Static Trainers - Heaven Forbid

[Marnix]

Winter has rolled around again (as it seems to do every year ) and I can't face cycling at 5:00am in the freezing dark. In the past the options were to go spinning but with the unreliability of instructors these days, I am thinking quite seriously about a static trainer for both myself and for my girlfriend.

 

 

 

We both have full carbon road bikes as well as MTB bikes and I have heard there can be issues associated with cycling on normal tires. What about drive train, clusters etc?

 

 

 

I would like to ask for any advise in this regard.

 

Resistance trainers?

 

Rollers?

 

What about different tires?

 

Wind resistance trainers?

 

Problems?

 

Is spending R10k on a computer based system worth it?

 

 

 

I see that CW cycles was advertising the Tacx Satori for R2,500 - thoughts on this as an option?

 

http://www.cwcycles.co.za/product/tacx-t1856-satori-trainer

[SuperMario]

This question has been asked soooo many times.  Try doing a search on the hub, you will find more than one thread covering this topic.  Enjoy the reading, plenty of advice here on the hub.

[Bos]

heres a short and sweet answer, based on my experiance from using a Magnetic trainer the last 3 months.

 

If I could get one that read Power and Could plug to the PC I would get it.

It doesnt seem you have a worry with cash so go big or go home.

 

Why am I saying this? IDT is a very effevtive tool but the lack of scenery is a lot worse than you might have thought. You just sit there feeling every bit of pain. So plugging in a program to the PC must be better than watching Top Gear out of the corner of the eye...

 

tires, I use my normal tire, (Rubino Pro)

Cluster etc, since there is no dust and dirt around Its probably the same if not a little better than outside.

 

 

[SuperMario]

http://www.tacx.com/en/producten/ergotrainers/flow/index.dot

[Joker]

Have a look at the Realaxiom from Elite.  It is not as expensive as some other.  It simulate, got programs created for interval training and you can ride tour's.  You can also import your favorate Garmin routes.  And you can watch TV as it is not that noisy.  +/- 6K-8K

[Yang]

Get yourself a TacX Fortius. Its not cheap, but it makes such a difference to the quality of your indoor training, and it will last you for years.

Avoid hooking up your carbon bike to an IDT. Rather get a second hand chromoly frame stuck in a dusty corner in one of the bike shops or off the Hub, set it up the same as your racer, and then you can sweat on it and cycle out of the saddle, without worrying about damaging the frame. I use an old chromoly Trek 470 with old RSX groupset, with a 7 cog cassette, and I get a workout on it going through the TacX routes that are better that the quivalent time spent on the road- not as enjoyable, but a solid workout- helping me to  a couple of PB's over the past year. I use my old tyres on it with no problems.

 

If you can't get yourself a computer based system, you'll need a fair amount of discipline to climb onto a static IDT 2 or 3 times a week. Its best to use IDT programmes that take you through aerobic, power, strength and speed exercises agaist heart rate. Weekdays that's about all the training I did for about 6 or 7 years. PM me if you want me to email you the IDT programmes I have.

[HammerHed]

I use a Polar Power meter and a Cycleops Fluid2 trainer and I get amazing results. I do  have to have a varied interval session otherwise it gets very boring but with the  power meter that keeps you  on your toes, as you cannot slack off.

 

The Fluid 2 is amazing it has an exponential power curve much better than the magneto trainers, more life like effect of riding a bike the harder you pedal the harder the resistance much more so than the magneto based ones.