Bicycles - Not Just For Outside Anymore: The Indoor Trainer Megathread

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > The Great Outdoors > Bicycles - Not Just For Outside Anymore: The Indoor Trainer Megathread

Cugel the Clever: Apr 5, 2009; I LOVE AMERICA AND CAPITALISM DESPITE BEING POOR AS FUCK. I WILL NEVER RETIRE BUT HERE'S ANOTHER 200$ FOR UKRAINE, SLAVA

Couple questions as someone who's vaguely curious about getting a trainer:

1) Anyone know if trainers tend to go on sale for Black Friday? I can definitely hold out if it's likely to save me a couple hundred dollars.
2) Is there any good out-of-the-box option for using a bike to charge up a battery? A quick Google search turns up some DIY articles and pop-sci reports from years ago, but nothing more concrete.

# ¿ Oct 20, 2020 04:41

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# ¿ May 9, 2024 12:47

Cugel the Clever: Apr 5, 2009; I LOVE AMERICA AND CAPITALISM DESPITE BEING POOR AS FUCK. I WILL NEVER RETIRE BUT HERE'S ANOTHER 200$ FOR UKRAINE, SLAVA

TobinHatesYou posted:

Since the pandemic hit, trainers are in hot demand and continually backordered or in low-stock, so I would not depend on Black Friday deals this time around.

Yeah, I see the Wahoo Kickr is out of stock without so much as a waitlist, so I can't imagine they're stocking up explicitly for sales

TobinHatesYou posted:

For your second question, do you mean indoors or outdoors? There are dynamo hubs and USB ports/adapters, but they have low amperage. What is the specific use case here?

Indoors. I'm just on a mild emergency preparedness kick to ease my election anxiety and am curious about the feasibility of keeping some small electronics charged with the power generated by my bike. I'm in apartment, so a generator is a hard no-go. I imagine just buying a battery backup or two is the more straightforward option and probably sufficient rationed over a few days, but it would still be cool to have something to extend that backup indefinitely.

# ¿ Oct 21, 2020 04:54

Cugel the Clever: Apr 5, 2009; I LOVE AMERICA AND CAPITALISM DESPITE BEING POOR AS FUCK. I WILL NEVER RETIRE BUT HERE'S ANOTHER 200$ FOR UKRAINE, SLAVA

TobinHatesYou posted:

I honestly don't think you're going to be pedaling your bike indoors to charge your iPhone if civilization is collapsing all around you.

Nah, thinking more along the lines of an earthquake prompting power outages longer than a few days. So long as my building were still inhabitable, I would 100% be taking a break from helping out where I could during the day to rewatch some dumb poo poo I'd downloaded to my phone. Exercise + entertainment sounds like a nice way to stay sane during trying times!

# ¿ Oct 21, 2020 15:51

Cugel the Clever: Apr 5, 2009; I LOVE AMERICA AND CAPITALISM DESPITE BEING POOR AS FUCK. I WILL NEVER RETIRE BUT HERE'S ANOTHER 200$ FOR UKRAINE, SLAVA

I sprang for a Kickr a few weeks back, have done the Zwift trial and have now moved on to the 60 days of free Sufferfest. I'm having trouble getting a hang of standing sprints, though—it just doesn't behave like it would in the real world and it throws me off my stride. Any tips and tricks or should I just practice some more?

I'm also vaguely curious about the average resting heart rate for regular cyclists here. Once a year or so at work, someone will bring up their new FitBit and the inevitable comparison of stats will ensue, where everyone (all in the 70-90 BPM range) will look at me like I'm dead or an alien for being ~44 BPM.

# ¿ Dec 30, 2020 06:08

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > The Great Outdoors > Bicycles - Not Just For Outside Anymore: The Indoor Trainer Megathread