I’ve been riding and racing all kinds of bikes for 40+ years , and living in Canada I have the chance to nordic ski 5-7 days a week through the winter. To keep some cycling fitness, I’m using a cyclops fluid trainer and powertap hub for resistance and power to do 2 zwift workouts a week. I don’t use it to race.
I have at the moment a new jetblack volt trainer on loan so that I can try out the world of “smart trainers”. So far I haven’t been feeling the love for the volt. I know that it is highly rated but in terms of ride feel, trainer noise, and rider control I think I prefer the fluid trainer set up that I currently use. I thought I might enjoy the erg feature, but after a couple of tries I prefer to ride with the erg off. I’ve tried Fulgaz and Indievelo with the smart trainer as well but neither appealed to me.
So before I return the volt to it’s owner is there anything else I might try that would hook me on the smart trainer?
Thanks for your valued opinions!
Did you try… Zwift? Since you said you use that with your current setup?
The fluid trainer has a better smoother feel than the direct drive trainers.
Fluid trainer + PT Hub is fine for training, you aren’t missing anything if you like doing your workouts without erg mode or simulated slopes, and you’ll have smoother, nicer feel of the fluid trainer.
Smart trainers are great if you like to ride/race virtual courses and routes like in Zwift & Rouvy where it will simulated the climbs for you. (Doing the Alpe Du Zwift on a direct trainer is a totally different experience than attempting to simulate it on your own with your fluid trainer.)
Erg mode is a big reason to get DD trainers if you train with erg-power. It’s not for everyone, and you can absolutely overuse erg mode to detriment, so I def would not say you’re missing out if you don’t have erg mode. You can realistically train even better without erg mode in many situations.