Buying a trainer

henryhahn said:

Hello!

Need a bit of advice...A few short years ago I was an avid rider taking my bike to work as well a straining with a large group. Then it happened that I met the girl that was to be my wife...I slowed down significantly in training, but got her interested in the sport. Then, by some miracle my wife became pregnant and the birth of my son was so encumbering that my training was halted altogether.

I am looking forward to getting back out onto the road, but am not looking forward to finding out just how far behind the pack I am, so I am going to purchase a trainer to hopefully get my wind up before the season kicks in.

Here is the dilemma:

With an 8-month-old baby money is tight, so buying this is no simple task... I was wondering what your opinions are on fluid trainers: Blackburn vs. Cycle-Ops, and then if magneto by Cycle-Ops if it is comparable. Keep in mind I am not a pro, and I am looking to come out of this with a decent trainer without breaking the bank. I am not considering the other mags because it would be far too difficult and as such I probably would not use it. Also I can't do a fan because we live in an apartment. Thanks in advance!

~Henry

I haven't tried many but I have a Cateye Cyclosimulator which comes with a computer,removable fan,variable magnetic resistance etc.
I usually pay close attention to the calories burned in a given amount of time.
It gives me something shoot for next session.
Hopefully I won't need to use it too many more times this year.
Spring starts at 1:20 pm, or somewhere there abouts, today although you wouldn't know it by going outside.

I have both a Cyclops Fluid2, which my wife uses, and a Kinetic Road Machine Fluid, which I use. There are pros and cons to each of them. It is easier to put the bike on and off the Cyclops than it is the Kinetic, but the Kinetic is less prone to failure (i.e., leaking) than the Cyclops is, and the Kinetic has a better waranty. My LBS used to carry both, but dropped the Cyclops about a year ago because, from their experience, the Kinetic is more durable.

There are small differences in the shape of power curves for the different fluid trainors, but most will give you a good workout. At speeds less than 12 mph, it requires the most effort to turn the BlackBurn, but at higher speeds, it requires the most effort to turn the Cyclops. The Kinetic is somewhere in between the other two. To achieve 200 watts and 300 watts would require speeds of 17 and 22 mph, respectively on the BlackBurn; 17.75 mph and 21.5 mph, respectively, on the Kinetics and at 16 mph and 18.5 mph on the Cyclops. The Performance TravelTrac Century Fluid, on the other hand, has a much flatter power curve. You would have to go slightly over 21 mph to hit 200 watts and 25.25 mph to hit 300 watts on the Performance.

Looking at the power curves in a different way, if you were spinning at 25 mph, it would be 748 watts with the Cyclops, 431 with the Kinetic, 381 with the BlackBurn, and 294 with the Performance.

The advantage of the fluid type over the magneto type, regardless of manufacture, is that resistance increases with speed for the fluid, but resistance is a constant with the magneto. There are variable resistance magneto type (and Cyclops has one), but IMHO, it is far easier and far more flexible to use the gears on the bike to control the resistance (effort) than it is to change the resistance on the magneto type trainers. Also, the variable resistance magneto type trainors are almost as expensive as the fluid type, so the advantage of the magneto type disappears.

I'd check out the 1UP USA trainer. www.1UPUSA.com I love mine and it has a super-realistic feel to it. Had it since 2001 and still working just like new. It has at least 30 minutes of riding on it for just about every day I've had it!

-No fluid to leak.
-Has a foot actuated "set and forget" lever. 2 seconds bike in, 2 seconds bike out.
-I'm pretty sure it even has a lifetime warranty.
-Great customer service.
-Price is comparable to the CycleOps (actually less I think.)

Cateye CS 1000 for me 😄 Very stable trainer, fan and magnetic resistance, computer that displays POWER (only good for comparing rides - has no real relationship to 'real world' power) and is reasonably quiet. I've had mine for going on 12 years and its still going strong - just wish I was 😉

Previous trainer threads:
cyclingforums.comt292776.htmlOpen ↗
cyclingforums.comt287311.htmlOpen ↗

inSANe DIEGO said:

I'd check out the 1UP USA trainer. www.1UPUSA.com I love mine and it has a super-realistic feel to it. Had it since 2001 and still working just like new. It has at least 30 minutes of riding on it for just about every day I've had it!

-No fluid to leak.
-Has a foot actuated "set and forget" lever. 2 seconds bike in, 2 seconds bike out.
-I'm pretty sure it even has a lifetime warranty.
-Great customer service.
-Price is comparable to the CycleOps (actually less I think.)

I also have a 1Up CPR A-2000. I'm very happy with it. It does have a lifetime warranty. While its resistance system is proprietary, it is roughly comparable to fluid trainers such as the Kurt Kinetic.

Do you have a specific dollar-amount maximum? Both the 1Up and Kurt Kinetic are around $300 shipped. The Cycleops Fluid2 lists for nearly that much, but I think it's possible to get it for under $200 and maybe even under $150 (e.g. last model year closeout + 20%-off coupon).

Rollers - more fun - greater gain - no bike frame fatigue.

Thank you so much for the links. I have been doing a lot of reading....looks like I still have plenty to do 🙁 However, This Really [font='Times New Roman']intrigued[/font] me!

Flatscan said:

Previous trainer threads:

Do you have a specific dollar-amount maximum? Both the 1Up and Kurt Kinetic are around $300 shipped. The Cycleops Fluid2 lists for nearly that much, but I think it's possible to get it for under $200 and maybe even under $150 (e.g. last model year closeout + 20%-off coupon).

Okay, so from the reading I have been doing I would love a Cycle ops FLuid2 at that price:eek: I have seen it as low as 229(last year's model), but not any lower and I haven't heard of that coupon:eek: So if you could point me in the direction of that I would love it😎
As for my dollar amount I'd like to keep it around 200 and for that reason have been looking more at blackburn, but I see Cycle-Ops more [font='Times New Roman']recommended[/font] and they have a lifetime warranty as opposed to Blackburn's 5-year. Which is why I was leaning towards Cycle-Ops. Having the latest and greatest is not a priority, but rather something that is less expensive (my wife and I are school teachers, and as I said before have a baby so money is tight), works well, and will be reliable for a long time is.
Thank you everyone! and please keep posting with all this helpful info!😄

henryhahn said:

Thank you so much for the links. I have been doing a lot of reading....looks like I still have plenty to do 🙁 However, This Really [font=Times New Roman]intrigued[/font] me!

Okay, so from the reading I have been doing I would love a Cycle ops FLuid2 at that price:eek: I have seen it as low as 229(last year's model), but not any lower and I haven't heard of that coupon:eek: So if you could point me in the direction of that I would love it😎
As for my dollar amount I'd like to keep it around 200 and for that reason have been looking more at blackburn, but I see Cycle-Ops more [font=Times New Roman]recommended[/font] and they have a lifetime warranty as opposed to Blackburn's 5-year. Which is why I was leaning towards Cycle-Ops. Having the latest and greatest is not a priority, but rather something that is less expensive (my wife and I are school teachers, and as I said before have a baby so money is tight), works well, and will be reliable for a long time is.
Thank you everyone! and please keep posting with all this helpful info!😄

I do not know much about the Blackburn, but the new Cyclops and the Kurt Kinetic are excellent trainers. I understand tight budgets. Most of us have been there. If you want to go the most economic route, and if you have a place to ride where noise will not disturb the baby, you can go with a wind resistance unit. The MSRP for the Kurt Kinetic Cyclone is $199.99 and for the Cyclops Wind is $159.99, but street prices are lower. The resistance is similar to the fluid trainers, but the major drawback is the noise. My daughter and son-in-law just upgraded to a fluid trainer because they have a baby on the way, and the wind trainer was too noisy.

Beware of old Cyclops Fluid trainers, as they are more prone to leaking. My concerns with any inexpensive fluid trainer would be when will they start leaking, and do they maintain the same (or at least close) resistance as they heat up and as they get older. The Kurt Kinetic Road Machine and Cyclops Fluid2 (current model) have a good track record. The Blackburn might be just as good, but I do not know enough about them to say.

henryhahn said:

Okay, so from the reading I have been doing I would love a Cycle ops FLuid2 at that price:eek: I have seen it as low as 229(last year's model), but not any lower and I haven't heard of that coupon:eek: So if you could point me in the direction of that I would love it😎

The online retailers Performance Bike and Nashbar each occasionally have 20% off coupons. I don't know if any are active now, but you can Google for them pretty easily. Nashbar is currently having a sale on trainers, but I think I read that their house-brand trainers are not so good.

henryhahn said:

Hello!

Need a bit of advice...A few short years ago I was an avid rider taking my bike to work as well a straining with a large group. Then it happened that I met the girl that was to be my wife...I slowed down significantly in training, but got her interested in the sport. Then, by some miracle my wife became pregnant and the birth of my son was so encumbering that my training was halted altogether.

I am looking forward to getting back out onto the road, but am not looking forward to finding out just how far behind the pack I am, so I am going to purchase a trainer to hopefully get my wind up before the season kicks in.

Here is the dilemma:

With an 8-month-old baby money is tight, so buying this is no simple task... I was wondering what your opinions are on fluid trainers: Blackburn vs. Cycle-Ops, and then if magneto by Cycle-Ops if it is comparable. Keep in mind I am not a pro, and I am looking to come out of this with a decent trainer without breaking the bank. I am not considering the other mags because it would be far too difficult and as such I probably would not use it. Also I can't do a fan because we live in an apartment. Thanks in advance!

~Henry

Henry,
I have an almost 12 month old son, a wife who is 7 months pregnant, and a cycle ops fluid 2. I can definitely recommend this product. May not be the cheapest, but have found it to be reliable and most importantly, very quiet. I live in a small house, sleeping baby and sleeping wife are just metres from me when I get up early before work for a session on the trainer and they have never heard a thing.

Andrew

I just bought a Trek (made by Cycleops) Mag today for $85. I know it's not top of the line and it isn't super silent, but it performs pretty well and really does the trick for the money. To me, it is well worth $85 brand new at a store. I got it because of the Trek Super Sale (this store's prices were effective today) so there's something to look out for.

-Bill