I’m finally getting tired of sitting on my arse waiting for the snow to go away; there are only so many burpees you can do before you start hating life. The first snowfall is old now and, after several warm days, has formed a pretty decent layer of ice basically everywhere around the house with the new snowfall making the prospect of running or walking (even with spikes) quite challenging.

That leaves a turbo.

I have space in either the shed (it’s only -5 or so right now) or the spare room (if I can fit the bike in amongst plants), but which of the cheaper smart ones is worth going for? Is it a case of just Tacx, or are others worth looking at?

When it comes to turbos….direct mount smart T are the better options if you goingvto use it weekly…but if I was only going to use every now and then then I would just get a crappy one
Unfortunately now isn’t tge best time to buy a turbo…summer is….buying now you’ll be paying 2x as much

Smart turbos like all electronics tend to be good candidates for a new new purchase – they break and a warranty helps. Buy a kickr core.

Either that, or if you have a PM buy a dumb one like a muin secondhand.

Depends what you want to do.

I restrict most of my indoor riding to 1hrs max, mostly easy stuff at the moment but building up to proper sweetspot and threshold stuff.

For that sort of length of time and sort of workout, I’ve been perfectly happy with a good quality second hand dumb turbo (Cycleops Fluid but then upgraded to a Kinetics Road Machine). I even use some mid-range rollers (Elite Arion Mag) that have different levels of resistance, which makes them good for some reasonable intensity efforts. Better quality dumb turbos even have resistance curves that you can plot in excel, so you can figure out your approximate power levels from your speed, so you don’t need a power meter or ERG for consistent workouts.

Combined with non-interactive videos like the GCN videos and some tunes on the stereo, this is usually enough for a relatively immersive workout with no risk of boredom.

And as above, if you’re going cheap/second hand, at least there’s no electrics or software to worry about.

Slight hijack but how well is a smart trainer likely to do in a draughty shed? Its weather proof but condensation can be an issue on cold misty days

Just been looking around and found what appears to be the cheapest Tacx at Decathlon: https://www.decathlon.se/cykeltrainer-flow-smart-id_8345488.html

That would seem to fit the bill. Seems to be decently reviewed too.

Just been looking around and found what appears to be the cheapest Tacx at Decathlon: https://www.decathlon.se/cykeltrainer-flow-smart-id_8345488.html

That would seem to fit the bill. Seems to be decently reviewed too.

I had one of those for a couple of years, they’re ok, only ok.

The good bits

-they’re cheap
-they work with zwift etc (sort of – more below)

The bad bits

-They dont have a massive power range, so the resistance they can provide is quite narrow in range
-they’re slow to respond to instructions to change resistance from zwift etc
-Their connectivity is flaky – sometimes no matter what I did zwift wouldnt be able to vary the resistance of the trainer – it would display all the data from the trainer, but couldnt vary the resistence, and other times it worked perfectly. I got fed up of faffing about at the start of a training session.

I sold it (for near enough what I paid for it after 2 years of use) and ended up getting an elite diretto xr smart turbo which is infinitely better – albeit double the price.

I bought one of those Tacx Vortex ones a few months ago. I paid £140 on Facebook marketplace, complete with trainer tyre. It was like brand had new and clearly barely been used

I got up and did a quick 7 mile blat on it on Zwift this morning. I do that a few times a week at this time of year. Its fine for what I’m using it for. The direct drive ones are obviously better but you’ll pay over double the price for them, and having borrowed one last winter theres not that much difference that I can notice. I’m sure people who are far more serious get the benefits of them if you’re using them a lot. I’d just get one of these to start with. You can always upgrade if you’re using it a lot.

In a “suggest what you got” style….

I really would say a direct drive TT is hands abive the wheel on ones…
My tacx neo 2t is silent. Smooth, no vibrations… all things my old wheel on one was painfully loud at!

Also, the power stability is incredible…. I.e. in ERG mode it really does track the determined wattage brilliantly, AND changes during intervals very rapidly and accurately…

Can be had for £450-500 on FB… if you can stretch to that, they are well worth it!

DrP

I have an elite direto x, a direct mount trainer, and it’s smart.
I paid around £480 for it, and it’s worth it, it makes turbo training tolerable.
I’ve had dumb turbos before, but tbh they never got used.
Don’t put it in the shed, move the things around in the spare room, the plants will enjoy your co2 output as well, it’s a win/win.

Wiggle are doing the Elite Direto for 400 quid. Mine is going strong after 5 winters of use is a cold garage. Wheel off smart trainer is definitely the way to go.

We bought an Elite Zumo a few years ago (was the cheapest smart turbo available at the time (£450 IIRC). Works fine, although not as cheap (now) as the Elite Directo for £400.

Seen some people say about the Flow and connectivity – I run mine off an ipad and found if I turn the blueteeth off on my phone, there are no issues. Must be some clashing going on or something.

As above, Direto is 400 at wiggle and crc. My one semi broke over weekend, it’s had loads of use in three years, lowest power I can now do is ~120W at 65rpm, or 180w+ at my normal cadence.

Thinking about upgrading to Saris H3 for 590 or a Neo 2T special edition for 700, crc, if I cannot fix it.

Direct Drive are far, far better and make it as realistic as possible, also they allow proper use of Zwift, Trainer Road, RGT etc. which again make it as realistic as possible for a stationary trainer sat in whatever location you decide.

I’ve got a pair of Elite Direto, one for me and one for the eldest his road bike is 10 speed and mine is 11, so swapping over is a slight pain I can’t be bothered with. I’ve had mine for 2.5 years and it’s been ace and well used his I got 2nd hand with a new belt fitted – and it’s serving him well, he also loves Zwift as it’s just another virtual world to play in along with Fortnite for him.

If you can stump up for a direct drive, it is definitely worth it.

I replaced a Tacx flow smart that I had about 4 years use out of, with an Elite Direto around this time last year.
The Direto is better.

But, the Flow Smart was fine & I got a lot of use out of it, so if you don’t want to splash out on an pricier model, I reckon you’ll still get good mileage out of a cheaper option.
Part of it will depend on how powerful you are. I am not very, so didn’t come close to worrying the max resistance of the Flow Smart.

Another Elite Direto X user here, got it for £500 pre black friday sales, its done everything I expected it to do with no issues, been doing 2 sessions a week on it with each session being up to 90 mins, if I find the right song/albun/playlist I can get engrossed in it and really push to my maximum then its nice to step off and already be at home, not need to wash or put a bike away and have slightly less kit to wash as I only wear bibs and socks on it!

I bought an Elite Qubo B+ smart thing just as we were going into lock down. I think it cost £300. You can pick them up lightly used on ebay for less than £50 now! It is fine for Zwifting I am sure the more expensive ones are much better but I don’t like using the trainer anyway!

I have a Tacx T2240 – had it 6 years and it’s been faultless. It’s at the cheaper end, but it works. Gradients upto 6 degrees but Zwift still adjusts speed etc for the steeper stuff. Does the job for occasional use, and I just lift the road bike off it, and out I go on the road. I don’t use a turbo tyre, never have. Also simple to swap for MrsF’s hybrid. 1.5 turns of the adjuster and pop her bike on, same when I refit mine.

If for occasional use stick with the wheel on ones – no point spending a fortune. turbos are hateful however expensive. I still prefer to go out.

PS thought about ICE tyres for your MTB given you are somewhere very cold. Got two sets here, great fun when I need to use them.

Switched from a Tacx Flow to an Elite Direto XR a couple of months ago… major buyers regret – ERG mode is terrible (according to Elite it’s a ‘feature’ as the power meter is ‘too accurate’) and the road feel (compared to the Flow) whilst better, is not 400Euro better.

major buyers regret – ERG mode is terrible (according to Elite it’s a ‘feature’ as the power meter is ‘too accurate’) and the road feel (compared to the Flow) whilst better, is not 400Euro better.

hmm weird – I find ERG mode on the diretto xr great, rock solid at holding the desired power. I read a few reviews where people complained about the same thing you are, and was a bit concerned before I got it, but its been fine in use.

Are you keeping the bike in the smallest front ring and larger rear cogs as it says to do in the manual? and have you updated the firmware to the latest version?

I found that if I used the higher gears on the bike, they (or rather the speed of the wheel) can overwhelm the trainer and lead to undershooting and overshooting the target power.

Yes – tried all sorts of gearing combinations. How do you connect your trainer ? I’ve tried both BT and Ant+ but with no difference. For ant+ I’m using a cheap chinesium dongle off Amazon and I do wonder if upgrading to a Garmin or Wahoo dongle will make a difference.

turbos are hateful however expensive. I still prefer to go out.

Hmmm… I dunno….

The smart features…Zwift training plan and the Zwift experience… I think it makes it rather fun..in a ‘type 2 fun’ kinda way!
I think the turbos are a fab training aid…I guess you soon realise it’s NOT replacing riding outised, but as an adjunct to it!

DrP

Bought a elite Qubo B+ about a year ago. With that and zwift I can do 100km in one sitting.

-5 in a shed sounds good, you’ll work up a savage sweat.

Slight hijack but how well is a smart trainer likely to do in a draughty shed? Its weather proof but condensation can be an issue on cold misty days

I’ve mine in an agricultural steel shed that’s got a fuzzy roof so raindrops don’t form. The laptop, stereo, fridge, powertools and the smart turbo are all fine.

How do you connect your trainer ?

Bluetooth, running zwift on a cheapo Samsung Android tablet

I’m finally getting tired of sitting on my arse waiting for the snow to go away; there are only so many burpees you can do before you start hating life.

Whereas I wish for snow every year. If I had any I’d be out XC skiing every day.

You could try a knockoff Wahoo/Tacx copy, such as ThinkRider from Aliexpress. I went for the X7 Pro in October 2020 and it’s been perfect, using it a few times a week on Zwift/Suf/RGT.

They have a couple more models out now, plus a UK distributor, so perhaps less of a risk now?

Maybe a slight hijack, but are there any decent options for cheaper direct drive without smart features? I really don’t care about any of that, I only really want direct drive for space and noise reasons.

I’m now glad I dodged out of this thread, went to Decathlon and bought the Tacx!

I took a long look at myself and admitted that this will be an occasional use thing, so I could stomach the cheaper sort. It also makes my wallet happier in a small way, so I treated us to Thai food on the way back.

It was delicious, but now I need the turbo up and running to work it off!

He training part is just to try and get some condition back. Where I am there are no proper trails (lots of forest, mostly flat, no trails), so the Stumpy is waiting. The roads are terrible at this time of year and quite dark. I would be a fool to go out on them. The turbo is really the only option is I want cardio and don’t fancy running.

Will report back on how much I hate it later in the week.

I have the Jetblack volt, bought as an ex demo from tweeks. I have owned it for 4 weeks and used it 4 times. Now taking up space in the spare room, buy a cheapo until you are sure that indoor cycling is for for you.

Will report back on how much I hate it later in the week

It doesn’t have to be hateful, the right workout with the right tunes can be a full-on endorphin party 😎

Just find a sensible workout to get started with (I like sweet spot type workouts as a good starter for 10 until you find your zones) and don’t be afraid to start a little bit too easy, rather than smashing it for 5 minutes, blowing up and limping aimlessly through the rest of the session (been there, done that 🙄).

FWIW – Over the years I’ve bought a turbo trainer every couple of winters only to sell them again after being used a couple of times. I now have a smart trainer, and I use Rouvy. After a month I’ve already used it more than those previous ones combined. OK, It’s not as good as a good ride outdoors, but it’s a lot lot better than cycling in crap, dark weather fearing for my life due to crappy drivers.

First workout done. An 18 minute one from Tacx that was literally the first on the list, short intervals to 300w.

Yeah, nah. my legs were reminding me that it was a long time ago I last sat on a bike, so I topped out at about 260w and only averaged 160 or something.

Still, better than nothing and it is a start.

I have an Elite Tuo, wheel on jobbie. First smart trainer and I think it’s great, far better than the classic trainer I had before with sensors so I could connect to Zwift or Sufferfest. The Tuo gets really good reviews for the price bracket it’s in, and definitely better than some direct drive ones. Check out DC rainmaker and GP llama for in depth reviews.