Bike trainers - any good?

drift
drift Posts: 143 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi am interested in your opinions of bike trainers, the things you stand your bike in so that you can ride it indoors. The windy country roads make dark riding dangerous and the cold plays havoc with my arthritis.

1. Are they easy to put together?

2. How noisy are they? ( I have road tyres on my bike) I'd be using it in the garage with headphones and watching tv but it will be early morning and I don't want to wake my daughter/partner

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Sheron

Replies

  • BlakeMotivation
    BlakeMotivation Posts: 38 Member
    Drift,

    Yep, bike trainers are very easy to put together and work great. The resistance really does feel like being on the road and increases as you put on the gears.
    The bike usually fits on easily and firmly and the trainer grabs the rear tire by the skewer.
    Some create friction using fluid others use magnetics... both are good.

    Using a road tyre is the way to go... anything with tread will be a lot louder. They actually make special tyres for trainers that are designed to be quieter and last longer than your regular tires. I don't bother, but most serious cyclists will swap rubber.

    There are also a lot of good cycling DVD's (spinervals, sufferfest) and websites out there with cycling videos to keep you motivated. Or just grab a heart rate monitor and watch the morning news:).
  • lj3jones
    lj3jones Posts: 94 Member
    a cheap mag trainer will be loud. I used to have a cheap one and it sounded like a jet engine.
  • lewandt
    lewandt Posts: 566 Member
    We got my son one last year for Christmas. It is really nice, it is quiet and he likes that he is on his real bike for it. We paid a lot for it though, so i don't know if the cheaper ones are louder. But there are different price points out there.

    I wish i had known they existed before i bought my exercise bike.
  • kjauthier
    kjauthier Posts: 24 Member
    I bought a kurt kinetic fluid trainer last year and love it. Its relatively quiet, easily set up and will make you sweat. cost me about 400$ but was worth even dime. hope this he;ps. Cheers!
  • mlb929
    mlb929 Posts: 1,974 Member
    Love my bike training. Mine was a gift from a friend who is a road racer and so I didn't explore options since this was free. It's simple to use, mine has a quick release lever in back so you don't have to reset the tension. I'm hearing impaired and can still ride and have the TV on loudest and still make out what the tv is saying. Mine is a road bike not a hybrid or mountain bike that I was using previously, makes a world of difference to use with a road bike with no treaded tires. I have a tire specifically for a trainer since I don't ride outside at all.
  • yogicarl
    yogicarl Posts: 1,260 Member
    I love my bike trainer but I'm currently nursing a strained quad muscle because I find I pump down a lot stringer on one side to the other and strained myself in a seated sprint!

    The other thing I would do next session will be to replace the road saddle for the saddle off my mountain bike. When on the road you spend half your time with the weight on your pedals when coasting and also when out of the saddle, whereas indoors you are sitting the whole session and it gets sore!
  • drift
    drift Posts: 143 Member
    Thanks for the feedback. I'm still dithering so will ask around to see if I can borrow one before investing, it's either that, or it goes on my Xmas list...
  • summitrunner
    summitrunner Posts: 81
    Set up a fan facing you. I used mine when it was raining and I didn't wanna miss a workout. It gets HOT. All that motion without inflow is miserably disgusting.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,329 Member
    I have an inexpensive magnetic trainer I got off Amazon for about $80. It was advertised as one of the quietest mag trainers, and I am more than satisfied with the noise level. I have the TV in the basement at a level that is only a little louder than I have it when not on the trainer, and I can hear it just fine. The noise with a smooth road tire is just fine, but the more tread you have, the louder any trainer will get.

    If your road tires are in good condition and you plan on using it a lot, spend some money on a trainer tire. My rear tire was getting close to the point where it needs to be replaced so I didn't get one, but I can see the wear on the tire from the trainer and it has only been a month, one week of which I was away and not using it. Trainer tires will hold up much better. The only down side is they have to be changed off if you want to ride on the road.
  • jeepyj93
    jeepyj93 Posts: 392 Member
    I have a Cyclops and I love it yes it makes some noise but I can hear the TV just fine. I have Spinervals DVD to ride to and you get a great work out. A fan is a great idea because you really sweat. I paid about $300 on Amazon for mine and so simple to set up. You want the block for under the front tire to keep it level.
  • GTAFrank
    GTAFrank Posts: 730 Member
    I have an inexpensive magnetic trainer I got off Amazon for about $80. It was advertised as one of the quietest mag trainers, and I am more than satisfied with the noise level. I have the TV in the basement at a level that is only a little louder than I have it when not on the trainer, and I can hear it just fine. The noise with a smooth road tire is just fine, but the more tread you have, the louder any trainer will get.

    If your road tires are in good condition and you plan on using it a lot, spend some money on a trainer tire. My rear tire was getting close to the point where it needs to be replaced so I didn't get one, but I can see the wear on the tire from the trainer and it has only been a month, one week of which I was away and not using it. Trainer tires will hold up much better. The only down side is they have to be changed off if you want to ride on the road.

    Just ordered one off Amazon as well. Bought a training tire and putting together a separate wheel so I can swap out quickly.

    Can't wait to try it. :smile:
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,329 Member
    I have an inexpensive magnetic trainer I got off Amazon for about $80. It was advertised as one of the quietest mag trainers, and I am more than satisfied with the noise level. I have the TV in the basement at a level that is only a little louder than I have it when not on the trainer, and I can hear it just fine. The noise with a smooth road tire is just fine, but the more tread you have, the louder any trainer will get.

    If your road tires are in good condition and you plan on using it a lot, spend some money on a trainer tire. My rear tire was getting close to the point where it needs to be replaced so I didn't get one, but I can see the wear on the tire from the trainer and it has only been a month, one week of which I was away and not using it. Trainer tires will hold up much better. The only down side is they have to be changed off if you want to ride on the road.

    Just ordered one off Amazon as well. Bought a training tire and putting together a separate wheel so I can swap out quickly.

    Can't wait to try it. :smile:

    I wouldn't mind getting a wheel and tire specifically for the trainer. At this point I think the cost is beyond me as all the wheels I have seen are more expensive than my trainer.
  • msf74
    msf74 Posts: 3,498 Member

    I wouldn't mind getting a wheel and tire specifically for the trainer. At this point I think the cost is beyond me as all the wheels I have seen are more expensive than my trainer.

    It can get a bit expensive but it doesn't need to be.

    Lots of LBS have cheap wheels going as spares or you can get one off Gumtree / Ebay etc. Then bang a training tyre on it and a cassette (which you can pick up cheaply) and you are good to go....

    With regard to turbos the fluid based one do tend to be quieter and smoother but have the potential to leak. I have a Minoura Mag trainer which I picked up really cheaply and it is quiet and does the job.
  • CeleryStalker
    CeleryStalker Posts: 665 Member
    LOL My husband calls the bike trainer a time machine. His reason? Time stops the second you get on, LOL Workouts on the trainer are brutal and seem to take forever. I'm thinking about getting one of these to go along with ours so we can have more fun over the winter while training on ours-

    http://store.bluegoji.com/gojiplay_p/goji-play-1.htm
  • CeleryStalker
    CeleryStalker Posts: 665 Member
    Oh ya, and we swap out the tires on our bikes with these funky tires that are orange. As expensive as good road tires are, we'd rather get our wear and tear on the road, not burn through them in the basement. If you're interested, I can ask my husband what those tires are and how much they cost.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    My cheap mag trainer didn't require any assembly. The bike simply fits inside the uprights and you turn a small hand crank to "clamp" the bike in place.

    With a slick road tire, they will be "reasonably" quiet. Mine makes about as much noise as my TV does on normal listening volume. A knobby "treaded" tire will be louder.
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
    I bought a used Kurt Kinetic a few years ago (you don't see a lot of them for sale - people tend to hold onto them) and it's great for keeping my riding fitness up over the winter. Not too loud (my son's bedroom is adjacent to the garage and he's never mentioned hearing it) and does a reasonable job of simulating a real ride (the harder you pedal the more resistance you get)

    Tires for the trainer are pretty inexpensive and it beats wearing out your good tires.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,329 Member

    I wouldn't mind getting a wheel and tire specifically for the trainer. At this point I think the cost is beyond me as all the wheels I have seen are more expensive than my trainer.

    It can get a bit expensive but it doesn't need to be.

    Lots of LBS have cheap wheels going as spares or you can get one off Gumtree / Ebay etc. Then bang a training tyre on it and a cassette (which you can pick up cheaply) and you are good to go....

    I have never put a cassette on to a wheel. I did find and inexpensive wheel on Amazon but it has mixed reviews. I guess I will just keep looking.

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