[Sportsandrec] Bike trainers

[Thornbury, Kelly]

Some of this will probably repeat, but I always seem to get these posts later than most. 

I agree with Ron, go out and purchase a trainer over trying to build one. Designing the frame to hold up the bike wouldn't be too difficult, but designing the resistance wouldn't be worth the trouble. 

My personal favorite among trainers are fluid dampened. They are quieter, generally run cooler than magnetic trainers, and are more consistent in their progression. I have a magnet trainer I use to calculate power output on (in watts); calculations I couldn't perform on a fluid trainer (for some reason the resistance profile of most trainers is some sort of corporate secret, but I could get the numbers for a magnetic trainer through testing  in the university's biomechanics lab). 

I don't personally like to put my tandem in the trainer, unless I'm doing a tune up. The longer bike has greater leverage on the mounting brackets, and I find there is more wobble in the set up than I am comfortable with. I also worry about the stress it places on the rear hanger of the frame and how its supported. 

The advantage of the trainer is that you can put your heaviest, steel framed bike with your least efficient rims, and only a moderate drive train; things like weight and aerodynamic efficiency are not an issue. 

I've used a couple less expensive trainers, and how much you want to spend should depend on how much time you will spend on it. I've worn out a few less expensive trainers, but put thousands of miles a year on my Fluid Ops II without a problem. My only complaint about the fluid trainers is when I put an old TT bike in it and crank on the tallest gear ratio where I can get the dampener to cavitate and lose resistance at top speed (where the fluid turbulence gets so great it loses resistance).