My husband and I are in the market for a second hand direct drive indoor trainer to replace the wheel on one we already have. Unfortunately the more I read about the various options the more I feel like we are going to get the wrong thing and then spend a bunch of money trying to fix the problems.
We would like to determine whether there is a way we can set up things so that we can both use one trainer, without it being a complete pain to change over between users. Problem is I am 1.65m tall and he is 1.82m tall, thus riding the same bike on the trainer will probably end up making one of us uncomfortable. Thus my questions:
Is it difficult and or problematic to swop between bikes on a direct drive trainer (I realize each brand is a bit different, but in general)?
Does any specific model of direct drive trainer make it easier to swop bikes (or conversely is there one we should avoid)?
I have heard it is unadvisable to use your normal bike on a trainer regularly given it can damage things over time, should we avoid using our normal bikes on the trainer? (we are both on mountain bikes and he has a Shimano XT, 10-51, 12-speed cassette and I have a Shimano SLX 11-42 T cassette, so this may not be an option, but I am trying to consider everything)
We already have "cheap" mountain bikes that we were using with the wheel on trainer, they have 21 Speed Cassettes (3 x 7 drive trains). If the indoor trainer had the correct cassette would these bikes work on a direct drive trainer or are they usually only compatible with 11 or 12 speed set up's?
I would be interested to hear how other couples that cycle get it right, given I am certain we are not alone and know a lot of people can't necessarily afford 2 complete indoor set ups?
I look forward to the opinions/advice.
