I am on the market to purchase my first home trainer, and it is quite an overwhelming world! As I didn’t find a wiki already in the forum, I thought it could be a good time to create one, compiling your answers.
My expected usage is to use the trainer for power-driven structured workouts and heat training sessions, with a GRX 12-speed mechanical gravel bike (Canyon Grizl), 12×142mm rear thru-axle. As I have a TrainingPeaks subscription, I was thinking to use TrainingPeaks virtual. However, it looks like most of the direct drive trainers don’t offer the microspline option, so here I am for advice. Which ones do I need to consider? What other stuff do I need to acquire (I see there is ANT+ antenna for sale, do I need one?).
Below, a beginning of wiki.
Minimal setup for using a home trainer:
home trainer, it could be direct drive (removing the rear wheel and linking the rear axle of the bike to the trainer) for more accurate power reading, or roll-on, for more compact and cheaper setup. Direct drive trainers tend to be more quiet.
bike, ideally not your best one to preserve it.
mat, to keep things quiet
table or support for the tablet / laptop
tablet / laptop with bluetooth and wifi, if you wish to use an online training platform
subscription to an online training platform
one or two fans
Considerations when buying a home trainer:
Bike compatibility: type of cassette, rear axle specifications. Microspline directly compatible trainers are rare, but for GRX 12-speed, a 105 12-speed cassette on a HG hub do the trick
Cassette: a Zwift clog can replace the cassette, offering virtual shifting instead but only works with Zwift and Rouvy.
Direct drive (smart) versus wheel-on options. Cost of direct drive has dropped considerably to the point where it’s widely adopted. Wheel-on options are generally louder, increase tire wear and only the higher end support erg mode workouts or gradient simulation in Zwift/Touch/MyWhoosh.
Maintenance of the bike:
Waxing the chain helps to keep the bike surroundings and the room cleaner (Brad’s advice from one of the Geek Warnings)
Removing sweat after each session
If planning to use the bike outdoor prolonged indoor use, it is highly advised to do a check-up, looking for corrosion traces.
I think the best buy currently for the ‘casual’ trainer user is probably the Kickr Core 2 that was just released
I believe MyWhoosh and Rouvy both support virtual shifting, with MyWhoosh being free you could continue using your TrainingPeaks workouts
I think you missed the most important accessory for indoor training: at least one fan. You don’t need to go crazy but I really like having a fan with a remote so I can ramp the airflow as needed
For a mat: I just used the cheapest yoga/workout mat I could find
The sweat corrosion is an issue, but I think it’s an overblown issue for most people. Unless you’re a heavy sweater and doing zwift races regularly without protection for the bike, it’s probably an annual check when you’d be due for new bartape anyway
To help manage sweat drippings, I have a sweat guard that has an elastic loop that goes around the seat post (it easily stretches over a saddle) and fastens to the handlebars with velcro. It keeps sweat from dripping on most of the top tube as well as the stem, headset, head tube, etc. I have one made by Tacx, but a lot companies make them. As a bonus, my wife sewed together two thick, microfiber towels and then made two “button holes” spaced and sized so that my levers fit through them. This serves three purposes: it helps keep sweat off the handlebars; it keeps the towel easily accessible; and the button holes keep the fans from blowing the towel off the bike.
Fans. I opted for two high velocity floor fans with tilting output nozzles to put air where I need it. I just turn ‘em on full blast before I start. When done and have wiped the frame down, I point the fans at the bike to help ensure nothing stays wet.
My office is carpeted, so I’ve got a sheet of plywood I cut to fit a rubber mat. It makes things a bit more stable for me.
As for smart trainers, I think what’s best will vary with a rider’s needs and wallet. I’ve been using an Elite Suito for 4 ½ years without any issues. There are some really good smart trainers available at low cost today, although tariffs may increase costs significantly depending on where you live.
FWIW, I immersion wax my chains. I get very little wax flaking off, and what does flake off falls on the mat.
For direct-drive trainers, you don’t need a microspline carrier per se. You need to be able to put a 12-speed Shimano-compatible cassette on there, and that shouldn’t be a problem. You can use a regular HG freehub body with a 12-speed road cassette. You’ll probably wind up with different gearing.
A smart trainer here will talk to your head unit/smartphone/tablet/computer via Bluetooth, so you don’t need ANT+.
If you haven’t checked out DCrainmaker.com and/or GPLlama on Youtube, they’re both good sources of info (and they’re Escapees).
I think the smart thing is to get a beater bike for dedicated trainer duty so you don’t wreck your good bike and can leave it set up, but that’s not an option for everyone. This is the idea behind the Zwift Ride.
Minoura and Tacx have made tablet holders that clip onto your handlebars. You can still find them, but I get the impression they’re both out of production. I’ve used both; the Minoura is OK, the Tacx is a little nicer.
You can get tablet-to-monitor adapters to easily use a larger screen with a tablet. I use an old iPad with an HDMI adapter to drive an inexpensive monitor. Much nicer than squinting at the tablet.
I think a list of good fans would be helpful for people as well, which could even be organized by region. Here in the States I got a big cheap Lasko that I put up on the wall:
I’m not sure where you want to draw the scope line–just the trainer or the whole pain cave or some where between. Beyond the trainer and fan, before even getting into mat, table, etc. I’d add some “computer” and monitor to run whatever software you use when riding. That can be phone, tablet, Apple TV (the hardware, not the streaming service), laptop, etc.
I’d like to take the conversation in a slightly different direction. I built an indoor training setup last season, but I had a hard time getting into it because I never knew what to do when on the trainer. I use a Wahoo Elemnt Bolt v2 for outdoor rides. I don’t have a subscription to Zwift/Training Peaks/etc. at the moment. What is the “normal” thing to do if I want to ride 1-1.5 hours Z2 on the trainer? What mode should my cycling computer be in? I plan to watch movies/tvs/podcasts while on the trainer, do I still need something like Zwift or Training Peaks?
If I want to add workouts, is there a repository somewhere that allows me to download workouts? Do any of the home training platforms have a workout repository with easy downloads?
Apologies for all of the questions. If there is a source (like a beginner’s guide) that will have answers to these questions, I’m all ears. I understand how to set up my Wahoo Kickr and generally use the technology, I just want to understand what most people do for a frame of reference.
This may or may not be useful as you’re looking to watch films or listen to podcasts, but if you were looking to get the most out of indoor training, structured workouts are a great way forward. If you don’t want to use Zwift, the GCN Training videos are decent. Some of the older ones are music free, so you can put your own music on (punk rock in my case). Hope you find something that works for you!
Zwift has a large library of workouts, and an editor where you can build your own. I’ve made several that I use regularly. Another option is to join a paced ride, either with a robopacer or a real human group leader.
If you want to focus your attention on something other than riding(movie/TV) some kind of programmed workout with the trainer in Erg mode will keep you from going too hard or too easy.
Yes all platforms have canned workouts of one sort or another.
Personally I use MyWhoosh as it’s free. To do a workout you log on, set up your profile with your weight and ftp estimate and then pick a workout. Start in the beginner or less than 30 minutes section and choose something easy.
Then progress as you see fit. Just ride regularly and do a mix of hard and easy stuff with no more than 2 genuinely hard rides a week and the rest easy. Initially, you will progress just by riding your bike regularly, but after a while progression may slow.
Many people make the mistake of making every session moderately hard which means they are too tired or not motivated to do at least 20 mins of work close to threshold in one session (or smaller amounts above threshold) so that sessions are hard to do, but not so hard you need to swap a Netflix series for Nine Inch Nails at full volume to get through the session, or blow up before completing the planned work.
Also, doing 3h z2 on the trainer is simply not fun/necessary as they have not yet invented a turbo trainer with outdoor quality graphics that serves good coffee and cake. If you do live in Alaska or Switzerland, xc skiing is a good alternative. If you live on an oil rig, consider different life choices while you get the 3 hour ride done.
If you can do the threshold workouts without really trying hard your ftp is too low. Raise it 5 w and do the same workout again a week later. Or choose a variation of the workout that has another round of intervals if you’re doing less than 20’ of work around threshold. Only progress in one thing at a time, as adding watts and duration at the same time is an easy way to overtrain or make sessions so hard you’d rather do your tax return.
If you’re a bit lost, try telling your LLM of choice what you are aiming to achieve, what did for the last few weeks and ask it to act as an expert cycling coach and give you advice. Or hire an actual coach - a much better investment than any bike upgrade.
To reiterate what some people have said before the Wahoo Core is a quality trainer for a great price. The only thing is that it doesn’t have height adjustment. I find the height works fine for road and gravel, but feels like I’m riding uphill on a mountain bike. A couple of 2x4s under the legs solves this.
As for the cassette I run a 105 cassette on the trainer with my mountain bike which normally uses an XT (microspline)
This is a deep rabbit hole. We should probably start a different “getting started with structured training” wiki to discuss it.
If you just want to do a steady-state zone-2 workout, you can use your Bolt as the controller, put it in erg mode, and set it to 65% (or whatever) of your FTP.
You can search the web for structured workout designs that are often described as something like “10 min WU @ 50%, 4x8 min @ 105%/3 min @ 50%, 10 min CD @ 50%” There are downloadable workout-definition files that really aren’t much more complicated than that.
It looks like Intervals.icu (which you can use for free and is pretty popular) lets you design workouts, and syncs with Garmins but not Wahoos (?).
Training Peaks now lets you control a smart trainer via a smartphone/tablet app using TP Virtual (this is a relatively new thing), although this is more oriented toward, well, virtual cycling. But it can do structured workouts.
I use Trainer Day, a different app, to control my trainer. One advantage this has is that it will keep running in the background (unlike TPV), so if I can watch Netflix while doing a zone-2 ride. It’s one of the cheaper subscriptions.
Thanks for all of the helpful responses. I appreciate the insights on structured training and will look to add in workouts. I have a background working with a coach but am not doing so currently. My questions were more geared toward what settings to use (between the Kickr, my Bolt and any third-party platforms as applicable). I appreciate it.