Bike Trainers - I need advise

[spingirl33]

I am a spin junkie and rather than purchase a spin bike for home, I'm hoping to set up a trainer for my bike to use on those days I can't make it to a class. I have no clue what to look for. I don't know the difference between fluid and magnetic and I'm not even sure how these things work.

I have a trek mt bike (850 I think). I don't need anything fancy, I just want to be able to use all gears and ride for an hour at a time.

Can someone give me some advise? I'd also like to know the difference between trainers and rollers.

Thanks!!

 

[Mr. Earl]

The purpose of magnetic, fluid, wind, and friction trainers is to produce resistance to pedaling. For a magnetic trainer, a rotating conductor moves though a strong magnetic field and generates a resisting magnetic field, which, I believe, varies directly with the speed of rotation. That is, the faster you pedal, the more resistance you will get. While this doesn't duplicate the wind resistance effect that you'd get on a bike, you can easily increase the restance by changing the strength of the magnetic field. A fluid trainer uses the exponential increase in resistance of a rotating turbine fan moving through an enclosed fluid. This increase in resistance closely duplicates the wind resistance you would get on your bike - which is also exponential. You could change effort by shifting to higher gears orpedaling faster. Wind resistors do the same thing, but are noisy and less efficient - but, with some set ups, you can direct a cooling breeze at yourself. Friction resistors, increase friction directly with increased pressure on the friction pad. It works, but does not duplicate real biking conditions. I use a cycleops fluid trainer which is permanently set up with an old yard-sale bike. It works just fine. If you're going to use your mountain bike, I suggest you mount a cheap, slick tire on your rear wheel.

 

[spingirl33]

Thanks for the info. What I think you're saying is that I can get the same resistance whether I use a magnetic trainer or a fluid trainer. The magnetic trainers appear to be less expensive so that's what I was going for. I assume the cheap tire in the back is to save wear on my mt tire. Thanks for the suggestion, I would never have thought of it!