Indoor bike trainers

Rollers consist of three cylinders and a belt for their joint rotation and the bike sits on top of the rollers. It takes some time to learn how to balance on a roller and a certain amount of concentration is required while pedalling. The simplest rollers offer no resistance and the rider has to use the bike’s gears to achieve the level of resistance required. But some rollers have integrated resistance and there are even intelligent rollers that can be used with MTB and road bikes.

The most popular home trainers are wheel-on or friction trainers.They are very simple to use, and only require attaching the trainer to the rear axle of your bike and raising the front wheel on a block to keep the bike level. A small roller presses against the rear wheel to create resistance, which is adjustable. The resistance is achieved either by:

• Friction tensor, on the most simple designs

• Magnetic resistance

• Fluid resistance.

The friction trainer allows a more intense and powerful workout than the roller. They offer a huge range of models which vary from the most economically priced to smart designs that can beconnected to virtual cycling simulators, such as the Bkool, Zwift, etc. Friction trainers can be used with both road and mountain bikes and even with 24” wheels, although special tyres are recommended, to reduce noise and increase durability.

Adapters for use with all hub systems are usually included, but, depending on the model, these may have to be purchased separately.

Direct drive or wheel-off trainers, require removing the rear wheel and connecting the trainer directly to the bike transmission, which includes the cassette. There is no friction with the tyre, and these are the quietest of the three types of trainers.

Direct drive trainersare more powerful withgreater resistance and able to simulate steeper gradients with large percentages of elevation gain, resulting ina more realistic pedalling sensation.Check that the free hub body is compatible with your cassette as thisneeds to be the same type and have the same number of speeds.

The huge popularity of spinning led tothe evolution of indoor bikes that featurea huge adjustment capacity.But the real revolution came with smart bikes, which, like the smart friction trainers, incorporate connectivity with all kinds of sensors and virtual cycling simulators. These bikes are always ready to pedal, with no kind of mounting required and have the quietest mechanism. The indoor bike is an excellent alternative to bike trainers or for connecting to virtual spinning sessions

When it comes to choosing the right one for you, there are a number of factors to take into account, such as the noise level, type of bike or available space, but we recommend the trainer has connectivity to virtual cycling simulators, as this will transform your training sessions, so that without going outside you can:

• Enjoy routes with real or virtual images from around the world

• Compete with other cyclists in real time

• Plan, program and control your training sessions at any level.

If you still have any doubts about buying a bike trainer, visit us at our stores or contact our online chat.