Returned my Kurt Kinetic.
 

Took it back to REI this afternoon. I had it for 10 days and put 120 miles on it. I really didn't like it.

Today it was 100F in Orange County and I went to change my rear tire and get the trainer out and instead I told my wife to hell with that and I had some beer instead. That's when I knew it wouldn't be working out.

I took it back and will just HTFU. I'd rather ride in winter, rain, cold, heat, whatever, than sit on that damn thing and pedal away. It took leaps and bounds to get my heart rate to 150bpm whereas on a ride into the mountains I'm pegged at 170 and having a blast.

Sorry trainer. We were never meant to be.

I'm surprised they even sell them in SoCal!

That makes you. And pretty much only you. Kinetic is a godsend to those of us in Minnesota.

I hear you. If I had worse weather I'd be on it. I didn't want to ride in 100 degree weather today (whaaaaaaa!) and hated changing the rear tire. There are like 10 days in the entire winter that are too windy/wet to require indoor riding and I figure I'll just take those days off.

It will be 88 tomorrow and I'll head out into the morning. Classic case of SoCal wuss needing to HTFU. Glad I patronize REI all the time - awesome return policies.

Does that even qualify as HTFUing?

I sold my first one and then took my second one back. Once I got serious about riding, I realized that trainers are a necessary evil. It's been a great on the rare occassional rain or when I don't get home until after dark. I figure I'll be on it at least once during the week and on any rainy weekend morning. HTFU would be keeping the trainer and riding it. Selling it is the weak man's way out.

no one in SOCAL should be complaining about weather...no matter WHAT

:lol:

I travel for work non-stop. Covered North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota last year as part of my territory. Was in Fargo for a -38F windchill day and my hands stung from the walk from my hotel door to my rental car - all of about 20 feet. This SoCal boy learned fast to take the 15 seconds to put gloves on no matter how short the duration of your outdoor stay.

Whenever I'd return back from a trip and it would be 58 at night I'd laugh and think about how I really need to HTFU.

I am in So Cal and I ride my Kurt Kinetics Road Machine almost every day. If it wasn't for the trainer, I would only be able to ride on the weekends and that is not enough. I do sometimes put lights on my bike and ride at night but it take much more time than just jumping on the trainer and putting in a Spinervals DVD.

By the way, it isn't difficult to get your heart rate up as high as you want. Just shift to the big chain ring and the 12 cog on the back and turn the cranks at 100 RPMS, you will be sweating and your heat rate will go up.

Without the Spinervals DVDs, I couldn't ride the trainer ether.

Agreed. I've got 4 of them. Three are 45min-1 hour long for after and one is 2 1/2. I still haven't used it, but have it in reserve for the wet weekend mornings.

I hate to drag theology into this, and I realize it may get the thread moved to P&R, but....

Trainers are of the Devil, and Coach Troy is the spawn of Satan.

Just sayin'.

Even if you live in a temperate winter climate, it still get's dark early. So if you work a regular day job, the trainer still comes in handy.

This time of year, my normal routine is ride at lunch one weekday, then the trainer 2 week days, and long rides during the day on weekends.

Also, you can do some work that normally requires hills on the trainer if you don't have hills.

Back in the day I used to say I'd rather watch paint dry than grind away on a trainer. Then I got into TT'ing. Before I got my Kurt I was using a Performance Travel Trac entry level trainer. Compared to the travel trac, the Kurt is like riding a magic carpet.

Trainer is great for many reasons: don't have to stop for traffic; weather conditions are always the same; easy to monitor effort level; netflix instant on the big screen.

This is a joke, right?

in socal, it's stfd.

No wonder you didn't like it, you're making complicated by changing out the tire.

so the OP lives 60 miles from REI. got it.

Trainer in So-Cal?

hmmm

Me too. The crowd I ride with hammers out the gate and I can't do that. I use the KK to do a 15 minute warm up before each ride.

5 miles. Soon to be 1 mile as the REI is moving even closer. I'll actually be able to walk to it.

Ironic that you say "HTFU and ride outside" yet took the trainer back because its too hard/boring/etc to ride....

so then you only put 10 miles on it. not 120.

I agree with you. I actually posted about this in my initial review of the KK. I would have to purchase another wheel, a trainer-specific tire, another 105 cogset and I'd still need to swap out the rear wheel each time - which isn't a big deal in and of itself. I think I'm so lazy that I would want to have a trainer specific BIKE set up on the KK fulltime in the garage and then I might use it more often.

It just wasn't a good fit for me. I'm buying a Cross Check instead and putting my DiNotte lights on it and riding it no matter what the weather. HOOOOOOOOOOOORAHHHHHHHHHH!

"It took leaps and bounds to get my heart rate to 150bpm "



You weren't doing it right (speaking of HTFU).

Today I did the new 1 hour CTS Max Power DVD workout on my KK and worked harder than I had outside all fall.