erief0g

Hello BF fella's.

I thought about posting this on bianchi's "my DIY roller made it to a blog" but it just didn't fit.

I'm new to biking
I'm new to the forum
I'm new to trainers
I'm 6' and 229 lbs
I've been biking for 3 weeks and I'm doing 55 miles a week. Next week I'll be doing 70 miles a week.

I'm in the market for a trainer or roller as my willpower will drop along with the temperature. I have an affliction that doesn't allow me to let my extremities, especially feet, get cold. I know there is gear to help with this but the consequences are rather dire in my situation without going into specifics. For this reason I feel that the trainer is needed to keep me riding per say even when the weather won't allow.

I posted in the training and nutrition section but it really doesn't get much reading and I have been sticking to this forum as it's specific to my style.

Here are some of the things I've considered in trying to make a smart purchase:

1. I would like an odometer to see how far I've gone. (if I buy a roller my cyclocomputer will do it as the front wheels spins)
2. Internet research says I may want to put a trainer specific tire on if I buy a trainer as they can wear the tire somewhat prematurely. Do you recommend this?
3. I think I would enjoy being able to see cadence as I'm so new to cycling that I think paying attention to cadence could help my overall performance. Haven't researched any trainers that offer this or if it's possible. (my cyclecomputer is limited to the basics)
4. Noise level. Not a real concern as my girlfriend can sleep through both my german shepherds fighting while on the bed she is sleeping in it. lol
5. most likely need a wheel chock and wondered if it would be better to have one with different heights. Does this actually change the workout?

The big thing to consider is cost as well: I haven't confirmed my budget as of yet but I'm looking for the best bang for my buck without going over my budget. Simply put I know that I can't spend more than $350 and if I do spend that much it should offer considerable advantages over the entry level trainers in the sub 150 range.

Help my new found friends and enthusiasts!

And THANK YOU.

Gump

I don't use rollers so can't help there but here's my 2 cents.
Yes to a trainer tire, no sense ruining a good road tire. I use a Cyclops Fluid 2 trainer ($200), it's relatively quiet and provides enough resistance for a good workout. I just mount the censor for my computer to the rear wheel while the bike is on the trainer, works just fine. I use a block to simply keep the bike level.

ill.clyde

No rollers here either.

I don't switch to a trainer tire. Typically what I do is use last year's road tire (set aside when I bought new road tires for the season just ended). I'm cheap. I'm replacing them already. May as well get a winter's use out of it. Right now I've got the previous, previous year's tire available, plus both tires from this year. In the spring I'll put all new tires on the bike.

+1 on swapping the sensor to the rear wheel in winter and I'd definitely get a computer with cadence (you can get a cheap one in the neighborhood of $20 from Nashbar/Performance, etc).


As for noise ... depends on the model.

Wheel chock ... YES! I only use one "size" ... otherwise the slight downward tilt of the bike while on the trainer makes my taint VERY unhappy about 15-20 minutes into a session

erief0g

happen to have a link to that trainer at that price? I've been looking at that trainer specifically and have found it holding around $270 with free shipping. For $200 I think I could jump right now.

Hmm, I didn't realize I could get a cadence meter that cheaply. I'm considering putting my current trek "go time" entry level computer on my girlfriends bike and upgrading mine. I'll make sure it does cadence as well.

cderalow

i think i picked mine up last year from performance with the training block for around $270 when they went on sale (i have the same cyclops fluid 2)

ill.clyde

https://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product...99_-1___202553

$15 with another 15% off I think.

merlinextraligh

Kurt Kinetic is the gold standard.

Although, I have a Cycleops Fluid 2 as well as a KK and either are acceptable.

Speed and miles on a trainer are irrelevent. Time at intensity is what matters.

Although if you don't have a power meter, having a cycle computer than can picck up speed off the rear wheel is useful to the extent you can use speed to extrapolate power from a known power curve for the trainer.

carpediemracing 

I ride indoors year round, for various reasons, and I've been doing that for 15-20 years. My main goal is to be a reasonable racer from March-September and I put in sometimes serious trainer hours in Dec/Jan/Feb.

Based on what I've spent and what I've gotten I'd recommend the following:

- No need for a trainer tire. Just keep the tire inflated to good pressure (I do 100-110 psi every time I get on the trainer) and don't make the roller too tight on the tire (for a trainer). If you have a cut tire or some other "less than perfect" tire then that could be your trainer tire. I just use whatever tire. I don't have a specific trainer wheel so I just stick the bike on the trainer and go.

- Kurt Kinetic Road Machine (the fluid trainer). It's basically identical to the Cyclops Fluid trainer except there is a solid barrier between the fluid resistance unit and the roller axle. Instead of seals there are two sets of magnets, one that moves with the roller axle and one that is inside the fluid unit. You basically eliminate the possibility of leaks. Having gone through two CycleOps fluid units (I'm on my third - it was a warranty freebie) I'd say the KK would be the one I'd buy. In terms of trainer stability the KK and CycleOps share the same frame. There's some kind of connection between the two companies and they use the same extremely stable frame. It's very stable, very good, won't drop you or let you wiggle much.

The fluid bit is very quiet. You don't have to crank things too loud to hear, say, the TV or your DVD or bike clips or whatever. The tire on your roller and your drivetrain, if it's noisy, will make more noise than the fluid unit. Mag is noisier, maybe a food processor (not blender), food mixer, definitely there but not overwhelming. Wind is basically like a vacuum cleaner. Or electric leaf blower. It's noisy. I've had all of them and I only have fluid trainers now.

- I have a CycleOps trainer block thing, 3 heights. It's nicer than using 2x4s etc, which I used to do, because the front wheel doesn't turn/wiggle. I don't use positions other than the lowest because the slight angle difference won't make much of a training difference but it will be a bit disconcerting when you go back on the road (at least it was to me - I did many hours not realizing I wasn't on the lowest one and then went out on the road and the bars were "too low").

- For data I'd get a wired rear wheel computer with cadence. Wireless is fine too. You can pick them up pretty inexpensively. I haven't bought one recently but I'm sure Cateye, Specialized, Bontrager, (other manufacturer's accessory lines) have them. I happened to have had, for the last few, a Cateye and a slew of Specialized (for 4 bikes). My club is sponsored by a Trek/Bontrager shop so I've peeked at the Bontrager line. I don't know about any of the lines offhand.

Hope this helps.

softreset

Although not $200 it's $20 less than what you've found it for (with free shipping) -

https://www.ebay.com/itm/221281815032...84.m1423.l2649

(I'm not the seller, nor affiliated with the seller)

Carbonfiberboy 

I believe rollers with resistance have it all over a trainer. I spend a lot of time on the rollers during the winters of the PNW. Performance has a set of such rollers on sale for ~$350 right now:
https://www.performancebike.com/bikes...21_-1___000000
The reviews on this website are pretty funny. All you need is one level of resistance. That's what gears are for. The chart on the manufacturers website claims a max of about 550 watts, which is fine for your purposes. You can practice sprinting on the road much more effectively than on a trainer, which is really no practice at all.

2 wheeler

I would like to mention a couple of things:

Use an electric fan placed in front of the bike to cool yourself down and to help evaporate sweat. I've seen more than a few trainers and bikes that have serious damage from corrosion. If you really sweat and a fan isn't enough, use some towels to catch the sweat before it can reach the bike or trainer.

Have some form of entertainment available. An MP3 player, TV, stereo, whatever, will help you to pass the time. If you ride rollers, be careful about what you watch: I watched a motorcycle race once and was so into the on-bike camera shots of the motorcycles cornering, that I leaned my bike while on the rollers. The bike and I went right off the rollers and I broke off a carbon fiber seatpost!

erief0g

corrosion due to sweat.. uh oh.. The way it comes off me my bike probably isn't even enjoying my outdoor riding.

pdxtex

if you are just buying something to try out and noise is not an issue, id just pickup a magnetic stand trainer someplace. maybe craigslist or online. fluid trainers are way more quiet so im told but tend to be leaky?? i think this was the old perception of them. those kurt kinetic ones seem to be the gold standard and dont leak over time. i picked up the magnetic travel trac at performance last summer. it was a floor model and the dude threw in a wheel block too. 99 bucks out the door. im 170 and can crank the $%^& out of it without a hitch. it is loud but sturdy. gets good reviews too. i ride about 5K miles a year and the road feel of it is pretty realistic. if you are feeling real fiesty, get rollers. im not there yet. https://www.performancebike.com/bikes...400133__400133

halfspeed

1. You aren't going anywhere on a trainer. A clock is more useful.
2. If you have used tires that are too worn to trust on the road, they make excellent trainer tires.
3. Much less than you think. To improve your performance, research interval training, google HIIT.
4. Fluid > wind
5. Not in any significant way. You'll want to get your wheel up, but multiple heights aren't a big deal. You can always use phone books.

Just get a Kurt Kinetic Road Machine. They aren't hard to find on ebay or Craigslist if you want to save money.

hhnngg1

If you're serious about indoor training, seriously check out Trainerroad.com. It's probably the highest yield bang for buck you get for training, far surpassing any hardware upgrades you make. It's as 'simple' as following the target power (shown on a graph), but there are tons of plans and workouts, and it'll make you suffer. You might THINK you're doing interval work, but with trainerroad.com, you'll really see how much you've been cheating on your bike intervals in the past compared to doing them correctly at %FTP.

You only need a speed/cadence sensor and a USB garmin interface (usually comes with some Garmins) to use Trainerroad. It's as good as a powermeter in terms of training. (The virtualpower is not equivalent to true actual powermeter-measured power, but it doesn't matter since the training is all relative %power.)

bobones

Also check out PeriPedal as a simpler and cheaper alternative to TrainerRoad. I used it last winter coupled with Sufferfest videos and it was great. TrainerRoad is far more sophisticated in terms of training plans, online analysis and social networking, but the core principle is the same. There's a free trial of PeriPedal available too.

hhnngg1

Yes, peripedal does similar (came out later), and there's another one that does multiple computrainers for around $110.

I've tried them all, and honestly, despite the higher cost per year, Trainerroad is far superior to peripedal, in every way and worth paying for. I thought I'd be fine with Peripedal since I was just following wattage, but I found that it was nowhere near as fun to use as TR. The interface, Sufferfest integration, social features to see what others are up to, tracking stats, and online storage are all a lot better on TR than Peripedal.

I will admit though, that as much as I love TR, I don't like their pricing model of $10/month (or even recurring annual fees.) However, they're allegedly doing an entire website overhaul in the next week, so we'll see if I find more things to like about TR.

bobones

I am sure you're right. I've never tried TrainerRoad, and I think it was one of your posts that brought Peripedal to my attention earlier this year, but I paid $35 for a perpetual licence as a beta user so I am set for the winter coming without spending another penny. Just like my supposedly inferior Tacx Satori trainer, it falls into the "good enough" category for me.

bobones

Should probably add that Golden Cheetah does the virtual power thing for free.

hhnngg1

I still have yet to get that GC thing to work for me. I can get it to output virtualpower, but I can't get it to actually show a created workout like Trainerroad, like displaying upcoming power targets.

pdxtex

^^^^yeahhhhh, no. dont get all frazzled over online "training" programs, yet . get a trainer you can afford, pop in a copy of ghostbusters and chug it out for an hour of so. you are still making a positive gain in your fitness. dont overthink cycling right out of the gate. its suppossed to be simple. if you get serious enough then yeah, see what gains you get from online training. but for now, just work on your sea legs. aye aye.

bobones

I haven't tried GC for a while, but the 3,0 betas and final release worked OK for me while I was trying it out coupled with some Sufferfest videos. I wouldn't bother pursuing it if I were you, as I ditched it as soon as I tried the vastly superior PeriPedal.

erief0g

This is great advice and agree. Also, I am bookmarking this thread as well as some of the sites that have been mentioned so I've got that room to grow. You guys are more informative than I could have hoped. You've answered a considerable amount of questions I didn't know I wanted the answers to.

Great work!

hhnngg1

I'd definitely seriously disagree with you here.

Cycling indoors without a plan or without goals or without feedback will last you 3, maybe 4 workouts TOPS before you never come back again due to boredom. While this 'ride unplanned' strategy works great outdoors where you can enjoy the scenery, it's a definite recipe for a total fail indoors. Get that speedo , or preferably HR+cadence + trainerroad, (or best, powermeter + trainerroad but that's $$$), and a good setup, and you can really hammer all winter long and actually improve.

I tried the indoor 'just ride to a random video' technique a few years ago and lasted 2 weeks. Then I hated cycling and indoor training so much that I didn't touch the bike until the next spring.

Give it a shot, just use a simple starter setup, but be well aware that you can really pump that setup to an awesome training 'lab' with a very small amount of inexpensive hardware.

2 wheeler

^^^THIS^^^

^^^NOT THIS^^^

Everyone is different, with different motivations and goals. Some people want to keep some level of fitness over the winter and not get fat. Some people feel the desire to be competitive with their buddies next spring or be KOM on Strava or prepare for the Tour de France....

I ride rollers during the winter and do it to keep some fitness and not get fat. I don't ride competitively or use any electronic "stuff" except a CatEye computer. At 60, I see things differently than in my "rocket" days.

Different people, different goals.