purchasing trainer for petite road bike...

Hello...I have a Mercier Elle road bike, designed for petite women, and would like to purchase a trainer for these rainy (and shivery ) NorCal winters...... any suggestions on what type/brand to look for? exp. spec. Shimano 105 27spd, Reynolds 520DB
thank you graciously, kiki

 

Best is a set of rollers. Makes the time pass fatser, makes you a better cyclist(gotta ride in the straight line), simple, not hard to use.

Saris makes a good one.

 

I might be able to give you some feedback in just a couple of days. Tomorrow, I'm buying a trainer primarily for use by my wife who is 5'1", 105 lbs. She rides an extra small frame hybrid type bike with a 700c wheel, but also wants to try to use my daughter's road bike. (daughter is about the same size - I can't remember off hand if her bike's wheels are 700c or 650).

From what I've read, trainers don't care about the size of the frame, leaving wheel size as the issue. From what I can tell, most (all?) claim to be adaptable to any common wheel size: 27", 700c, 650c, and 26 (MTB type). Those specs are always included in product descriptions. Look at places like REI, Performance, Nashbar, Pricepoint, etc. etc. etc.

So, my guess is that the size of your bike is not an issue. Your decision point will therefore probably be price and the types (roller, magnetic, fluid, wind) that are available within your price point.

 

+1 for the rollers. However, if you want to listen to some tunes, watch TV, or read while you pedal, do not get rollers!!!! I have found out, the painful way, that any distractions while riding rollers is not a good thing.

 

She asked for trainer information, and everyone is saying to get rollers. Maybe she doesn't want rollers. I don't think rollers are so hot.

Kurt Kinetic Road Machine is a very good trainer - roughly $375 if your budget is that high. There are others out there, but this is highly recommended if you do a few web searches.

It will fit all size of bikes - check out their website to be sure.

Oh....and you mentioned NorCal winters....what is that by the way....does it get below freezing? It's about 10F here in the Great White North, and on the radio today I heard it was -60C in Nunavut. Brrrr.

 

Well rollers are a 'trainer' and even if you don't like them, maybe she does.

 

You could always get the fork mount for the rollers if you want to read, watch TV etc. You could always do sprints without worrying about balance issues or rolling off the edge.

I've used both the rollers and rear wheel mounts trainers. If you're using your regular road tire, be aware that you could potentially heat up the tire and throw a rooster tail of rubberized material behind you. On the Krietler rollers that I've used, your tire will have this glazed appearance on it without the messy rubberized clean-up.

 

Any trainer should be fine for different wheel sizes. I have 3 different ones 700c, 650c and 24" and I've never had any troubles putting any of them on the trainer. (on the cycleops at least - I've never tried my 24" wheel cross bike on the computrainer....)