Trainers -What To Buy??

[Doctor Morbius]

geometric or linear is interesting depending upon how nonlinear the J power curve really is.

my limited experience with the two models from Performance is that the difference, if any, is small.

on the other hand, it could be a great marketing tool.

cu,
larryb

I certainly agree that there is quite a bit of marketing involved in the cycling industry.

Below is a copy & paste from a response by one of the coaches that regularly posts on this forum. It can be found here - http://www.cyclingforums.com/t182299.html

Quote:
You actually have 3 choices here: Wind, Magnetic and Fluid.
Wind and fluid have a power curve that most closely matches real world riding. Wind is cheap, but very loud. Fluid is expensive, quite and excellent. Magnetic is quiet but typically does not mimic real world conditions as well as the other two. It does depend on the manufacturer on this one, as (you guessed it) the more expensive ones perform better. Check out this link: http://www.geocities.com/almost_fast/trainerpower/
__________________
Michael Smartt
RST Associate Coach
www.cyclecoach.com

 

[larryb]

I certainly agree that there is quite a bit of marketing involved in the cycling industry.

hi doc M,

the graph you cited is excellent. it shows that most trainers span the same range for power output, some more closely fit the real world model.

however, i think the graph assumes that the rider isn't changing the controls. indeed on some of the units, the rider can easily shift the resistance of a mag or fluid unit. That completely complicates the situation because now you have user feed back, hence the figure becomes a great marketing tool.

by the way, i noticed that the fluid unit i have looks much more macho than the mag unit. oh well, i'd rather use the $50 difference to by parts for my bike than look macho on my trainer.

cu,
larryb

 

[ksl]

I just bought a Minoura RDA 850 mag trainer. It's a rim drive model, which I wanted because I swap between knobblies and slicks on my mountain bike. It was on sale for A$300 (reduced from A$369). The CycleOps fluid trainers seem to be around the A$470-500 mark in Australia.

It's MUCH quieter than my old el-cheapo Italian (Ghibli Roto) mag trainer, which gave up the ghost after 2 years. Very smooth, too, with no annoying slipping. Doesn't quite feel like riding on road, but I'm happy with the purchase.

 

[PixelPusher]

Now that you've had some time with it, how do you like that rim drive trainer ?? I'm seriously considering one myself.

I just bought a Minoura RDA 850 mag trainer. It's a rim drive model, which I wanted because I swap between knobblies and slicks on my mountain bike. It was on sale for A$300 (reduced from A$369). The CycleOps fluid trainers seem to be around the A$470-500 mark in Australia.

It's MUCH quieter than my old el-cheapo Italian (Ghibli Roto) mag trainer, which gave up the ghost after 2 years. Very smooth, too, with no annoying slipping. Doesn't quite feel like riding on road, but I'm happy with the purchase.

 

[ksl]

Still happy with it. Quiet, smooth, stable, easy to set up, no slipping. Now that it's summer here I haven't been using it much.