Let’s assume for a moment that I can find a treadmill in stock anywhere.

Mrs W rides bikes no probs, but has an old knee injury that makes running outside painful for her, last time she tried running outside her knee was painful for circa 6-8 weeks and no biking as a result.

But somehow with the cushioning she can run on a treadmill.

I’ve looked online and treadmill models run from the basic to super funky expensive.

What I don’t want to do is buy a rubbish one that no one then uses because it’s rubbish and it becomes another clothes horse.

So looking for a recommendation from the STW massif.

Look on ebay or similar, you should be able to pick up a decent model for far less than new prices. Last time I paid under 200 quid for a solid model (you can usually find a manual on line to check specs). At that price, new would be shonky junk.

I agree with a tready being soft on the joints BTW. I have no real problems on road but still sometimes use mine when I’m feeling a bit battered during high mileage phases. Springboard makes quite a difference. Also handy when it’s cold, dark and pissing down, which is pretty common round these parts 🙂

We had a JTX Sprint 7 arrive a couple of weeks ago, ordered start of September in anticipation of Lockdown II. Seems decent enough, pretty solid and still folds up.

But… delivery times for new orders look to be end Jan/early Feb next year.

Definitely look for secondhand, I bought mine locally from FB marketplace for £500. It was £1200 new.

It was 4 years old, so I was a bit worried but when I went to have a look I could access the settings inside the treadmill (it had an android screen) and it had only done 10km. To be fair the woman who owned it said she just just dried towels over the arms!

Might be a bit tricky to find a secondhand one online at the moment…

Anyway to your question; gradient/speed and reliability are the key things. The more you pay the more you get. Don’t worry about a graphical interface as you’ll probably just use Zwift or watch a film on your tablet. Solid support arms are important and, depending on your fitness top speed might be an issue if you want to do intervals (which are the only way to stop it being super boring).

It feels like I,m on one.

Thanks for the advice. Think Facebook local is the way to go…. After lockdown

Ours is a Sole F series. Was a wee bit pricy but is now a few years old and showing no sign of wear and tear. Base folds up which helps with space. Weighs a ton and took three large guys to lift into the house so if buying secondhand think about how you can transport one.

@beej

We had a JTX Sprint 7 arrive a couple of weeks ago, ordered start of September in anticipation of Lockdown II. Seems decent enough, pretty solid and still folds up.

But… delivery times for new orders look to be end Jan/early Feb next year.

That jtx treadmill looks good. Next delivery is early 2021, to be expected in these times.

@db I recall looking at Sole treadmills years ago, IIRC they are supposedly very good, right up there with some commercial treadmills. The F series look very nice, thanks I’d forgotten all about this brand. Will take a look.

I bought a JTX Sprint s/h off eBay after my £2k one gave up the ghost for the want of a £5 part that you just couldn’t get.

I think I paid £150 for it, low mileage – never raced or rallied. SWMBO uses it whilst I (being a brave little soldier) go outside despite my local lanes being Somme like whilst they’re bringing in the maize…

Some of the Sole ones are Zwift Run compatible, if that’s of interest to you. The Sprint 7 I’ve got does transmit speed over bluetooth but doesn’t work with Zwift (yet?). I use an old garmin footpod at the moment.

I’m happy with mine having done a few more runs on it. The speakers and fan are close to pointless but I’ve got a decent fan and speakers anyway.

+1 on how to transport. I have a van but it had to be dismantled to get through the door in the house anyway! Very heavy.

You can do zwift via a foot pod easily enough, the tready doesn’t have to be “smart” in any way, just controllable. I’m doing the zwift academy runnning program at the moment, it’s a bit more interesting than just plodding along. Though the latter with some telly is fine too.

Seen a few 2nd hand ones on the CrossFit Buy / Sell FB group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/315945008542250

Is there nowhere on softer ground she can go and run? Like a forest trail or similar? That might help if cushioning is a problem. Much more fun that a treadmill too.

Apologies if you’ve already thought of this (I guess you probably have).

@kennyp yep tried that, two bouts of no cycling or any training for 6-8 weeks while her knee recovered and a treadmill feels like the solution for now.

It’s a shame as she’s keen to get back out and run, but I figure if the treadmill works then happy days.

@footflaps

Seen a few 2nd hand ones on the CrossFit Buy / Sell FB group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/315945008542250

Requested to join that group, still waiting for approval…

I spent 200 quid on one from Argos, was a bloody godsend during the actual lockdown, didn’t really go as fast as I’d have ran outside, could manage a 10k in about 40 minutes on there at top speed, but to get a sweat going it was brilliant.

Had the Ipad hung on the wall, watched a couple of boxsets whilst running, worked really well.

No need to spend a fortune IMO.

i can recommend the proform treadmills.we brought ours off this site five years ago and its been great.has a kind of built in shock absorbtion system.wife uses it most days.