- Indoor trainers are a really efficient use of time
and great for getting quality bike sessions in.
But with so many on the market these days,
finding the right one for you can be a bit of a minefield.
So I'm going to help you to choose an indoor trainer.
(upbeat urban music)
Magnetic, direct-drive, fluid, air, smart trainers;
where on earth do you start?
Well there are so many more options
available for indoor trainers
compared to when I first started cycling,
and to demonstrate this Wahoo have kindly stepped in.
They've loaned us a few of their products
that we can run through in the same range
that is used by Ironman world champion
and Olympic Games gold medalist Jan Frodeno,
and even Team SKY.
But before we do that, let's take a look
at some of the entry level trainers
that are on offer to you.
Now this is actually the turbo that I started out on,
and I've had knocking around at home,
so forgive me for it being a little bit dated.
But it's still very similar to those
that are on the market today.
Now if all you want to do is ride your bike indoors
without the gizmo and gadgets,
then this can tick the box for you.
To secure the bike onto the turbo,
all you have to do is clamp it down
onto the rear skewers here, and then
rest the rear wheel onto the roller.
Right, I think we should give this a go.
(components clank and rattle)
How the resistance is applied varies between turbos.
In my case I'm using a magnetic trainer,
where the resistance is created by a magnetic field.
And you can normally adjust the resistance of that
by increasing or decreasing the magnetic force.
And you do that with something like this,
a trigger or control switch, and then normally
you can attach these to the handlebars as well.
Then there's the fluid and air resistance turbos.
The fluid resistance turbos work by propeller
spinning inside a fluid-filled chamber,
and then the air resistance turbos
work by propellor spinning against air resistance.
Now, the main difference with those
is that you don't normally need a trigger or control
like you do on this magnetic one,
because it sort of happens naturally;
as you increase your pace, it increases the resistance.
But, one thing I should really note
with these styles of trainers,
both the magnetic, fluid, and the air,
is that it's an on-wheel design,
so, for the purpose of this video,
I'm just using my normal wheels and normal tyre.
But if I was doing anything sustained or raking the turbos,
you do get uneven wear on the middle of the tyre,
so it'll affect the feel and even your grip
when you next ride outdoors.
So what most people do is put a turbo tyre,
which is a harder wearing tyre,
on either that wheel or they have a spare wheel
that they switch in for turbo sessions.
(connections clicking)
This is the KICKR Snap from Wahoo.
It's Wahoo's more affordable trainer;
it's another wheel-on design, meaning it's fixed and mounted
in the same way as the previous trainers,
but this is a smart trainer.
This means that you can connect the trainer
to your bike computer, your smartphone, your tablet,
or even your computer via Bluetooth Smart or ANT+,
so you can monitor your training as you go,
and actually in some cases you can
increase the intensity on these as well.
I'm currently using the Wahoo Element Bolt bike computer
but you can use other bike computers,
and if you don't have a bike computer
you can actually use the Wahoo Fitness app
to capture the data.
But the beauty of the smart trainer,
and actually a really popular option,
is to connect it to something like Zwift or Trainer Road
to give you that kind of outdoor, real feel.
But, you're training indoors.
Now, it's really worth noting actually,
I don't have a power metre on my bike currently,
but the KIKR Snap has an inbuilt power metre
so that I can see my power as I ride.
(bike parts click and rattle)
The Wahoo KIKR: we're taking it up a level here now;
this is Wahoo's ultimate indoor smart trainer,
and it's quite different from
the previous indoor trainers we've discussed.
This is in fact a direct-drive trainer,
and that means that we have to remove the rear wheel,
and then we place the dropouts of the bike
onto the axle of the trainer,
which also has a premounted cassette.
Now that just saves us all that effort
of having to use a turbo tyre,
or even having to switch a wheel out with a turbo tyre on.
It really is quite straightforward.
And in case you're wondering,
yes it is compatible with your eight-speed,
your nine-speed, your ten-speed, your 11-speed;
Shimano, SRAM, even Campagnolo.
It's all been thought through,
and it's even compatible with your through-axle bikes too.
Again, it connects to your bike computer,
your smartphone, your tablet, or even your computer
in the same way that the KIKR Snap does.
So, I've got all my data on my screen now.
And admittedly, it is a relatively heavy device:
it comes in at around 21 kilogrammes.
As does it with all smart trainers really,
a really cool setting with this smart trainer
is the ERG mode.
So say you want to sit at a set power
or you're trying to follow an intervals session,
maybe on Zwift for instance, then you can just do that:
set it, the turbo does the rest for you
regardless of the terrain or your cadence.
So say for instance I'm riding at 300 watts, 70 rpm;
the trainer will set it to 300 watts.
And then say I change to 100 rpm,
or the Zwift course heads downhill;
it will adjust it to 300 watts, so,
really useful if you're trying to nail a quality session.
But, something that is cooler again ...
(parts snapping)
The Wahoo KIKR Climb.
Now we've been talking about indoor riding
feeling realistic, but how about
your bike actually moving with the simulated terrain?
(funky soul music)
The forks actually lock into the KIKR Climb,
so the bike will literally tilt upwards or downwards
with ascents or descents.
In fact, you can range from ascents of 20% ...
Whew, all the way back down to descents of 10%.
Say for example you're riding on Zwift,
it will move in parallel with
what you're seeing on the screen.
So say you hit a climb, it will shoot up.
But not just that; it's actually been designed jointly
with the Wahoo smart trainers to adjust the resistance too,
so there's no cheating yourself.
That nutty but how about recording a ride out on the road?
Maybe a course that you've raced before,
and then reliving that indoors?
That's something I did recently
out in Hawaii at the Ironman world champs.
I recorded parts of the course on my Wahoo bike computer,
then all you need to do, is connect your Wahoo bike computer
to the KIKR Climb and your smart trainer
to resimulate that terrain from your own home
time and time again; how about that for a course recky?
Well there we go; that's everything
from entry level to cutting edge,
and all the info you'll need to choose your indoor trainer.
And another thanks to Wahoo for
helping us to make this video.
And if you'd like to, you can subscribe to GTN
by clicking on the globe.
To see an indoor training video for the bike from GTN,
just click down here; and if you'd like to see
how to increase your power on the bike,
just click down here.