As much as I don't really want to spend the money, I just can't seem to find the time to ride outdoors as much as I want to. I was thinking of getting a trainer, then ended up in Sports Authority and found that you can get a decent spin bike for about the same price as a good trainer.
Has anyone gone this route, thoughts for or against??

The only downside I see is the extra space needed to store the spin bike.

I have a trainer at home and use a spin bike in my spin class. There are pros and cons to each. The trainer can feel more natural than a spin bike but I like that I can increase the resistance on the spin bike to a much higher level than I can with the trainer. If you want to get stronger, the spin bike I think is a better option.

Spin bikes tend to be quieter than trainers if that is a concern. Also, if more than one person is going to use it they are adjustable as opposed to having to keep whole bikes around for different users. I guess one more thing in their favor is they don't chew up tires and throw off dust.

That said I use a trainer at home.

I have a trainer and am in pretty decent shape and I never thought that I did not have enough resistance on my trainer

I can crank down the resistance on a spin bike to the point where I can not even turn the pedals. My trainer isn't even close. I increase the resistance to simulate hill climbing. The past two months I have been doing an hour spin class and the increased resistance has made a big difference in my hill climbing.

All valid points, I'm leaning a little towards the spin bike.

I love my Kurt Kinetic Road Machine but when I am traveling I am forced to ride Spin bikes at hotels. I haven't found a good one yet. They all suck. They are hard to adjust to my correct riding position and they don't feel at all like riding outside. Get a high quality trainer and ride your own bike inside in the perfect position. I wouldn't trade the trainer for a Spin bike if they were giving them away.

You need a high quality trainer though. Don't waste money on a cheap one or you will be posting about not getting enough resistance, etc.. Fortunately the good ones only cost slightly more than the cheap ones (unlike everything else in this hobby).

I agree that you need a good quality trainer or spin bike. My trainer is a Kurt Kinetic Road Machine. It feels like you are riding on the road. The spin bike doesn't not feel as natural as my kurt. The resistance on the Kurt is equal to putting your bike in the hardest gear and riding on a 2% grade. Yes you get resistance but not as much as I want to simulate hill climbing. I want to be able to make the pedals extremely difficult to turn.

However, I have gotten my heart up higher on the Kurt than I have on the spin bike but I think it has more to do with the instructor and how much I am pushing myself. The Spinerval DVDs are excellent and if you follow them, you will get your ass kicked on either a trainer or spin bike.

Trainers suck.

Spin bikes suck.

Rollers Rule.

Seriously.

I think if I had the budget for E-motion rollers, I would love to have a set, but they are expensive.

I have a Kurt Kinetic Road machine and a club model spin bike. Both have positive and negative attributes but if I had to pick one, I'd pick the Kurt Kinetic. I use the spin bike more often because I'm too lazy to cart my bike to the workout room in my house and lock it into the trainer. The Spin bike is convenient because I can just do a 30 minute spin whenver I want to jump on the bike.

Positives and negatives of both are listed below:

Trainer Positives:
Compact (you can fold it up out of the way when not using)
Data - if you have a PT or computer, you can track your data
Excellent fit (assuming your bike fits you properly)
"Real" cycling resistance (more real than spin bike IMO)
Cost - a trainer is cheaper than a good spin bike
Portable - you can bring it to a race or with you if you travel and want to warm up before a ride

Trainer Negatives:
Boring - this is true for both spin bikes and trainers.
Bike-specific: anyone who wants to use it has to have his or her own bike
Noisy (if you live in an apartment, otherwise not bad).
Lower resistance than a good spin bike (good enough, however, for a great workout)
Wear and tear on your drivetrain/tire, and sweat all over your bike.
Not as stable as a good spin bike, especially standing.

Spin Bike Positives:
Boring (IMO) compared to riding a bike outside!
Very stable (you can stand and hammer the pedals all day without budging the bike)
Higher potential resistance versus trainer *but it might be more than any normal person would need anyway
Anyone in your house can jump on and easily set it up for a quick ride.
Club quality bikes are built to last for a long time
Good resistance but it feels different than my road bike. You can't coast on a spin bike!
Saves your good bike and drivetrain
Quiter than a trainer but I would not call mine quiet by any stretch

Spin bike negatives:
Heavy and large. You need a decent amount of space for one of these and it's hard to move around.
Expensive versus a Kurt Kinetic
No computer or electronics on mine, just a bare bones bike (that weighs 145lbs). You estimate your speed and effort level.
No matter how hard you try, it will never fit you like a good road bike (assuming your bike fits you).
Allows you to get a good workout but does not replicate actual riding as well as a real trainer.

It all boils down to your cycling goals. I believe both have strong positives and negatives. If you are primarily interested in getting faster on your bike (your real bike) and don't have time or ability to do it outside as often as you would like, a trainer might be your best bet. If your primary interest is keeping youself in shape and have other people in the house who can make use of it, a spin bike might be your best bet.

Before you spend any money, try to find a shop where you can ride a trainer (the Cyclops ones are also good) and give it a shot for an actual workout. Some places have training sessions on bike trainers. Do the same with a spin bike or sign up for a spin class and try one. You may love it or hate it but the $15 you spend on the class could prevent you from making a decision you regret.

riding indoors suxs..however every serious cyclist is forced to do so from time to time....I have a nice cyclops trainer cost a bunch that being said I use a beater bike on it but not a perfect fit....thus I hate to use it I fear for my carbon bike and the wheel binders thus try to avoid using my good bikes. I like the idea of a spin bike with all it's fancy adjustments it is not cheap but If I could do it again I would the the spin bike.....heavy, solid, just set it up once and beat her down.....good luck...oh yes Riding Indoors suxs

I use the travel-trac rollers from Performance. If you shop the sales and use a coupon you can often get it for just a bit over 100 bucks.

Yeah I would like the E-motion rollers too but way too expensive.

I would rather ride the rollers for 3 hours than 1 hour on a trainer or spin bike.

I would probably rather stick needles in my eyes rather than ride a trainer or a spin bike, for that matter.

OP seriously, consider rollers.

I don't disagree with you that riding a trainer is boring. If it wasn't for the Spinerval DVDs, I don't think I could do it. I have never been on rollers. I know there are some home made methods for adding bumpers to simulate what the E-Motion rollers do. There is also some fans that attach to rollers that can increase resistance and that appeals to me.

I have a spin bike (used from a gym) and a trainer. Others have covered many of the pros/cons of each. Here's a few more.

Note that many spin bikes do not have standard bike fittings. They often have proprietary seat to post and bars to stem interfaces. I checked out the one I bought beforehand to make sure I could put road bike seat and pedals on it. I'll need to fab something to put drop bars on it.

Spin bikes are also fixed gear. I don't ride fixed in the real world and find it somewhat annoying. I can't just stop pedalling for a second to adjust my shorts or whatever. Sometimes I forget and try to do it anyhow, I'm sure the results would be amusing if anyone was watching.

if you want a really hard workout you would want this

https://www.mountainracingproducts.com/kreitler/2-25/

it take 303 watts to go 24 mph (https://www.mountainracingproducts.co...tage_chart.pdf). i don't know to many people that can putt out that much wattage for much more than an hour. so there's no need for a headwind unit and definitely no need for a set of free motion rollers!

Kreitler were the name brand in rollers for many years and probably still are. I didn't know that they could produce that king of wattage. How do they do it, do they have a mag unit on them? I would love to get a set of them and then modify them with the bumpers that E-Motion rollers have. There are lots of websites with instructions on how to do it.

Good Trainer > spin bike, no comparison. A trainer can easily handle 1000w+ of resistance, and unless you're Lance you're not going to be putting out that kinda power for more than 5 seconds.

You don't NEED to dial up more resistance on a fluid trainer, you simply choose a higher gear. Going 28mph on a KK road machine while seated at 60rpm is going to be your hill climb training. You need to spend time on YOUR bike with your seat, your shoes, your geometry. Spin bikes are for the gym.

I was actually looking at either rollers or a trainer - each have their advantages and disadvantages. One question I have about trainers (specifically the Kurt Kinetic variety, but this isn't necessarily brand-specific): do I have to worry about physical stress on the bike frame while using one? It seems any rocking motion in the bike will cause excess flexing of the back end of the bike. My bike is CF, so... just curious if I need to worry about damaging my frame from using a trainer...

I asked this same question when I bought my Kurt. I have a Calfee and I spoke to Craig Calfee about it. He said there is no problem using a carbon bike on a trainer.

The spin bike will force you to find a spot to keep it out. Which will make it very convenient.

The trainer will lure you into putting it away when you're finished. You'll have to set it up each time.

That said, I have a trainer. Even if I wanted the spin bike I've got nowhere to put it. I can't say that my trainer doesn't have enough resistance. If I have the bike in a 53x11 I can't spin 60 rpms for much time at all, if I can even get it there.

The trainers are definitely noisy. My fluid is very loud. Probably quieter than others, but it's still loud.

they use a smaller diameter roller so there's a **** ton more resistance. Why add the bumbers? you dont really need them after more than 10 minutes on your rollers. i do everything on my rollers sans bumbers (sprint, low cadence, high cadence, 3x20's, sufferfest videos, tt bike workouts).

Thanks, I will probably get one some day and if I can get enough resistance out of it, I will sell my trainer.

you can also look at the cycleops aluminum rollers with mag resistance. thats what i use with the resistance all the way up i can do around 70-80 rpm climbing simulations, but i have a 50/12 so if you have a 53/12 or 53/11 then you can probably get alot lower max cadences (plus deflating your tires).

You're not going hard enough, then. If you're doing some all-out sprints on your rollers, you should look like Mark Cavendish during his final sprint - all out, including some swaying (which you try to minimize but which happens anyway.) I'm pretty much in that keel-over dead position after any Spinervals workout. No way I could hold that on my TravelTrac rollers at that intensity without rolling off the side - and I can do most of the roller 'tricks' including one hand, one leg, looking backwards, etc.