Cycle training on the Elite Mag Alu turbo trainer

Testing The Elite Mag Speed Alu Turbo Trainer, On A Night For Turbo Trainers Everywhere...

I have had the turbo trainer for getting on a month now and it acted as a lovely boxed shape coffee table to our front room for a good week or two whilst I rode through the honeymoon period of my awesome new Terra 3 bike light, which has only really come to a close now the weather has turned for the worse.

Fallen branches littered the roads the night of its first real use, and there was substantial flooding across Somerset. Motorists were stranded in cars across Britain, and sadly one man died shortly after being rescued from his trapped car in Chew Stoke, only ten miles down the road.

St Anne's Road (West) Bristol.

There was city flooding here in Bristol, including Whiteladies Road and St Anne's Road, whilst Portbury Village and Keynsham were also hit hard.

Admittedly this amateur footage from the BBC News page was taken in North Wales, but it shows the extent of the flooding in the more rural areas of the UK in a village of Rhostryfan, near Caernarfon as the weather tore through the British Isles.

Whilst the rain was off duty the following day and night, the ride I went out for was still fallen short of it's normal glory - due to leaves on the road, heavily flooded lanes, and traffic jams backing up on all non-flooded alternatives.... a night that might have been better spent (fitness wise) on the turbo, even 24 reasonably rain free hours later.

OK so sometimes turbos just ARE necessary... but what about the Elite Mag Speed? 

The turbo trainer and parts were packed with enough cardboard to sink the titanic, and padded with enough Styrofoam to float it again. It struck me that this was in no way a sustainable product, and sadly anyone who says cyclists are saving the planet (unless they are using their turbo to generate their electricity) are mostly likely not including most fitness cyclists.

However the trainer was in excellent condition (as one would expect new), and came with a giant ghastly green bottle with 'Liquigas' written on it. Odd name - with horrible suggestive connotations I thought - that seemed only too relevant to what I could imagine would be a nasty consequence of an overpowered sports training drink. Perhaps the pun was intended, however I'm not sure. I won't be taking it on any rides, as I'm sure it would get a good few jokes with the guys on a Sunday club run.

The trainer was relativity easy to set up, although I did happily invite Hattie in to help due to my aversion to reading instructions. It was evident upon set up that this whilst being reviewed as a quiet trainer, was not what either one of us would call quiet.

That was a good week or two ago, and I felt compelled to use it for the first time properly this Thursday; It was loud, hot and my knee has felt odd since. Mostly because the bike assigned to it is too small, the room it's in has no windows, and - I think a lot of cyclists are going to close their browsers at this next point - I was in my pajamas.

Main issues of my turbo experience:

• The noise... I doubt there is much I can do about - although it'll probably be fine with some headphones and the door shut - it's not too loud once you get used to it...
• The heat... will be much more bearable in minimal clothing with a towel handy (will keep that radiator off permanantly from now on...)
• My knee... could be a consequence of over gearing just as much as an ill fitting frame in fairness, so I will have to try adjusting the saddle as well as a lower mag resistance, which you can handily do from the bars using a gauge, as well as gear shifting of course

The noise is a drone that gets higher pitched the faster the rotations (and possibly more annoying on this setting, which might be why I opted for the higher resistance), but the trainer has five settings and easily switches between - using the dial that you can fit anywhere along your bar.

The free DVD

The trainer comes with a DVD that is so life like you even get motorists pulling out at junctions. The music is somewhat monotonous however and it felt a bit like I was on a boring game of Road Rash. I probably should not admit it but I usually opt for radio four comedy satire on my headphones at the gym, but I can imagine the benefits of something more suffering whilst going full pelt.

My feeling on turbos in general

In short, I have no complaints about the turbo itself, but I can't say I would sing its praises either as an overall product. There is something quite boyishly fun about it, but as warned the novelty soon wears off, and it's not half as fun as the real thing.

It's good for keeping base level fitness in all weathers, but I had decided (despite eagerly publishing my own - not even very impressive - first go on the turbo this week) that publishing a turbo trainer ride on Strava is probably the on-line cycling equivalent of tweeting what you are having for dinner, or posting a status update about your kids. It looks rubbish on your profile, and it's boring. Who cares that you cycled on the spot for twenty minutes? I apologise to all 11 of my followers.

Many cyclists are adamant that turbos are narcissistic torture machines and can't compare to the real deal, and whilst in many ways they are right... my legs need the training for what I'm hoping to be a fairly interesting racing season next year, and I get grumpy without X amount of wheel rotations a week, so it's for the better in my case, even with the whirring of the damn thing, I know Hattie agrees.

My summary on the Elite Mag Alu

Post Author Christina

I can recommend this product for the price (whilst it may not seem mega cheap it is actually quite good value for money considering its features) but I have only used it a handful of times thus far.

It can however fit to a range of bikes, it has five settings of resistance adjustable remotely, and comes with a free DVD and drinks bottle.

If I have any problems later down the line I will update my post, but for now assume it does everything it says on the tin.