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Ah yeah, I remember speaking to someone with an old, but good turbo who used speed/cadence sensors to link it to the virtual world, that just introduces another level of confusion!
@frank9755 cheers, that model had cropped up during a look around earlier - I don't need anything too high end or cutting edge accuracy, just something with enough feedback to keep me interested & give me a rough idea of output.
According to me, buying a singlespeed with mudguards was supposed to negate the need for a turbo, don't think I even put 100 miles on that then everything froze... oh well...
Edit Put a wtd ad on a local cycling group page & someone's offered a Tacx Vortex with a riser & new tyre for £200 - sound any good?
mcJ78-
Good price
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Just make sure its the Vortex Smart and not the dumb Vortex.
Tacx or their UK distributor dumped the Vortex Smart on clearance at Wiggle EBay etc in May 2019 for £180-200 but its definitely worth more than that.
As stated it doesn’t really react quickly enough for really spiky sub 60 sec efforts but after 10 secs you’ll be at 500 watts if you really want to be.
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Good point for checking it is the Smart version. Dumb trainers are not worth much nowadays.
A bit more on the limitations of the Vortex Smart.
This might not mean much until you get up to speed with the jargon, but it doesn't work well on powermatch in Trainerroad. And it is known for measuring a bit high. Also it has quite tight tolerances for which gear you are in. Too low a gear and you can't get the power on enough. Too high and it is too easy and doesn't respond well to starts of intervals. Best to always use the same gear for erg (smart) mode.
To illustrate, I did a 20 min FTP test this morning. I used the trainer to measure power. I also measure power from my PM on my head unit. FTP score was 12W higher on the trainer than on the PM. That is ok, as I know that I need to adjust my power targets for outside rides. However, if I didn't know to adjust, I'd not be doing the right workouts outside.
All trainers have their limitations (and the cheaper ones more than the top ones), and you need to know what they are to use them to best advantage. But if you do, they are good.
frank9755
dubtap
I only have experience with Computrainer (old but solid, cheap now) and KICKR (~£1k) so I'm not the one to ask regarding cheap smart trainers. Some people just use speed sensor thingies instead of power but there's not much point in my mind doing that unless you want to just pretend you're World Tour pro level in Zwift races.