I’ve been given my Dad’s old road bike, but have no intention of riding it on the road.

I’ve a dumb TT, with a resistance remote control.

What’s the best way to add a bit of intelligence to this setup? Speed and cadence sensors seem to be the only real option I can see at the moment. Can’t justify a power meter. Any good deals out there for a cheapish smart TT?

Going to get a blue tyre for it to start with, and maybe build a stand to replace the front wheel (just to reduce the footprint).

What trainer is it?

The better ‘dumb’ trainers had power curves associated with them, so you could calculate power from your speed (so yeah, get a speed sensor) but so long as you set it up the same way every time (e.g. same tyre pressure, same number of turns on the clamp/tyre roller etc) then you can just use speed, e.g. on my rollers I know what speed I can hold for 20 minutes/10 minutes etc. which can be used for different workouts.

Also, get a heart rate strap, if you’re not using a power meter then HR is a much cheaper and useful substitute if you learn what your zones are.

Yeah, not a lot more you can do than speed and cadence sensor.

There’s a Zwift article here that goes into a bit of detail, although I realise you haven’t actually mentioned Zwift. Thought it might have some useful info in there.

Have you looked on ebay for smart turbo trainers.
When I was looking to sell my Tacx Flow Smart, there were going for anywhere between £40 & £80.
In the end I didn’t sell mine as my sister asked to borrow it. She’s not using it, so am looking to sell it as soon as I can get it back off her.

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/tacx-flow-smart-turbo-trainer/rp-prod200539 would get you going for ~£215 , ~6% gradient emulation, power readings not great when compared to other turbos, wheel-on so very dependent on consistant setup and tyre pressure.

£475 for https://www.probikekit.co.uk/turbo-trainers-bicycle-rollers/saris-h3-smart-trainer/12684886.html is a very good price, I bought my one for ~£485 from Rutland Cycles a few months back to replace my flogged to death Direto, brilliant ERG, 20% gradient emulation

British Cycling membership will get you £10 off a (£100+?) purchase from crc each month.

CRC and PBK are on topcashback and quidco (tcb allow voucher at pbk).

Quidco are doing £5 bonus today for seemingly any purchase today for first 20,000 sign-ups.

As above, now that covid is mostly over the price of 2nd hand turbos has dropped. I got a b’twin one given to me for free! Even the old but really good Drivo is often going for £200 on ebay.

Ignore the gradient emulation comparisons it’s not really noticeable after a point in zwift. ~6% is enough to trick your brain into thinking your going uphill, you just change down fewer gears than in the real world. You’d still probably want cadence and HR though. How ERG ends up working is you find a gear that feels sensible, and the variable resistance is enough to keep you on the correct power. If it jumps from 100 to 600W then you just have to drop a few gears with it unlike a big direct drive unit that might do all that in one gear.

@n0b0dy0ftheg0at

I’d love to give rollers a go, but it’s not just me who will use the set-up, and I think Mrs Seadog might (certainly will) struggle…

If you’re just dabbling I still think ERG etc. is overrated, I’ve done all my training ‘dumb’, typically with headphones in and a GCN YouTube video (usually the sweetspot one which is a good one to start with and get used to HR zones etc).

What trainer do you have?

@seadog101 The H3 is a direct drive turbo, not rollers.

I’ve had a quick nose at Ebay, and that looks like a good place to start. Obviously lots of people offloading Covid purchases at cheap prices.

I’m not looking at anything super advanced and complicated. Just want to have something that gives me a bit more data than what my HRM tells me.

I got a stages power meter from Sigma Sports recently for (£225) – 105 left arm crank. It’s good for the platform I use – trainerroad – although the speed and cadence sensors and the turbo’s power curve have in hindsight seemed pretty accurate!

Given it was a fluid trainer there were some issues. Later intervals in a session could become easier which in the colder months (turbo is in the shed) was an issue as the fluid warmed and resistance eased. The power meter means this is no longer a problem.

170mm 4iii is ~£196 https://www.probikekit.co.uk/cycling-power-meters/4iiii-precision-2.0-3d-power-meter-105-r7000-black/12104435.html

Other sizes ~£211 at Merlin https://www.merlincycles.com/4iiii-precision-r7000-105-powermeter-259005.html (gold reward price affected maybe)

I’m not looking at anything super advanced and complicated. Just want to have something that gives me a bit more data than what my HRM tells me.

You’d be fine on a wheel-on trainer then, just keep an eye on prices as the difference between them and the much better trainers is very little now. Thjere’s no way I’d pay £80 for a wheel on trainer (let alone £200+ new) when direct drive ones are £200-£300 second hand, I’d find some other bike part to sell to make up the difference.

I’d be tempted by a power meter, but I think that’s another level of seriousness. A decent turbo trainer makes indoor riding on zwift fun in the same way going for a clubrun is more fun than a solo ride.

Or put another way, I’d waste an hour or two in an evening on Zwift with a smart trainer. I’ve also done sufferfest via the virtual-power metrics. Both are good for fitness, it just depends whether you want an activity that’s intrinsically a bit of fun that get’s you fit. Or training that get’s you fit that you may be able to find fun.

Using a power meter and a dumb trainer on zwift is really dull. You just plod along at 90% of FTP never changing gears.

Agree 100% with above – having the ‘smart’ functionality, in combination with Zwift, was for me what turned turbo training I had sporadically endured for short periods (staring at the garage wall, unmotivated and with a tendency to give up and leave it untouched for months), into something actually enjoyable, usable, accessible…

I get much better VFM out of my setup now with a kickr and an Ipad, then I ever did with a <£100 trainer and my headphones in, even though it cost multiples more.

Especially during the winter (and with a bit of STW race series action!) its something I actually enjoy!

Wahoo are doing a very good deal on the ‘wheel-on’ Wahoo Kickr Snap at the moment.

I bought one last week. Paid at 16:00 on Thursday and it arrived at 12:00 on Friday!

Wahoo Kickr Snap DEAL

If you are simply looking to train to numbers, it can be done easily with a relatively cheap crank arm power meter, HR strap and cadence sensor as mentioned above – but that doesn’t really give entrance into where the fun aspect comes in with Zwift etc.

However, from the context of the OPs posts I wouldn’t suggest it as the cost quickly rises into what you can get the entry level smart trainers for as mentioned above.

By trying to upgrade what you have, you’ll soon get fed up with what it can’t do, your good lady will not use it as it is too fiddly and boredom will set in. To then get it where it can be used properly with Zwift etc will be too much trouble.

I know you don’t want to spend money but I’d save / sell something and get a s/h Kickr or Neo trainer for the best option. We went through a similar thought process years ago after buying a Tacx Flow smart thing. It was so noisy and not really that good truth be told, that moving to a s/h KickR and leaving it permanently set up was great.

For many years I used a ‘dumb’ trainer with HR, Cadence etc.

Last year I splashed out on a Wahoo Kickr – its like night and day IMO and I am really glad I did it.