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Turbo trainer?
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Forget an i-magic cos I can't afford one (sob).
Any recommendations for cheaper turbo trainers? Or anyone know anything about the Tacx trainers that can be upgraded to i-magic later? (I haven't entirely given up hope!) I had a look at a couple of websites but I found it impossible to work out which versions were upgradeable.
Any recommendations for cheaper turbo trainers? Or anyone know anything about the Tacx trainers that can be upgraded to i-magic later? (I haven't entirely given up hope!) I had a look at a couple of websites but I found it impossible to work out which versions were upgradeable.
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Tacx Grand Excel Turbo Trainer (1640) 40% OFF!! LTD OFFER
its on the sale page, might be what you are looking for.
Other than that get a cheap magnetic one, Minoura or similar and upgrade when you can afford it and sell the cheaper one.
Turbos are hard work and boring. I'd much rather tick over on the bike with a weekend ride and a spin class or two.
Come December I'll start to build base on the turbo, but its not a year round thing for me.
It's teh same thing really, except you get to look at lycra clad lovlies. I'll have to review my DVD collection to see if any fit teh profile.
Snail - I tried the imagic out at my local shop when maude was being made up. It was great and I'd love one, but can't justify it. A reasonable comprimise (imho) is to buy a small tv adn DVD - £80 tops for both (or you may have these already?), some spinnervals DVDs and a normal turbo. If you can get one which can be upgraded to the imagic then great
Cue candy talking about motorbike gloves, hybrids, badgers and bike ponces.
You go running in the winter.
Well you can go running in the winter I should say.
[PS - also a very nice Canon EOS500 35mm SLR with 2 lenses and some unused film for sales as well............nudge, nudge..........]
I had a look at ebay but I don't have a clue about turbo trainers so I don't know what I'm looking for. What's the difference between the Tacx Flow and the Tacx Swing, for example? They're both about the same price, but what's better for what?
Gumps, I don't own a TV at all. So it would be £80 for the TV set and DVD player plus whatever it costs to get a TV licence these days, plus the turbo trainer itself! I guess I could play DVDs on my laptop though.
So what's a magnetic trainer compared to a non-magnetic one? Or rather, as I know what magnetic means, what are the effects on training?
Fan turbos are cheapest and I think have the most realistic feel (most like road riding) but they are very noisy - noisy enough to upset the neighbours sort of noisy. Magnetic and Fluid trainers are a lot quieter and you could watch TV while using them - although you'd need the sound up quite high.
Then you really need a HRM - some turbos like the Tacx FLow will have this built in - but if you buy a cheaper turbo with a separate HRM you can use the HRM for training outside on the bike too.
If you want cadence buy a Cateye Astrale bike computer (about £30).
That will give you everything you need. The very flash turbos like the Grand Excel and maybe the Flow (not sure about this one) have computer download facilities, can automatically change resistance (only saves you touching a button) and can measure power in watts (but pretty unreliably) but don't do anything that will help you train unless you are really into analysing data.
The iMagic is a bit different as it can be used as a kind of interactive video game where you are racing on the screen - I suppose it might add motivation but really if you are doing flat out intervals you wont be able to look at a computer screen.
If you want a good magnetic trainer the Minoura Hypermag gets good reviews and should be a little bit over £100 - add in a HRM and that's all you need (unless you want cadence too of course).
If you have knobbly tyres - you can get a turbo that runs on your rims - sounds a bit faffy though - other option is to get slick tyres on the bike. Knobblies increase the noise level too.
I'd avoid a fan turbo as the noise level is just too uncomfortable - even if you do hate your neighbours...
I use a magnetic turbo in the winter. It's best used for stuff like intervals and base building sessions, so its not like you recreate an outside ride indoors - it's a training session in itself.
I can watch DVD's whilst doing base sessions, but not when I'm doing intervals.
We live in a terraced house and I'll be setting it up in the spare bedroom, so I think I'd better not go for a fan turbo - cheers for the warning!
I've got a Cateye Astrale 8 on my bike already, and have a HRM so they're not really important.
Any opinions on magnetic vs fluid? Meanwhile I'll have a look at the Minoura Hypermag...
I've got a Minoura Hypermag. I've used it for over a year and its brilliant. It cost about £110. Its quiet, stable, easy to rack your bike to and to release, and has five or six resistance settings. I think you can get an aluminium one for about £150 - which will be lighter - but that's not an issue for me.
whatever model you get - one thing I would say is - make sure you don't sweat on and corrode the resistance setting switch! I used to connect mine to the drops but the sweat corroded it and it snapped off when I tried to change the resistance. It's now stuck on the highest setting!! (not a big deal though because you just cycle in a lower gear and get the cadence right)
So I bought a fooook off fan. This keeps me cool....aaaaahhhh but makes as much noise as the turbo
End result <£100 I have a working turbo.
Most I've ever managed was 1.5 hours although I can do longer on a gym bike just as it's out of the house and more to look at. Can't do a grizzly session though...
Thanks again guys!
Cougie - sorry for confusion - I'm not using my mtb on the roads, I've got a decent road bike which I've been using over the summer, and which I plan to use on a turbo trainer, a cheapo road bike which I use to commute to college/library (less nickable) and the new mtb is for fun stuff.
It sounds like a magnetic turbo may be the way to go for now then... However, being a LADY, I'm sure sweat corrosion wouldn't be a problem. We merely glow... :-) But thanks for the warning!
... so if you see me slobering and with a nervous twitch ... you know ive cracked
but i cant find any decent lights for my MTB most last laess then 2hrs so turbo will need to be uised a lot this yeas as my cycling is Cr@p
That was at 75% MHR - I guess I could do longer, but its hard to concentrate on keeping that level up.
I could pootle all day on one I guess, but the session wouldn't really mean anything.
Does anyone think that it actually does you much good rather than interval type turboing for a shorter period?
So insted i have Bike focused weeks
Only do intervals once I've built a decent base, or you can burn yourself out very quickly with them. I've made that mistake in the past.
I'm also thinking of getting a turbo for when the bad weather hits (lovely and sunny in Bournemouth today
Anyway in my local shop there's a Hypermag 1200 for £150 or a mag500 for £100. Any of these any good? Are they noisy, I want to watch TV?!
Reliable seller, I bought this one last year