Indoor Trainer help / suggestions please...

WITHND
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Indoor Trainer help / suggestions please...

Postby WITHND » Mon Apr 14, 2014 1:57 pm

HI all,

I am looking to purchase an indoor trainer for my road bike to use in winter / nights when it is too wet (Melbourne) to ride safely/comfortably in the time I have and was wondering what are your thoughts on these?

I know there is a few types our there being wind /fan resistance, fluid resistance or magnetic resistance also the plain old rollers....

What would be best given I would like to have something that is easy for a newer rider and hopefully not too noisy to wake sleeping kids if I use it in the spare loungeroom...

Also what budget would be good for this is $200-$300 enough or would I be better to save a bit more to get better quality?

Cheers in advance.
Scott

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marty_one
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Re: Indoor Trainer help / suggestions please...

Postby marty_one » Mon Apr 14, 2014 3:25 pm

At work I was recently asked this question as well. If you insist on doing your trainer session in the house with sleeping children you might be asking for trouble much better off using your garage (if you have one). As far as I know Fluid trainers are some of the more quieter ones on the market of which to anyone that asks this is what I recommend to them. My mate has a fluid based trainer, where I have a magnetic trainer.

I find that if I dont quiet get the rear wheel position in the middle of the roller can get quiet noisy. My mate is able to use his trainer in his lounge room without annoying his girlfriend while she is on the computer in another room (this doesn't mean that she can't hear it, its just the volume level that is acceptable).

There are electrically based shadow trainers as well that are supposed to be quiet (IE: wahoo kickr) however I have never seen or used one to be able to comment on them.

One of the added benefits to a fluid trainer over being quieter than a magnetic trainer is that the road feel of them is pretty good as long as you setup your bike on it correctly.
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toolonglegs
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Re: Indoor Trainer help / suggestions please...

Postby toolonglegs » Mon Apr 14, 2014 3:38 pm

I only ride on rollers... much quieter than any trainer but still a bit of noise. Personally I find them more comfortable to use although you can't really stand up on them to take the pressure off all that easy.
Just beware that if you have never used them before that they take a few minutes to get used to :mrgreen: .

you cannot be sirrus
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Re: Indoor Trainer help / suggestions please...

Postby you cannot be sirrus » Mon Apr 14, 2014 4:29 pm

My fluid trainer lives on the patio because it is too noisy for inside.
Apart from the noise from the bike and the trainer there's all the huffing. puffing and swearing from me to contend with. plus it's cooler outside which is very welcome when on a trainer.

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Alex Simmons/RST
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Re: Indoor Trainer help / suggestions please...

Postby Alex Simmons/RST » Mon Apr 14, 2014 4:32 pm

Any fan suitable and powerful enough to cool a rider to make indoor training effective will usually drown out the noise of any trainer.

For a basic but bullet proof reliable fluid trainer with good ride feel and pretty quiet, hard to go past a Kurt Kinetic Road Machine. Might be a bit above your budget though, not sure what they sell for nowadays.

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KGB
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Re: Indoor Trainer help / suggestions please...

Postby KGB » Fri Apr 18, 2014 8:40 am

On a budget, a fan trainer is good in my opinion because the resistance ramps up well and is more like riding on the road. Boy are they noisy though. Much noisier than my rollers and any magnetic trainer I've tried.

You really are best using it outside, the colder the better when on a stationary trainer!
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clint66
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Re: Indoor Trainer help / suggestions please...

Postby clint66 » Fri Apr 18, 2014 10:30 am

You need to budget for a big fan too. :)

I have an industrial fan which is much noisier than my trainer. Plus I usually do the sufferfest videos, so you end up with the music being louder than the fan and the trainer.

I have an elite fluid trainer, and pedalling on it there is only a slight humming sound, which with the door to the room shut would not be heard outside the room, it's just the fan and the music that makes all the noise.

you could also look at second hand, you see a few good ones come up on gumtree and ebay, that generally don't seem to have had much use.

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clackers
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Re: Indoor Trainer help / suggestions please...

Postby clackers » Sun Apr 20, 2014 4:22 pm

The LeMond trainer is meant to be really good and really noisy. :lol:

boss
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Re: Indoor Trainer help / suggestions please...

Postby boss » Tue Apr 22, 2014 7:27 am

Alex Simmons/RST wrote:Any fan suitable and powerful enough to cool a rider to make indoor training effective will usually drown out the noise of any trainer.

For a basic but bullet proof reliable fluid trainer with good ride feel and pretty quiet, hard to go past a Kurt Kinetic Road Machine. Might be a bit above your budget though, not sure what they sell for nowadays.
Alex, I'm going to be in the market for a trainer.

Basically looking to do interval sessions on it, that's about it. 1-5-10 min interval type stuff.

Will a Kinetic provide enough resistance? I'm not a big guy and don't put out masses of power but don't wanna buy the wrong product.

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Re: Indoor Trainer help / suggestions please...

Postby Le Mong » Tue Apr 22, 2014 7:35 am

Image

With trainer road and a Z1 jet black. Put the music up to 11 and suffer :)

Want a kickr or a dedicated ergo but will have to wait for that till I buy a house unfortunately.

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Alex Simmons/RST
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Re: Indoor Trainer help / suggestions please...

Postby Alex Simmons/RST » Tue Apr 22, 2014 10:14 am

boss wrote:Alex, I'm going to be in the market for a trainer.

Basically looking to do interval sessions on it, that's about it. 1-5-10 min interval type stuff.

Will a Kinetic provide enough resistance? I'm not a big guy and don't put out masses of power but don't wanna buy the wrong product.
I think you'll find it has sufficient resistance for high quality interval work:
http://www.kurtkinetic.com/powercurve.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

But there are many trainer options.

Another would be rollers, perhaps with a Kreitler killer head wind fan attachment. Again the fans are noisy (like the Lemond Revolution is noisy), but these options would have excellent ride feel as well. You can get rollers with a front fork mount option too which might be advisable if doing super hard efforts. Or the models that allow the rollers themselves to rock back n forth so you can get out of the saddle no problems.

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brett.hooker
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Re: Indoor Trainer help / suggestions please...

Postby brett.hooker » Tue Apr 22, 2014 12:09 pm

I tried magnetic, and moved to fluid.
I use a jetblack zl1 fluid and as stated elsewhere here, the cooling fan I use is noisier than the trainer.
I now also use the sufferfest videos with trainer road and my garmin ant+ sensors to give me all the data and distraction I need while training indoors.
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Re: Indoor Trainer help / suggestions please...

Postby Cul » Tue Apr 22, 2014 3:21 pm

I'm using an Elite Chrono Fluid (elestogel), it's a great trainer but like most tire driven they have their qualms. The noise level is bearable and usually over powered by drivetrain / fan noise but it gets the occasional squeak if it isn’t set up properly. It is worlds above the old "Wind" trainer I was using which used a fan for resistance.

If you think you'll use it spend a bit of money and get a decent one as it will make the experience more enjoyable; if you are unsure then try and borrow one for a few weeks and see if it actually gets used and how much. For me if it's not being used twice a week then its possibly a waste of money, your circumstances may differe though (I use mine 3 to 4 times a week).


Also regarding the resistance, where a trainer really shines is "Steady State" intervals, your 5min to 90min duration stuff at the upper end of tempo to lower end of Vo2 Max Zones most trainers will have more than enough resistance for this work, anything <4mins I have a tendency to stand and hammer and hence the trainer just doesn't feel right.
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boss
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Re: Indoor Trainer help / suggestions please...

Postby boss » Tue Apr 22, 2014 4:32 pm

Cul wrote:I'm using an Elite Chrono Fluid (elestogel), it's a great trainer but like most tire driven they have their qualms. The noise level is bearable and usually over powered by drivetrain / fan noise but it gets the occasional squeak if it isn’t set up properly. It is worlds above the old "Wind" trainer I was using which used a fan for resistance.

If you think you'll use it spend a bit of money and get a decent one as it will make the experience more enjoyable; if you are unsure then try and borrow one for a few weeks and see if it actually gets used and how much. For me if it's not being used twice a week then its possibly a waste of money, your circumstances may differe though (I use mine 3 to 4 times a week).


Also regarding the resistance, where a trainer really shines is "Steady State" intervals, your 5min to 90min duration stuff at the upper end of tempo to lower end of Vo2 Max Zones most trainers will have more than enough resistance for this work, anything <4mins I have a tendency to stand and hammer and hence the trainer just doesn't feel right.
Yeah I have no qualms spending a bit of dosh to get the right product. While I don't want to drop a bomb of cash - I don't want to cheap out, only to find that the product isn't quite what I'm looking for... and then have to spend again.

Basically my intention is to do my short, sharp intervals on a trainer - 1, 3, 5 minute stuff. I hate doing that sort of work. But I know it pays dividends. So it'd be nice to just put aside 45-60 minutes on the porch out the back a couple of times a week, suffer and get it done, and then get back to the 'normal' and 'fun' training.

I think a Kurt Kinetic with Rock and Roll, used in conjunction with my PM, would check quite a few boxes. Once I get my new build sorted and stump up for a new Garmin, I'll be sorting out a trainer and fan.

/Sorry for the hi-jack.

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