Fed up of being fat – what ‘bike’ trainer to get for 2 different sizes adults?

Been off the bike for a while and lost any form of fitness. I have an old Tacx flux trainer which was has been great but I’m 5′ 10 and my wife is 5′ 1 so we need to constantly change bikes for it.

Looking for a solution, what is the best ‘bike’ trainer that can allow multiple people? I have seen the new wattbike but I’m sure I read it’s not great with constantly changing sizes and fittings can become loose?

Depends on budget.

We are in the same boat here and have a Zwift bike. Very adjustable even for a 4′ 11″ midget. No issues with fittings. Mrs is forever fiddling with it.

Get a smart frame for your existing trainer? like the Zwift and Elite ones?

Rowing machine?

I sort of jest but I’ve wondered myself if a rowing machine is a better option if you don’t necessarily want to be bike fit, rather just fit not fat.

Get a smart frame for your existing trainer?

They use virtual shifting so existing Tacx trainer would be no good.

The obvious answer is something like the Zwift Ride Smart Frame. That said it’s apparently heavy and I’d want to be sure that it would accommodate someone of your partner’s stature. You can get them as a package with a Kickr Core and virtual shifting, so maybe the answer is to sell on your existing trainer and go that way?

Zwift Ride Smart Frame

Guess having two trainers would be limited by space? Tight wad experimental set up – Cheap dropper post on a small frame and angle adjustable stem?

We have a Renpho smart bike (review on Road.cc) which which my 10 year old can more or less use, my wife, and me at 5′ 11″ at the other end. There aren’t many video training sessions in the app like peloton but there are scores of other graph based ones. That suits me as I just have the training on an ipad and watch tv on a big screen.

I have changed the seat from the huge standard one to a WTB that we can all use.

Since I collected my new bike on 13th July I have lost 50lbs (nearly 23 kgs) and gone from 15st 7.5 lbs to 11st 13.5lbs as of this morning. Just 6lbs to go.

This has been done by diet (I started by doing a food diary for 7 days and listed everything I ate for 7 days and then looking at the daily calory count – it was astonishing!!) and then looked at portion control (I was eating too much as well as the rubbish) & exercise – hence getting back into biking. The days I don’t bike I use a Peloton exercise bike which has been amazing. My wife (who is not a cyclist) also uses it (yoga as well as cycling) and it bis easy to change the position of the saddle etc.

Its not been easy but well worth it so whichever trainer you choose good luck

Thanks all, looked at just the Zwift frame but my current trainer isn’t compatible so would need to update that to get the most of Zwift.

Anyone have the watt bike proton? Don’t have the space for 2 trainers unfortunately as this would be the easiest option to save faffing

I would have recommended a Stages SB20 but not sure what’s happening with them after they went out of business (I think I read Giant bought them but if so not sure if they’re going to continue the smart bikes & support or just the power meters). The main adjustment points are levers rather than hex keys so it’s pretty easy to sort (assuming you don’t want to change crank lengths each time to)

What ballpark BB to saddle top setup do you both need?

Could you not get a hybrid or mtb with a low BB to top height (eg. large womens or medium mens Voodoo Marasa that are £350 ) to use with the bargain £299 Saris H3 at Go Outdoors?

https://www.halfords.com/bikes/hybrid-bikes/voodoo-marasa-mens-hybrid-bike—m-l-frames-452894.html?plpPlacement=2

https://www.halfords.com/bikes/hybrid-bikes/voodoo-marasa-womens-hybrid-bike—m-l-frames-452918.html?plpPlacement=1

https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/16203542/saris-trainer-direct-16203542

My ’20 Marasa has spent a lot of the last 2.5 years on my H3, it’s the 18″ medium mens and I’m 5’10, using BB to saddle top of ~72cm.

Just get a spin bike?

Tale in turns to shout at each other to go faster.

We have a Kickr Snap to allow swapping bikes without taking the wheel off.. not sure if this is less faffy than adjusting seat height, bar position and crank length on a fixed trainer.

Anyone have the watt bike proton?

no, but I do have the Atom V2.  The Wattbike service engineer was here an hour ago giving it a full service after 18months and quite a few thousand km, and I was chatting to him about the Proton.

He really rates it, he’s been on the service training courses and the internals are pretty much the same as the Atom, though not quite the same max output power available, though only an issue if you are a pro sprinter.  He was saying that it is very easily adjustable, Wattbike have removed all the adjustment niggles from the Atom, really listened and the Proton is in his view ideal for multi users.

I am the only person in my house who uses it, but if any of the family were, I’d be looking to change it to a Proton.

How different are you? What about just one bike on your current turbo with a QR Seatpost and one of those multiple position figure of 8 type handlebars?

Unless you’re Gregg Davis and shes’s Nina Conte you should be fine.

I went for wattbike Atom for the very reason you’re contemplating, it can be used by myself, the kids and the wife by just adjusting seat height and reach etc in seconds.

that said, once the novelty wore off, there’s only me uses it now so could’ve gone with a smart trainer that I plug my bike into and saved a few hundred quid, but I have to say, I like the wattbike!

Do people suggesting sharing the same bike frame use turbos?

Might be ok for 20 mins of intervals… in my experience 1.5+ hours of non stop peddling soon brings to light any bike fit issues you may have..

We’ve got a Kickr Bike, I’m 5ft4 and my other half is 5ft11, it takes about 30 seconds to adjust all of the parts between our sizes. They’re not cheap but ours is 3 years old with pretty much twice daily use and it hasn’t missed a beat.

If anyone fancies a lightly used Nordictrack RX800 folding rower, DM me.

https://www.fitness-superstore.co.uk/nordictrack-rx800-folding-rower.html?srsltid=AfmBOoqiDVJA1NoeYi2jCeCNzwLg04qBuz9oVNEU1_lpzLESKu2yP2zy

fat you say…………welcome to my world.

go to your shed , get your bike out and go for a short 5 mile ride. repeat every other day but add 1 mile per ride.

you will soon be less fat and a lot more fit.

This is our house although our height difference is way bigger. Ideal would be 2 side by side setups but the garage is too full for that, so ……..

We had a wheel on trainer. Pros: cheap. Cons: bike swaps take a really long time if you have to extract/insert bike in a compact space; not accurate.

Then a Stages SB20. Pros: very very very easy and quick to adjust, solid AF, quiet, feels like gym equipment. Cons: faulty pwr meter needed replacement, crap in erg mode, feels like gym equipment.

Now on a zwift bike. Pros: easy to adjust but not as much as the stages; feels like a bike; extra zwift controls; cheap. Cons: zwift lock in, although the wahoo could be repurposed; need 2 plugs; have to connect through phone app if you use apple tv and want HR.

I prefer the Zwift bike, I’m fine for locking in for a few years, it’s still the best platform imo. I use apple TV and connecting through the app can be frustrating, OK mostly.

We just got a Proton after much deliberation.

Even though we don’t have that much of a size difference it’s still enough set up differences between for us not to be able to use each others bikes on the turbo, it is a hassle swapping bikes and re-adjusting gears to suit trainer vs wheel or having to swap cassettes for different systems. I can’t spend much time on her saddles and all the bikes have dropper so changing posts isn’t an option.

We did consider a cheap bike that we could swap seat posts but then that’s another bike to store somewhere when it’s not being used. The wattbike fits literally in half of the space of a bike on a turbo and not really much more than the turbo on its own.

We do need to change the standard saddle as it’s shape doesn’t suit either of us and I’m wait for wattbike to get back to me with availability of spare seat posts.

Just to reiterate what @gooner666 said. Your title says “fed up of being fat” – if that’s the issue then diet is your first port of call and facing the hard questions. Factor in exercise to help for fitness.