RAGBRAI LI Route Announced on Jan. 27!

bike trainers

What advise, history do you have on bike trainers?

4 Replies

David Ertl, January 7, 2011 at 1:11 pm

I use a fluid stationary trainer. These are very quiet and offer a lot of resistance.  They are somewhat more expensive but worth it if you plan to use them a lot.  There are also magnetic versions which work reasonably well. I’d avoid wind trainers which are noisy.

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ts, January 7, 2011 at 1:46 pm

David Ertl said: I use a fluid stationary trainer. These are very quiet and offer a lot of resistance.  They are somewhat more expensive but worth it if you plan to use them a lot.  There are also magnetic versions which work reasonably well. I’d avoid wind trainers which are noisy.

I second the recommendation for fluid trainers.  You might check around for used ones – they seem pretty common.  I found a barely used one for $100 on Craigslist that would have cost $300 new.

#24937

my3sons, January 8, 2011 at 9:49 pm

I just bought the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine fluid trainer after using a friend’s mag trainer the last year. The fluid is great! I’m still too chicken to try rollers since Murphy’s law seems to direct my life at times! The fluid trainer seems a lot more…well…fluid, better resistance and allows time out of the saddle without feeling choppy (as it did on the mag). It’s true that it can get boring, I upgraded my spinervals dvd’s as well and it seems to help the cabin fever! Good luck!

#24938

pauly99, January 10, 2011 at 8:34 pm

General statements about bike trainers:
Wind Trainers – least amount of resistance and noisy
Magnetic Trainers – medium amount of resistance and medium amount of noise
Fluid Trainers – best resistance, road like feel, and less noise
Rim Drive Trainers – Great for a mountain bike. Don’t need to change out the rear tire.
Roller Trainers – Some don’t have great resistance. Need 100% concentration unless you use a fork on the front of the trainer.

If you will be riding a lot, fluid trainers (especially a CycleOps Fluid2 or Kinetic Road Machine) would be a great pick. If you want to spend less money, the Bell Motivator Mag gets great reviews for a trainer under $100.

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