OT Cycle Turbo Trainers

[Winston Teague]

Hi all, my son has damaged the carteledge in his knee and now awaits an op. The consultant suggests a turbo trainer, to aid post op recovery, and to satisfy his need for exercise, in a controlled manner. Wise words please, he has a good bike he loves (Specialised Diverge), and Zwift looks fun.... What tech do we need (this is a PS/Xbox free zone....)? Info as ever gratefully received, W

[hot66]

I have a wahoo kickr , and zwift on an ipad. Only other thing I bought was a cadence sensor. Not cheap for the kickr but very good. Much prefer it to a traditional fan type stand alone trainer

Mine is really for winter time use as I really hate these kind of things

[Timo]

I’ve no experience of turbo trainers but have experience of knee ops, I had one at Christmas and to give you an idea it was 3 months before I was allowed back on my actual bike (ligament graft plus medial meniscus repair and partial lateral meniscus removal), a turbo trainer will probably be quite beneficial for that initial period I’d have thought, I settled for excercise bikes in the gym, obviously not an option right now.

[sladey]

We got a peloton about 18 months ago. It's expensive but fantastic. But it's a Spinning class vibe not a cycling vibe. Really good though.

[alfietom]

Zwift can be used on a standard (non Smart) Turbo trainer or even Rollers. All you need is a cadence sensor and speed sensor and laptop / Ipad, even a smart phone. Obviously this won't allow the trainer to automatically adjust the resistance when you encounter hills and gradients on Zwift.
Also have a Wahoo Kickr which is an awesome bit of kit when used with Zwift / Kinomaps or similar.

If you plump for a non smart turbo try and look for a 'Fluid' Trainer as the give the most natural / progressive feel.

[Tosh]

I use rollers -have done for ages but really ramped it up since March*. Really good for spinning the legs without "weight" - you cannot mash the pedals and strain the knee (though you can over-use it). I did something to my MCL in April and so have struggled to twist the knee or run. But cycling/rowing have been great

HOWEVER, they are a bit dull (I don't Zwift etc) and about 45/50 mins is the max my arse and hands can cope with - I've yet to work out how to coast or stand - easier on a turbo. Some can but I have to keep pedalling while certain pressure points erm... tingle

I thought about a Zwift set-up but fundamentally, for any distance/time I'd rather be outside than in my garage. Weather recently has been great: Strava tells me I've cycled and rowed >350K over the past month without leaving my back garden (plus about 300k on the road). I'm still fat.

[christaylorsound]

I use a BKool trainer, quite basic compared to some but good enough. It came with a year's membership to their own online service but it is nowhere near as popular or good as Zwift. I have always promised myself I'd join Zwift for the winter but TBH, by the time I've dragged the laptop up to the shed, plugged it in, convinced the TV to look at HDMI2 then gone online, signed in, re-booted etc etc 15 minutes has gone, so I frequently use it in manual, using the bike's gears to regulate resistance. More old Skool than BKool! Lately my wife has bought a fire stick to watch online TV up there, so now I'm most likely to watch a GCN 'Global Cycle Network' video or an Alpine climb and vary the resistance with my phone's App.
Unless you are serious about competing on Zwift, I'd keep it simple and pedal hard!

[Winston Teague]

Thank you for all the information folks, pedaling hard is not the point, yet, and the Zwift thing was just wanting to make it fun for him. We're going to borrow a TT from a friend and see how it goes, Jnr has done some homework and has scoped a few possibilities secondhand, so we'll se how it goes. The Kickr looks ace but for that money we'd want a weekly visit from Geraint included...... W

[neilbardsley]

I've been trying to buy a TT at a reasonable price since March. However you don't need swift to train. Just turn up the tunes or out something on the laptop

Sent from my Redmi 7 using Tapatalk

[carreracat]

i got a wahoo kickr recently with my cycle to work scheme money - i'm now hooked!

[Winston Teague]

Don't get me started about Cycle to Work. A brill idea poorly execited. Perfectly illustrated by your buying a Turbo Trainer! I'm self employed, so not eligible, My wife is in a partnership, so not eligible.....Arggggh. We both cycle to work. old git westminster fuckwits.

[hot66]

Don't get me started about Cycle to Work. A brill idea poorly execited. Perfectly illustrated by your buying a Turbo Trainer! I'm self employed, so not eligible, My wife is in a partnership, so not eligible.....Arggggh. We both cycle to work. old git westminster fuckwits.

although you should check wether you can buy a bike on your business as a business asset ... used to reduce the comapnies car / van use . Ltd co can own it and you can use it for 'business use' ..

Bicycle expenses

Active souls looking for a healthier way to work can claim bicycle expenses.

The bicycle must remain the property of the company and it must be used more than 50% of the time for work-related travel. Limited company directors can simply purchase a bicycle plus necessary equipment in the company name and loan it to themselves.

Where a worker uses their own bicycle for business travel a mileage allowance of 20p can be claimed.

[Winston Teague]

Yet its OK for my neighbours to buy BMX bikes for their kids for Christmas as 'Bikes for Work'..... Which probably got ridden twice and taken to the dump...