New turbo bike setup (not as interesting as full new bike day)

I’ve been flip flopping between getting a dedicated turbo bike or a Wattbike for a while and when CRC have had the current firesale I decided to go with the cheaper option of a new turbo bike.

Had been looking in the Facebook classifieds for a while and everything cheap and road bike have looked a bit knackered or the wrong size.

Picked up the cheapest Vitus road bike with bolt through hubs (have previously broken a Wahoo qr skewer on my Kickr) and whilst there I noticed the Lifeline Turbo Rocker boards so bought one of those too.

Both combined came to about 30% of the cost of a Wattbike. Haven’t had a chance to use it in anger yet as I’m ill but hopefully in the next few weeks I can get going.

The Vitus is surprisingly nice for the money – other than the Microshift gears. They do the job but they’re a bit untidy with cables sprouting out the front of them (like old Claris) and are quite clunky in use. But I’m comparing to Ultegra di2 on the other bike so it’s not a fair comparison.

That’s proper dedication that !

could have gone zwift hub and done away with the gears 👀

Good looking set up that.

I’ve ummed and arred about a rocker plate. Be interested to know how you get on.

Zwift Hub here. The 10000km Apex Derailer lives on!

Very nice, proper home gym envy here!

I love the idea of rocker plates but I don’t think they’re compatible (or wise!) with rollers. Also it’s another awkward bit of kit fighting for space in the garage…

That wall needs a Band of Climbers Epic Climbs 2024 calendar on the wall, order quick before they sell out!

The Band of Climbers Epic Climbs Calendar 2024

(I’m not on commission, just excited because I got mine ordered this year, missed out last year).

Nice set-up.
That pic has highlighted the urgent need for me to get my 32″ monitor off my Planet-X turbo trainer & mounted to the wall. It barely fits on the table, leaves very little room for anything else & means the TV is a bit too close to me.

I have a home made rocker which is ok, that lifeline looks much better- can I ask a question – could you measure it at its widest point?  I have a very small space to fit it in

@dirtyrider – I already had a Kickr Core that I’m very happy with – and sorting out a bike with no gears would have been more difficult I think. Would have needed a hub I could singlespeed on / some way to adjust chain tension and still needed some kind of cranks / chainring etc.

Will come back and update on the rocker plate once I’ve used it in anger. It suggests a psi to blow the inflatable balls up too but no easy way to measure that. So I’ve set it up so there’s just enough movement that if you could bounce on the edge of the wood the top one will touch the bottom. 

@13thfloormonk – cheers! Really like my home gym – converted one half of a double garage myself. I don’t think I want to be reminded of climbing….my least favourite part of cycling 🤣

my 32″ monitor off my Planet-X turbo trainer & mounted to the wall

I run Zwift on my old 21 inch iMac. It is pretty close on a table, but not a massive screen. I would mount an old monitor as a preference but the window behind somewhat precludes that option 🙂

and sorting out a bike with no gears would have been more difficult I think.

For anyone who is considering a hub, you don’t need to change anything. Just shift into the middle of the cassette and then shift using electronic shifters.

I love the idea of rocker plates but I don’t think they’re compatible (or wise!) with rollers

Elite powered smart rollers have forward and backwards motion. The side to side comes for free. The power they report is rather optmistic, but the resistance on Zwift is real and can be felt. They will pass through the power from a pedal or crank power meter to Zwift.

So I decided I didn’t like the clunky 9 speed Microshift shifters very much – they worked fine but not that refined.

Pieces together an 11 speed setup – Rival 22 shifters, Rival front and and rear mechs. Shimano 105 cranks and ht2 bb, sram x1 chain and a 105 11 speed cassette. Total came to about £200 with various bargains and a cassette I already had. Still got the Microshift to sell to make a little bit of that back.

Also picked up some bargain CRC triathlon cycle shoes with carbon soles for £19.99. Gross colour but only ever going to use them on the turbo in the garage.

Yes I need to wrap the bars properly with tape – going to do they tonight but hate that job. Forgot how much of a pain fitting road bike gears and stuff are, give me working on mtb any day of the week!

Taping bike bars is one of my least favourite bike jobs but this is vaguely respectable I think. Will do the job for the turbo bike anyway