Indoor trainer & Frame

[GarthLN]

Hi all

I’m looking at investing in a smart indoor trainer with a frame. I currently have an old Silverback Sola 3 mountain bike that I could use initially, which I'll then end up selling to help finance this setup.

I would appreciate any recommendations on indoor trainers, and more importantly the frame. I would like to go back to a road or gravel style frame. The bike will never be used on the road, so it will essentially be for indoor use only.

Thank you.

[Long Wheel Base]

I have a wahoo kickr core with an old aluminium frame Raleigh. I used to use a carbon bike but was worried about wear on the frame from the IDT. My IDT bike is 9 speed but I have not seen any downside to having 9spd vs 11 and 12 on my bikes that I use to ride in the real world. 
I tried the free versions of pretty much all the 3rd party apps and ended up with fulgaz but that is a personal choice, you need to try them out and see what you want from the app. In terms of monthly cost, they were all very similar when I pulled the trigger 5 years ago. 

[Thomo]

Direct mount smart trainers will accommodate most if not all frames and gear setups albeit they may have 11spd+ in mind.

Elite, Wahoo and Tacx are probably the most common but I dare say they all offer very similar experiences. (others include Saris, Magene)

Plenty of apps available to trial ... some are also free.

[W@nted]

Consider a wahoo kickr core trainer with the zwift cog and click system. That way you do not need to have any form of gears on the frame. It works great with zwift.

[Long Wheel Base]

24 minutes ago, W@nted said:

Consider a wahoo kickr core trainer with the zwift cog and click system. That way you do not need to have any form of gears on the frame. It works great with zwift.

Does it work with other apps? Or only zwift?

[W@nted]

16 minutes ago, Long Wheel Base said:

Does it work with other apps? Or only zwift?

 

Looks like there are some shifting limitations with virtual gears on some of the platforms. ERG mode seems to work fine though.

Edited March 11 by W@nted

[cadenceblur]

3 minutes ago, W@nted said:

 

Looks like there are some shifting limitations with virtual gears on some of the platforms. ERG mode seems to work fine though.

Yeah, I was considering this, but I do my FTP tests on Training Peaks Virtual (otherwise I ride mostly in ERG mode) - so this is a limitation for me.

[Marcv]

Hi

For the frame i suggest getting the cheapest thing that is close in setup from what you ride normally. I run an old carbon hard tail with a very bad fork which is permanently in lock out with the brakes removed and an old group set. I use it mostly for structured training in ERG mode so i hardly ever change gears. If you look at the zwift smart frame you'll see how little frame you need.

Good luck

Marc

[Schnavel]

16 hours ago, W@nted said:

Consider a wahoo kickr core trainer with the zwift cog and click system. That way you do not need to have any form of gears on the frame. It works great with zwift.

+1 for this - best value for money and will allow you to have proper gearing when riding in virtual worlds such as Zwift.

[danthunders]

I purchased the Kickr core zwift one and basic indoor setup I’m using it with minimal parts from my parts bin. 

Ritchey Frame, fork, front wheel, seat and seatpost, flat bars, 1x crankset, RD and a fiction shifter to keep the RD in place.

ps. Also note even though online reviews talk about a free zwift 1 membership, apparently it doesn’t apply to SA or from purchasing it from wahoofitness.co.za. That was the explanation given to me by Zwift support.