Turbo Trainers Buying Guide | Halfords UK

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Turbo trainers are an essential bit of kit to keep up your fitness whatever the weather. In this guide we take you from the basics right up to bringing your ride to life in the virtual world of cycling. [Halfords. We Fit. We Service. We Repair.]

Turbo trainers are a brilliant way to keep your fitness levels up when you can't get out for a ride. But if you’ve never used a turbo trainer before, choosing and using one can be a little daunting.  

Starting with what you need. First, you’ll need your bike. Pretty much any bike will do, but turbo trainers are made for road bikes really. You’ll probably want some accessories too, like a mat to reduce any noise and stop your sweat from going on your floor. And a wheel riser to lift your front wheel so your bike is level.  

There are the two ways you can connect your bike to your turbo trainer. This is a wheel on trainer. These are generally the cheapest and most straightforward. With this type of trainer you simply click your bike into it and you’re ready to pedal. They weigh relatively little and are mostly collapsible, so they’re easy to store or take with you if you want. 

The other style is of trainer is direct drive. It’s called direct drive because it works without a rear tyre. These have a few advantages over the wheel on. You don’t really have to calibrate these trainers.

Most come with a built-in meter so they’re more accurate at recording your power output and can simulate a real ride. They’re also much quieter than wheel on trainers. Overall, direct drive trainers are considered the more professional option, but that does come at a higher price.  

The other major choice is deciding whether you want to go for a basic trainer or a smart trainer. A smart trainer measures your power and connects you to cycling apps for a fully synced and simulated cycling experience, automatically adjusting the resistance as you go. With a basic trainer you have to do this manually. A smart trainer is more expensive. So it all depends on what you want to use your trainer for: quick bit of exercise now and again? Go basic. But if you want to get serious about your cycling, or think you need the motivation of an interactive experience, go smart.  

With a smart trainer, you can easily connect to apps like Zwift that take over the resistance of your turbo to give you real world ‘feel’ – for example becoming harder as you go up those virtual hills. You simply put your trainer in front of a TV, connect the app via one of your devices, and pedal your way through various online worlds, with races and events to participate in. All these apps also measure things like your heart rate and power so that you can monitor your progress. Overall apps like Zwift make cycling indoors so much more fun than it used to be. 

So there’s our whistle stop tour of turbo trainers. Browse our full range online or pop into store and ask one of our experts if you need more advice.