Could the weight of a trainer flywheel be an advantage/disadvantage depending on the riders weight?
I moved from a Direto to a Neo. Direto with a fixed weight flywheel, Neo with virtual flywheel adapting inertia to rider weight. I immediately felt that maintaining higher pwer/speed was slightly harder on the Neo, it felt like I had less inertia which just meant I had to push a little more, enough to have a significant impact on my cat B performances.
Could it be that as a 60kg rider, I was benefiting from higher inertial due to the fixed weight phsyical flywheel? I think most physical flywheels are designed for riders ~75kg. Could the extra flywheel weight have been giving me a slight advantage, which I lost when moving to the Neo which adapts intertial to your weight? I assume, with the Direto, I was in affect getting the resistance for a 60kg rider, but the inertial of a 75kg rider?
The feeling is different as with a Neo you have a higher weight flywheel. For me (56kg) it was hard to adapt, but it is more realistic. I have slightly lower 1s-3s power on the Neo bit higher 5s power as there is more inertia with an heavier flywheel.
My results racing are similar.
I had to adapt to it, anticipating a little more the sprints.
My experience was that with a heavier flywheel, or a standard physical flywheel and lighter rider combo. I got more intertia when climbing and riding at or above threshold, meaning that holding 5% more power at that 80-120% FTP range was much easier, possible gaining 5% power over a sustained period (~ >30 secs) compared to the Neo’s virtual flywheel. Whereas the resistance on the Neo just feel more strict, more immediate, probably more realistic… but harder as a lighter rider compared to the physical flywheel trainer.
Like you say, there are differences, with a physical flywheel, in order to get the inertia, you need to get the thing moving in the first place. With a physical flywheel, light rider, the first couple of seconds sprinting were tough, needed to get the flywheel spinning, but once up to speed I could hold the higher power that bit longer, helped by the heavy flywheel… I’m wondering if the opposite would be the case for a heavier rider.
I’m wondering, if I were heavier, eg. 100kg, would it be different, because the physical flywheel would be the same weight, so same inertia. Whereas the Neo theorecticaly changes inertia (virtual flywheel weight) according to the rider’s weight.
So, if you want to go faster, lighter rider should buy a physical flywheel trainer, heavier riders get a Tacx?