Erg trainer vs Fluid: Road Feel

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sanrensho
Posts: 433
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2011 5:54 pm

by sanrensho

Does anybody prefer a fluid (such as Kurt Road Machine) to an erg trainer such as the Tacx Bushido Smart? I just started doing rides on the latter and am finding the lack of inertia and strong roller brake to be quite a departure from my Road Machine.

For reference, I am a lightweight and my measly FTP means that the bulk of my trainer riding is at sub-200 watts. I am using PerfPro and Cycleops VirtualTraining, and calibrating every ride using the Tacx utility. I have also read that the Bushido may under-report wattage, which seems to be the case although I don't have a power meter to confirm.

The Bushido is reportedly capable of 1400 watts resistance, but at my wattage levels, I am wondering if the Bushido is overkill and simply not worth the loss in road feel from my Road Machine. Even with erg control (FE-C) off, the resistance ramps up too quickly in my narrow typical power range of 100-200W. I do see the utility of erg control for riding hilly virtual courses as the downhill simulation is much more realistic, but I generally prefer long intervals/climbs for my FTP workouts and virtual rides.

I would appreciate any thoughts or feedback on road feel of erg trainers, particularly from Tacx Smart trainer users.

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Menkromsen
Posts: 11
Joined: Mon Sep 14, 2015 5:00 pm
Location: Oslo, Norway

by Menkromsen

I think it all comes down to how you are going to use your smart trainer.

If you just cruise around 100w to 200w. and just like to watch some cycling YouTube-video a fluid trainer is probably the best choise.
Not noisy, very smooth, easy to adjust resistance with your gears and there are some good quality fluid trainers out there.

But, if you would like to train using software to control the trainer your Bushido is great.
I have the same trainer. Bought it this fall. Together with Zwift and Trainerroad it gives me so much fun!
I also like the powermeter and all the data that it is showing/recording.

For a smart trainer in that priceclass there are not many options. You have Wahoo Kicker Snap which is more expensive in Europe, but I think the quality looks better than Tacx.
Bkool is cheap and now also supports FE-C. But I prefer Tacx to Bkool.
And then you have direct trainers like Wahoo Kicker and Tacx Neo. Double the price of a Bushido though...

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