ADVICE ON PUSH BIKE AND TRAINER PLEASE

[CatmanV2]

C you do it before you clip in. Sit on bike, roll pedal to south position, put heel on pedal, if leg bent, get off and raise seat, repeat until set. Then clip in, with your ankle movement this should give a safe stress less pedal stroke. If your hips are rolling your seat is too high

Ahhh! Ta

C

 

[rockits]

Right I'm still not there yet! Seems to be hard work to find what I need. I took the Voodoo Marasa back to Halfords and explained the situation and they were helpful but I still don't have a bike solution. We have measured from floor to bottom of lowest point of derailleur then floor to highest point of Tacx leg where it will scrape.

I need minimum of 140mm clearance ideally 150mm to clear the Tacx Flux leg. The Voodoo Marasa was 120mm so you can see the issue there. They have suggested an alternative which is the Carrera Crossfire 2 that is 140mm so still tight. Ideally the Crossfire 2 isn't ideal as has front hydraulic forks. Wanted fixed forks ideally.

Can anyone measure their bike for me to see what road bikes or others have please? Just from floor to bottom of derailleur arm when it is at its lowest point. I am guessing the road bikes will offer more clearance.

Ideally I would like a hybrid but if the clearance won't work then I might need to look at a road bike or re-think. Stupid design really from Tacx as they could have easily have designed the leg to allow more clearance.

 

[Oneball]

This is my road bike with a medium rear cage.



I think this is the more critical dimension though bottom of chain to centre of axle



My triathlon bike with a small cage would have about 10mm more clearance.

I could measure the mountain bike tomorrow but it’s behind an engine at the moment.

 

[rockits]

Thanks for that. Perfect. The first pic is actually the more useful one as it is when the derailleur is in its lowest position that the bottom of the chain will hit/rub the top of the Tacx Flux right leg top. So here:

 

[Oneball]

The chain is in the same position in the second pic. With the end of the tape measure on it. I just failed at taking a decent photo.

 

[Oneball]

Or hold the tape vertical. But the distance from the centre of the axle to the lowest point of the chain is about 180mm

 

[rockits]

Ah I see what you mean. Yes, I can measure from the centre of the hub down as well as from the floor up. Same result just double checks.

I might just get a road bike! Just seems that the hybrid's and MTB's mainly use longer arms due to having more gears. I never saw the point of really low gears on an MTB as it seemed the first 6 or so gears barely got you moving. Seems pointless to me.

 

[rockits]

Just taken 2 pics and measured both. Looks like about 200mm from floor to centre of hub and 140mm is clear from floor to top of leg

 

[JonW]

Ah I see what you mean. Yes, I can measure from the centre of the hub down as well as from the floor up. Same result just double checks.

I might just get a road bike! Just seems that the hybrid's and MTB's mainly use longer arms due to having more gears. I never saw the point of really low gears on an MTB as it seemed the first 6 or so gears barely got you moving. Seems pointless to me.

Does the rear derailleur only hit when you are in the smallest front ring?

Reason for asking is that my experience of cycling in Zwift is I never use the extremes of my gears... so I’m never in the lowest (easiest) 2-3 gears or in the highest (fastest) gears...

Admittedly, this may be because I have my Kickr set to only 60% simulation of gradients, but it’s possible that you don’t need to switch the bike, but just accept you wouldn’t use the 2 or 3 gears when the rear derailleur would be hitting the legs?

 

[rockits]

The further the chain moves to the left it hits as the Tacx leg as sloped upwards. It seemed to hit on about half the gears. Shame really as the Voodoo Marasa seems like a nice bike and the kind of thing I was after. The Carrera Crossfire 2 I reckon would be OK just didn't like the bike as much. Had MTB hydraulic forks which I don't need.

On looking I can;t believe how many niche categories there are. CycloX, hybrid, hybrid pro, road, adventure! I think a flat handle bar would be better and more practical if I used it out with the kids.

The only other option Halfords suggested was to use a longer chain but I have no idea on the impact of this. Didn't really want to start messing around with parts if I could help it. Seems such a stupid waste of time and not being able to just dump a fairly standard hybrid bike on the Tacx Flux. A little frustrating.

 

[JonW]

The further the chain moves to the left it hits as the Tacx leg as sloped upwards. It seemed to hit on about half the gears. Shame really as the Voodoo Marasa seems like a nice bike and the kind of thing I was after. The Carrera Crossfire 2 I reckon would be OK just didn't like the bike as much. Had MTB hydraulic forks which I don't need.

On looking I can;t believe how many niche categories there are. CycloX, hybrid, hybrid pro, road, adventure! I think a flat handle bar would be better and more practical if I used it out with the kids.

The only other option Halfords suggested was to use a longer chain but I have no idea on the impact of this. Didn't really want to start messing around with parts if I could help it. Seems such a stupid waste of time and not being able to just dump a fairly standard hybrid bike on the Tacx Flux. A little frustrating.

That is really surprising and I can understand why you’re frustrated. I didn’t even know there was a difference in length between a standard derailleur and long cage derailleur.

Interestingly, I have just looked on the Tacx website, and found this hidden in the detailed technical specs...

 

[rockits]

Thanks, yes saw that as well this morning. Can't believe Tacx designed it this way really as so easy for it to be designed with a different leg design and then this is not even an issue or consideration.

Should be a big big warning or stick on the front of the box really.

 

[GeoffCapes]

I've got the same issue with my derailleur. However, as mentioned it's only in the lowest gears so I'm not too concerned.

My only issue now is setting up my gears as they keep changing when I don't want to.
Got a mate coming round to assist with that tomorrow.

Also got my Mac to HDMI cable delivered tonight as well. 6 quid off Amazon vs 75 quid in Currys. And they wonder why the high street is dying.

 

[rockits]

I've got the same issue with my derailleur. However, as mentioned it's only in the lowest gears so I'm not too concerned.

My only issue now is setting up my gears as they keep changing when I don't want to.
Got a mate coming round to assist with that tomorrow.

Also got my Mac to HDMI cable delivered tonight as well. 6 quid off Amazon vs 75 quid in Currys. And they wonder why the high street is dying.

I take it you have a fairly normalish road bike?

I don't think I would be so bothered either if it were just a couple of lower gears but it was about half of mine.

Mine was not knocking out of gear at all though and was working fine other than chain catching issue.

 

[Wanderer]

I’ve got 21 gears on my bike, my Raleigh Chopper only had three, I could cope with three....

 

[rockits]

I'd be happy with 3 only problem is the Tacx Flux needs a rear cassette of 8-11 gears.

 

[GeoffCapes]

I take it you have a fairly normalish road bike?

I don't think I would be so bothered either if it were just a couple of lower gears but it was about half of mine.

Mine was not knocking out of gear at all though and was working fine other than chain catching issue.

I wouldn't say it was that normal-ish, it cost 3 grand.

Mine is just 1st and 2nd gears I rarely go into them anyway.

The coming out of gear is down to my bike where I was trying to adjust things (not knowing what I was doing), not the trainer.

I might actually buy a cheap-ish bike with a short derailleur if I see one local on eBay just to have a training bike permanently.
As if we have some nice sunny days in winter I might go out for a ride on my bike in the real world.

 

[Wanderer]

I got a turbo trainer, fluid one, makes no noise, nice. But it’s buried in the **** in he garage, since as soon as I bought this house, I went to work in Copenhagen for a year, then Dublin for a year. Must dig it out....

 

[GeoffCapes]

I wouldn't say it was that normal-ish, it cost 3 grand.

Mine is just 1st and 2nd gears I rarely go into them anyway.

The coming out of gear is down to my bike where I was trying to adjust things (not knowing what I was doing), not the trainer.

I might actually buy a cheap-ish bike with a short derailleur if I see one local on eBay just to have a training bike permanently.
As if we have some nice sunny days in winter I might go out for a ride on my bike in the real world.

Have decided there is a much cheaper option than a new bike. Just buy a new cassette. Then one on the bike, one of the trainer. Taking the frame off one and putting on the other takes seconds.
Was a long day yesterday.

 

[zagatoes30]

I thought setting up a trainer was a simple task how wrong was I.