Best Indoor Trainer?



markdevane

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Feb 1, 2004
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I'm stuck at times indoors and am looking for a good bike trainer. I ride a Klein Q Carbon Race. Any suggestions on a good trainer that would work well with my model? Any advice would be appreciated before I fork out the $$$.

Looking for Advice
 
Originally posted by markdevane
I'm stuck at times indoors and am looking for a good bike trainer. I ride a Klein Q Carbon Race. Any suggestions on a good trainer that would work well with my model? Any advice would be appreciated before I fork out the $$$.

Looking for Advice

I have a friend who has a Cyclops Fluid 2 Trainer that has worked great for him. He says it has a fairly realistic road feel, and is quiet too.
 
I have ridden the Fluid 2 and I did not like it too much. I own a Cateye cyclocimulator and a Computrainer 3D. They are both great trainers but the Computrainer is head and shoulders above anything out there FOR THE MONEY. It really feels like you are on the road and you actually have to do a little more work compared to the other trainers. It is really easy to average 22MPH on the Fluid 2 and the Cateye, the Computrainer you have to earn it! The 3D software does wonders for your riding and has far to many features to list here. It is the best training investment I have made in a while. If you know someone who has one, see if you can try it out. They are a little expensive but they are built very good and your rewards are worth the price x10. If you live in a very cold area where the winter is nasty (New England) I wouldn't think twice about it. Hope this helps!
 
I recently went through the same process of researching trainers and ended up getting a Kinetic Road Machine http://www.kurtkinetic.com/ It's accurate from a wattage standpoint, it's fluid, quiet, has a wide stable base, and has a large flywheel which smooths out your ride. I've been very happy with it!
 
Originally posted by Cipher
I have a friend who has a Cyclops Fluid 2 Trainer that has worked great for him. He says it has a fairly realistic road feel, and is quiet too.

Thanks for the advise!
 
I have a Cyclops Fluid 2 and I like it a lot. I had a Blackburn magnetic trainer before and it was okay but a lot noisier and not as smooth and consistant as the Cyclops.
 
One question to help you decide what type of trainer to purchase is what you want to accomplish for indoor training. I'm a recreational rider, and just want to maintain fitness and some cycling form during the snowy, cold Western NY winters.

I've been hosting trainer nights at my place and have purchased or borrowed a number of indoor trainers. So, if you want to improve your form, rollers are the way to go. A friend loaned me the Kreitler Alloy Rollers with a Killer Headwind resistance unit. They are fantastic! Unfortunately, they are costly as well, retailing for $450 without the Killer Headwind (which is nice to have). Kreitler makes less expensive rollers as do several other companies. I have an ancient set of Performance rollers as well. I'd recommend against rollers that do not have alloy drums.

As for stationary trainers, I have an older Performance Fluid trainer. At the time I purchased it, I lived in NC and could ride outdoors all year. I just wanted something for the winter months when I didn't feel like mounting lights, etc. It's ok, but doesn't have a good road feel. I will point out that I have not ridden on the newer Performance units. I've also had experience with the Blackburn mag unit and Cyclops mag unit. I'd recommend a fluid unit as they have more realistic road feel and are quieter than wind trainers.

I would take a close look at the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine which someone else has already mentioned. I looked at the 1upUSA and the Kurt Kinetic this year prior to purchasing another stationary trainer. One of the riders who comes to my trainer night has the Road Machine. She had the opportunity to ride both the standard and Road (heavier freewheel) versions and says that the Road Machine is much more realistic and worth the extra $. I've not ridden it yet, but plan to in the next week. The construction is very impressive. It is extremely well-built, much better than the Cyclops, Performance, and Blackburn trainers I've used. The owner thought the road feel of the Kurt Kinetic was much smoother than the Cyclops Fluid 2.

Now that I'm in snowy NY, I looked at the 1upUSA, the Cyclops Fluid 2, and the Kurt Kinetics b/c I wanted a trainer that provided a more realistic feel than the PBS trainer. I did a bunch of research and spoke with plenty of my fellow riders. Many recommended a trainer that provided more feedback, so I started to look at the Tacx ergotrainers (Flow, Basic).

The reason I want more feedback is I'm mentally "weak". I get bored riding indoors and need lots of external stimulation to ride inside for longer than 30 minutes. So, I ended up purchasing a used Computrainer. I've been extremely impressed with it. There are a bunch of courses available on the internet and I can use the Topo software to create my local routes. I like the fact that it varies the resistance according to the route and visualized terrain. Having a "pace" rider, either the computer or a previous performance on a course helps to push me and keep me interested in the indoor workouts. I suspect most computrainer users are much more serious riders than I and use it predominantly as a training tool. There's even a winter time trial series at www.permancecentral.net

So, to make a long answer even longer, it depends on what you want from a indoor trainer. Form, handling - go with rollers. Great road feel - look at the Kurt Kinetic. Mentally weak - look at a computerized trainer.
 
Best indoor trainer I've ever used is the Kurt Kinetic trainer(Road machine).

The computrainer is the best trainer period...but that is very expensive.
 
Originally posted by meehs
I have a Cyclops Fluid 2 and I like it a lot. I had a Blackburn magnetic trainer before and it was okay but a lot noisier and not as smooth and consistant as the Cyclops.

Thank you!
 
Originally posted by leebm
One question to help you decide what type of trainer to purchase is what you want to accomplish for indoor training. I'm a recreational rider, and just want to maintain fitness and some cycling form during the snowy, cold Western NY winters.

I've been hosting trainer nights at my place and have purchased or borrowed a number of indoor trainers. So, if you want to improve your form, rollers are the way to go. A friend loaned me the Kreitler Alloy Rollers with a Killer Headwind resistance unit. They are fantastic! Unfortunately, they are costly as well, retailing for $450 without the Killer Headwind (which is nice to have). Kreitler makes less expensive rollers as do several other companies. I have an ancient set of Performance rollers as well. I'd recommend against rollers that do not have alloy drums.

As for stationary trainers, I have an older Performance Fluid trainer. At the time I purchased it, I lived in NC and could ride outdoors all year. I just wanted something for the winter months when I didn't feel like mounting lights, etc. It's ok, but doesn't have a good road feel. I will point out that I have not ridden on the newer Performance units. I've also had experience with the Blackburn mag unit and Cyclops mag unit. I'd recommend a fluid unit as they have more realistic road feel and are quieter than wind trainers.

I would take a close look at the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine which someone else has already mentioned. I looked at the 1upUSA and the Kurt Kinetic this year prior to purchasing another stationary trainer. One of the riders who comes to my trainer night has the Road Machine. She had the opportunity to ride both the standard and Road (heavier freewheel) versions and says that the Road Machine is much more realistic and worth the extra $. I've not ridden it yet, but plan to in the next week. The construction is very impressive. It is extremely well-built, much better than the Cyclops, Performance, and Blackburn trainers I've used. The owner thought the road feel of the Kurt Kinetic was much smoother than the Cyclops Fluid 2.

Now that I'm in snowy NY, I looked at the 1upUSA, the Cyclops Fluid 2, and the Kurt Kinetics b/c I wanted a trainer that provided a more realistic feel than the PBS trainer. I did a bunch of research and spoke with plenty of my fellow riders. Many recommended a trainer that provided more feedback, so I started to look at the Tacx ergotrainers (Flow, Basic).

The reason I want more feedback is I'm mentally "weak". I get bored riding indoors and need lots of external stimulation to ride inside for longer than 30 minutes. So, I ended up purchasing a used Computrainer. I've been extremely impressed with it. There are a bunch of courses available on the internet and I can use the Topo software to create my local routes. I like the fact that it varies the resistance according to the route and visualized terrain. Having a "pace" rider, either the computer or a previous performance on a course helps to push me and keep me interested in the indoor workouts. I suspect most computrainer users are much more serious riders than I and use it predominantly as a training tool. There's even a winter time trial series at www.permancecentral.net

So, to make a long answer even longer, it depends on what you want from a indoor trainer. Form, handling - go with rollers. Great road feel - look at the Kurt Kinetic. Mentally weak - look at a computerized trainer.

Thanks for all the info! I appreciate it. I will need to evaluate this to determine what I want to do over the long haul.

M.
 
one more vote for the kurt kinetic road machine. I'm into my fourth season on mine with no problems.

and make sure you get the extra heavy (6+ pounds) flywheel to make it a road machine. somewhat expensive, but worth it.
 
Originally posted by leebm
.....So, to make a long answer even longer, it depends on what you want from a indoor trainer. Form, handling - go with rollers. Great road feel - look at the Kurt Kinetic. Mentally weak - look at a computerized trainer.


I'm still a devout K. Road Machine (or rollers) rider but I have a question for you computrainer users out there. When the software indicates you're going down hill do you 'virtually' pick up speed according to some algorighm without having to pedal? Similarly when you are going on flats or uphill is your exertion consistant with riding outside? Just curious, thanks -
 
I was just wondering, I have a tacx basic i have been using, how does this measure up against the other products which were mentioned here??

Thanks
Keebler
 
Originally posted by Nick-NH
I'm still a devout K. Road Machine (or rollers) rider but I have a question for you computrainer users out there. When the software indicates you're going down hill do you 'virtually' pick up speed according to some algorighm without having to pedal? Similarly when you are going on flats or uphill is your exertion consistant with riding outside? Just curious, thanks -

Like all trainers, there is no coasting downhills. The wattage is adjusted however so that there is significantly lower power requirements to pedal down a hill (which feels realistic, but you still must keep pedalling).

I find it much more consistent with riding outside than I do my old wind trainer or rollers, although the rollers still have much value for maintaining form.

If you use the coaching software, it can help you with any home based testing you want to do as well. Also the 3d or 2d software gives you 'courses' to ride to relieve boredom if you suffer from such thing while riding in the basement or garage.

I am riding 6 days a week in the basement and CompuTrainer has helped me stay focused, at least until I get to Spain next week!
 
Originally posted by leebm
Mentally weak - look at a computerized trainer.

Forgive my ignorance, but what does ones mental strength or weakness (?) have to do with using a computerized trainer?

A computerized trainer's main purpose is to provide control over the effort used, and is the only way to perform testing, control effort during workouts and simulate real world conditions consistently.

If you are trying to suggest that people who want to do these things are somehow less intelligent than someone who wants to ride training sessions on rollers or a wind/fluid trainer, where there is little or no way to control the environment, then I think you are mistaken.

Compu-Trainer, Tacx I-Magic and I have just discovered the Cateye too, could definitely put any rider through their paces. That is why the pros use them to train and perform warm-up/cool-downs.
 
Originally posted by Guru_2_u_2
Forgive my ignorance, but what does ones mental strength or weakness (?) have to do with using a computerized trainer?

A computerized trainer's main purpose is to provide control over the effort used, and is the only way to perform testing, control effort during workouts and simulate real world conditions consistently.

If you are trying to suggest that people who want to do these things are somehow less intelligent than someone who wants to ride training sessions on rollers or a wind/fluid trainer, where there is little or no way to control the environment, then I think you are mistaken.

Compu-Trainer, Tacx I-Magic and I have just discovered the Cateye too, could definitely put any rider through their paces. That is why the pros use them to train and perform warm-up/cool-downs.

I believe that "mentally weak" is referring to that person's inability to keep focus and the will to stay on the machine without something occupying the time (ie: a computer program giving the rider something to do and think about while on the bike)
 
I was in the market for a good trainer, and stumbled upon a slightly used Tacx Grand Excel with latest software ($760 new) for $450, and I jumped on it. You can view it here:

http://www.cbike.com/tacx_grand_excel.htm

This trainer has extensive capabilities - probably more than I will ever need. The great things about it are the fact that it constantly monitors speed, cadence, HR, and power output, has adjustable training programs, and all the stored sessions are downloadable.

Yes, it isn't cheap, but if you are really serious about training, this is a heck of an item!
 

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