CycleOps SuperMagneto Pro turbo trainer £255

CycleOps has been one of the leading names in turbo trainers for the past decade, and its latest trainers could make the company hard to ignore if you’re planning to buy a turbo this winter.

Released a few months ago, the Pro range consists of three brand-new trainers. RCUK got its hands on the £255 SuperMagneto Pro and set about putting it to the test to find out if the changes, of which there are many, cut the mustard.

The SuperMagneto Pro, first of all, features an all-new frame that is not only more user-friendly, but also more stable than CycleOps’s previous long-standing designs. Their straight-out-of-the-box simplicity has always been an impressive trait, no spannering required, and now CycleOps have made it even more straight-forward to get up and riding.

Push-pins in the top of the frame securely lock it into place and prevent it shifting, while the left-hand leg now features a novel adjustable foot to get the trainer level even on wonky floorboards. It’s now a lot easier to clamp the bike into the stand too, with a quick-lock cam lever that is both more ergonomic to use than the older iteration, but also makes for snappier setting up. And when you’re done training, the whole lot packs down flatter than previous models, good for those in small flats.

While all these changes impress, it’s the resistance unit that impresses the most. The SuperMagneto Pro relies on a magnetic-based unit with four selectable resistance settings, which range from spin, road, interval and mountain settings. The resistance is adjusted by simply turning the dial on the inside of the unit. Changes bring about noticeable increases in resistance on the bike, and now matter how hard a training session you’re planning, there’s plenty of resistance choices on offer.

And in use, it’s really rather smooth. Manufacturers are increasingly seeking to make their trainers feel as close to the real deal as possible, and the Super is about as close as it must be possible to get. It feels like riding on a brand new and freshly Tarmac-ed road. There’s a serious lack of noise too, handy for those sharing with less than catering to one’s cycling obsession, though big intervals on the highest resistance level will get the unit whirring rather loudly.