Turbo Trainer Advice

I normally use Dugast silks on the turbo to cut down rolling resistance but I want to stick something durable on the back of the old TT bike so if I do take it out I don't have to worry about getting covered in chain slime when flatting the rear wheel (track ends).

Using normal duranos and they are fine

Yeah, I think I just saw the deep looking tread pattern on their website and worried. I've had lots of versions of Durano and Durano Pro on various bikes and I'm way too lazy to swap them out so they must've all got turbo'd before. Ta

Tubulars or GTFO

Delaying the first session since the 21st!

Intergalactic planetary!! 💥

Anyone still using wheel-on trainers? The main reason for wanting a wheel-on trainer is the rear end of my Talbot is very tight and therefore, taking the wheel out is a pain in the arse. I absolutely have to turn the bike upside down to put the wheel back in, hence, wheel-on trainer.

Looking at the Wahoo Snap or the Bkool Pro 2. The Bkool is much cheaper. Any insight into whether wheel-on trainers are still a good option? Sound is my primary concern - wheel slip does not seem to exist in more expensive wheel-on trainers if you set them up properly.

All the cool kids are.

ie. Me.

I'm not paying £1000 for direct drive until my Computrainer shits itself.

I had a wheel on 'smart' Tacx and it was not great in smart mode...no experience of those models but if you are buying for the smart capability I would read DC Rainmaker or other user reviews first..a dumb trainer might be a cheaper bet.

YouTube to see if there's a review of their sound output?

n=1 etc etc

If I didn't live in a relatively small NY apartment, I'd have a second bike with rim brakes.. but that isn't an option unfortunately.

Yeah, have read most of what he has said. I really don't care about there being a delay in wattage stats, which seems to be his biggest gripe with wheel-on trainers. I just want to be able to use Zwift with relatively accurate power data. I also considered the Tacx T2180 as it is cheap as fuck and works with Zwift but you get what you pay for, it would seem. Ordering stuff from Europe makes them very cheap anyway. The Bkool costs $599 here, but only $395 through bike-discount.de including shipping and all duties.

I've been using a Tacx Vortex with Zwift for years for structured training sessions to power and it's been great. I've also used it with a Wahoo unit on it's own to do sessions using ERG mode. It may not be fancy but I've never had any issues.

I've used the bog standard Cyclops fluid resistance machine. With trainer road. Works fine.

Thanks all. Think I'm going to go for the BKool. Crap brand name, but 20% max incline, price and small fold up size means its a win over the Tacx/Wahoo.

Dumb fluid trainer with a power meter. Works a treat most of the time.

I don’t enjoy the extra mental strain of having to focus on holding my power steady when I’m burying myself on 3/4/5 min 115% FTP efforts.

You’d think it would be easy but the elastomer changes it’s viscosity so you do need to keep an eye on it.

Would be much easier if I had a smart turbo and could just shut my eyes and pedal.

I recently acquired a dumb trainer. No idea what type except that it's an on wheel made by tacx. Don't really want to invest in it (googling dumb trainers gives you ways to turn it in a smart trainer but meh) because I like riding outdoors but might be handy to train for half an hour / an hour when I work from home. How do I get the most out of that time? Just pop up a movie/episode and do some miles?

I'm also a newb so ftp efforts etc doesn't ring a bell :')

Ride at a pace that takes concentration to hold and lasts most of the hour you've got. If you can watch a TV show or talk in more than one or two words you're not riding hard enough. 2x20s are meat and potato for this. 10min warmup 20min on, 5min off, 20min on, 5min warmdown

Would you do that at something like 110% ftp?

Not much if at all, that's heading into VO2 territory. 2x20s are for sweetspot and around FTP. You -might- do 110% for an over portion of over/unders but that's likely going to blow you up, unless they're pretty short overs. For me doing steady state power stuff I don't do much over/under and when I do it's not big %'s away from FTP since I don't need to surge in my racing.

Intervals. Say 10 min warm up, 5 min at 30 sec sprint, 30 sec easy spin, 5 min easy spin, repeat, 5 minutes cool down to finish
This is an example, you can find plenty of others

Thanks everyone! Any reason to get one of those tacx training tyres? I've got durano plus on the bike I intend to use on the trainer and seeing as they are the same price...

Do you ride the bike outside?

I had a turbo specific tyre but it's a pain in the arse if you ride the same bike outside. Now I basically have a bike on the turbo full time I'm waiting for the normal tyre to die (it's pretty fucking shredded now) and I might get a plastic turbo tyre.

Not for the moment. May keep this one inside for 2/3 months of the turbo is doable.

So that’d total 40 mins at ftp.
What’s the objective? To maintain current ftp level?

For me it's basically been easier to leave the normal tyres on. I have tonnes of tyres still to wear out. If you want to reduce noise a little and save on tyres then a proper turbo tyre might be worthwhile. Thinking about how many tyres I've got kicking about I should probably keep destroying tyres instead of buying another trainer tyre.