[kil0ran]

Possibly a slightly odd a question, thinking of getting a turbo trainer for the family to use.

Intending to use it with Zwift running on an iPad and probably with different bikes. Son’s is on 24″ wheels, missus has a 26″ wheel shopper, and I’ve got two 700c wheeled drop bar bikes. One of those has a power meter (4iiii single-sided). Oh and a couple of Garmin Edges (25 & 130) if that makes any difference.

Trying to work out if the better option is to get a smart indoor fitness bike with adjustable bars/saddle height or use our existing bikes, or possibly build up a frame to suit all of us (adults are both 5’11”, son is just over 5 foot). I’m guessing as long as the saddle height’s on a quick release the reach to the bars is less of an issue on a static trainer? I’ve got all the spares to do this so it’s a zero cost option.

On the Zwift side of things what’s the impact of sharing an account? Do they do a family plan? I don’t want there to be a load of faff swapping between profiles and pairing sensors – it has to be easy to just hop on the trainer and get going quickly. Doubt missus/son will be that bothered with calibrating the power meter and so on.

Whole setup will be in a converted garage (no heating but have got power).

Topic

[alansmurphy]

Bit of a lottery of

Bit of a lottery of information isn’t there, just looked at the elite which simulates slopes of 6% with a maximum 1500w resistance and the Tacx slopes of 6% with an 800w resistance.

 

At those prices i’m sure you won’t be disappointed with them!

[PRSboy]

Halfords have the Elite Novo,

Halfords have the Elite Novo, apparently an exclusive ‘updated version of the Qubo, for £180, which seems great value for a smart trainer.

My own experience from my Elite crono fluid is that the Elastogel roller material on the Elite trainers is quite gentle on tyres, so I don’t bother with a trainer-tyre.

I’m considering a Novo for Zwifting… my only reservation is the max 6% gradient, not sure if this matters in the context of the game.

[kil0ran]

Soo…

Soo…

To summarise this thread here are my product search findings for the following requirements

 

1. Multiple wheel sizes

2. Zwift interactive (two-way power)

3. iOS-compatible

4. Wheel-on

5. £500 budget

 

Firstly, the multiple wheel size requirement rules out virtually all the “triangular” designs where the wheel mounts at the apex of the triangle. For these, the resistance unit needs to be repositioned by unbolting it each time you change wheel size, which just isn’t practical.

This limits you to scissor-type designs where the tension is set by your body weight and the wheel mouting arm pivots in a scissor-type motion around the frontmost floor mount of the trainer.

Elite make these still, as do B-Kool

However, B-Kool doesn’t play nice with iOS & Zwift because they can’t be connected using BLE to Zwift. Meaning that iOS is completely ruled out for two-way power in Zwift

(Which is a shame because the Pro 2 looks to be a great bit of kit several steps above others at its price range in terms of accuracy, max gradient, and max power)

And so, the winner is (in a field of, as far as I can tell, 1) – The Elite Qubo Smart Digital B+ (which gets a decent enough review here)

[alansmurphy]

I got the Tacx smartflow from

I got the Tacx smartflow from Halfords, pretty much the cheapest option that’s got a 2 way power (i.e. feedback to make gradient tougher). I think it only ‘works’ to 6 or 8% and after that effectively just slows the speed on screen (i.e. if you were moving at 8mph on an 8% and the ramp ups to 16% your speed and the video moves at 4mph).

 

For me, budget was key but so was the desire to make me want to use it, turbo bores me shitless. Having the turbo change resistance is awesome and without ever preferring it to the road I know i can challenge myself and get a good workout. The trainer can cope with different sized bikes and wheels, it’ll come with opne qr to fit so you may have to pay £10-20 for a second.

 

As suggested above, I use Rouvy as I prefer roads to a computer game feel, it also now has augmented reality so other riders to pass or be passed by. Myself and the other half have our own profiles and use on an iPad.

[kil0ran]

Thanks everyone. I’m the only

Thanks everyone. I’m the only one who wears cleats.

We’re definitely going to need to swap bikes to allow my son to use it, which certainly adds a bit of complexity to the trainer choice. Missus and I will probably be fine on the same bike as we’re similarly proportioned.

So that means it’s going to need to be easily adjustable.

I’ll be the only one doing structured training on it, rest of the family will just be using it for tooling around a virtual course, at least to start with. 

Thanks for all the advice, it’s really helping narrow down the choice.

[fenix]

Do you all wear look cleats ?
Do you all wear look cleats ?
Garmin vector pedals and any spin bike will work.
It won’t control the terrain but you don’t need that.

[MrB123]

I know you mentioned using

I know you mentioned using Zwift but if you are considering other options, have a look at Rouvy. If you take out their premium subscription you can have 2 other users with their own separate accounts at no extra cost.

[Drinfinity]

Other thing to watch out for

Other thing to watch out for is tyres. On a turbo they will quickly wear a flat profile on to a normal road tyre. We got 26” and 700c trainer tyres, and I mounted them on spare wheels.  I haven’t found one for a 24”, but daughter is 10 and small, so doesn’t wear tyres out too much.

Is son riding BMX? Otherwise 24” wheel seems a bit small for a 5’ rider. He would fit a Luath 700 large (other bikes are available).

 

 

 

[Drinfinity]

Nick T wrote:

Can you get turbos that take various wheel sizes?

Yes. Two real options:

A direct mount type, where the hub and cassette is part of the trainer. This is the deluxe option. I don’t have one.

 

Something like the Elite Chronomag Force. Cheaper option. Here the bike support arm hinges at the front, so it can take pretty much anything. My bike or daughters Luath 24 go on with no faff.

 

Regarding software, I’m using Sufferfest. This keeps your custom power values constant, so if one day you are riding a very different power output to another day, it won’t affect your ride. You can even dial in the ftp etc you want. Of course only one user will be riding it, in compliance with the license terms.

 

[Nick T]

Can you get turbos that take

Can you get turbos that take various wheel sizes?

[Garhel]

 

 

I ran into a similar dilemma with my wife – to save money I thought we could join with 1 account and just share it.  Whether this will work for you or not depends on how you want to use it.  If you just want to ride around the worlds and get some exercise, no problem.  Just joining in group rides is also no problem, you can choose the level that fits your ability / strength.  

If you want to take advantage of the training facilities it becomes a bit more complicated – as you ride, Zwift will autocalculate an FTP for you.  This will naturally be dictated by the strongest rider, and this figure will be used to determine the structure of the training sessions (and their difficulty).  I’m sure each user can probably go in and adjust the FTP each time, but it’s potentially an extra faff.

Similar with weight – your speed is essentially dicatated by your watts/kg – again, you could change the weight each time, or just pick a middle somewhere and accept that your performance might not be a true reflection.

In the end, I wanted to use it as a training tool so wanted the data to be as consistent as possible so I could track my progress, so it stays set up for me.  You can buy multiple accounts, but obviously that is extra cost – all depends on whether this stuff is just a minor inconcenience for you, or a pain in the backside!!

[kil0ran]

Well, I’ve partly answered my

Well, I’ve partly answered my own question – the only Zwift-controllable exercise bike is the Wattbike Atom, and if I’m going to spend £1500 on a bike it’s going to have two wheels 🙂

So the question remains, does Zwift cope well with users using the same profile? What are the issues with swapping bikes with different wheel sizes on a wheel-driven trainer? What about handling differing sensor packages between bikes (all the bikes can have their own speed/cadence sensors, only mine will have a power meter)

[Author]

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