Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - Trainer Recommendations?

Looking to get an indoor trainer. Since I don't want to end up on top of my wife's piano, a roller is out of the question.

What models do you suggest?

Thanks

Looking to get an indoor trainer. Since I don't want to end up on top of my wife's piano, a roller is out of the question.

What models do you suggest?

Thanks

I had thought about setting the rollers up on the piano. I'll have to try that.

I would suggest rollers if you want to get better at your riding skills. If you want a trainer, I would buy the best you can afford. It will depend upon whether you want the best or just want something to ride on and how many miles you plan on putting on it. I have thousands of miles on my rollers and only a few hundred on my trainer. I love using the rollers compared to the trainer.

I'm currently goin thru the reviews on youtube to narrow my own search down.
Pretty good info on some of them.

youtube trainer reviews (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Qn9pdjiHZE)

While I can get into spin classes at my gym, I find sitting alone in the basement on my trainer akin to flogging myself with a cat-o-nine-tails while chanting holy scriptures. Not that there is anything wrong with that either, if you are into that sort of thing. Its just that without the scenery and skill needed to ride outside, or the competitive comaraderie you get in a group spin class...cycling in one place and alone is boring and tortuous. There does not seem to be a "point", and it is too easy for my mind to wander and not work out as hard. I don't like it.

I have a very old turbo trainer. It lets me run my road bike with smaller gears. Its noisy and boring But, I do have a mp3 player that I set up a "road" mix that has a set of songs that really helps me go a bit faster. I also have a box fan in front of me but since my garage is not heated very well (50 degrees) I haven't had to turn it on yet.

Mike Frye the bike guy

While I can get into spin classes at my gym, I find sitting alone in the basement on my trainer akin to flogging myself with a cat-o-nine-tails while chanting holy scriptures. Not that there is anything wrong with that either, if you are into that sort of thing. Its just that without the scenery and skill needed to ride outside, or the competitive comaraderie you get in a group spin class...cycling in one place and alone is boring and tortuous. There does not seem to be a "point", and it is too easy for my mind to wander and not work out as hard. I don't like it.

I ride rollers when the weather is bad and it really is a chore but not so bad as trainers. At least with rollers one is actually riding a bike. Honestly, I can't really do it for more than 20-30 minutes without losing my will to live. I am trying to up that amount but it is coming slowly.

While I can get into spin classes at my gym, I find sitting alone in the basement on my trainer akin to flogging myself with a cat-o-nine-tails while chanting holy scriptures. Not that there is anything wrong with that either, if you are into that sort of thing. Its just that without the scenery and skill needed to ride outside, or the competitive comaraderie you get in a group spin class...cycling in one place and alone is boring and tortuous. There does not seem to be a "point", and it is too easy for my mind to wander and not work out as hard. I don't like it.

I've been able to actually start enjoying the trainer by using a Garmin/HR monitor to vary the workouts and set some goals. It's still not riding outside, but the competition with the clock / trying to go faster or futher makes it work for me.

to the OP's question - most anything will work, but I think the fluid, or if you can put up with the noise, wind trainers offer more realistic resistance (it varies with speed).

If you want to buy a trainer, the commonly accepted wisdom is that fluid trainers are better than mag trainers, and mag trainers are better than wind trainers.

If you're going to buy a fluid trainer, the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine (http://www.kurtkinetic.com/roadmachine.php) is the one to buy. Everybody says it's the best, supposedly it never leaks, and customer service is reported to be good. The Road Machine is relatively quiet, though it does generate noise. The resistance curve is well-calibrated, which means that you can compute how much power you're producing by monitoring your speed. Kurt sells a relatively expensive bike computers (http://www.kurtkinetic.com/power-computers-c-22-l-en.html) which will do this for you, or you can look-up the data (http://www.kurtkinetic.com/powercurve.php) on their website. Supposedly the resistance curve closely mimics real-world riding. This may be true, but you won't forget for a minute that you're riding on a trainer.

If you decide to buy a Road Machine, shop around for deals. MSRP is pretty high. There are usually deals to be found on eBay and occasionally from other on-line vendors. The unit is heavy, so free shipping could end up being quite a bargain...

I have my rollers in the basement and put a movie in the DVD player and run the sound through my stereo to my head phones and I can ride for as long as I want. Watching the movie is pretty good way to make it happen for me. The problem is that when they get into a car chase or sometimes a Star Wars battleship fight, I almost go off of my rollers because I move to much. :-) I know of others with DVD players on their laptops do the same thing and put the laptop on a table in front of their trainer/rollers.

If you want to buy a trainer, the commonly accepted wisdom is that fluid trainers are better than mag trainers, and mag trainers are better than wind trainers.

If you're going to buy a fluid trainer, the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine (http://www.kurtkinetic.com/roadmachine.php) is the one to buy. Everybody says it's the best, supposedly it never leaks, and customer service is reported to be good. The Road Machine is relatively quiet, though it does generate noise. The resistance curve is well-calibrated, which means that you can compute how much power you're producing by monitoring your speed. Kurt sells a relatively expensive bike computers (http://www.kurtkinetic.com/power-computers-c-22-l-en.html) which will do this for you, or you can look-up the data (http://www.kurtkinetic.com/powercurve.php) on their website. Supposedly the resistance curve closely mimics real-world riding. This may be true, but you won't forget for a minute that you're riding on a trainer.

If you decide to buy a Road Machine, shop around for deals. MSRP is pretty high. There are usually deals to be found on eBay and occasionally from other on-line vendors. The unit is heavy, so free shipping could end up being quite a bargain...

Agree that the Kinetic Road Machine is the one and that the common wisdom is that the order of quality is Wind > Magnetic > Fluid.

But, I'm not sure I agree that magnetic is really better than wind from a resistance standpoint. Unless it has some sort of fancy smancy mechanism magnetic resistance is going to be constant (aka not increase as your speed increases). Both wind and fluid do this. Wind is freggin noisy, but the resistance is good and the simplicity means durability.

I really want a Kenetic Fluid trainer, but I have an old wind trainer and like it X the fact I need to run my iPod at pretty high volume. I think this chart does a good job of showing the different types of resistance....(shows how the magnetic is constant/linear vs. the fluid and wind being non linear as speed increases).

I use a Minoura VFS-G (non remote) I like it quite well. Very easy to use, no tension adjustments to fuss with.

But, I'm not sure I agree that magnetic is really better than wind from a resistance standpoint.
Wind is freggin noisy, but the resistance is good and the simplicity means durability.

Agree that wind trainers have decent resistance. The reason most people hate them is, as you've pointed out, that they make a tremendous amount of noise. If you live alone in a single family-house this might not be much of an issue. If you have family or live in an apartment, however, you may find that there is less... resistance... to a mag or fluid trainer :D

I use the Cycleops Jet Fluid Pro trainer. As trainers go it is just fine. I am looking seriously at the roller from 1 Up USA called eMotion roller for the next winter season.