Exercise bike converter for my grandson

[steve_sordy]

I was chatting to my grandson (13) this evening and I asked if he'd been out on his bike. He said that every time he thinks about it the weather gets worse! (So the answer is NO!)

I suddenly thought about getting him one of those exercise bike thingies that you put on the floor and sit your rear wheel on and pedal away. Obviously some sort of friction device, but how modern can you go with these things? He is very tech aware (obvs, he's 13!) I'm thinking he can download an exercise app on to his mobile and cast it to the widescreen TV he's got in his bedroom. Connect it to the exercise bike thingy and away he goes!

Can anyone who knows what I'm on about tell me whether what I'm thinking of is possible and where to get it (and what it's called), please!

By the way they have very high broadband speed in the house. It was well over 100Mb last time I enquired and they've had a significant speed boost recently.

 

[Gary]

Buy the lad a PS5. Kids these days clearly do not have strong enough character for outdoor pursuits. ?

 

[Gary]

What you're suggesting buying him is a smart trainer. And they cost a fair bit. And even more if you want to hook up to Zwift.
COD is a lot more fun

 

[maynard]

My dad/mechanic spent a fortune on one of those stupid things. I don't get it . I think if you enjoy tortureing yourself. You know 100km rides on a roadbike . Then you might enjoy riding a bike with a wheel missing that goes no where .

 

[routrax]

Zwift is the big one. You can get pretty techy with them if you have the budget, but you can also it on the cheap.

 

[7869hodgy]

Halfords have some good turbo trainers for under £200. You’ll need a “turbo trainer tyre” too. Normal tyres get too hot and will pop.

Edit: I paid £180 before lockdown for the Elite Novo....now £259. Thieving bastards!!!

Standard Turbo Trainers | Best Turbo Trainers 2020 | Halfords UK

Don’t miss out on training due to bad weather - our range of turbo trainers will keep you on your bike in the safety and warmth of your own home. Shop now.

www.halfords.com

 

[Gary]

My dad/mechanic spent a fortune on one of those stupid things. I don't get it . I think if you enjoy tortureing yourself. You know 100km rides on a roadbike . Then you might enjoy riding a bike with a wheel missing that goes no where .

I absolutely love riding my roadbike and will happily do 100miles+ rides in all weathers but absolutely detest even 20 minutes sat turning the cranks on a turbo trainer from the comfort of a nice dry house. Weird eh? considering how fond I am of riding on one wheel . I don't really enjoy torturing myself though but with more miles in the legs and I'm a lot fitter/leaner/efficient so ALL biking become more enjoyable. Even E biking. Contrary to popular belief no one gets properly get fit on an Ebike and very few properly fit amateur riders got there riding a bike solely outdoors.

 

[Gary]

Normal tyres get too hot and will pop.

This simply isn't true. Normal tyres work just fine on a turbo or rollers. They just wear down faster and tend to square off as they do. The only reason to fit a turbo tyre is to reduce wear on a good normal tyre.

 

[steve_sordy]

Buy the lad a PS5. Kids these days clearly do not have strong enough character for outdoor pursuits. ?

Oh, he loves it outdoors! Really loves it. But his Mum worries about him as he has type 1 diabetes (I do my best to moderate my daughter in that respect) and she gives him hell when he returns muddy. He's a good lad, thoughtful etc and only brings his muddy kit into the house once it's inside a plastic bag. Not sure what else he can do. But it does explain why he can be reluctant sometimes to get outside, especially when none of his mates want to go. The only person he ever does MTB with is me, the rest of his bike mileage is tooling about with his mates.
You ought to see the state of him when he gets back from rugby training!

 

[steve_sordy]

Halfords have some good turbo trainers for under £200. You’ll need a “turbo trainer tyre” too. Normal tyres get too hot and will pop.

Edit: I paid £180 before lockdown for the Elite Novo....now £259. Thieving bastards!!!

Standard Turbo Trainers | Best Turbo Trainers 2020 | Halfords UK

Don’t miss out on training due to bad weather - our range of turbo trainers will keep you on your bike in the safety and warmth of your own home. Shop now.

www.halfords.com

I liked the Elite Novo, but it would appear that Halfords are sold out. I say "appear" because they are only available "click & collect". What that means is that you have to guess where the stock is! I have tried all the towns near me and also where relatives live and all I get is "this product is unavailable" . Why not just tell me where the stock is so that I can go get it, or better still just say "out of stock!"

I blame that 'effin Pandemrexit!

 

[steve_sordy]

Thanks to all that replied. I now know what I'm looking for.
All I have to do is to find one!

 

[maynard]

I absolutely love riding my roadbike and will happily do 100miles+ rides in all weathers but absolutely detest even 20 minutes sat turning the cranks on a turbo trainer from the comfort of a nice dry house. Weird eh? considering how fond I am of riding on one wheel . I don't really enjoy torturing myself though but with more miles in the legs and I'm a lot fitter/leaner/efficient so ALL biking become more enjoyable. Even E biking. Contrary to popular belief no one gets properly get fit on an Ebike and very few properly fit amateur riders got there riding a bike solely outdoors.

I thought that would get a comment from you Gaz ?. . ...yes this is why I wanna buy a normal dual suspension bike . Gotta do a root canal this week . Feckin can't wait . I love sitting in a chair for an hour with some dude drilling ur face. And afterwards you get to pay 1600$ for the privilege. Anyways after that ill be buying a FS . Lately I've been looking at meridas.

 

[7869hodgy]

This simply isn't true. Normal tyres work just fine on a turbo or rollers. They just wear down faster and tend to square off as they do. The only reason to fit a turbo tyre is to reduce wear on a good normal tyre.

It simply is true Karen. It happened to me at the beginning of the initial lockdown hence the advice......it started to slip, got hot and went pop.?. If what you say is from experience......pedal harder!

 

[Gary]

.it started to slip

Haha.. FFS
that's 100% user error mate ?
Do you really think reputable tyre companies would sell road tyres to folk who descend actual mountains in 35deg heat at 70mph that would fail when they get a little hot?
Jog on!
A properly set up turbo shouldn't heat a tyre to anywhere near where anything would pop.
Turbo tyres are just cheap shit long lasting compound tyres.
Fine if you're too scared to ride outdoors and want to save your expensive good tyres for that one week a year's perfect riding conditions but absolutely not a requirement.

 

[Gary]

I thought that would get a comment from you Gaz ?. . ...yes this is why I wanna buy a normal dual suspension bike . Gotta do a root canal this week . Feckin can't wait . I love sitting in a chair for an hour with some dude drilling ur face. And afterwards you get to pay 1600$ for the privilege. Anyways after that ill be buying a FS . Lately I've been looking at meridas.

I was out on my normal Enduro bike with my 11yr old yesterday. We just rode ten miles of super muddy local XC singletrack. Its totally different to an Ebike ride but just as much fun.

Watch this story by Scottish E-bike Racing on Instagram before it disappears.

instagram.com

I have an appointment with the dentist in an hour as well. WTF?

 

[maynard]

Good luck with the dentist . Man wish I had of flossed more as a kid . Once I have about 1500 / 2000 $ in the bike fund I'll start seriously looking for the right second hand fs bike. And by right I mean good condition and relatively cheap . Or ill just haggle some poor sucker down to the ground .