My CT is old, parts are hard to get any longer. So I am going to have to get a new trainer set up. Who has experience going from a CT to something newer? What replicates the real road feel like CT? Thoughts, ideas, opinions please. Thanks
Oh, the options are endless. I’m assuming you want resistance control (simulated uphill/downhill). The trainer that seems to simulate the road conditions the best is the $1600 Tacx Neo (https://tacx.com/product/neo-smart/), which is a direct-drive trainer that simulates virtual road conditions (when traveling over virtual cobblestones, dirt roads, bridges, etc. the trainer adds vibrations). I have ridden on two other direct-drive trainers, the $900 Tacx Flux and the $1200 Wahoo KICKR, and both feel great. If you want to save a little money, there are many, many controllable wheel-on trainers by KICKR, Tacx, Kinetic, ClcleOps, Elite, which all have variations in feel that people generally like.
I’ve put many hours in on a CompuTrainer, many more on an 1UP USA dumb trainer, and many more still on a CycleOps Fluid Trainer, and honestly, they all feel good to me. I don’t think you can go wrong these days–most of the big brands have the power curves dialed in. When going with a Smart trainer, the only thing to look out for is whether the signal outputs are supported by your favorite apps (a couple lower-end models of Elite and Tacx don’t communicate with Zwift very well). I happen to be riding on my favorite old dumb trainer, and I use Garmin Vector 3 power meter to communicate with Zwift. While it lacks the resistance control, I love the set up and would recommend it to anyone.