back to the road....what have I missed?

[Hudson1984]

Hi all,

been a few years since I was last on these boards - and on the road for that matter!

I stopped cycling about 4 years ago and been invited to get back into it by a friend. Now, I'm out of shape and definitely out of practice!

I was thinking of getting a cheap ish bike, and perhaps getting into Zwift for a few months to build myself back up a bit...in the warm....and dry....
and then perhaps jumping on a ride with them (don't want to hold people up and ruin their rides)

SO, i'm sure there are other threads out there to the same effect but wondered if there is a reasonably priced Turbo I should be on the look out for to allow me to do this.

I've seen a Trek Domane 2.3 locally for a really reasonable price and am quite tempted... But in the last few years I've also grown damned tight!! and spending is scary

any tips? my last bike was a Specialised Allez with Tiagra groupset. I could get a new Allez but I think second hand is probably the way to go, especially at this time of year!

[freiston]

I don't use a turbo trainer. A quick search brought up this:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=111285&hilit=which+turbo+trainer

[peetee]

I found this outside a shop, free to collector.
I changed the one piece crank to conventional square taper with an adapter for £20, put a favoured saddle on, a couple of fans from an old pc with a 6v power supply and it's great. A persistent knee injury means most of my 'miles' are done on this as I can just stop and get off if it flares up. I always ride with music and a interval session planned to reduce the boredom.

[TrevA]

If using Zwift, your experience will be enhanced if you have a "smart" trainer. Smart being capable of being controlled by the App, so that the resistance gets harder when you start going uphill in the virtual world. The cheapest smart trainer is the Elite Qubo. Another popular one is the Tacx Flow - about £200. You may be able to pick one up 2nd hand for much cheaper, as people buy one to try and then don't use it. For a better experience still then get a wheel off trainer - Halfords are currently selling the old, superceded Tacx Flux for £400-£450 (I think the £400 was a Black Friday deal).

[Hudson1984]

thanks for the replies.

So, let's say I opt for the Zwift route.

TrevA has given me decent advice regarding Turbo - cheers

Bike - does this really matter? i.e a carbon frame would seem redundant if i'm not moving!

Let's say I get myself a smart turbo - what would you look for in the bike itself? I mean yes it would be nice to have a decent bike to take on the road (by decent I mean realistically; carbon forks and half decent groupset) but I think for the next 6 months at least it'll live on the turbo in the garage. Bit chicken and the egg here - until I really use it I don't want to spend a massive amount of cash, but if I stick to turbo/zwift then great i'll upgrade.

I have a decent Gaming Laptop and a spare 32" TV, so i'll hook that up and make a Laptop table, the rest I need to buy

[Whippet]

Literally anything will do as a turbo bike if you are getting a smart trainer. I got an ancient frame for next to nothing from a club mate and built my own. This then saves sweating all over my nicer road bike. I went a slightly different route to link to my training app = an old fashioned dumb ( but very good ) Cateye trainer, but with a power meter and speed sensor on the bike.

[Hudson1984]

cool, that was my thoughts.

I mean i'd like a half decent groupset purely for comfort but other than that I'm sure I could find a dirt cheap hack to get sorted.

So, the shopping list is Smart Trainer and Bike - should be easy enough I guess. Facebook seems to be throwing up a decent bike list.

[TrevA]

Check out Shane Miller - GP Lama on YouTube. He has done reviews on lots of trainers and has a video on how to do Zwift on a budget.