Trainer recommendations

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tiltmaniac

Zen MBB Master
Howdy folks!

I've just not been able to get out in the real world to bike of late.

... So it is time to invest in a trainer setup for an S30.
We're most an Android house/PC house.

Suggestions?
 
RojoRacing

RojoRacing

Donut Powered Wise-guy
what do you plan or want to do with it? Zwift races, group rides, maybe just free ride in zwift or maybe you plan to just do structured workouts whether it be in zwift, trainer road or just spinning and watch a movie

what kind of a bike you plan to use and what kind of money you willing to spend?
 
T

tiltmaniac

Zen MBB Master
I'll use my S30 spare frame.

My watts/kg is pretty pathetic right now, so racing will be disappointing :)

I'll probably be doing some races on Zwift, but mostly training. "Training" preferably includes simulations of hills and or other graphics to make things less boring.

Money is secondary to noise, space, functionality, and fun.
 
RojoRacing

RojoRacing

Donut Powered Wise-guy
Tacx Neo if money is no object and noise is a major concern, at least 4 riders on this forum use a Neo. Anything direct drive if you can afford it for the least maintenance on a weekly basis. If a Neo is too pricey my eye would be on the elite direto as my second chose based on great initial reviews but I haven't kept up on it for long term reviews since I have no need for another trainer.

Buy local or at least domestically just in case you need to return the unit for service which can happen if you look through the different face book pages for the units. You don't want to have to return in over seas for a warranty.
 
orind

orind

Member
I am using a Tacx Neo with my S40, and Zwift--love it.
First question is wheel off trainer or not? I have used both, and really like the wheel off--no tire wear.
Why the Neo for me--no belts, calibration--just plug in, get on and ride. I like that it can simulate grades to 25%-(although can can really be a pain too).
The whole "Road feel" thing (motor can pulse to replicate feel of stones/planks)--I have it turned on, but I can take it or leave it.
The downside--it is pricey.

Whatever trainer you get, make sure it is something that does not get in the way of you wanting to use it--if it is tough to get the bike in, finicky, poor ANT+/Blue tooth, unstable--well, you will find you avoid training. The best trainer just is--it gets out of the way and lets you ride, and the is what the Neo does for me.
 
PeteClark

PeteClark

Active Member
I got a "wheel-on" trainer because I thought it would be convenient to put the bike on the trainer, or take it out on the road, without changing the drive wheel each time. One month on the trainer trashed a good road tire. So I bought a dedicated trainer wheel and tire. Lesson learned, the lower cost of a wheel-on trainer is false economy. If I were buying a trainer today, and could afford it, I would get a Neo.
 
P

Pollock

Guru
I have used a wheel on trainer for a few years (dumb trainer). I do not have road tires on my bike or trike; Schwalbe Marathon and Citizen. Riding on them for at least 5 hours / week all winter and no more wear than I would have on the road. It will come down to the tire compound and the drum on the trainer.

If you do have racing tires, then it may make sense to be able to swap when using the wheel on trainer. Though, if you are swapping wheels, a wheel off trainer might be a better choice.
 
P

Pollock

Guru
Does anyone here have much experience with wheel on smart trainers. I am looking at the Wahoo KICKR Snap (2017). Any real world experience with it? Do you run spin down tests every time you ride? From reviews the accuracy seems to be pretty good.

I like the idea of the new Stac trainer (https://www.staczero.com/preorder) with basically zero extra noise, but I would need different tires (no wire bead) and possibly a new wheel. At that point, might as well go with a direct drive trainer.
 
E

ElyDave

Guru
So you run that with no tyre? Or with a trainer tyre? I've never seen those in the UK, not sure if they're a US brand only

I'm using a very old Tacx Fortius with TTS 4.0. I've bought a bunch of RLVs for it and it's still working Ok apart from the plastic handles keep breaking, but at £5 each they're cheaper than a new trainer. Yesterday I used it to ride some hills in Corsica, up to about 6.8%. Today I'm going to try for real life if the weather holds.

I've never figured out why, but on the calibrations I always get screwy results on the Tacx - every time I pump that trainer tyre up to 8.0 bar, and it calibrates in the green zone. Do my ride and re-calibrate and it it's dropped off into the red, no idea why. I don't take the power figures as anything other than indicative and relative between rides.
 
bazzawill

bazzawill

Guru
Pollock said:
Does anyone here have much experience with wheel on smart trainers. I am looking at the Wahoo KICKR Snap (2017). Any real world experience with it? Do you run spin down tests every time you ride? From reviews the accuracy seems to be pretty good.

I like the idea of the new Stac trainer (https://www.staczero.com/preorder) with basically zero extra noise, but I would need different tires (no wire bead) and possibly a new wheel. At that point, might as well go with a direct drive trainer.
Click to expand...
cpml123 said:
Just looked at the Staczero website. Wow... very cool.
Click to expand...

This is a review for the non smart version DC Rainmaker has a demo video also very cool indeed

 
P

Pollock

Guru
As cool as the new Stax looks, I ordered a Wahoo Kickr SNAP. It should be here this week, but I won’t even get a chance to set it up for a bit. Looking forward to running a new FTP test and comparing against new dumb trainer + sensors. Hoping my numbers don’t go down a lot ;)
 
Zzzorse

Zzzorse

Zen MBB Master
KneeDrachen said:
I purchased a Feedback Sports Omnium portable "trollers", rollers but on a trainer frame. I'll have to use it "backwards" but it will accomodate the 100mm spacing on the rear wheel.
https://www.feedbacksports.com/shop/omnium-portable-trainer/
Click to expand...

In my experience the Omnium works fine with only slight modification needed for FWD MBB bicycles. Hope you will enjoy yours.

I bought the original Sportcrafters Omnium trainer which I found used on eBay a few years ago. I didn't need a smart trainer so it suits me just fine and I still use it regularly in the winter. I like it. However, with my Silvio I was never able to keep the front wheel from weaving back and forth. My front wheel would wander dangerously close to the edge of the rollers. In fact I slid off once which caused the wheel to get stuck, wedged in tension against the side of the roller with sideways force applied to the Silvio frame. Not good for the frame or the wheel rim. It took quite a bit of force to get the bike unstuck. I vowed never again. So I built wooden vertical supports that the quick release drops into on both sides which prevents the front wheel from turning and limits side to side movement to almost nothing. This works perfectly but the portable Omnium trainer is no longer portable. The portability could be preserved if the support structure was made skillfully from metal instead of my scrap wood monstrosity.

Also, because the Omnium is backwards I found it necessary to remove the rollers and reverse them otherwise the magnetic resistance did not work. It's easy, takes only minutes. Reversible rollers are an intentional feature added to allow the rollers to be switched for riders that don't want any magnetic resistance. At least that is the case with the Sportcrafters version of the Omnium. Not sure if Feedback Sports retained this feature.

Sportcrafters, who invented the Omnium (and sold it to Feedback Sports who developed it further) still make portable rollers for tadpole trikes and for delta trike handcycles. The FWD handcycle rollers also have vertical supports that prevent side to side movement of the front wheel. They modded the rollers the same way I did for the same reason.
 
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KneeDrachen

KneeDrachen

Active Member
I bought the Omnium because my DF (2017 Roubaix) runs front and rear thru-axles and I didn't want to get involved in the hassle of going to a Robert Axle Project swap but the big one was we are mandated 1 hour of PT for every 24 hours of work. The regulations do not say WHAT we have to do for PT, but PT. I use the Omnium and the Roubaix for an hour or 90 minutes depending on the Trainer Road workout for that day. Its easy to change the cups for a different hub spacing on the tri-pod, and I figured I'd just need to remove the bolts to flip the rollers around (I had Sportcrafters for my trike and velomobile). On the DF, the rear wheel moves around a little bit during a hard effort (last night was a FTP test) but I am sure it is miniscule compared to the havoc I can create with being new to a FWD MBB. My platoon has a cabinet maker/carpenter and a machinist on it so I might bounce a few ideas off of them after your experience. We have bead blaster in the firehouse and a lot of paint, so maybe we can put our heads together and come up with a solution.

Thanks for the insight on your experiences, I hope to avoid those pitfalls!
 
C

cpml123

Zen MBB Master
Just FYI, Cycleops Magnus will not work with S40 because the distance between the clamps on the QR skewer is not wide enough. I tried it out last night and will return it to REI soon. Guess I will try Wahoo Kickr Snap next.

I have also tried a Elite Direto smart trainer before and returned that as well because it's a big pain to mount and unmount the S40 frequently.
 
KneeDrachen

KneeDrachen

Active Member
I forget the brand, all of their trainers are green. I had heard they work with bikes with very wide drop out spacing like tandem MTBs.
 
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