Best bike turbo trainer 2020: smart cycling trainers for indoor riding

Ride at any time of the year, in any weather, with the best bike turbo trainer.

Best bike turbo trainer 2020: smart cycling trainers for indoor riding

Few things beat a summer bike ride out in the country. But riding in the freezing rain, or on smoggy streets packed with cabbies and BMW drivers who think cycling should be punishable by death? They are certainly experiences, but not necessarily fun ones - which is why you need the best bike turbo trainer.

A turbo trainer lets you ride your bike indoors, without needing to go anywhere.

There’s a lot more to turbo trainers than there used to be. Nowadays we strongly recommend buying a “smart” turbo trainer if you can afford one.

Tacx Neo 2
save £300
£899.99 at awin1.comThe Tacx Neo might be the greatest turbo trainer series in the world. You can now get £300 off the second-to-newest model. And as many of the Neo 2T's added benefits are a bit of a mystery, we suggest you snap this one up.

These let you use software like Zwift, Sufferfest and Trainerroad. They record your performance across the weeks and months, so you can track your progress. Others go further. You could call Zwift a massively multi-player online game as it lets you race in real time against other people in a rendered 3D world.

Bike training at home can be boring, and this is a great way to make it fun. But, hey, if you want to spend as little as possible you can buy a basic non-smart trainer instead.

Here’s a selection of the best bike trainers you’ll find online today. Upvote your personal favourite and submit your own suggestions below.

  • Read about the best running watches, which also track your rides outside, and you heart rate indoors
  • Plus, take a look at our best smart scales if you fancy measuring everything from muscle mass to your body's water percentage.

Best bike turbo trainer 2020

Wahoo Kickr Core
£699.99 at awin1.comThis Wahoo trainer is where bike trainers get very serious indeed. It’s £300-400 less than Wahoo’s top models, but gets you most of the most important aspects of them.Max resistance of 1800W is incredibly high and the Kickr Core is quiet.How is it different to the Neo 2? This one uses a real flywheel, the heavy metal wheel used in spin bikes and trainers to work against your strokes. The Neo 2 has a virtual one. Just bear in mind you need to supply your own cassette, the set of sprockets that make up half of the gear system.
Elite Qubo B+ Smart Digital
£259.99 at awin1.comThe Elite Qubo B+ Smart Digital was originally one of the cheapest turbo trainers that offered full integration with Zwift. Tacx has undercut it since, but this is still a great option if you want a lower-cost smart trainer.It has 16 resistance levels, ANT+ and Bluetooth support, and a roller designed to reduce noise. You don’t want your indoor sessions to sound like a small plane taking off.
Tacx Kickr Climb
£499 at awin1.comThis isn’t a trainer in itself, but is a great addition to a turbo trainer setup if you’re willing to spend big. Mount your front wheel on the Kickr Climb and it moves your frame up and down, to physically simulate the incline of hills, and even (to a lesser extent) downhill sections.It makes indoor rides more immersive. You don’t have to rely on your imagination quite as much, as the incline brings your actual senses into the mix more.

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Andrew Williams has written about tech for a decade. He has written for a stack of magazines and websites including Wired, TrustedReviews, TechRadar and Stuff.