Bike for trainer

[Ride2017]

How would you go about deciding what bike to get solely for a direct drive smart trainer on Zwift?

Any pointers greatly appreciated.

 

[Racing roadkill]

How would you go about deciding what bike to get solely for a direct drive smart trainer on Zwift?

Any pointers greatly appreciated.

I’d go for the best VFM bike I could find.

This was pretty much what I was thinking.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-100-road-bike-id_8377732.html

 

[DCLane]

Fit and aesthetics. Anything else doesn't matter.

 

[CXRAndy]

How would you go about deciding what bike to get solely for a direct drive smart trainer on Zwift?

Any pointers greatly appreciated.

Cheapest, comfortable bike available. Get big fan, I mean big. Put towel over handlebars/stem to protect from sweat. The fan will blow remaining sweat away

 

[Drago]

Comfort and value. Not even aesthetics matter once you've strapped it to something resembling a Qualcast product.

 

[Ride2017]

Thanks will pop along to Declathlon at the weekend.... thought they’d offer some good choices.

Am wondering if bike shops aren’t missing a trick here in not offering trainer specific options.

 

[vickster]

Thanks will pop along to Declathlon at the weekend.... thought they’d offer some good choices.

Am wondering if bike shops aren’t missing a trick here in not offering trainer specific options.

Not really. You can use any bike ultimately. I happen to use my carbon as I rarely ride it outside

 

[Cycleops]

Comfort and value. Not even aesthetics matter once you've strapped it to something resembling a Qualcast product.

So why not get one of these;

 

[Gary E]

Contact points with the bike (feet, hands, bum) need the same considerations as an outdoor bike especially if you intend to be on there for hours at a time. Gears also need some consideration, if you're content to just cycle flat loops then this is less important but if you intend to attack some of the steep parts on Zwift (Pretzel, Alpe du Zwift etc) then you'll probably be in need of some Granny gears
A training tyre for a wheel-on type trainer is in my view worthwhile but opinions differ hugely on this point. Keep the pressure in the tyre maintained (assuming wheel-on type trainer again), this is especially important for turbo trainers with small diameter rollers.
As others have said - fans, lots of them! and remember to hydrate, you'd be surprised how easy it is to dehydrate on a trainer. With insufficient ventilation you'll overheat quickly and with lots of ventilation your sweat will evaporate rapidly (if I forget to open a window in my Zwift room the glass becomes steamed up in no time :O )

 

[pawl]

As regards tyres I just use my old ones that are getting to fragile for road use.

 

[Freelanderuk]

I bought a cheep second hand Defy which has a similar geometry to my TCR , I then installed 11 speed on to it and the same cassette on the direct drive as my TCR and also the same saddle , the Defy is mounted to the trainer all the time

 

[Gary E]

Just re-read the original post and realised that the question was regarding a direct drive trainer - ignore all my comments about tyres