Best Bang For The Buck Trainer
 

I have a Trek Emonda SL-5 and haven't ridden it much because of health issues.

Looking for a good trainer so I can build some strength back into my legs.

Suggestions?

I like the Elite quobo fluid. Simple and quiet rubber type roller.

Who sells it?

Ascent Fluid Trainer CPC-_-Dynamic Searc I have the Ascent trainer from Bike Nashbar. It is well made and should provide years of service. As can be seen in the illustration, the flywheel is very small, 4" in diameter, so that pedaling the bike is not as smooth as pedaling on the road. This week I'm going to remove that flywheel from the trainer and have a machine shop turn a heavier custom one. I'm guessing a 6" flywheel will do what I want. Can't really comlplain much as the price was quite low.

I'm looking for performance first and then, price.

If that's what you're looking for, best bang for the buck is probably a Kurt Kinetic Road Machine if you just want something reliable to spin your legs and get a workout. Best trainer period is the Tacx Neo.

Cycleops or Kurt fluid. Can be had for about $150-200 lightly used on CL or ebay. Definitely fluid over magnetic.

If performance is first, Tacx Neo.

With the addition of a $50 Kurt InRide module, a KK road machine gives usable power figures, albeit Bluetooth only. Mine reads about 5W higher than my stages PM which I consider usable, and there's no need to add a speed/cadence sensor to the bike to use, say, Zwift.

I'd be looking at smart trainers primarily, this seems to be where the market is headed.

PM me if you are interested in a lightly used Tacx Vortex Smart.

This. I've burned through the bearings on two cheap trainers before I finally went for the KKRM.

In addition to being reliable in terms of build quality/robustness, the KKRM is also pretty uniform/predictable in terms of resistance curve, which is valuable from a training standpoint, if you want to sign up for Zwift, TrainerRoad or the like (which you should consider, as it makes the most of your time on the trainer). I haven't looked at new 'dumb' trainers since getting my KK, so maybe others have closed the gap in this regard, but it certainly something to keep in mind.

When I went to the LBS to purchase my new trainer last month I had the KKRM in mind, but I asked them to show me what they had in stock. The guy went in the back and came out with the KKRM and said that they have others, but this is what you want.

PM me if you would like a CycleOps Fluid2. I used it one season. Still have the original box

Shill.

What's the best bang for the buck shill post on this forum?

There was a guy that posted his own ebay listing in the "Hot Deals" thread. That would take the cake if it weren't deleted.

depends on budget of course. my budget was LOW and I ended up with a very nice CycleOps Wind trainer and I'm content with it given the price (I got it for $50 and it was practically new). sure wind trainers are a bit noisier but I have a stereo playing while I ride it in the pain cave so its not much of a distraction. YMMV, obviously. if I had a bigger budget I would have gotten the Kurt though at that time. now?? it would be a smart trainer if I could afford it, but those cost almost as much as the bike I use on it, tough pill to swallow for me.

Kurt kinetic road machine is routinely recommended top 1 or 2 everytime this question is posed. Trust it. And its supported with zwift if you feel the need.

Only two rides so far, but I am happy with my Ascent fluid trainer from Nashbar, around $100 with discounts. I just wanted a simple, inexpensive trainer for rainy day indoor training occasionally.

Kurt Kinetic trainers use a proprietary Bluetooth protocol. While some third party Apps will support this now (such as Zwift) the future is uncertain. KK could close off their protocol so non-KK software is excluded or Zwift could choose to stop supporting non standard protocols. At least with open standards for power and trainer control you are not tied to the whims of the manufacturer or developer closing off support.

For a basic, no frills trainer, I like 1Up
https://www.1upusa.com/product-trainer.html
SMOOTH. Big heavy flywheel so it coasts nicely. Nearly silent.

Kurt has open-sourced their BT protocol, so "closing" it isn't really a risk. There is, in fact, no "standards body approved" BT protocol for smart trainers, just the de facto Wahoo standard (which is closed and requires purchasing a development license for access). The real problem is a complete lack of support for ANT+, which means no Garmin compatibility. If Kurt had provided ANT+ power and FE-C in addition to their own BT protocol, no one would have complained.

Last fall their software lead took a very hard-line "ANT+ is technically inferior and supporting it is beneath us" position on the DC Rainmaker review. He basically dismissed any desire to use your Garmin (or any ANT+ sensors) when on the trainer as "nonsense".

I love my old KK Road Machine, but the biggest advantage of the legacy machines was the leak-proof fluid unit with a relatively stable and carefully road-tuned power curve. The new KK trainers have neither (reliant on electronic resistance and software to provide the resistance curve). Combine that with an outrageous upgrade price and complete unit prices that are no better than other smart trainers and the company's "only a moron would still use a 3.5mm headphone jack" attitude and it's hard to make a case in favor of the new KK machines.

There's no need to buy any KK software (Inride) to use the Road Mach (non-smart) with Zwift. Zwift supports the KK Road Mach and your choice of a wheel sensor (Ant+ or BT) so the reference to KK software (Inride?) is irrelevant.. don't buy it. Zwift calcs the virtual power which is what a good portion of riders are doing anyway with Zwift.

Zwift supports other fluid trainers and they're are all good value. KK Road mach has shown to be among the most popular so there's zero worries with Zwift suddenly not supporting it. After you get bored stand-alone riding, you can add a wheel sensor of your choice and you're able to take advantage of virtual rides using Zwift.

It took me all of 5 minutes from first time Zwift startup to recognize my HR, Cad, Wheel (all Wahoo) using BT and start riding with virtual power. As an fyi; all Wahoo sensors are BT/Ant+ capable so I could hook it up with an Ant+ dongle also. Again, I am not boxed in with any KK software.