kini62

For anyone who uses or has used a Cycleops, Kurt, Elite, Performance or Nashbar branded fluid trainer did you experience:

Little or light resistance when the unit is cold?

A noticeable increase in resistance as the unit heats up?

And most importantly (to me) a period of substantial vibration as the unit heats up?

I'm on my 3rd Blackburn Tech Fluid (the new for 2010 model). The first one was clearly defective as it howled like a banshee.

The 2nd one was quiet, but like the first one, it starts out cold with little resistance, spinning at 20mph pretty easy and then at about 7-8 minutes in the vibrations started. Short bursts progressing to constant vibration by 11-12 minutes in and then gradually subsiding and going away by 16-18 minutes. During the period of vibration the resistance increases and steadies off after the vibrations stop.

The 3rd unit is similar. Little to light resistance when cold, but this unit seems to heat up faster as the vibrations kick in sooner at about 4-5 minutes in, progress faster and go away quicker. But I still have about 5 minutes worth of vibration.

The resistance on the 3rd unit is noticeably greater than the other 2 and much higher than being on the road. I can hit 20mph on this 3rd unit but only for a couple minutes whereas on the road 20 mph on a flat road is light cruising.

My LBS contacted Blackburn about the 2nd trainer and they told him that the period of vibration was "normal". After complaining again they credited the LBS and he gave me this 3rd unit.

I'm not happy with this one either as it still vibrates and the resistance is off (compared to the others).

So is this vibrating and light start off resistance "normal" for a fluid trainer or does Blackburn have a design flaw or manufacturing issue?

Thanks for the help.
Gene

jrobe

I have ridden my Kurt Kinetic for as long as 5 1/2 hrs at a time (insane I know) and there is absolutely no change with time.

Just get a Kurt Kinetic and you grandchildren will have to figure out what to do with a perfectly good trainer when they send you to the nursing home.

midgetmaestro 

+1

NickDavid

Gene,

I had a Blackburn Track Stand Ultra. Went to sh1t. They sent me this new Ultra Fluid. I jump on and love it at first. Then, 10 minutes in, it vibrates like my gf's magic wand. Emailed Blackburn and they tell me it's normal to vibrate. "There's a warm up period."

What a load of sh1t. I'll never buy blackburn products again. Junk!

Let me know what happens with your blackburn. I'm considering pussing this issue further with them.

kini62

Nick, exactly how I ended up in BB hell. Ultra POS to the tech fluid POS. My problem is that there are only 2 bikes shops here and they both sell BB. I'm seriously thinking of a refund at this point and just eating the shipping I'd have to pay on a Kurt. Thanks for the confirmation that BB is full of ****. Normal to vibrate enough to shake the house and wake tha dog? What a joke.

NickDavid

Yea dude. I live in a tiny apartment on the 2nd floor. I actually feel bad about the vibration because I'm sure it pissed my neighbors off. A rubber mat helps, but shouldn't be mandatory for this thing.

K&K_Dad

I have a Performance brand, var resistance unit. I've noticed no change other than resistance drops a little the warmer it gets but not much. I also have a fan pointed at the resistance unit to try to keep off some of the heat(don't really want the kids touching it when it gets hot.)

dmp

agree with no problems whatsoever with the Kurt Kinetics.

agarose2000

CycleOps fluid 2 also excellent. No problems, even resistance.

midgetmaestro 

They are excellent but at some point they will fail as opposed to KK's design that is guaranteed to never fail....

KK has a lifetime unconditional warranty on both the frame and the resistance unit, so even if you fell over on it and damaged something, they would replace it

I used to own a Fluid2 but I have now been converted.

gbg

I have a Kurt Kinetic and the marketing hype is that the fluid they use is not affected by temperature,
that is, the viscosity is consistant hot or cold. So the only thing you need to increase the resistance is to increase your speed, no
adjusment dohickys needed. I found this to be true, but what I really liked is my heart rate on the trainer (at any given mph) seemed to
be very close to my heart rate actually riding outside at the same mph.

Carbon Unit

I bought a demo model Kurt and am very impressed with it. It works as advertised. I think a used Kurt would be better than almost any other manufacturer's new machine.

kini62

Thanks for the replies. I'm going to see if my LBS will take this POS back and order a Kurt for me. They're not a Kurt dealer though so I don't know if they can.

Gene

AngryScientist 

if anything there should be more resistance cold, as viscosity of fluid goes down when temperature goes up. i have never owned a blackburn product that didnt suck btw.

challaday

Another positive impression of the Kurt Kinetic here. I put quite a few hours on the trainer and it is always rock-solid and just works. Isn't that about the best endorsement you can give something? It works so well you don't really think about it.

jrobe

Here is a good place to buy a KK. 15% off with the coupon code.

https://bicycleoutfittersindy.com/index.htm

banerjek

I get all 3 of these things on the Performance fluid trainer that I've been using a number of years. The vibration isn't that bad and I only get it when I'm really working the top gears hard after the unit is fully heated up. I've been reasonably happy with it and don't have plans to change unless it really starts misbehaving.

HDK

Join R.E.I. 20% off and free shipping on orders of $75. OR get the badger from Bikes Sport Michigan. I believe that's the name.

HDK

StanSeven

That's good to know but wouldn't make a buy decision on life time warranties for bike equipment. The improvements in the last few years are amazing. I hate to think about riding a trtainer from 10 years ago compared to what's out now

Jed19

mmmdonuts

I've had 1st and 2nd generation CycleOps fluid. No vibration with either and they both warmed up 8-12 minutes into the session in cold weather. The increase in resistance is very subtle, much less than a single (tooth) gear shift. I think the first one had an impeller failure or leaked fluid, I can't remember which. The second one is going strong.

kini62

Yea, the same outfit the screwed me out of $72 in shipping they were supposed to refund me for my first defective Tech Fluid. No thanks.

jsmonet

that's where I got mine.

my ONE and only gripe about my kurt is that using it is boring. trainers ARE boring for the most part, so that's just a given.