Setting my Zwift or trainer road on my old bike trainer?

Triathlon Forum
1

I have an old CycleOps trainer that I hook my road bike to with a trainer tire. Is it possible to set up Zwift or trainerroad to this? What additional equipment would I need to buy?

2

Yes. Some of your items needed will depend on your device you use to log on to zwift. If you have an iPad or iPhone: I think a good option would be to buy the Wahoo RPM speed and cadence sensor pack. This has two sensors; one for the rear hub and one for a side of your cranks. Together they can feed info through Bluetooth to the zwift app. It’s not as good as a smart trainer, but it’s a decent option for those of us who don’t have the smart trainers. Now if you are using a laptop, you might be able to use the same wahoo sensors or you might need to get a dongle thing. There are some really good articles Dan wrote up a while back on getting into zwift. Reviewing those articles will be very helpful.

3

That’s how I ride. I prefer to switch gears for power output. Zwift reads my power meter and heart rate monitor through a dongle plugged into my computer. Nothing else needed. I keep the Cycleops dial on 5 and do 2 turns after the metal wheel first touches the rear tire for consistency.

4

Yep. An ANT+/Bluetooth speed sensor… cadence as well if you like.

Here’s that exact setup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg0IDDmSStw

or for IOS devices: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHVnxxWJA9s

5

Looks like I have this trainer, CycleOps Magneto trainer would it still work? Or do I need a smart trainer?

6

Looks like I have this trainer, CycleOps Magneto trainer would it still work? Or do I need a smart trainer?

I believe Zwift have a virtual power option for that trainer (on resistance setting 5).

7

Thanks for your help. One last Q, can two people use the same zwift at the same time?/Be riding beside each other? Or would they each need their own account?

8

Thanks for your help. One last Q, can two people use the same zwift at the same time?/Be riding beside each other? Or would they each need their own account?

You’ll need two accounts and two systems (Mac, PC, iPhone, iPad). There’s some sandboxing hacks that allow two Zwift sessions at once on the same PC (still need two accounts), but they’re unsupported and can get ugly to maintain.