The Indoor Riding/ Zwift/ TrainerRoad etc. Thread

Martynt74 · 27 Jan 2022 at 08:31

fez said:
Right, I have been kicked out of the road cycling thread and told to come talk to you shut ins about Zwift

What is the minimum setup I need to have a good Zwift session. I don't want to spend more than £400 if possible, less ideally if it doesn't massively compromise the quality. Happy to go second hand as well.

I have ipads, monitors etc and I have a bike already.

Do you also want to use the bike for outdoor riding?

Depending on that question will answer whether you need to buy a separate cassette for the turbo or to jst use the existing cassette and have the bike as a permanent Zwift bike, which would save a little bit of cash.

Alternatively you can switch the cassette from wheel to turbo, but that would be a real ballache

Nutty_Death · 27 Jan 2022 at 09:36

fez said:
Right, I have been kicked out of the road cycling thread and told to come talk to you shut ins about Zwift

What is the minimum setup I need to have a good Zwift session. I don't want to spend more than £400 if possible, less ideally if it doesn't massively compromise the quality. Happy to go second hand as well.

I have ipads, monitors etc and I have a bike already.

No idea if this is rated well but it seems like a well priced direct drive trainer. https://www.evanscycles.com/brand/pinnacle/hc-turbo-home-trainer-712633

fez · 27 Jan 2022 at 09:43

I also want to be going outside as much as possible when the weather is nice.

Jonny ///M · 27 Jan 2022 at 09:45

I'd stick with a bigger brand at that price should anything go wrong. My mate got a Direto for £450 yesterday from somewhere which is a decent deal.

Martynt74 · 27 Jan 2022 at 09:55

fez said:
I also want to be going outside as much as possible when the weather is nice.

I guess from a cost point then, a direct drive would need you to buy a new cassette for the turbo, and the wheel on types would need you to buy a new wheel/turbo tyre to swap between.

Personally i'd go with a direct drive. I've seen Wahoo Kickrs for sale for ~£400 for the V4 model or Tacx Flux for similar. Sometimes they even include a cassette too when buying used. Just need to make sure if matches your bike. Although i believe there were some issues with the Flux with reliability. Some posters in here may be able to give more info on specific models though.

Ebay can also be good as they're bulky items, so if you find one for collection only you can sometimes get a bargain as the audience is limited.

Although the above post of the Direto for £450 is a bargain, add £30 for a cassette and you're golden and have the benefit of a warranty.

Vandle · 27 Jan 2022 at 22:01

Martynt74 said:
Personally i'd go with a direct drive. I've seen Wahoo Kickrs for sale for ~£400 for the V4 model or Tacx Flux for similar. Sometimes they even include a cassette too when buying used. Just need to make sure if matches your bike. Although i believe there were some issues with the Flux with reliability. Some posters in here may be able to give more info on specific models though.

I had a Tacx Flux for about 4 years or so, put 7,000kms through it. It had begun to squeak a little until it got warmed up, there are no user serviceable parts and no where to oil it. Its a fully sealed unit. I asked at my local bike shop where I bought it if they did services and he said no as no-one had ever asked. He did ask me to take a video of it and the noise and send it to him and was going to enquire with the manufacturer but I didn't get round to it. Ended up selling it. Other than that absolutely no complaints from me. Quality bit of kit. On the day I got it I dropped a washer into it as I was putting the stand on. It stuck to the magnet which is super powerful and I could never get it out. Still in there now. It made a funny noise until it either fell off or moved to a different spot for a few weeks. Entirely my own fault.

It is a real pain taking the wheel on and off though if you are using your outdoors bike. I have a Trek Madone and hated looking down and seeing the carbon frame flexing beneath me. Felt like I was going to snap it right in half, bought a cheapo ally bike to put on permanently.

Jonny ///M · 27 Jan 2022 at 23:00

Martynt74 said:
I guess from a cost point then, a direct drive would need you to buy a new cassette for the turbo, and the wheel on types would need you to buy a new wheel/turbo tyre to swap between.

Personally i'd go with a direct drive. I've seen Wahoo Kickrs for sale for ~£400 for the V4 model or Tacx Flux for similar. Sometimes they even include a cassette too when buying used. Just need to make sure if matches your bike. Although i believe there were some issues with the Flux with reliability. Some posters in here may be able to give more info on specific models though.

Ebay can also be good as they're bulky items, so if you find one for collection only you can sometimes get a bargain as the audience is limited.

Although the above post of the Direto for £450 is a bargain, add £30 for a cassette and you're golden and have the benefit of a warranty.

Just to confirm it was wiggle with code sale10 to bring it to £450.

Nutty_Death · 28 Jan 2022 at 19:36

Gave up half way through stage 6 long today today. Not because I was exhausted just felt like I was cycling in mud and really couldn't be bothered going on for another hour.

I think to be honest going from my excercise being fairly poor straight into the tour, only doing the long routes and starting triathlon training was too much, even if I can push myself through them usually. I'm certainly not performing at peak ability and today I just couldn't be bothered sludging my way through it.

gpuerrilla · 28 Jan 2022 at 19:39

Dont beat yourself up Nutty. Listen to your body.

robj20 · 29 Jan 2022 at 07:29

Do we have a OCUK zwift club?

Nutty_Death · 29 Jan 2022 at 08:00

robj20 said:
Do we have a OCUK zwift club?

Not that I know of. Someone level 20 or above should create one.

wonko · 29 Jan 2022 at 08:11

robj20 said:
Do we have a OCUK zwift club?

Not that I'm aware of either. Would we have enough people interested in group events though?
There is the OcUK Strava 'club' showing 41 of us pedalling this week (not all Zwift?), but I'd guess there's a big spread of times and types of event that we all go for. Maybe mostly group rides with the 'keep everyone together' would work best so everyone could go at their own pace?
I'd try to join a few if someone felt keen.

robj20 · 29 Jan 2022 at 09:01

Yeah it would have to be the type of ride that keeps you together but if try and do my best. I can't compete with most as I'm gear limited on my mountain bike.

Nutty_Death · 29 Jan 2022 at 09:53

gpuerrilla said:
Dont beat yourself up Nutty. Listen to your body.

Thanks, felt a bit more energetic this morning so did stage 6 short and my FTP jumped from 203w to 226w. I think knowing I didn't have 500m of climb still ahead of me meant I was able to do higher watts that I knew I could sustain.

Nutty_Death · 29 Jan 2022 at 09:54

wonko said:
Not that I'm aware of either. Would we have enough people interested in group events though?
There is the OcUK Strava 'club' showing 41 of us pedalling this week (not all Zwift?), but I'd guess there's a big spread of times and types of event that we all go for. Maybe mostly group rides with the 'keep everyone together' would work best so everyone could go at their own pace?
I'd try to join a few if someone felt keen.

Joined the Strava group. Thanks

robj20 · 29 Jan 2022 at 10:01

Annoyingly my chest strap is giving ultra low readings now, I was at 110% FTP and my max HR was 130bpm.
While my watch was reading 175+BPM.

Why do they all become flakey at some point. It's a Wahoo Tickr.

Nutty_Death · 29 Jan 2022 at 10:27

robj20 said:
Annoyingly my chest strap is giving ultra low readings now, I was at 110% FTP and my max HR was 130bpm.
While my watch was reading 175+BPM.

Why do they all become flakey at some point. It's a Wahoo Tickr.

Because they get soaked in salty sweat

mine stopped working and I gave the strap a good soak in Zoflora and cleaned the corroded contacts.

gpuerrilla · 29 Jan 2022 at 10:40

robj20 said:
Annoyingly my chest strap is giving ultra low readings now, I was at 110% FTP and my max HR was 130bpm.
While my watch was reading 175+BPM.

Why do they all become flakey at some point. It's a Wahoo Tickr.

I had this so got another one. Will try the strap method, but yeah it seems thats the behaviour I thought it was the bluetooth unit, never thought to try the strap.

Robzere31 · 29 Jan 2022 at 15:37

Done stage 6 this morning,& decided to carry on & complete my 100km gran fondo badge for January

62 miles later pull over & finish only to realise after that Id stopped 12 metres early so only completed 99.88km @#£%
No badge for me today

Jonny ///M · 29 Jan 2022 at 17:34

How much harder is the MTB when doing a race on Zwift?

It felt harder but I'm not sure if that was just it being hard and me trying to blame the bike.

I was 413w for the first lap and that was me fighting to stay in the bunch. I stopped to change the bike and jump back in a lap down and was then managing to stay and have a few spicy laps with the bunch https://www.strava.com/activities/6600523831/analysis/609/1208 before a lap alone to officially finish the race.

I don't recommend it either way tbh!