What's this called?

PhilD said:

My brother wants a "thing" on which he can put his bike and ride
without going anywhere. What are such "things" called? Any
recommendations? I have no idea about budget. Personally, I think
it's better to get out into the big wide world and get fresh air as
well as the exercise.

Turbo trainer? About £60-£70.

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Simon Bennett said:

PhilD said:

My brother wants a "thing" on which he can put his bike and ride
without going anywhere. What are such "things" called? Any
recommendations? I have no idea about budget. Personally, I think
it's better to get out into the big wide world and get fresh air as
well as the exercise.

Turbo trainer? About £60-£70.

I think he means rollers, like these:

http://www.bikepedlar.co.uk/acatalog/Tacx_Rollers.html

You can just load your bike onto a set of rollers and off you go... no
need to mechanically couple it as you do on a turbo trainer.

Never tried them myself, but I understand they need a bit of practice
to get the hang of.

"Bob"
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Email address is spam trapped, to reply directly remove the beverage.

"PhilD" <[email hidden]>typed

Quoted message said:

My brother wants a "thing" on which he can put his bike and ride
without going anywhere. What are such "things" called? Any
recommendations? I have no idea about budget. Personally, I think
it's better to get out into the big wide world and get fresh air as
well as the exercise.

Quoted message said:

I saw one of these "things" used for warm up at the Birmingham stage of
the Tour of Britain last year, but didn't really pay much attention to
it then.

Quoted message said:

Thanks,

Quoted message said:

PhilD

Quoted message said:

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Rollers, if you want to put whole bike on thing, turbo-trainer if you
remove front wheel.

Good balance and a helper are usually needed for use on rollers.

--
Helen D. Vecht: [email hidden]
Edgware.

Call me Bob said:

I think he means rollers, like these:

http://www.bikepedlar.co.uk/acatalog/Tacx_Rollers.html

You can just load your bike onto a set of rollers and off you go... no
need to mechanically couple it as you do on a turbo trainer.

Coo, that was quick! Yes, it looks like the rollers are the thing my
brother wants (rather than keep putting wheel in and out). I guess if
it's close enough to the wall/settee/kitchen side/whatever then that
will help with initial balance/getting-used-to-it issues.

PhilD

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PhilD said:

My brother wants a "thing" on which he can put his bike and ride
without going anywhere. What are such "things" called? Any
recommendations? I have no idea about budget. Personally, I think
it's better to get out into the big wide world and get fresh air as
well as the exercise.

I saw one of these "things" used for warm up at the Birmingham stage of
the Tour of Britain last year, but didn't really pay much attention to
it then.

Thanks,

PhilD

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<><

It's a turbo trainer, boring as hell to ride, unless you really want to sweat buckets. The only reason to use them is if you can't get out on a proper bike and ride on roads/off road.

If you check ebay you'll tend to find quite a few from people who never really used them, anything from £30 upwards

In addition to being boring and sweaty, they can also make a hell of a lot of noise, the magnetic ones are quiter than the fan ones y the way.

Bryan

PhilD said:

Quoted message said:

http://www.bikepedlar.co.uk/acatalog/Tacx_Rollers.html

Quoted message said:

Coo, that was quick! Yes, it looks like the rollers are the thing my
brother wants (rather than keep putting wheel in and out). I guess if
it's close enough to the wall/settee/kitchen side/whatever then that
will help with initial balance/getting-used-to-it issues.

I've read before that setting up in a doorway can be a good idea when
learning, support on both sides.

"Bob"
--

Email address is spam trapped, to reply directly remove the beverage.

Helen Deborah Vecht said:

Rollers, if you want to put whole bike on thing, turbo-trainer if you
remove front wheel.

Good balance and a helper are usually needed for use on rollers.

Not necessarily - a few models of roller set-ups (inc. one of the ones
available via Mike Dyason, I think) come with a front wheel stand. I've
got a set of rollers made by Tacx of Holland - very good and highly
recommended (can be expensive, but got mine S/H out of a local paper
years ago), but no front wheel stand. Still, the "free standing"
version helps to improve balance!

David Belcher

PhilD said:

My brother wants a "thing" on which he can put his bike and ride
without going anywhere. What are such "things" called?

Purgatory!! I have trouble suffering one for 10 mins. Real riding is
much much better.

--
Tony

"The best way I know of to win an argument is to start by being in the
right."
- Lord Hailsham

in message <[email hidden]>, PhilD

(') said:

My brother wants a "thing" on which he can put his bike and ride
without going anywhere. What are such "things" called?

Turbo trainers.

Quoted message said:

Any
recommendations? I have no idea about budget.

Tacx Cycleforce One (about £120), or, if he has more money than sense,
Tacx iMagic (about £400).

Quoted message said:

Personally, I think
it's better to get out into the big wide world and get fresh air as
well as the exercise.

So do I.

Quoted message said:

I saw one of these "things" used for warm up at the Birmingham stage of
the Tour of Britain last year, but didn't really pay much attention to
it then.

They're quite handy in the miserable days of winter, if you can thole the
boredom.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
Ring of great evil
Small one casts it into flame
Bringing rise of Men ;; gonzoron

PhilD said:

My brother wants a "thing" on which he can put his bike and ride
without going anywhere. What are such "things" called?

Roundabouts?

regards, Ian SMith
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PhilD said:

My brother wants a "thing" on which he can put his bike and ride
without going anywhere. What are such "things" called? Any
recommendations? I have no idea about budget.

I have a Tacx iMagic 'green' which is very cool and set me back £299.
You can get a turbo for next to nothing but without all the software and
the race/pacing options you get with the iMagic things get boring very
quickly. Mine's set up with a 21" monitor in front of the trainer so I
can watch the virtual scenery[1] go by.

Also, watch out as an old or lower quality turbo may well have
questionable resistance on the wheel so if he's planning on using this
for relatively serious training (I can't imagine why anyone would want
one otherwise) he'll need one that gives a reasonably realistic experience.

The iMagic stores all your rides so you can race yourself (or other
people) each time, and see where you need to improve (or indeed where
you _have_ improved).

There's a new version out (the 'blue'😉 which has a motor brake which
actually accellerates your wheel when you go downhill but I think that's
a gimmick. The whole point of this is that it's a training device so I
don't particularly mind that I can't coast on it. Apart from the lack
of coasting it's a very accurate riding experience IMO.

Quoted message said:

Personally, I think
it's better to get out into the big wide world and get fresh air as
well as the exercise.

Of course it is, but there are loads of reasons why you can't always do
that (and the roads don't save your training information for you).

Cheers,

Jon

[1] Newer versions of the 'green' ar aso compatible with the 'Fortius'
DVDs so you can ride through real videos of courses . I'm not sure how
much difference this really makes but you could do the whole TdF in your
living room if you like...