Road Cycling - Trainer Recommendation

It's been 3 weeks since I broke my collar bone and now I'm going stir crazy. I’m looking to purchase a trainer and wanted recommendations regarding the various types (wind vs. magnetic vs. fluid) and brands. I went to the gym yesterday and road an upright exercise bike and I could barely walk after sitting on the "tractor seat" for 45-minutes!

Is there a much of a differnce (quality speaking) between wind and fluid trainers (sort of a dumb question as air is a fluid)?

The wind trainers are nice becuase they are cheap and offer non linear resistance. Downside is that they are very loud so don't get one if you want to watch tv, listen to music, or ride while others are close by and wishing to do the same.

Regular mag trainers are nice because they are quiet and only slightly more expensive then the wind ones. Downside is that they off a linear resistance which does not equate to riding on the road. Cyclops has the Magneto however that does have non-linear resistance and is a very nice trainer.

Fluid is the best, quite and non-linear resistance with the highest overall level of resistance out of all the trainers. If you are very strong, then get the fluid. Only downside is price.

I myself use a Cycleops Magneto. I think Cycleops makes the best all around trainer and the Magneto offered everything I wanted at a price significantly less then that of the Fluid. I'm not strong enough to need the higher resistance of the fluid trainers so I'm really happy with my Magneto.

I did a lot of research for about a year reading this forum as well as a few others on this topic. And the one trainer that consistently came up as the best all around trainer was the Cyclops Fluid 2 and thats the one I bought last week. The wind trainers are noisy and will not allow a real high level of work out, their great if your on a low budget and/or are not a very strong rider. I decided against the Cyclops Magneto because it does not have as high of a wattage output as the Fluid 2 and it has more moving parts thus more to break but that's not a big deal because Cyclops has a lifetime warranty on all their trainers. If your an average rider with average skills but you want something thats more challenging than a wind trainer then the Magneto is a good buy and their quiet (so is the Fluid 2). BUT MAKE SURE YOU GET THE MAGNETO AND NOT THE MAGNET TRAINER, the Magneto has a higher workout wattage then the magnet trainer.

Check out 1upUSA. They have a mechanical resistance unit. They are very quiet and give pleanty of resistance. You use the gears on the bike to change the resistance, just like when you really ride. No fluid to leak. Not cheap though. I have had one for almost two years.

I'll give another thumbs-up for the Cyclops Fluid 2. Love mine. Probably the best point for me is the realistic road feel. Also has excellent resistance, plenty smooth, quiet enough to hear the dialogue on cycle training videos, and very solidly built.

My vote goes to the TACX Basic! the one down side is that you have to plug it into a wall socket to get all the bells and whistles, but it has a lot of them that the others don't!

You can adjust "slope" (really resistance from -4 to +9) and it tracks cadence, speed (KMPH or MPH), Watts and does max/average of all of them! It comes with it's own quick release skewer too. About $350. I got mine on like and have had no problems with it what so ever. There is a front wheel thinggy to hold the wheel in place and at the right height that I strongly suggest you get. The other really neat thing is that there are workouts on the www.TACX.nl web site that are good and keep your interest while riding indoors because they make you pay attention to what you are doing instead of spacing off and droning along at the same cadence and speed for two hours.

Good Luck...Bill

I got one of the Blackburn Fluid trainers a couple of years ago. I never really used it that much initially - in fact I didn't get out on the bike much at all due to having 2 small children to entertain. This winter I decided I had to start using the damn thing properly. I have to say that I thoroughly enjoy it. I couldn't afford the Kurt Kinetic fluid trainer at the time and my LBS had this one on sale. The resistance is pretty good and I get a decent workout from it. After a certain amount of time (30 minutes or so) I have noticed that it becomes slightly easier to maintain my cadence - I don't know if this is due to the fluid being pretty much taxed out or me finally hitting my rhythm. Either way, by the time 60 minutes rolls around I'm pretty well cooked. I haven't had any leakage from the drum unit at all. The only problem I've had is with the turn screw that moves the roller up onto the tire. Once I get going, the threads don't hold the screw in place well enough and it'll rotate off the wheel. A small piece of duct tape holds it in place. It hasn't taught me form at all, but it has been a life-saver this winter.

The wind trainer does a great job but is extremely loud; kind of like jet taking off when you get down on it. This makes a bad choice if you plan to listen to music or watch t.v. Magnet is a good choice if you are limited in funds; only slightly more expensive than the wind trainer. No experience on the fluid though I hear they are the best; cost may be prohibitive. I find trainers to be boring but hey, you gotta do something though right? Rollers may be an option once your all healed up; quiet and not as boring. Just my opinion.

Bought a basic Tacx magnetic trainer - works well and the construction quality is good. Boring as anything to use but that's trainers...