road bike trainer - how to choose?

[jechilt]

Greetings,

I am having a hard time trying to decide what kind of trainer to get for my road bike.

I saw the Trax and thought it was totally cool. During the summer I did an evaluation with the Computrainer and thought it was cool too.
The cost of the computrainer pretty much ruled it out. I just saw the Axiom trainer and it seems to be similar to the Trax but for less money.
I started looking around at different trainers and have decided if I want just a trainer, that I would get the Kurt Kinetic.

I would like some feedback from those of you who use this equipement.
How did you decide what the best trainer to get was?
I think the Trax and Axiom are nice in the way of giving an interactive ride with the programs. I am used to sitting on the bike for 90 minutes listening to my mp3 player. So, I guess I am saying the Kinetic would probably do the job just fine for me. The Kinetic now has the new trainer that can swivel and that seems really cool but I can't seem to shake the idea that riding with a video type interactive ride would be even more fun.

What added benefit does a system like the Trax or Axiom provide during training? Is it worth spending a few hundred extra?
Are there any other hidden expenses I should know about with all of these trainer systems?

thanks for any info or suggestions.

 

[eugkimj]

I bought the Tacx Fortius because I know from past experience that I cannot listen to music or watch TV to keep my interest while exercising inside. I'm addicted to the Fortius - I used to scramble to get home to get a ride in before dark or while the weather held out. Now I don't sweat it, working out after I get the kids to bed.

I opted for the Tacx over the Computrainer solely because I wasn't sure if it would become yet another dust collector for me. I figured I'd save the $500 if I ended up not using it. If I had to do it again, I'd go for the Computrainer. However, I have no major complaints about the Tacx, although they haven't worked out all the bugs in their software. Their availability for customer service has also been poor.

 

[Packeteer]

I just bought a CycleOps Fluid 2 yesterday after much deliberation. I spent a lot of time at REI talking with several different people in the bike department going back and forth about whats good and whats bad. Anyway they all said the Kinetic trainer that moves is not very good. They said it does sway when you get out of the saddle but when you sit and spin it feels instable, not like when your on the road. It is also of course more expensive.

The other ones i looked at were the Kinetic fluid model thats at the same price as the cycleops fluid 2. The kinetic was cool and a little cheaper but the guys at the shop said the flywheel is almost TOO large and if you are doing short intervals the wheel wont slow down enough making the next interval too easy.

As far as a computrainer goes thats next on the list but i figured im going to try and watch movies while i ride and it it doesn;t work its onto a virtual trainer!

 

[Scotttri]

Greetings,

I am having a hard time trying to decide what kind of trainer to get for my road bike.

I saw the Trax and thought it was totally cool. During the summer I did an evaluation with the Computrainer and thought it was cool too.
The cost of the computrainer pretty much ruled it out. I just saw the Axiom trainer and it seems to be similar to the Trax but for less money.
I started looking around at different trainers and have decided if I want just a trainer, that I would get the Kurt Kinetic.

I would like some feedback from those of you who use this equipement.
How did you decide what the best trainer to get was?
I think the Trax and Axiom are nice in the way of giving an interactive ride with the programs. I am used to sitting on the bike for 90 minutes listening to my mp3 player. So, I guess I am saying the Kinetic would probably do the job just fine for me. The Kinetic now has the new trainer that can swivel and that seems really cool but I can't seem to shake the idea that riding with a video type interactive ride would be even more fun.

What added benefit does a system like the Trax or Axiom provide during training? Is it worth spending a few hundred extra?
Are there any other hidden expenses I should know about with all of these trainer systems?

thanks for any info or suggestions.

I to am interested to here peoples experiences on these trainer simulators. I hace an elite mag trainer, but I find it hard to do more than 45 minutes on it as I get bored. I prefer to go out riding but as I have kids and sometimes need to babysit it isn't always an option

 

[Packeteer]

I to am interested to here peoples experiences on these trainer simulators. I hace an elite mag trainer, but I find it hard to do more than 45 minutes on it as I get bored. I prefer to go out riding but as I have kids and sometimes need to babysit it isn't always an option

I am also very curious. I want to get a trainer, probably compurtrainer but want to make sure i pick the right one. The ideal trainer would be able to accept custom content like user created courses and uploads of real world rides. The big thing about all this however is there needs to be a group of people actually working on the stuff. I have read about ways to race online but often there is nobody actually using a program and your stuck never using all the features in a program.

I checked the computrainer forum and it has 1186 users with 4730 posts but almost all are technical support. The other thing i worry about is based on the admins posting it seems like the programming is 1 guy in a garage. They said internet play is on a backburner and wont be out for a while. I took a programming class in high school a few years ago and had internet enabled games up and running from scratch in a week of work. Games that dont rely on immediatly syncing their data are very easy to get online. Also you cant program in multiple loops of a course, you have to edit the course every time you want to ride different laps. People request simple things and it looks like they are getting nothing done.

For me i think the best experiance often comes from what not written on features blurb. If im going to spend as much money as compu trainer costs i dont want to find out the features i want are now on some other program. Anyway know of any virtual programs that do what computrainer can't?

 

[johncc48]

I have used a basic trainer for 3 winters now and have found my niche to keep interested. DVD's of the Giro or TdF from interesting years along with an MP3 player to fill in the boring parts of Phil and Bob repeating themselves allows me at least 3 + hrs 3x/week. It is a lot cheaper that the Computrainer but I don't get power ratings. In the winter I think my HRM is enough though.

John

 

[jechilt]

thanks all for the responses so far. all is good information to bring into my evaluation.

I am probably one of the few Polar CS600 users out there that has no problems with my unit. I am super happy with its performance. In any case, that little unit gives me my cadence, HR, and power. I am sure the power rating may differ from any of these virtual trainers but that is ok as long as the trends stay relative to each other.

By the sounds of it, the virtual units do their job best by dealing with boredom. Since there has been no comment yet about it from a performance perspective, I am thinking it does offer any more in getting results than a non-virtual trainer.

The computrainer does offer more in the terms of analysis. After being blasted in these forums about my results from the computrainer, I am not so convinced that I need a unit that is monitoring my pedal stroke, etc. My polar does a simple L/R balance and mentally, I focus hard on smooth rotations. The computrainer showed I have an excellent pedal stroke which makes me feel good but did not impress anyone in these forums. I guess I say all this to justify that though the computrainer is cool and has the bells and whistles, I may be better off with a less expensive unit. I just need the occasional ride with some kind of challenge to push me harder than I would if I were left to my own devices.

I would think boredom can occur on a virtual trainer if watching the same video over and over and over again. So, there is going to be an expense getting new videos.
This raises my next question....which unit has the best videos? Does one offer the ability to share rides with others as to build a library of rides?

thanks!
John

 

[Tim Lamkin]

I have owned four different types, now I own two CycleOps Fluid 2, only way to go.

 

[jechilt]

I have owned four different types, now I own two CycleOps Fluid 2, only way to go.

Why the cycleops? how does it differ and what makes it better, in your opinion, from others like the Kinetic or Tacx?

An additional question concerning the compuTrainer. I have been reading up on it on the website. Does it offer the ability to improve performance more than units like the Axiom or Tacx or do all these units offer the same kind of tools to allow us to get better, not just maintain status quo fitness?

 

[jechilt]

Can the Computrainer be used to train on without using the video? There are days I may just want to put on my headphones and spin away without having to turn everything on.
Is that possible with the computertrainer?