Road Bike Trainer

DJ Cam Cam

I was wonder if any of you had an experience with using a bike trainer to keep your cycle legs through the winter when you can't ride outside.

I want to use it with my road bike, but am not sure If I should shell out the money for one type of the other. I'm looking at the magnetic ones because they are cheaper that the other types but am not sure. The fluid trainers look cool but are a "lot" more expensive then the mag ones. I'm not sure about the wind powered one either.

I'm curious if someone here is using one, and if it does help keep you in bike shape during the winter months. The big problem I find each year is I just stop during the winter. Once its nice enough to ride outside again my body gets kicked in the ass for having to build all that muscle again.

Any advice would help!

japan

I use a mag trainer. It works well enough, but I've never used a fluid trainer so I don't really have any basis for comparison. All I know about the fan trainers is that they are noisy as hell.

Really the only things you need to keep an eye on is that you don't set the resistance too high (it's easier than you'd think, because you don't feel like you're doing any work because you aren't moving, so you get tempted to crank the resistance up) because you will beat the shit out of your knees, and that you don't get bored. I watch TV when I'm on the trainer.

DJ Cam Cam

How loud is the mag trainer? I live in a town house with wood floors with pretty thick walls. But I don't want to make the other houses angry if it sounds like a motorcycle is running inside of a room.

japan

Not that noisy. The only noise you get out of it is from the wheel and the magnet spinning. Loud enough to make it difficult to hear a TV at normal volume (I turn on the subtitles) but in a "white noise" kind of way. It doesn't travel very far.

What can cause problems is vibration, I had a bit of an issue with that because I set it up on a wooden floor, but a couple of sheets of cardboard underneath sorted that out. It turned out to be beneficial, too, because I ride MTBs so using them on the trainer was shaking loose accumulated crap and drivetrain gunk, which only became noticeable after a while.

LavaKnight

I use one that is possibly fluid based. Not really sure, but it has "fluid" in the name! It's kind of loud too, so I wouldn't let that sway your decision. It was a gift for me from my girlfriend, so I'm not really sure how much it cost, but it's great to set up during the icy days and watch shows on hulu while staying in shape!

Pheezer

I have an a frame Elite fluid trainer. It's fucking awesome. I use it on hardwood floors so it's louder than it would be in a newer building or on carpet, and it's quieter than running a coffee grinder. If you turn the tv up a bit past the conversational level you can hear a tv over it.

It's fucking awesome, too. Love it. The Elite a frame can accommodate road tires or mtb tires, it's adjustable.

Pheezer

Oh and I got mine from MEC.ca. Actually a present from their local retail outlet but you can look up the model and specs there. Roller style trainers are better for training but require concentration and are actually pretty hard to use for the first while.

EggyToast

I got a cheap Bell trainer last year and it sounds like a quiet vacuum cleaner. My tires have some slight ridges on them (road bike) and I swap the back tire out for a slick, which reduces the loudness a couple decibels. My wife and I go on the trainers together, and since it's kind of boring, we typically watch TV shows on DVD with the subtitles turned on. We can hear the shows over the trainers but it's difficult to pick up on dialog -- hence the subtitles.

We also got some exercise mats (the square "lock together" kind) that we put under the trainer, and a riser in the front to make the experience more comfortable/easier on the wrists. We bought the cheapest kind on Amazon and are happy with them.

spazmojack

if space is not an issue at your place, consider just picking up a walmart quality mountain bike. i did this a few years ago: rather than spending a few hundred on a trainer, i spent $150 on a shoddy mountain bike that i could ride out in snow and ice, beat the shit out of and not feel too bad about it. not sure how inclined you are to venture out in the cold, personally i would rather be outside as i feel like like i've accomplished something covering some ground. but i was still able to keep my legs in shape, plus i found it to be pretty fun riding around in the snow.

DJ Cam Cam

spazmojack wrote: »

if space is not an issue at your place, consider just picking up a walmart quality mountain bike. i did this a few years ago: rather than spending a few hundred on a trainer, i spent $150 on a shoddy mountain bike that i could ride out in snow and ice, beat the shit out of and not feel too bad about it. not sure how inclined you are to venture out in the cold, personally i would rather be outside as i feel like like i've accomplished something covering some ground. but i was still able to keep my legs in shape, plus i found it to be pretty fun riding around in the snow.

I want to train on the road bike I have now. Its a small seat to I want to get used to sitting on it. Nothing worse then coming back to the bike after a winter and getting sore as hell in my ass area for a few weeks.

My bike shop has this one in stock and I think I may get it. There is a display model there that you can even try riding on. The price doesn't seem bad. After getting into road biking I'm getting used to large costs on things.
http://www.saris.com/p-310-mag.aspx