Best Bicycle Trainer?

A friend who doesn't ride much asked about the "best bicycle trainer." Apparently, if thinks that if
he spends a good deal of money it will help motivate him to ride indoors this winter, and get in
shape. He said that he wants a really good one. What do you suggest for an indoor bicycle trainer?

Thanks in advance, Larry

'Best' is pretty subjective. I use a computrainer. It meets most of your criteria - motivating, prevents boredom, and is expensive. You need a computer to go with it but I assume since you are posting to a NG, you have one of those.

You need to define more parameters than "best". The first poster was correct, the computrainer is probably the best available, but also costs over $1k. Maybe considerably more, I don't even know. As far as more reasonably priced trainers, it depends on what you are looking for. I have a Cateye Cyclosimulator (~$400) that I love because it has a good "road feel", but it is so loud I can't ride it in my apartment. So I just ordered a Elite Volare Fluid Gel trainer. My research indicated that it is a pretty good trainer, but more importantly it seemed to be the quietest, and was cheaper than the Cyclops brand. Many people will tell you that Cyclops are the best, but I have tried several different models and never thought much of them at all (compared to the Cateye anyway, not the Elite Volare, which I have not even tested).

"Larry Fieman" <fieman@comcast.net> wrote in message news:cnBhb.728981$uu5.124376@sccrnsc04...
> A friend who doesn't ride much asked about the "best bicycle trainer." Apparently, if thinks that
> if he spends a good deal of money it will help motivate him to ride indoors this winter, and get
> in shape. He said that
he
> wants a really good one. What do you suggest for an indoor bicycle
trainer?
>
> Thanks in advance, Larry
>
The one he rides!

Seriously, I'd go look at some Blackburn mag trainers, or Tackx, or... pretty much anything in the
$100 range is going to do great.

I have a $150+ Tackx that I got on sale for $60, so look around.

Mike

elambi wrote:
>
> The first poster was correct, the computrainer is probably the best available, but also costs
> over $1k.

I sneer at his girly Computrainer. Real Men use the Velodyne Classic (www.velodynesports.com), which
lists for $2395.

I think I remember that Bicycling Magazine rated the Kurt Kinetic trainer as best last year.

"Larry Fieman" <fieman@comcast.net> wrote in message news:cnBhb.728981$uu5.124376@sccrnsc04...
> A friend who doesn't ride much asked about the "best bicycle trainer." Apparently, if thinks that
> if he spends a good deal of money it will help motivate him to ride indoors this winter, and get
> in shape. He said that
he
> wants a really good one. What do you suggest for an indoor bicycle
trainer?
>
> Thanks in advance, Larry

In article <cnBhb.728981$uu5.124376@sccrnsc04>, fieman@comcast.net says...
>A friend who doesn't ride much asked about the "best bicycle trainer." Apparently, if thinks that
>if he spends a good deal of money it will help motivate him to ride indoors this winter, and get in
>shape. He said that he wants a really good one. What do you suggest for an indoor bicycle trainer?

Computrainer. Less boring than a regular trainer.
-----------------
Alex

I agree. The Velodyne (http://www.velodynesports.com/) despite it 15 yr old technology, simply blows
away the computrainer.

While the computrainer's 3-d computer graphics are cute the trainer is still a
run-of-the-mill foldable trainer. The velodyne has a heavy base permitting out of the saddle
efforts, a 20lb flywheel.

If you want fancy computer graphics, you can use your velodyne with your PC with ultracoach
software. http://www.fitcentric.com/html/body_uc.htm.

If you just want a "regular" trainer, look at the kreitler liller headwind.

"Robert Chung" <invalid@nospam.com> wrote in message news:3f870856$0$27037$626a54ce@news.free.fr...
> elambi wrote:
> >
> > The first poster was correct, the computrainer is probably the best available, but also costs
> > over $1k.
>
> I sneer at his girly Computrainer. Real Men use the Velodyne Classic (www.velodynesports.com),
> which lists for $2395.

On Fri, 10 Oct 2003 16:46:00 GMT, "Larry Fieman" <fieman@comcast.net> wrote:

>A friend who doesn't ride much asked about the "best bicycle trainer." Apparently, if thinks that
>if he spends a good deal of money it will help motivate him to ride indoors this winter, and get in
>shape. He said that he wants a really good one. What do you suggest for an indoor bicycle trainer?

The Computrainer works really well, is highly motivational, and costs over a $1000.

JT
*******************************************
NB: reply-to address is munged

Visit http://www.jt10000.com
*******************************************

"Larry Fieman" <fieman@comcast.net> wrote in message news:<cnBhb.728981$uu5.124376@sccrnsc04>...
> A friend who doesn't ride much asked about the "best bicycle trainer." Apparently, if thinks that
> if he spends a good deal of money it will help motivate him to ride indoors this winter, and get
> in shape. He said that he wants a really good one. What do you suggest for an indoor bicycle
> trainer?
>
> Thanks in advance, Larry

http://www.roadbikereview.com/pscTra...S_1663crx.aspx

Gives you reviews.

I have the 1Up - it is very quiet.

Computrainer or Tacx Imagic.

The Imagic has much better 3D graphics than the Computrainer and you can actually steer through the
virtual landscape (if you get the steering option). You can also buy Netathlon for an extra $100 or
so and race online against other people around the world (very neat, though not too many people seem
to be doing it right now). Imagic does not allow you to create your own VR courses. It does allow
you to create programs that target specific wattages or Heartrates (these don't have the virtual
reality component though).

The Computrainer allows you to create your own courses, and for an extra $100 or so you can
automatically generate them from real courses that you trace out on mapping software. The
construction of the Computrainer is superior to the TacX and it measures power much more accurately.
However, it costs about $1300 vs $700 for the Tacx (with the steering unit included).

--Jens

"Larry Fieman" <fieman@comcast.net> wrote in message news:cnBhb.728981$uu5.124376@sccrnsc04...
> A friend who doesn't ride much asked about the "best bicycle trainer." Apparently, if thinks that
> if he spends a good deal of money it will help motivate him to ride indoors this winter, and get
> in shape. He said that
he
> wants a really good one. What do you suggest for an indoor bicycle
trainer?
>
> Thanks in advance, Larry

outside.

move to southern arizona.