[Closed] MTB Turbo trainer Cassette options

32 front will be rubbish mate I'm sorry to say. You'll be spinning out everywhere

You'll be unlikely to need to faff with the rear mech every ride regardless but the simple answer is the cheapest 11 speed cassette with a 10t you can get your hands on, you'll not use the 42 in liklihood but you'll spend a lot of time spinning like mad on the 10t as you've only got a 32 up front.

I imagine the trainer will come with an hg free hub only though so you're going to be stuck with shimano and 11t or buying a free hub and an xd cassette.

So the answer is sack the MTB off and find a cheap used “read Covid taxed” road bike or MTB with larger chainring/3x..

Was toying with that idea anyway I guess, better than mileage and wear/potential for issues on the main bike - you know that will happen when I’ve planned a decent ride out.

Sadly yes. I run a MTB, 29er Parkwood with a 40T, recently swapped from a 38. I have gone as low as a 36 once upon a time, but that wasn't ideal. You'll still hit nearly 280w on a 36 at 95 cadence, but on a 30t I think you'd need about 120 cadence for anything over 250w

So the answer is sack the MTB off and find a cheap used “read Covid taxed” road bike or MTB with larger chainring/3x..

And bear in mind it doesn't need a rear wheel, brakes etc. So frame only or spares/repair might be a better option.

Sounds a newbie question but I’ll mention anyway, thinking of options

Keep the rear cassette as is, swap front ring to 38.. likely have to do this swap back to 32 weekly or certainly at weekends. Assuming chain swap aswell

Space at a slight premium for another bike being the issue..

Yup, works fine and it's what I've done if I want to ride the HT outside. Same chain for both

It’s an option - so 38t upfront 10-42 on the rear, same mech and chain and good to go..

Dunno how quick it is to swap over on a Jeffsy (raceface NW I think) but if it’s only before the weekend then I guess it’s not too much hassle, certainly less hassle than getting a kicking for taking up space with a road bike that will never get used outdoors..

I had my Stooge on the trainer to begin with, VERY quickly swapped to a 38t up front but also fitted junk bars with bar ends to get a different position. Not that long after I sacked it off for a nice road bike, as even with a 38-11 I was spinning out before I ran out of legs and I just drop the rear wheel back in to ride outside.

Does going from 32 to 38 upfront and keeping 10-42 on the rear necessitate a change in chain length..?

That’s a driving factor as I don’t want to be swapping chains aswell as rings weekly!

Cheers for the help

You won't need the 42t so you could wind the limiter in and you should be fine without changing.

If you use a training plan with ERG mode it won't matter what ratios you're running. Resistance will automatically adjust to the plan. I'd still go with the dedicated bike if you can though. You wouldn't even need a front wheel if you can fashion something to support the fork. If you lean your Jeffsy on it when not using either, it shouldn't take any more space up.

. If you lean your Jeffsy on it when not using either, it shouldn’t take any more space up.

And if you hang your clothes on it it'll be like a real exercise bike.

I get the feeling there's something wrong with peoples set ups if they're only hitting small watts with smaller rings.

You do know that the power output isn't associated with cadence don't you?

My trainer set up is a 40t front and 11-32t rear and can do high (for me) outputs in races no worries, I think my 20min best is something lik2 288W in that set up and can go well over 650W in sprints.

As for the OP, personally if you're not looking to spend loads of money get one of those cheap Chinese cassettes off eBay and fit that, its not like it'll wear out due to dirt. Is your bike 148x12 rear, if so have you got the boost adapters for the trainer?

I get the feeling there’s something wrong with peoples set ups if they’re only hitting small watts with smaller rings.

You do know that the power output isn’t associated with cadence don’t you?

If you're not running in erg mode you'll spin out pretty fast.

Anyway I'd be looking into a dirt cheap second bike, a road bike or a 26" with a front derailleur would be a pretty decent choice. If you're faffing around changing chains and front rings etc you'll only use the turbo for a couple of weeks before giving up.

As Steve_b77 and joat say, just use the ERG mode, then your gearing is irrelevant. Sett a specific power level – i.e., 200w. In ERG mode, no matter what gearing you use, the trainer will simply stay at 200w (or whatever you set it to).

If I've got a shimano 12 speed set up what's the cheapest cassette I could but on a normal shimano freehub to use in erg mode?

If you’re not running in erg mode you’ll spin out pretty fast.

Mine isn't in ERG mode, just normal ride a long a Zwift mode with the trainer difficulty set to 50%

As above, ignore Weeksy as he is talking from a wheel on trainer perspective. The one you're getting looks similar in operation to my Kickr so it takes ratios out of it unless you're doing an FTP test or something where it becomes an issue.

I've recently got a Elite Drivo

You'll need the boost adaptors for 148 (142 is included) - about £15

I used a NX 11 speed cassette as fits on the supplied shimano freehub and had one knocking about

Stuck my mtb on there which runs GX Easgle 12sp and works a treat - no faffing with adjusting gears is required

Thanks guys, yeah i ordered the boost adapter with it..

Zwift also has 3-4 MTB specific training programmes so im assuming they account for the fact that the gear ranges wont be as broad as a road bike + the terrain maps these accordingly.. so in that case ERG is totally fine and the MTB programmes will be fine, im not and likely never will be a road racer so if the time came to wanting to do that, then ill get a road bike

The thing i now want to get sorted is the cassette - on the jeffsy its a 10-42 SRAM XG-1150 and its bloody expensive to chuck on a trainer (yes i know, in relation to the trainer its not..)

Anyway, as ive looked at alternatives, they all seem to be 11-42 - realistically, will i notice a difference and if so, what would you guys suggest as an 11 speed cassette that will work well 🙂 - remembering its a 32t chainring

Cheeeeers

Just get the NX cassette and use the Shimano freehub that the trainer will probably come with. They're £50 for the cassette and you won't have to upgrade the freehub.

I mean unless im blind - i cannot find on the old google an NX cassette for 50 knicker?

My kickr came with an 11-28 105 cassette, works fine with my 32t chainring eagle equipped mtb, just shift to a middleish sprocket that runs quietly and let erg mode sort the watts out

Might be worth a trip to specsavers 😉

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/pg-1130-11s-11x42-cassette-id_8517737.html?gclid=CjwKCAjw2uf2BRBpEiwA31VZj-QNrdFAkx5Su4_KVehaRvdXmRl3B_LpxKXRUSubTBKXrzRxRA8NcBoCdCAQAvD_BwE

As above, stick the turbo into ERG mode, select the gearing with the best chainline and you'll be fine for what you want. There may be limits in the power range available in each gear depending on the turbo but it's usually only high power sprints that cause you to hit those.

Any cassette that fits the turbo and has the right number of cogs and range will do. The only problem will be differential wear between that cassette and the one on your wheel.

Just looked at the Zwift training plans to see if the workouts had been improved from the kitchen sink versions I'd seen before and they haven't. If you haven't done any training before then you'll improve but only so far, the workouts target too many of your body's systems at once to be effective. They are closer to race specific workouts than those aimed at increasing your base fitness. If you were learning to trackstand then you wouldn't do five minutes of trackstand, ten minutes of wheelies, a few minutes of kerb hopping, etc.

Riding on a turbo is harder work than you might think - it's more like track cycling as you don't stop pedalling so an hour on the turbo is more like two or three outside (depending on what your outdoor rides are like). You'll take a while to adjust to the rigid nature of the setup as well, the bike just doesn't move under you. Take your time and use shorter sessions to get yourself up to speed.

Meaning i may be blind for a £50 10-42 range cassette...:)

You do know that the power output isn’t associated with cadence don’t you?

you do know that yes it is, once you've gone beyond about 5-10 seconds on winding up your 32x11 chainring from low speed, don't you?

So - bring this back to life, i decided to go semi balls deep on this - i got a 11-42t running on the trainer fine with my YT jeffsy...

Then i decided to re do the man cave (massive shed), once id done that, thoughts crept in my head...yep i can fit another road bike in here and leave it on the trainer, then if i want to use the MTB for anything specific i can also do that with a 5 min swap over of the cassettes

Anyway - hunted around and found the attached - Paul Milnes, right size and 2x10 tiagra for the pricely sum of £90 notes..

£90 notes because the rear freehub is goosed, so i swung by evans on the way back and picked another up for £30 and a set of tyres to replace the spannered trainer tyres, fitted and its perfect - so all in this has spun me around £150 quid

Clearly for the direto i dont need the rear wheel but i can now use this on the road if i want. Bike feels nice, its extremely light (to my untrained eyes anyway) and i dug my car detailing gear out, polished to remove some of the baked on stuff you can see and touched up a few stone chips - turns out, the colour is a 95% match for Mini countryman white, which i had a stick of 🙂

Anyway - thought id update and see what you lot think - ill grab some better, cleaned and spruced up pics in a bit..

semi balls deep

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If i muster the energy tomorrow - i may even go full!

the colour is a 95% match for Mini countryman white, which i had a stick of 🙂

Well hidden but I spotted your confession.

For 150 you can't go far wrong. Enjoy and enjoy zwift!

Not mine - the wifes...however, they get stick but its a JCW cooper s which was an ex demo model, its a great car

Ive got a 430d Mperformance jobby and yes, its not as good as that but its a decent motor