Pedal Power Thread

Bri

I've got to get mine set up so can only recommend mine on paper (until Monday night when I get home with it ;) (y))

Really depends on how much you want to spend. I thought the £165 price point was enough for season 1 !

My criteria were:-

- smart technology so that I can contro,the resistance from my phone/PC and
- relatively quiet
- good reviews / user feedback

Out of all of the brands I thought Tacx offered the best of the above.
 
I looked at the Neo but that is semi/pro territory !!

PS I can relate to the bog snorkeller look. I was like that last week on a short ride. Frustratingly the weather was shocking when I was off yesterday and this weekend is also pants so the turbo would have been used today for sure.
 
Buck said:
Bri

I've got to get mine set up so can only recommend mine on paper (until Monday night when I get home with it ;) (y))

Really depends on how much you want to spend. I thought the £165 price point was enough for season 1 !

My criteria were:-

- smart technology so that I can contro,the resistance from my phone/PC and
- relatively quiet
- good reviews / user feedback

Out of all of the brands I thought Tacx offered the best of the above.
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Correct me if i am wrong, but pretty sure that the Tacx Satori will only communicate with phone/ pc, you will not be able to control resistance with them.
 
Buck said:
That's the one in looking at with HR and cadence (y)
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Wiggle now have 520 down to £177 unit only 26% off, or £220 with HR & CAD 27% off! Awesome prices. :)
 
Dalton said:
Correct me if i am wrong, but pretty sure that the Tacx Satori will only communicate with phone/ pc, you will not be able to control resistance with them.
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Hi

You're right that the Satori will do this but the Satori Smart will allow resistance to be controlled by Zwift etc.
 
Dalton said:
Wiggle now have 520 down to £177 unit only 26% off, or £220 with HR & CAD 27% off! Awesome prices. :)
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I'd seen that in my wish list when I ordered the turbo. Tempted...I might still wait until this time next week to see if there are any killer deals on the performance bundle as part of the Black Friday deals.
 
Buck said:
Hi

You're right that the Satori will do this but the Satori Smart will allow resistance to be controlled by Zwift etc.
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I was referring to the Satori Smart, pretty sure it only has manual resistance adjustment. It can broadcast power/ speed & cadence to Zwift only.
 
TheBigYin said:
I'm pretty sure the Tacx iPad/iPhone software WILL work straight off the bat with the Bushido Smart, but I'm not sure that Zwift's PC software supports Bluetooth linking (though there's something they're beta-trialling in the Zwift iOS app that uses the iOS device as a bluetooth "bridge" - it collects the signal from the devices via BT, and forwards it over WiFi if I understand it properly (it's something that was launched 2 days ago, and I haven't anything that particularly needs it so I haven't experimented with it... And, in fairness, I was on a "rest day" yesterday anyway.)
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It does :) Set up my old road bike that's been sitting in the shed for about 22 years on it and jobs done :)

raleigh.jpg
 
good god, that paintjob brings back memories... I had the 531 version of that as my winter hack back when the local Raleigh dealership sponsored my then Cycle Club (Well - I say sponsored - they sold us kit at trade prices up to the tune of a complete bike per season...) Which is how come the at one point I was racing on a 753 Competition Shop Dynatech that was basically a replica of the bikes that (most of) the Castorama team were riding in the TdF (apparently Fignon was riding a custom frame by Cyfac iirc painted up to resemble the prevoius years silver-soldered classic lugged version where the Casto. team were riding either a Dynatech in 753 or Titanium/753 mixture tubing.

Was a lovely handling bike to be honest, nice predictable (for that era) steering and stiff enough not to get brakerub every time I started going uphill (a problem with some of the noodley ones of that era) - iirc it was all shimano 600, the one after the "arabesque" pattern, before it went grey/gunmetal and started getting called Ultegra...
 
I had a quick spin on it and it actually feels more sorted than my new bike :(

It needs a new back wheel, seat, tape on the bars and I'm wondering if I could shift the gears onto the bars :)
 
Spesh enduro expert . Circa 2004. Might be old but I love it .. oh and Boardman team carbon road bike which doesn't get used half as much as it should.
 
dod said:
I had a quick spin on it and it actually feels more sorted than my new bike :(

It needs a new back wheel, seat, tape on the bars and I'm wondering if I could shift the gears onto the bars :)
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Check the rear dropout spacing, if it's 130mm it'll take a modern rear wheel, and you can swap to the bar shifters, front and rear mechs... It's not a particularly cheap conversion to do, but it IS do-able

If the spacing is narrower, then it's a trip to a GOOD lbs, to have the frame "cold set". To the correct spacing. It's basically just bending the stays, but it needs to be done carefully, and with the correct alignment tools to hand, to keep the wheel in the correct place, and the derraileur alignment correct.

I can't remember exactly, but I think yours will still be 126mm... The frame dates from around the time things started to change... i.e. around the launch of 7,8 speed.
 
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Dalton said:
Correct me if i am wrong, but pretty sure that the Tacx Satori will only communicate with phone/ pc, you will not be able to control resistance with them.
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Dalton, you're right. I've just had a reply back from Zwift. (why they say it is fully functional with Zwift I don't know as that is confusing (to me anyway!) It will communicate the data to Zwift but won't give the 'real'/life like experience on the climbs/descents so smart in this case only means send not receive!! Ah well lesson learned and no harm done.

I only picked it up at work yesterday and is now at home unopened so the Satori is going back this week as soon as I can arrange ( (y) to Wiggle for a great returns service) Unfortunately they are out of stock of the Vortex but I found it on Amazon.de for just over £207 delivered so will be ordering there this week as well. Hopefully, I will have the turbo up and running by the weekend!
 
Anyone any thoughts on what Black Friday might bring to the cycling masses?

As above, I'm looking at getting a turbo trainer but also in the market for a Garmin 520. Do I hang on is the million dollar question or buy now!!
 
dod said:
got a good deal on a bushido smart from Chain reaction, now to get the shed sorted out :D
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It IS a rather good deal from CRC, isn't it... tempted, sorely tempted... It's about half the price of the mk1 version I bought 4 years ago!
 
@TheBigYin @dod

Apart from the increased braking effect and the no mains lead required what other benefits does the Bushido have over the Vortex would you say?
 
The key thing, for me, is the increased braking effect... Especially as I'm a 'big unit', heavy, and slow... By the nature of the braking, the slower the wheels are turning, the more the brake struggles to provide the braking effect that will model anything over about 6% on the Bushido, at my body weight...... If you go any steeper, the software sort of gives you a virtual lower gear. It works, but it doesn't feel natural. Plus, the Bushido is (or certainly WAS in the mk1 version I have) just a bit better , or more robustly built... Though that may not be quite as pronounced with the current version... I understand they've upped the build on the vortex a bit in this revision, and lightened the Bushido a bit...
 
Buck said:
[

Apart from the increased braking effect and the no mains lead required what other benefits does the Bushido have over the Vortex would you say?
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I'd listen to the Big Yin. I was getting more and more confused with the options and finally just went for the fact I don't have to plug it in. It will cope with more power than I can sustain so plenty of room for growth for me.
 
just to expand on my answer from last night...

if you go to http://www.tacx.com/en/products/trainers/vortex-smart#tab_2 and click on the "see the graph" link, you can enter your body mass, bike weight and the trainer you're wishing to use and then get an idea of the amount of resistance it can offer at a given "wheel speed".

For example - at my current body weight of around 115kg - at 15kph (relatively steady climbing pace) the i-Vortex will only provide 202W of resistance - just over the equivalent of a 3% gradient on the road. At the same weight and speed, the Bushido will give 607W or around 11%. Now, bearing in mind my main use for this indoor trainer is either Zwift (which has gradients of 14.1% or more on the Richmond Course and just over 9% on Wattopia) or the Tacx RL DVD's which have "authentic" gradients that model some of the classic grand tour climbs like the Mortirolo (18% max) or the Alto del Angliru (which has spots that hit 23.6%!!!) , the iVortex is going to struggle...

Basically, I'd suggest going to the link, plugging your body weight in, and seeing what kind of resistance the trainer can offer...
 
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Thanks Mark

I've just done that for the Vortex for me and this is the graph. As i understand it, at your example of 15kph this gives me a resistance of 207 watts. Looking at the white curves I am guestimating that this will be around a 4% incline? (The blurb on Tacx says a 7% incline for the Vortex) So, basically, the "experience" I would get from this would be a maximum incline of this and I would need to use my gears to give me a harder workout/artificially increase the incline or let the Tacx Virtual speed compensate?


graph.jpg
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On the Bushido it looks like it would give me a 17% incline!
 
Buck said:
So, basically, the "experience" I would get from this would be a maximum incline of this and I would need to use my gears to give me a harder workout/artificially increase the incline or let the Tacx Virtual speed compensate?
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basically, it's rear-wheel speed related - so the same speed at the back wheel will give the same max. wattage, regardless off if you're pedalling at 110rpm in the little chainring, or mashing the pedals at 55rpm on the big ring... at the end of the day, if you go out of that "blue" range the software that you're linking to is going to go "virtual speed" on you.. I've seen my speed on Zwift reduce to something like 3kph on some of the hills, where the back wheel is spinning at nearer 25kph because my current trainer (the mk1 bushido which isn't resistance controlled under Zwift) is operating on something like 0.5% resistance (which is a decent compromise for my overall physical state at the moment) and isn't ramping up to the numbers it "should" do...

(on the Tacx software stuff, the Bushido does it's best to cope, and is pretty reasonable down to around 6-6.5% or so, but by that time, I'm pedalling squares anyway, and my rear-wheel-speed is probably under 10kph, and i'm well into virtual speed territory from there on in...
 
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Tthanks Mark

Hmmm decisions decisions.


I can get the the Tacx Bushido Smart for £306 but that is £100 more than the Vortex. Can I justify the extra spend I wonder? At the moment I'm thinking no especially since I was originally only spending £165 on the Satori!
 
Any recommendations for a decent budget over shoe for use with MTB cleat shoes (DHB ones from Wiggle) they all look like road shoe only fittings on the Wiggle site?
 
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Phil1974 said:
Any recommendations for a decent budget over shoe for use with MTB cleat shoes (DHB ones from Wiggle) they all look like road shoe only fittings on the Wiggle site?
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Another choice is these. Just received a set for me and they do fit over the MTB shoes although have yet to try out on the bike!
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/bbb-heavyduty-overshoes/?sku=5360595789

Like all overshoes on MTBs they will wear on the edges as you don't get the same ground clearance as you do with SPD-SL road shoes.
 
Cheers guys. I keep forgetting Planet X do accessories as well as bikes [emoji106]
I looked at the BBB ones but the online chat guy said they couldn't recommend them for MTB shoes. Actually he said they couldn't recommend any, apart from one pair, £30 odd quid, despite them being in the MTB overshoe page [emoji53]
I've seen a cheap pair in Halfords for a tenner that I might pick up as I need them for a club ride on Sunday as the temp is threading to go down to 4 degrees [emoji300]️[emoji300]️
 
to be completely honest, overshoes on the MTB are going to get knackered really quickly, especially if you ride trails that involve the occasional push/walk with bike on shoulders... the PX ones I linked are better than most, because there's very little "underfoot" apart from the central "strap" that's under the instep, and shouldn't come into contact with the floor.

I use the PX ones on the CaadX crosser mainly, as it's got SPD's rather than "proper" road clipless, in case I go for the odd rattle around the bridleways and towpaths - so frankly there's really not going to be any extended hike-a-bike use for them. For use on the MTB i've a couple of pairs of cheap nasty overshoes that were sold by my local pikey supermarket as being "commuter overshoes" - they're not massively insulated, but they keep the sludge and the worst of the water out - and you can always put a carrier bag over your shoes, then zip the overshoes over that if it's really giving it the proverbial torrential stuff...
 
I use BBB ones with SPD shoes on my road bike and they are fine. You would destroy them off road though. I also have a pair of proper winter boots as well for when the weather really goes cold.
 
menthel said:
I use BBB ones with SPD shoes on my road bike and they are fine. You would destroy them off road though. I also have a pair of proper winter boots as well for when the weather really goes cold.
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Did you go for the flourescent yellow ones? Are they really garish? They look a bit green on the website [emoji3]
 
I've got the black ones too. Just enough reflective bits to avoid the stealth ninja look ;)
 
Amazon have the Tacx Satori Smart Trainer on a lightening deal from around 5pm today.

They've also got a couple of Muc-Off products (bike cleaner and chain cleaner) at a third off finishing around 9:30 tonight
 
Buck said:
Amazon have the Tacx Satori Smart Trainer on a lightening deal from around 5pm today.

They've also got a couple of Muc-Off products (bike cleaner and chain cleaner) at a third off finishing around 9:30 tonight
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The Satori is a great price. I'm looking at an Elite elastogel one at the min. Would the Tacx be much better?
 
Phil1974 said:
The Satori is a great price. I'm looking at an Elite elastogel one at the min. Would the Tacx be much better?
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Phil

The Satori has great reviews and will connect to your Garmin device should you have one/get one as well as being able to link to your smartphone etc. As you k ow I ordered one only to find it didn't have the automatic adjustment that I wanted to have when using Zwift.

The Elite elastomers got good reviews too so a bit of a dilemma. For me I'd go Tacx but that's a subjective choice.

If you want the Tacx at the Lightning price you'll need to be quick. Over half gone already.
 
All gone at Amazon but you can get it for £138 at Amazon.de and most likely will be shipped from the same warehouse!
 
Got myself a new bike (well frame). Dartmoor hornet in petrol. all my stuff swaps over which is nice.

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one little tip I'd like to share with the people who are buying Tacx indoor trainers. there's a pretty well-known problem with how the trainers "go together" - in order to have the ability to adjust between 26", 700c race and 29'er mtb tyres, there's a facility in assembly to put the steel support frame into one of three slots. The 700c road wheel is the middle one of these slots normally. The problem arises, in that the slots are moulded into a relatively hard but slightly brittle plastic, and it's prone to snapping the "lugs" that constitute the slot if the mounting bolts aren't really tight (and kept that way). And, for good measure, replacment of this part is a real faff... watch the video to see...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvXM9dQcZU4&index=9&list=PLKaEtc4GY3b7moFu5uG6zO0LaQjpT3C2a


One thing that can help, is to source some form of packing pieces that can fill the two vacant "slots" so that effectively there's just the single gap that you want to use - that way the steel frame can't bounce back and forth and damage the "lugs" in the plastic mounting. I fashioned some for the bushido from some scrap plastic sheet that was slightly over thickness, simply cutting it down to size and sanding it to thickness, before fitting it with a smear of carbon assembly preparation to help keep it in place. Took all of 10 minutes, and has been well worth doing - as when I checked my Bushido earlier this month before starting riding indoors again after a year or so's lay off, the bolts weren't quite snug, but there was no sign of wear in the mounting slot and no broken lugs...

Not sure if it's universally applicable, but pretty sure it applies to the Bushido, Vortex and Genius brake units (and probably most of the higher end trainers... think the cheapies like the Bluemotion just have a couple of holes drilled in the mounting tube for a through-bolt instead.
 
Braved the cold today for a ride out. Does anyone else suffer with knee pain that hurts when pedalling and then after when going up/down stairs? Hurts for a couple of hours after and then fades.
 
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