recommendations: trainers

"spook" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Guys,

After promising to get a trainer for the last 12 months, I'm finally about
to get around to it. I'm ideally looking to spend less than $400 which is
from what I can tell about mid market.

I'm looking for any recommendations including advice on the
differnces/benefits between rollers and mag/fluid trainers.

Regards,
Brett

MINOURA rim drive is excellent!

verbluten said:

MINOURA rim drive is excellent!

are there advantages of rim drive over a standard tyre contact, other
than being able to sit an mtb in there without slicks? actually how does
a rim drive go with disc specific rims that dont have a machined sidewall?

brett

"spook" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Guys,

After promising to get a trainer for the last 12 months, I'm finally about
to get around to it. I'm ideally looking to spend less than $400 which is
from what I can tell about mid market.

I'm looking for any recommendations including advice on the
differnces/benefits between rollers and mag/fluid trainers.

Regards,
Brett

I recommend the Cycleops Fluid2 (have done so a few times on this NG), it
has close to a 'road' feel, i paid $499 in Brisbane but if you can check out
this store based in Sydney.

http://www.pedalsplus.com/index.php?cat_id=22&PHPSESSID=f18a5ae5961a3142667efee775b541f7

They have it for $459 whic is a bit over your budget but worth the extra
money. (you should get a Chris Carmichael DVD with it)

jh

quote='spook'verbluten said:

MINOURA rim drive is excellent!

are there advantages of rim drive over a standard tyre contact, other
than being able to sit an mtb in there without slicks? actually how does
a rim drive go with disc specific rims that dont have a machined sidewall?

brett[/QUOTE]

That's an interesting one... I'll second the other poster 'cos I have a Minoura rim drive as well. I felt the main advantage was that I wouldn't wear tyres out, but that is rather academic if you are using cheap tyres. A really good advantage is that you can use the trainer as a wheel truing stand.

As for your final question, the little rubber wheels on the rim drive have a pretty small contact patch (maybe a couple of mm only), so I reckon that it should be fine as long as there is at least a small bit of rim that runs more or less perpendicular to the floor.

Ritch

spook said:

Guys,

After promising to get a trainer for the last 12 months, I'm finally
about to get around to it. I'm ideally looking to spend less than $400
which is from what I can tell about mid market.

I'm looking for any recommendations including advice on the
differnces/benefits between rollers and mag/fluid trainers.

One of the other posters suggests a Fluid 2, and I have one
of them and concur, they offer the best road feel (exponential
increase in resistance as speed increases, and *reasonably* quiet).

There's two main types of spin trainer (except rollers, which
are more about technique than fitness). Exponential
resistance, like wind and fluid trainers, and linear
resistance, usually magnetic resistance trainers.

If you want to get road "feel", you want exponential
resistance. The good news is that wind trainers are
the cheapest, but, they're very noisy. Around $200 or
so will get you a wind trainer. Mag trainers are
quieter, but they don't offer exponential resistance
levels, so they have dials to set resistance - depending on
what you're trying to do this may be ok, but in general, I
believe they're inferior to exponential resistance trainers. They
have the one advantage of being quieter than wind trainers.
Mag trainers vary from 250-odd to around 400, usually depending
on what sort of adjuster they have for their resistance level.

Then there's fluid trainers, which are the best of both worlds,
exponential resistance, and reasonably quiet. It's probably
better to say "less noisy", as they all make a racket. A fluid-2 will
cost around 450-550 or so.

Some mag trainers (the Minouras, as an example) have optional rim
drive.
IMO, you're much better off getting a cheap rear wheel and a cheap,
heavy tyre than you are using rim drives, but YMMV. There's
less to go wrong with the trainer, and a [censored] wheel you can
probably get for just about free.

You asked about rollers. You can't do (not easily anyway and I
certainly wouldn't recommend it) hard intervals on rollers. They
don't offer sufficient resistance, and you have to concentrate a lot
on balance. They're worth having as well as a spinner, but not
instead of (IMO anyway). Great for smooth pedaling and balance,
but not for hard interval work.

Personally, if I didn't have the desire to splash out for a fluid-2,
or some other brand of fluid trainer, I'd get a wind trainer
and turn the stereo up louder, and use a wheel just for the spinner
with
a heavy rim and tyre. The heavy rim & tyre combo works like a flywheel
and
smooths out the resistance you're riding against a little, so it's
more like riding your bike, where your momentum smooths things out.

ritcho said:

spook said:

verbluten said:

MINOURA rim drive is excellent!

are there advantages of rim drive over a standard tyre contact, other
than being able to sit an mtb in there without slicks? actually how
does
a rim drive go with disc specific rims that dont have a machined
sidewall?

brett

That's an interesting one... I'll second the other poster 'cos I have a
Minoura rim drive as well. I felt the main advantage was that I wouldn't
wear tyres out, but that is rather academic if you are using cheap
tyres. A really good advantage is that you can use the trainer as a
wheel truing stand.

As for your final question, the little rubber wheels on the rim drive
have a pretty small contact patch (maybe a couple of mm only), so I
reckon that it should be fine as long as there is at least a small bit
of rim that runs more or less perpendicular to the floor.

Ritch

I've got a Minoura rim drive trainer and I've used it with disc wheels
with no problem.

Apart from the cost of wearing out tyres, the rim drive means you don't
get little tyre shavings all over the place too.

I wouldn't bother paying extra for a remote control either. I find I
just stick to the same tension level and use gears to adjust. If I do
want to change the setting, I can just reach the doodad with my left foot 🙂

And they are really useful for adjusting gears/brakes and so forth.

You should be able to get a Minoura rim drive model for a bit under $400.

--
Nick

Bleve said:

One of the other posters suggests a Fluid 2, and I have one
of them and concur, they offer the best road feel (exponential
increase in resistance as speed increases, and *reasonably* quiet).

.... lots of good stuff snipped.

what a kickass answer, thanks a million!!

brett

I have a Minoura mag trainer with the remote thingy. It cost me $300+ (don't remember exactly). I use the remote only when using my fixed gear bike on it. I have broken the mount for the remote, so it hangs loosely over my handlebars now. Tyres last a while, but I found a cheap rear wheel for my geared bike, and bought a Continental Home Trainer tyre, which as the name suggests is specifically for home trainers. I only got the tyre last week, so haven't used it yet - it was an absolute pain in the [censored] to put the tyre on, and when it did go on, I saw the tube wasn't totally under the tyre. Oh well, my LBS will probably put it on in 2 seconds for me when I take it to them 🙂. Sorry for long post.