Dryvlyne

I'll soon be in the market for a trainer as the weather gets colder (in OH) and was looking for some feedback/advice. I've looked around on Amazon and one of the things I'm confused about is the price difference between the low & high end. Seems like there are a lot of sub-$100 trainers with favorable reviews so what the difference between these and say a $200+ model?

I'm not particularly interested in spending more than $100 on a trainer, but if the consensus is I really should invest in one more expensive then I may consider it. Please remember though I only plan on using this during the winter to just maintain fitness until I can ride outdoors again... and that I have a wife too that might be rather upset if I spend anymore money related to biking this year, lol

ls01

Get a fluid trainer. More realistic, smoother. Indoor training sucks, just in case you missed that.

topflightpro

Riding a trainer, in general, is not fun. Cheap trainers make the experience even worse. Buy a solid fluid trainer - like CycleOps Fluid 2 or Kurt Kinetic. They are worth the money. Performance Bike's Travel Trac line is not.

Pirkaus

I started with a used Minoura RTA850, I wore it out in one season.
Bought a Kenitic by Kurt Rock and Roll, 100 times better, but as others have said
indoor training sucks

Marcus_Ti

OP, the difference in cost has to do with the resistance unit, and how it generates resistance...and any pleasant side effects of said generation. Wind trainers are dirt cheap-but they are *loud* for example.

Fluids are the most realistic, and you don't need to set a resistance level (like you do with mag typically)...but they are $$$.



Indoor training...you need to setup in front of your Man (Woman) Cave with a movie or TV you like to watch. And do intervals. Only way riding a trainer is tolerable for more than 5-10 minutes.

Indoor training while boring and "sucks"...can be much more structured than real road riding, which improves strength. And while it is sucky-it is far better than becoming a fat out of shape blob over the winter months-if you aren't crazy enough to still go out on the roads.

ddeand 

Kurt Kinetic Road Machine is a nice trainer - solid, fluid, quiet. I can go an hour before I go stir crazy. Generally, I listen to an hour-long CD that has a variety of tempos - that gives me a bit of pace changing. Or I watch a TV program. Once you resign yourself to it, it's not so bad - just get yourself in the right frame of mind.

chaadster

I must be a freak, because I can ride a stationary/trainer for an hour or so no problem, not really doing anything, though I admit following a workout (with time, power and cadence instructions) help makes it better. I also ride 'em all year round, and just augment with real bike rides in the spring/summer/fall.

utahp8ntballer

Have you considered rollers? It will smooth out your pedal stroke, help you with balance, and is way more "fun" than a trainer. Don't get me wrong, it still sucks ass, but I feel I get a better workout and more out of them than a trainer.

bbattle

I got a nice Cycleops trainer but sold it after only a few rides. I only had one bike at the time and it was necessary to change the rear tire to a trainer tire before setting up the trainer. Otherwise, I'd wear out the road tire very quickly.

I thought I'd watch cycling videos while on the thing but it was so boring I bought winter gear so I could ride outdoors instead. I can ride pretty much all year here in No'ala.

I then joined a gym and went to spin classes. I used my own clipless pedals and shoes.

Several people recommended rollers as being less boring.

I do recommend a fan to keep you cool and some towels to keep the buckets of sweat off the floor and the bike.

Dryvlyne

Geez, I might have to rethink this. The CycleOps Fluid 2 trainer is $315 and the Kinetic Road Machine 2.0 is $349! Perhaps I should do spinning classes at the gym and invest in colder weather gear to continue riding outdoors. I don't mind the cold too much, after all I did ride this morning and the starting temp was 34 F. The big thing that concerns me though is that with the days getting shorter the earliest I can get home, changed, and on the bike on the road after work is like 5:45p which doesn't leave a lot of time to go very far. It won't be long of course and it'll be pretty much dark by the time I get home from work. I'm bummed because I didn't start seriously road biking until mid-July and now Winter is coming and it sucks

Sullalto

Why not spend $50-70 on a super cheap spare wheel?

deacon mark

I have a cycle ops wind trainer that was about $140 and it works fine. A little noisy but I am in a basement so not an issue. I don't use it much just get out and ride but I run also. It is a quality trainer and reasonably smooth just use an old tire. In fact I just use a dedicated rear wheel I swap on for the trainer with its own quick release and save the other quick release they can get chewed up if not careful

Atakuweh

I've got a CycleOps Fluid 2 that I like very much for when it's absolutely unrideable outside. I don't buy the "wears out your rear tire" theory, though I have Gatorskins on both my bikes. The roller on the CycleOps is smooth, polished metal, so as long as your tire is properly inflated it won't wear your tire out anywhere near as fast as asphalt will. Having a trainer in your home also makes it a lot more likely you're actually going to use it, as opposed to going to a spin class.

TXsailor

What is wrong with the Travel Trac line? I used my points and got one last week. I haven't used another trainer and have only used the Travel Trac a couple of times but it seems quiet and smooth so far. Mine is the fluid model and the reviews were very good for it.

pdedes

I have a cyclops fluid 2. I usually keep one of my bikes mounted to it full time. You don't need a training tire but anything with a soft compound will melt away. I have rollers as well. None of this hamster wheel stuff is as good as being outside. I have enough winter gear to get out into -10c weather for an hour. And you're going to need some lights. Damnation it's getting expensive isn't it?

daveleau

Buying my first trainer, I didn't want to drop a bunch of cash on something I might not use. So, I figured I'd buy a good inexpensive model to try it out and see what I thought. I grabbed the one linked below, and I was ver pleasantly surprised. It gives me sufficient resustance and isn't as loud as I thought it'd be. If you want resistance, get a trainer. If you want to work on pedalling and balance, get rollers.

Amazon.com : Bike Lane Pro Trainer Bicycle Indoor Trainer Exercise Machine Ride All Year : Indoor Bicycle Cycling Trainer Exercise Stand : Sports & Outdoors

dralways

This is what I plan to do. All I really have left on the winter clothing shopping list is really warm booties for the feet, maybe thermal bibs, and maybe glove liners and wool socks. To address the lack of daylight find yourself some good night routes full of heavily lit streets with alot of street lights. I don't know how many times I went out at 2am within the last few months to come back with 50mi+ for the night and felt safe doing it.

f4rrest

Convince your wife to use the trainer too, so you can justify the jump to $375.

Dave Cutter

Weather here (also Ohio) was so crappy this summer I bought a trainer at a yard sale to make sure I could hit my goal miles. I paid $40 for a CycleOps Fluid trainer and it works great. I doubt if it was ever really used. Craigslist might be a good place to look too.

I limit my trainer "rides" to 20 minutes, or about 5-6 miles (that would still be over 1800 miles a year if done daily).
I use two separate bicycle computers so I can track road miles on one, and trainer miles on the other.
I use my back-up/rain bike in the trainer.
I sweat like a pig on the trainer (you will too). So I setup in the garage where I can open the big [car] door and let in plenty of air.
I also use two fans to help evaporate the sweat.
I protect the bicycles paint/finish with a towel.
Don't buy training videos just watch them on Youtube. I download some to a tablet and they really help pass the time. So does TV (on my phone).
I always get that endorphin high from the trainer workout. Knowing that is a reward... helps motivate me to train.

chaadster

Yeah, YouTube has a plethora of stuff that's fun to ride to, my favorites being BF member Carpediemracing's race vids. I start the playlist and ride the videos like intervals, following his subtitles like a cue sheet. I like the music, too.

I also like following the Sufferfest videos, which make riding to a plan brainlessly easy. I think they're worth paying for if you don't otherwise have a training regimen and really want to maximize your trainer time. 3 of them are free with Strava, I think, or maybe with the Premium membership, so you can try them for very little before going in whole hog.

roadwarrior

Why?

In bad winter weather I'll do 90 to 120 minutes every other day (the other days are at the gym running and lifting) and will take a used rear and run the entire winter on it without a problem.

I think your trainer setup has the resistance unit screwed down too much.

I don't even get that many "marbles"...I use a Super Magneto Cycleops.

Unless you were using tubulars...

pdedes

the fluid Cycleops can get quite hot. it's not wearing out the tires, but 90-120 min. could melt them. i have an old conti gp3k, it's just glazed over and shiny, so indestructable on the trainer.

bbattle

Because it was boring to ride the trainer.

roadwarrior

I've had three of them...the original black one, the newer silver, and the Pro with the plastic cover. I did burn my leg on the silver one touching the fluid unit accidentally, but never had tire trouble.

Interesting...I switched to the Super Magneto for the different power bands although I use the interval band (the one closest to the fluid) about 90% of the time.

WhyFi

1) As indoor training sucks, and most people don't realize this until they try it, you can often find used KKRMs at significantly lower prices. There's not a lot that can go wrong with them (and even less that's not catastrophically bad/noticeable), so going used along with a quick pre-purchase once-over is usually a safe bet.

2) There's a big difference between temps that are above freezing and those that are below freezing. 20° is much less fun than 34°.