Anyone who’s used their smart trainer outdoor extensively? Mine would be used on a balcony in (mostly) 10-20 celsius temperature. Covered in a waterproof coating when not in use OR dismounted and folded up/ brought inside after every workout.
Would bring it inside if rainy forecast and at least dismounting it once per week to ride outside (typically weekends). Should I be concerned about damaging thru axle threads from frequent disassembly? Considering a low volume plan, approx 3 days a week, would mean 3x assembly/disassembly if I also brought the trainer back inside after each workout. The bike is on the balcony (covered) april-october.
I don’t have any space in our apartment. Fortunately my wife allows me to store and use a waterrower indoors, but even if she would allow the bike I just don’t see any stationary place for it. Fortunately we have a 12m2 square shaped balcony which I thought of using during the warmer/drier months. I would even face the living room TV perfectly, to project TrainerRoad workouts but train in the open. Bonus is I live on a very high floor, by the sea, so there is lots of privacy and cooling breezes.
Why not bike outside?
Well, I do that too - but I want to incorporate structured training with TrainerRoad on a smart trainer and I want to start as soon as possible
Curious to hear if anyone has got a similar experience.
I purchased my smart trainer early last year. The unit has resided primarily on a covered terrace. I have had it outside almost 90% of that time.
To protect it from direct sun, I built a small shade for it as the UV is not good for the plastics.
I have not had any issue with it. I set up a two fans (one permanent) and actually prefer the outdoor metrics to the indoor ones. Starting out hard rides when the outside temp is 45-65F (early early mornings) is preferred to 65-80 degrees inside (central valley CA).
A lot of pros were posting vids of themselves on turbos on their Balcony. No experience my self as its hardly ever the weather for it (today would actually be an exception). Given my limited, near non existent experience, I could only suggest living by the sea you maybe have some cover for it when not in use
If you move it around then you will almost certainly need to perform a spindown on it. On a Kickr that is recommended after 10 minutes of warm-up which will add to your training time.
I’ve been using mine in our garage for the last four months. I’m in MN USA, where it’s frequently below 0 F during Dec, Jan, and Feb, and stays between 10-35 F for most of the winter. It’s been working really well. Just need to do the calibration before workouts, because the temps.
Check the operating specs. Also, I’d be more concerned about rain, snow, extensive humidity, and general affects of water on electronics. To the best of my knowledge no trainer is designed to any waterproofing standards.
Yeah, i’ve seen that too. I recall last year’s locktown Tour of Flanders with some riders competing outside - not sure how stationary their kit is though.
@jcuene That sounds like similar conditions to mine (I live in Sweden). Encouraging to hear that it works for you! Aside from bigger exposure to moisture as @rkoswald pointed out. Moisture and damaged threads would be my main concerns…
When I am at “my place”, I use it outdoors. If I expect rain I fold it up and bring it in. If I expect just some dampness I will cover it with a plastic bag.
I live in a travel trailer. Unless I remove the dining area (which I probably will do) I do not have room inside period. When I am staying at the GF’s I do not have that problem as I just leave my trainer set up in her room next to her bike.
My smart bike lives outdoors [lack of space indoors, complaints from “her indoors”. This is admittedly in a part of Australia where we do not experience temperatures below about 6 - 7 degrees C. I bought a motorcycle cover [Home : Oxford Products] for it. The cover is a bit big, but better big than small.
I also used bricks and a length of wood [to which i strapped the bike] to raise the bike off the ground and avoid any issues with water pooling.
