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02-13-08, 12:01 AM
(Note: this is cross-posted (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=387599) from the road cycling forum)
After a week of futzing with it, I'm returning my blackburn trakstand ultra trainer. Going with the Kinetic Road Machine. Basically, the friction pad fades on me, and I already have rollers for spinning work - I don't need a trainer for the same job. Even with all six ballbearings in it, the resistance would fade to basically nothing after about 30 minutes.
I am always interested in why these things happen. I think there are some key issues with the Blackburn. I should note that Blackburn licenses the centrifrugal clutch mechanism from 1up USA (http://www.1upusa.com/), so some of these comments may relate to 1up's trainer as well.
First, Blackburn (and I don't know if the 1up did this as well) tends not to use materials which can withstand the high temperature of the rotor (that resistance is all dissipated as heat through the flywheel). For instance, the three posts that lock the flywheel in place are covered in a soft rubber material which gets tacky when hot, so the flywheel doesn't repond to pressure from the ball bearings as well as it should. These posts should be covered with a teflon bushing, ideally, to withstand the heat and to keep the part slippery.
Second, the design just inherently does not dissipate heat really well. The glazing that some people who've had experience with the BB trainer experience is because the brake pad material gets hot and melts a little. It is hot enough that the stainless steel of the flywheel becomes tarnished and the friction pad material changes color from green to red, in other words, it burns. They've tried to mitigate this problem by cutting holes in the roller, but this is not designed really well either and there is no mechanism for directing air to flow through the holes. Plus, because the flywheel is made of stainless steel, by way of the material properties, it doesn't dissipate heat really well either because steel, and especially stainless, isn't really very conductive to heat compared to materials such as aluminum.
Overall, I'm panning this trainer. Don't buy it. From what I'm hearing through the interweb, my problems with the resistance fading is a common problem and are not recified by calling in the warrenty service. They will replace the part, but the problem comes back. I feel that these are problems that are inherent to the trainer's design. Hence, I have not called Blackburn about these problems because it is the prime season for interval work and I'm not going to spend weeks trying to work out problems on a product that should work perfectly out of the box.
I want to note that these might not be problems that are common in the 1up design, from which the Blackburn design is based on. 1up pays more attention to details, and they may be using better materials. The BB design is sourced in China and they may have taken some cost cutting measures involving the friction pad material and other design features. 1up also has many more years of experience with the design than does Blackburn, so they may have solved some or all of these problems. 1up still owns their design (Blackburn simply licenses it out), so 1up is still in the business of improving their product - indeed, they have a strong motivation to do so since they are licensing a version of their unit to a direct competitor.
So, if you are wanting a trainer, I'd stick with fluid and I've heard good things about the Kurt Kinetic. If you are enamored with the centrifrugal clutch mechanism, buy the 1up trainer rather than Blackburn's version.
After a week of futzing with it, I'm returning my blackburn trakstand ultra trainer. Going with the Kinetic Road Machine. Basically, the friction pad fades on me, and I already have rollers for spinning work - I don't need a trainer for the same job. Even with all six ballbearings in it, the resistance would fade to basically nothing after about 30 minutes.
I am always interested in why these things happen. I think there are some key issues with the Blackburn. I should note that Blackburn licenses the centrifrugal clutch mechanism from 1up USA (http://www.1upusa.com/), so some of these comments may relate to 1up's trainer as well.
First, Blackburn (and I don't know if the 1up did this as well) tends not to use materials which can withstand the high temperature of the rotor (that resistance is all dissipated as heat through the flywheel). For instance, the three posts that lock the flywheel in place are covered in a soft rubber material which gets tacky when hot, so the flywheel doesn't repond to pressure from the ball bearings as well as it should. These posts should be covered with a teflon bushing, ideally, to withstand the heat and to keep the part slippery.
Second, the design just inherently does not dissipate heat really well. The glazing that some people who've had experience with the BB trainer experience is because the brake pad material gets hot and melts a little. It is hot enough that the stainless steel of the flywheel becomes tarnished and the friction pad material changes color from green to red, in other words, it burns. They've tried to mitigate this problem by cutting holes in the roller, but this is not designed really well either and there is no mechanism for directing air to flow through the holes. Plus, because the flywheel is made of stainless steel, by way of the material properties, it doesn't dissipate heat really well either because steel, and especially stainless, isn't really very conductive to heat compared to materials such as aluminum.
Overall, I'm panning this trainer. Don't buy it. From what I'm hearing through the interweb, my problems with the resistance fading is a common problem and are not recified by calling in the warrenty service. They will replace the part, but the problem comes back. I feel that these are problems that are inherent to the trainer's design. Hence, I have not called Blackburn about these problems because it is the prime season for interval work and I'm not going to spend weeks trying to work out problems on a product that should work perfectly out of the box.
I want to note that these might not be problems that are common in the 1up design, from which the Blackburn design is based on. 1up pays more attention to details, and they may be using better materials. The BB design is sourced in China and they may have taken some cost cutting measures involving the friction pad material and other design features. 1up also has many more years of experience with the design than does Blackburn, so they may have solved some or all of these problems. 1up still owns their design (Blackburn simply licenses it out), so 1up is still in the business of improving their product - indeed, they have a strong motivation to do so since they are licensing a version of their unit to a direct competitor.
So, if you are wanting a trainer, I'd stick with fluid and I've heard good things about the Kurt Kinetic. If you are enamored with the centrifrugal clutch mechanism, buy the 1up trainer rather than Blackburn's version.