Help needed: Looking ahead to my winter indoor training.

[Ahillock]

I use a CycleOps The Silencer indoor trainer. My bike already has a power meter. I keep hearing great reviews and comments about the Wahoo KICKR smart trainer. I use a Wahoo Elemnt. If I upgrade to the Wahoo KICKR from my CycleOps, what is it that I gain? I guess the smart trainer would change resistance for me? I could also use the smart trainer for better training programs and have a specific power target entered and the smart trainer would help me keep that targeted power, is that correct?

I use my Silencer on Zwift. So I realize I already have a nice indoor trainer with power. Just curious if there is something that I could potentially gain that would be beneficial for my training.


*I know there is another thread talking about smart trainers but I didn't want to clutter that OP's thread with my own questions.

[Ahillock]

Anyone?

[Nefarious86]

Kickr = finish the workout or your legs stop pedaling, Also lets you do high resistance low cadence efforts. I find it nice to ne able to switch off the brain during set workouts and watch tv etc while the kickr keeps me on target.

[Rubik]

I have a powermeter with rollers. I'm planning on buying a smart trainer for the winter specifically for longer threshold efforts. As mentioned, set the power goal and hit it or stop pedaling. May be interesting for use with Zwift and the like, but I find the Zwift races so unrealistic that I'm not sure that'll make much of a difference for me.

[bilwit]

I have a powermeter with rollers. I'm planning on buying a smart trainer for the winter specifically for longer threshold efforts. As mentioned, set the power goal and hit it or stop pedaling. May be interesting for use with Zwift and the like, but I find the Zwift races so unrealistic that I'm not sure that'll make much of a difference for me.

TBF you have to approach it as a workout-aid to spice things up rather than a full-on virtual race simulator. The marketing is probably a little deceiving in this aspect.

[cdncyclist]

Some people really seem to like the ergo mode, but I find I don't like it at all - I sometimes like to aim a little higher or lower than a prescribed target for a workout, and I find it interferes with setting a cadence I like (if the cadence drops it is very difficult to spin up to a desired cadence due to the resistance automatically added). I 'manually' set resistance on the unit.

Aside from this feature, it doesn't sound like moving to a kickr would add a lot to your existing setup. Can you try a trainer with erg mode out to see if it 'revolutionizes' your training? Maybe this is coming from my experience where I heard how great the erg mode is but now never use it.

What you might be useful is how to use power in training more in an indoor environment. I wonder if exploring something like trainerroad might be more useful (I haven't tried zwift but this also might be useful).

[Kurets]

I'm actually considering replacing my turbo trainer, going from a "Smart" controllable one to a dumb one. Main reason for not going smart trainer again is that I realized that I don't really find the slope simulation etc. of a smart trainer very useful. Similarily, I can't stand ERG mode.
You should try to determine if the same applies to you. Would be a waste of money if it did.

[3Pio]

I'm actually considering replacing my turbo trainer, going from a "Smart" controllable one to a dumb one. Main reason for not going smart trainer again is that I realized that I don't really find the slope simulation etc. of a smart trainer very useful. Similarily, I can't stand ERG mode.
You should try to determine if the same applies to you. Would be a waste of money if it did.

Interesting. Im alsto in process of buying a trainer. I really hate to ride indoor, and last winter i was trying as much as possible outdoor. But this winter i'm planing to try some structured workout indoor and using TrainerRoad or Zwift.

I wanted to buy Direct Drive and almost order Elite Direto, but the price got higher and want to see real world reviews.

In this moment im trying to decide between Kinetic Road Machine T-2700 (it will cost me 380 EUR including front wheel block (the version that is moving side by side), Elite Rampa (around 400 eur, but without front wheel block) or to go with Kickr Snap 2017 for 530 EUR. If i go for Direto it will be around 750-800 eur. Plenty of sunshine days here, so i'll use it only winter months (2-3 months).

Noise is important to me, and also reliability. With all this smart trainers i can see the reliability can be a problem (so that's what put me off KICKR SNAP or Elite Rampa)

Can u please explain a bit better what Smart Trainer u use? And why u found ERG and slope simulation not useful?

Sorry for many questions, but also novice to trainers and specially smart trainer (never tried)

[Kurets]

To answer your questions, I have a Tacx Vortex Smart now and I used it extensively with Zwift and on its own the last two winters.
The reasons why I don't think ERG or slope simulation is useful is that I find it distracta from the training I try to do. For me, Zwift is just a way of getting some visual distraction. Having to shift all the time to maintain cadence does not improve the experience IMO. ERG mode on the other hand is annoying as I do think that the trainer should not mess with your cadence, and you should be in charge of holding the power prescribed in the interval. Partially as it is a mental thing too, holding a steady power for TTs and the like.
But! This is all in the frame of a structured training plan, not for general excersise. If that is your goal, then go ahead and choose what seems the most fun instead.

[sanrensho]

I also find it hard to adapt to Erg mode (on a Powerbeam Pro), it feels like riding in mud.

The Kurt Road Machine is a bit too easy to spin, so I recently picked up a Lemond Revolution (direct drive "dumb" trainer) and will be using that as my main trainer this winter. The Lemond is widely praised for its road feel, but is loud.

[AJS914]

The Kurt Rock and Roll looks hard on the frame, the way it bobs up and down. I read reviews of it and the side to side motion doesn't sound like it does anything for your training once you get over the novelty of it.

I bought a Vortex Smart because it seemed like the cheapest reasonable smart trainer option last winter. $350 from a web shop in Germany (bike-discount.de). Everything close in ability was over $500 last year. I would have preferred a Kickr because, I hear, they are easier to get repaired if you live in the US but even the Kickr Snap was $600 last winter.

I'm pretty happy with the Vortex Smart. I'm sure I'd prefer a direct drive trainer but I didn't want to plunk down $1000.

[Rubik]

I have a powermeter with rollers. I'm planning on buying a smart trainer for the winter specifically for longer threshold efforts. As mentioned, set the power goal and hit it or stop pedaling. May be interesting for use with Zwift and the like, but I find the Zwift races so unrealistic that I'm not sure that'll make much of a difference for me.

TBF you have to approach it as a workout-aid to spice things up rather than a full-on virtual race simulator. The marketing is probably a little deceiving in this aspect.

Yeah. It's marketed and projected as being a full-on, actual race, by both developers and participants.

It's not. Or maybe it is the the context of a video game. But not at all like an actual bike race.

[Rubik]

I'm actually considering replacing my turbo trainer, going from a "Smart" controllable one to a dumb one. Main reason for not going smart trainer again is that I realized that I don't really find the slope simulation etc. of a smart trainer very useful. Similarily, I can't stand ERG mode.
You should try to determine if the same applies to you. Would be a waste of money if it did.

Yikes! That has me pause for a bit!

[Nefarious86]

I have a powermeter with rollers. I'm planning on buying a smart trainer for the winter specifically for longer threshold efforts. As mentioned, set the power goal and hit it or stop pedaling. May be interesting for use with Zwift and the like, but I find the Zwift races so unrealistic that I'm not sure that'll make much of a difference for me.

TBF you have to approach it as a workout-aid to spice things up rather than a full-on virtual race simulator. The marketing is probably a little deceiving in this aspect.

Yeah. It's marketed and projected as being a full-on, actual race, by both developers and participants.

It's not. Or maybe it is the the context of a video game. But not at all like an actual bike race.

Would be fun if people were honest.

[53x12]

I'm actually considering replacing my turbo trainer, going from a "Smart" controllable one to a dumb one. Main reason for not going smart trainer again is that I realized that I don't really find the slope simulation etc. of a smart trainer very useful. Similarily, I can't stand ERG mode.
You should try to determine if the same applies to you. Would be a waste of money if it did.

Yikes! That has me pause for a bit!

https://youtu.be/LbeliW8uObk