does a fancier turbo help?
I sort of thought a bigger screen and all the graphical bells and whistles might help...
Turbo training will expose any comfort imperfections if your bike very quickly. The only thing I've found worse for little-spoon's comfort is Pishill 🤣.
Raise the bars as high as you can.
Tilt the saddle down just a fraction.
Have some sort of variation within Z2 (low cadence, high cadence, ramping cadence, stand up) just to get different muscles involved for a moment.
The other thing to try if you haven't already are rollers. They're hard to get bored on because you fall off. The downside is I've never managed to Zwift on them as the tendency is to lean into the corners. Good if you just use a bearbones training app and listen to a podcast though. Could probably train myself into being able to watch TV or even zwift eventually.
Yep, I amongst others, were pretty furious about this - I had to sell my V5 as it was effectively bricked. I'm avoiding Wahoo in protest.
It didn't brick my V5 as still just used it with gears. I did end up changing to a V6 though as we now swap lots of bikes around on the turbo.
Slightly off topic, but I'm similarly looking to get a trainer setup in my shed. But wifi is a problem - it doesn't reach the shed. Has anyone tried running Zwift, Rouvy, etc, through a mobile data hotspot?
Before getting a mesh set-up for wi-fi in the house, I had really patchy results with wi-fi in the garage; sometimes it would be fine, sometimes it wouldn't connect at all & the worst of all, sometimes it would start OK & then crap it's pants mid-race. I would frequently switch to the phone mobile data used as a hotspot. Zwift doesn't actually need much data to work, so I always found it fine running through my phone network every now & again.
I'm just curious as to what sort of setup might make regular 'easy' workouts more achievable
I found a combination of either free-ride and/or pace partners in Zwift coupled with iPlayer (or some other streaming service) or a decent podcast could easily keep me occupied for a couple of hours. I didn't even find it boring - quite therapeutic to have some time to yourself, doing some exercise but not full-gas & watching or listening to something enjoyable.
I've done some 3hr sessions which did start to get pretty boring, but hardly surprising and it wasn't unbearable; just a bit boring towards the end.
When recovering from a broken spine, I set up a mini PC, two screens and a wheel on Tacx T2240 with Zwift. This was permanently set up, with 'fans' to keep me cool. Used to watch box sets at the same time as Zwifting.
Fell out of use for a long time, but started again last year after hip/pelvis fractures. Switched to My Whoosh and by now, the area I used is full of camping gear, so just popped the CX bike in the trainer with a standard road tyre, and used my laptop instead. Bit of a few minute faff to position the laptop, but this worked.
If you have space, make room for the bike and computer/laptop, and use a reasonable screen - I had 2 x 23" screens in front of me (on a pivoting desk mount).
I don't use it regular now as I prefer to get out - I bike commute 3-4 days a week anyway.
The only reason I’m selling my Wattbike is than I have dodgy knees and find that the very stiff and rigid platform on the Wattbike gives me achy knees if I go much more than an hour.
a pity really as it is a low smaller footprint than the Zwift Ride bike I’ve just bought to replace it..
The only reason I’m selling my Wattbike is than I have dodgy knees and find that the very stiff and rigid platform on the Wattbike gives me achy knees if I go much more than an hour.
a pity really as it is a low smaller footprint than the Zwift Ride bike I’ve just bought to replace it..
What's the difference between the watbike and the zwift?
My switch back to rollers was for similar reasons, so far my hypothesis that the more natural movement would help compared to the fixed turbo has been true.
I've done some 3hr sessions which did start to get pretty boring, but hardly surprising and it wasn't unbearable; just a bit boring towards the end.
ISLIGIATT on sufferfest is never fun.
I looked at this before xmas -- I ended up going to a gym and using their concept 2 bikes - used the app to work out a program. Was cycling there a reasonable number of times a week until the lighter nights came in - then i just went outside....
It was considerably cheaper once Zwift or similar kicked in - no need to store a bike fully set-up / less grief from the family..
My solution to this was getting into a Netflix box-set and just watching that while riding
This, and trainerroad in it's small bottom of screen view
Person of Interest
New Amsterdam
Both being fairly easy going box sets
