derath

I am considering a purchase of a trainer. I figured with the end of season sales I could pick one up cheaper than usual.

My reasoning, is that I have gotten into riding alot more in the last year and want to keep increasing my fitness level. I also have a busy job, busy family life etc. So I often run out of good times to ride outside. Once the weather gets a bit better at night I will be able to resume my "put my daughter to bed at 8, on the road by 8:15pm ride" But sometimes this doesnt even work

Like tonight, my wife had a baby shower to go to (hers, son is on the way, 6 more weeks). So even after I got my daughter to bed I can't really leave the house for an hour to ride.

So at least a trainer I could pull out in the family room and spin in front of the TV.

My concern is wear on the tires. I much prefer riding outside, don't we all, but I could see myself using a trainer 4-5 hours a week as well. The thought of swapping out my rear tire all the time. But I also don't want to tear up my tires fast. I am running Specialized Armadillos at the moment. (also trying to combine items, like getting to work and riding).

Am I just being paranoid? Will 4 hours a week on the trainer kill my tires noticably faster?

Speaking of which, I was looking into the CycleOps fluid 2. It is on sale at Performance. Plus I have a $10 off coupon for this weekend. And then in addition I have some team performance bucks I could apply. I think I have heard good things about this one.

https://www.performancebike.com/shop/...tegory_ID=4120


thanks

-D

NomadVW 

rollers

trackasaurus

my 2 cents-
Rollers:
quieter
less wear on tires
a bit hard to get used to. no make that hard to get used to.
small danger factor
no variable resistance while on bike
bigger storage space

Trainer:
noisy / noisier at least
wear tire fast
easy to get used to
no danger factor
compact (slides under couch)

I use a trainer thru the winter. I have a small apt, so it stays stowed under the couch. it's noisy, but i like it for the ability to vary the resistance for specific workouts. during the spring, when temps are very variable (spring snow anyone?) i have an old wheel set up with a trainer tire, and swap the whole wheel out when i'm condemned to cycle indoors.

i used to have a set of rollers, but i could never get that comfy on them.

all in all, a trainer seems to be a bit more of a hassle, with the noise, tire wear, and setup. However, put it this way rollers- had em for 2 years and used maybe 6 times. Trainer, had all winter, used it for workouts 3 days a week. A training tool is no good if you never use it.

Sprocket Man

A possible solution would be to buy another rear wheel that you can use strictly for your trainer. Since it will be for the trainer only, buy the cheapest one you can find. Also, buy another cassette. Then, when you go outdoors, just do a wheel swap.

If you consider rollers, I'd take a little time to try them out before you buy - they're not for everyone. Personally, I can see the value in using rollers, but I don't like to use them. It requires a more intense level of concentration which makes it very tiring. The longest I've gone on rollers is 45 minutes, and I was totally exhausted. However, I can easily do an hour or more on my trainer.

The trainer is the way to go if you have limited daylight to ride outdoors. I spend a little over 4 hours a week on my trainer, and I love it.

Mo-bile

I just bought a CyleOps2 Fluid Trainer this year and really like it. I also bought a special rear tire made just for use on trainers--a Continental Ultra Sport Hometrainer (it's orange!). Seems to work well.

TomMc1

You may want to pick up a steel skewer as well if you go the trainer router. I just got a CycleOps fluid2 this month and it comes with one so if you go with that model you'll be all set.

I've only used it 4 times, each time for about an hour of riding and haven't noticed any particular wear on my tire no signs of any rubber residue on the trainer wheel.

The manual says to tighten the trainer 2-2.5 additional turns once it comes into contact with the wheel. I have found that I only need to tighten in 1.5-2 turns. In previous threads where folks have talked about tire issues on trainers, others have suggested that they may have too much pressure on the tire. You may find that your regular tire will be fine.

998

My 2 cents. I have a cycleops 2 fluid. I ended up going the spare rear wheel route. The thing eats tires. You could stick with your standard wheel but you'd be switching tires unless you don't mind road riding on a tire with a nice flat band down the center. Once its eaten a bit of the tire the wear seems to level off. Tried the continental trainer specific tire. Big big big mistake. It is certainly more convenient to get a second, trainer specific rear wheel and just put old tires you don't mind trashing on it.

Flywolf

I also bought a cycleops fluid 2 trainer, best cycling investment I have made so far, the weather have been nasty and living in the upper midwest I use it a lot, so far about 850 miles or so and no tire rubber is found anywhere.

Was wondering, do you have an older bike or a mtn bike you can set up and use it solely for the trainer?, I have slick kenda tires on my mtn bike and using it on the trainer (don't have the heart to beat my carbon bike on the trainer), it works very good, after 850 miles the tire still looks new.

here is my setup

Good luck

derath

DOH,

Why didnt I even think of that. I could put my Mtn Bike on the trainer. At least for now. Hopefully I would like to use it as a Mtn bike again, now that I have a road bike. But with my limited time I doubt I will anyway.

-D

C_Heath

No matter which, get one. I ate bad yesterday and felt guilty. Like you, I had a daughter home from school and while she napped, I rode 30 minutes. The guilt from pigging out on spaghetti (even tho it was wheat ) would not go away so the wife and all kids were asleep around 9:30 and from 10:06 to 11:06 I pounded the hell out of my trainer while watching the Uconn game. I looked like I had been in a pool fully clothed but I felt like a machine when I got finished. Burnt 1200 calories yesterday on the trainer and didnt feel so bad about that wheat spaghetti.

Get one!

derath

Yea that was kinda my thinking. Of course by the same token, I have a Nordictrack that works too. not Cycling but a good workout. But a trainer would help my cycling form. Plus give me some variety. Nordictrack gets boring. And I imagine the trainer does too

-D

DrPete 

I had a pair of Kreitler rollers for a while, and I was kinda turned off by them because they required so much concentration. That's great if you want that, but I found myself just wanting to be able to spin the pedals after work without crashing into furniture.

So I bought a Fluid2 and I've been very happy with it as well. I'm so happy that I can zone out and just spin for a while without fearing for my life.

DrPete

TomMc1

derath - +1 on the NordicTrack. I bought my trainer because I have gotten so tired of going down to the basement for a NordicTrack session. Even with watching cycling.tv, it has gotten very boring to do.

tate

I'm in the exact same boat as you family wise. I have four kids all under the age of seven. Here's how I worked out the trainer situation. When I realized that I had to have a trainer, I did too much internet research and then finally settled on one from 1upusa.com. It has been super quite and can really kick my butt if I want it to. I went ahead and rode it all winter with tires that I knew I'd be replacing in the Spring. I also kept my mountain bike "road ready" for those special days when I actually could get outside. Recently the weather has been nice enough to get the road bike off the trainer and back on the road. I couldn't resist putting my new Shwalbe racing tires on it. I certainly will not be putting those babies on my trainer, it would shred them. I found myself thinking I needed a new rear wheel with a junk tire on it for a quick swap out, but I didn't want to spend the money. Eventually I realized I had enough junk parts laying around to build up a junky old "beater" bike. So long story short, I have three great options. 1. Road Bike for good weather outside riding, 2. Mountain Bike for inclimate outside riding, and finally 3. Old junky bike on trainer for super early, super late, super being a dad or super icy days. Best of luck to you as you figure this situation out.

NomadVW 

This no variable resistance isn't just a little wrong, it's completely wrong.

If you purchase rollers which you can get on in your top gear and spin easily, you purchased rollers that are too easy for you, or you need to get a resistance unit for that company's rollers. Kreitler and Minoura both offer it, though I have a friend with Kreitler who is a solid rider and with the smaller diameter rollers he still doesn't use the killer headwind.

I own Minoura Super Mag's, and I spin in 42x17 easily. I never get in the 53 ring, because the range of 42x17 through 42x12 provides all the resistance I need. This is all on the lowest resistance setting on the magnetic unit.

Don't be fooled into thinking you can't get resistance. Rollers are mega quiet even with resistance. It took me 4-5 rides to get really comfortable, but two months to be happy taking them out of the comfort zone of a hallway. They've done amazing things for my ability to keep a line and I can hear my spin evened out from before when I'd always here the "vroom-vroom" of my mashing style - to almost a nice continuous hum.

Plus, the real feeling of riding keeps you entertained. I've used them up to 4 days a week, but am usually only on them at most 1-2 days a week. I fold them up and take them to the local gym during my kids' Judo class now on Wednesdays and ride them next to a treadmill. Gets a lot of looks, but it's a lot more fun than sitting on a stationary bike.

VW

uga8589

I bought a Fluid 2 trainer last fall and spent the winter using it and I love it. I really consider it one of the best things that I have done for my overall cycling skill and fitness in a long time.

Raketmensch

I've got a Kurt Kinetic trainer, and I love it. If you just put your head down and hammer, a trainer can indeed get pretty boring. But there are ways you can have fun with it. Some of my workouts are keyed to the music that I play when I ride... I pedal in time with the music, and select the tempo/pedal cadence and gear ratio to give me a particular wattage profile during the workout. Sometimes, I'll just do goofy stuff... put on a concert video, and sprint like hell every time there's a guitar solo, or something like that. Something I've started doing lately -- with a little math to make sure I get it right -- is simulate various hill climbs on the trainer. This evening I simulated a 10% grade monster that's about ten miles from my house and that I'm planning to start riding regularly once the snow is gone around here... setting the gear ratio and cadence to match what I'd have to do on the hill, and even putting some bricks under the riser block to get the tilt of the bike right. And sometime in the next few weeks I'm thinking of simulating one of the classic climbs -- like maybe l'Alpe d'Huez -- on the trainer.

None of this is nearly as good as getting on the road, of course! But when it's fifteen degrees outside and the roads are covered with snow, it can still be fun if you get a little creative. I have no experience on rollers, and can't vouch for them one way or another. But if you live in a climate that isn't conducive to year-round cycling, a good fluid trainer can be a very worthwhile investment.

And I haven't had a big problem with tires. I've got two bikes... a nice road bike with quality tires, and a steel beater with pretty heavy-duty tires. I ride the beater on the trainer, and just set the carbon rocket across the room where I can see it for inspiration.

derath

Well after much internal debate, I decided to get


Rollers

I dunno, they just seem to be a bit better for me right now.

Quieter(always better)
less wear on tires.(negates my need to swap wheels or bikes)
It will help my technique.
Hopefully less boring, more things to work on.

I don't really need pure strength, although I could add a resistance thing to the rollers anyhow. My outside rides are quite hilly, and I go to the gym and hit some weights as part of my exercise.

thanks everyone for your input.

-D

ericgu

I was going to buy a cycle-ops, and then I looked more at their design. They use a couple of o-rings to seal the shaft that goes into the fluid unit.

O-rings can do many things, but you can't expect them to hold back that fluid in that sort of application for that long.

I ended up with a Kurt Kinetic trainer, which uses magnets to couple the main shaft to the shaft in the fluid resistance unit. Elegant solution, should last forever.

trackasaurus

right on. good luck.

i'm sure that the aformentioned benefits will reap great rewards later.... staying a line, core strength etc...

one tip. go very light on the hands. hold the bar tops like they're made out of paper mache. riding with your upper body makes it ten times harder.

i'm also psyched cause the investment in booties, cold weather tights and fenders is paying off right now!