Question on purchasing Trainer
 

So I have been doing a lot of research on trainers on this website and others and I think I am going to buy a Kurt Kinetic trainer Fluid trainer.

My question: I found a relatively cheap one at $259.99 + $25 shipping. But the shop says it is a floor model. It does still have the original warranty but I just want to make sure that this purchase will be a good one. I am a poor college kid and I will practically have to starve myself for about 2 weeks because I only get paid biweekly :(

Also, Will I have to buy trainer specific tires to use on the trainer? I have read things about how trainer will eat up your tires or that they will smell bad. I dont plan on riding my bike outside until the spring so If i should just keep my old tires on the bike and then buy nice new tires in the spring that is fine with me. But if it will smell and ruin my floor I will buy new trainer tires.

Thanks for listening to my ramble! And yes I have searched and read through all the posts on here...I just need some peace of mind before I make this purchase

KK makes a great product. Ive used their fluid trainer for the past 2 winters and for warmups and cool downs during the season. If the warranty is still good you should be fine.

In regard to the tires I would use the ones you raced/rode this past season. Come spring when you make it out onto the pavement make sure to be on fresh rubber.

RE the trainer- have no experience with the model you are looking at.

As for the tires- really depends on a few things- first is how many miles are you planning on doing? If it is moderate miles, then a regular tire should be fine. The other factor is how much do you pay for road tires? If you are running a high end road tire that is expensive, I would not run it on the trainer. The trainer will burn through more rubber than regular road miles for sure. There should not be any floor damage- you can put something down to protect the floor from the rubber particles that may build up.

You can get trainer specific harder rubber tires for under $30. If you are running higher end tires that are not ready to be replaced soon, then I'd consider a trainer tire or switching over to cheaper road tire for the winter training miles.