Newbie turbo trainer advice

[Blackdog67]

Hi, I have recently come back to cycling at the age of 49 and I am looking to keep training through the winter. Currently i onlt ride 8-10 miles at a time on my fairly old hybrid but would like to increase my fitness through the winter.

I have been looking at turbo trainers and have seen this model heavily reduced (£119 off!) at Halfords and wondered if it was any good? http://www.halfords.com/cycling/turbo-t ... cletrainer

There are so many to choose from and some are "Smart" while others are more basic. I don't have a massive budget and so something in this price range would be ideal.

Any views on this one or advice about any others I should consider would be greatly appreciated. Also any advice about the best way to use one of these would also be helpful.

[delilah]

This turbo will do you fine and it's a good price, people in my club use them regularly.
Personally if you are just starting out then I wouldn't bother with a smart turbo, they are to expensive and much too technical for your needs.
Lots of riders buy a turbos at the start of winter, use them a couple of times then put them away. If you check out Ebay Gumtree or Preloved then you will probably find one near to you for £50 or less.
You need to check that your wheel will fit in the turbo, and a spare wheel would be good otherwise you'll quickly wear out your tyre.
If you search for turbo trainers then sites such as British Cycling and Cycling Weekly have lots of reviews and sessions that you can use You tube has lots of videos of them, but as I say don't pay a lot if you're not sure whether you will be using them much

[philvantwo]

Yes those smart trainers are the Xbox of the cycling world. Some people knock out 50milers and then upload them to strava!!!!

[eileithyia]

It will probably be fine until you know what you want or if you want to turbo.
Consider set up, where? When? Keep it simple, the more complex it is to set up etc., can be an excuse not to get started....
Garage? Spare room? Fan? Entertainment?
You will need a fan and some towels handy, You will need some sort of entertainment; TV / music /dvds? It can be mindlessly boring
If you are only doing 8/10 miles you may probably only need to do 20-30 mins to keep fitness ticking over unless you want to increase fitness. You may want to consider doing 10 mins as warm up then doing some 1, 2, or 5 mins intervals at harder intensity with rest spells inbetween.

[Grandad]

It can be mindlessly boring

In spades!

I bought a basic one as part of a recovery programme after injury - stuck it for 3 days then got on the bike for very gentle rides.

On the other hand we had a club member who trained for a 24 hour race by doing 6 hour sessions

[landsurfer]

In a previous post i have railed (rant ?) against TT's and bought and sold 2 of them ....
Guess what i bought another one last Monday, £54, JE James Cycles.
It's a dumb one, but i finally seem to have got the hang of the boredom by putting my lap top within reach and listening to playlists while i ride.
Set off intending to ride for 30 minutes on Thursday evening but 55 mins later was still zooming "along".
I'm set up in our small conservatory with the sliding door to the house closed and the door to the garden open for cooling.
Hate to say this ... but it's "fun". ....

[belgiangoth]

Unless you can set up the turbo in front of the tv I’d save more money and buy a set of mudguards - keeps me cycling through the winter.

[gloomyandy]

Possibly not as good as the one from Halfords but if all you want is a basic trainer it does have a 3 year warranty and they still had a few in stock in my local store last week.
https://www.aldi.co.uk/bikemate-indoor- ... 7174512900

[landsurfer]

Possibly not as good as the one from Halfords but if all you want is a basic trainer it does have a 3 year warranty and they still had a few in stock in my local store last week.
https://www.aldi.co.uk/bikemate-indoor- ... 7174512900

The Aldi ones have had some awful reviews, many of the rollers falling apart after little use.

[eileithyia]

Possibly not as good as the one from Halfords but if all you want is a basic trainer it does have a 3 year warranty and they still had a few in stock in my local store last week.
https://www.aldi.co.uk/bikemate-indoor- ... 7174512900

Lets hope it is fit for purpose rather than their camera/rear light version of Fly 6, which spontaneously switches off for no good reason.

[gloomyandy]

Fair points I have no idea how good/bad it is. Are the reports of failure with the same model? I know they have sold different ones in the past. They are also very good at honouring warranty returns.

[landsurfer]

It's the latest version that is failing ......

[Blackdog67]

Thanks for all the advice guys, it's really useful.

I am hoping to improve my fitness through the winter and increase my distance to build up some stamina. I have been using a rowing machine to help weight loss for a couple of years but have plateaued and thought a variation in activity might help kick start some weight loss.

I have found climbing a challenge and from what I have read the easiest way to make climbing easier is for me to lose some weight!

[Gregger]

I bought a standard / non smart one but found motivation difficult

Therefore I got one of these (10% of with British Cycling) http://www.halfords.com/cycling/turbo-t ... bo-trainer (although it was cheaper when I had it for £200)

Works well and reliably for me.

And use Trainer Road - https://www.trainerroad.com - for specific training plans via laptop which motivate me very well (and you will need an Ant+ connector)

Obv there's expenses here but I manage to keep going over winter with this set up. There are other services out there eg;Zwift but this programme is my fave.

And of course, there is Mountain Biking as well!

[hayers]

Don't use my turbo trainer much for actual training, but find it's really useful for setting saddle position, adjusting handlebar setup and wrapping bar tape.