Indoor Trainer Conundrum

[Charity85]

Good day

 

Hope I can get some advise on  smart indoor trainer options for me and my wife to use. We both own MTB's not same group set and opposite spectrum in terms of sizing. Without breaking the bank on extra road bike/s to connect to a direct drive trainer, the only option I can think of is a Wahoo snap to be used with out current bikes (ease of setup is also essential)? Anyone have experience using this with mountain bikes? Any other viable options anyone can think of? 

 

Thanks

[Tomik]

The Wahoo Snap is a wheel on trainer so not ideal for MTB if you're interested in power as tyre pressure will have a huge impact on resistance and hence power readings.

 

I would look into a direct drive trainer that works with thru-axles (probably most of them by now) assuming your bikes are thru-axles. If your bikes are both 11sp, all you need is a cassette to match - SRAM/Shimano won't matter. An 11sp/12sp combo will make direct drive a bit annoying as you will have to change the cassette every time. 

 

I have an Elite Direto that takes my 11sp Shimano road bike, 11sp gravel bike (SRAM Force) and 11sp MTB (SRAM GX) without changing the cassette on the trainer or making any other adjustments (except for the thru-axle adaptor which takes less than a minute to swap). I stick to the road cassette. Shifting is 100% fine on all bikes.

Edited October 19, 2020 by Tomik

[wa88]

I was in the same situation a few months ago, and don't think there's really a solution that ticks all the boxes, unless you're willing to buy 2 trainers or spend money on changing groupsets on your bikes. I ride a 1x12 XL, and my wife a 1x11 S.

 

We ended up getting a Tacx Flow Smart trainer (wheel on), and mounted an old MTB with a slick rear tyre, and just adjust the seat for whoever is using it. It's definitely not ideal, but it works OK, as we mainly use it for workouts of 30-60mins, rarely longer. It would be nice to get a cheap 2nd hand roadbike for this purpose at some stage, but it's not a priority at the moment.

 

If you plan to use one of your bikes, just keep in mind that you'll have to put a slick/trainer tyre on the rear wheel, and would need to change your tyre to go ride outside.. 

You'll have to put a slick/trainer tyre on the rear wheel, and would need to change your tyre to go ride outside.. I stand to be corrected, but I don't think there are many wheel on trainers that accommodate boost out of the box, so just keep this in mind as well.