[chaco24]

Well it's starting to get colder and before the weather really starts to turn I'd like to get an indoor bike trainer. Does anyone have a suggestion for a good bike trainer for around $200-$300 bucks?

[retromike3]

I have two types of trainers. the first type is a wind load simulator. It has two squirrel cages mounted to the back of a frame and the bike sits on the frame by the fork and a bottom bracket cup. the rear wheel drives the cages and the faster you peddle the higher the load is. much like when you ride your bike the wind load is geometric. It is a very good workout but it is very noisy and pretty boring.

the second type I have is a traditional set of rollers. They are three large dowels that have a frame around them with a rubber band stretched between the first and the second roller.

The concept is pretty easy you put your bike with the rear wheel between the two back rollers and with the front wheel slightly behind the center of the front cylinder. As you pedal your bike the rubber band takes the energy from the back wheel and drives the front. Now you are actually riding your bike. You quickly develop a smooth style and you get very good at riding in a strait line OR ELSE. I find that riding rollers are a good way to go if you must ride indoors.

I got my rollers off of e-bay a few years ago for about a hundred and thirty bucks, figure a used wind load or magnetic(I have never ridden one so I can't say how well they work) is about half as much. its been a while but check now before it gets dark and cold. The prices are only going up from here on in till spring.

Mike

[froze]

Rollers are great, but inexpensive rollers have no friction, or load adjustments to make your work out harder. Also rollers are more difficult to master, requiring careful balancing, which is good if you want to learn to balance a bike better but bad if you make a mistake and fly off the roller at full tilt to the rear wheel and find your self crashing head on into whatever is in front of you!!! YouTube - Chet's Roller Crash and: YouTube - Sad first time on Rollers Both of these are low speed crashes so they just fell off the side but you can see what your getting yourself into.

Trainers are far easier, less expensive and you can get new ones for under $200 like this one on sale, that I own, and is highly reviewed: CycleOps Fluid2 Cycling Trainer New - offers - Bing Shopping

[Gomez]

I love rollers as I get the feeling of riding on icy roads, really gives me the feeling that am riding in place but need to pay attention to what am doing. My cadence has improved and well as my pedal stroke. The Travel Trac Technique PRO Alloy Rollers are on sale at performance bike and I have used them for over a year for warm ups or on nights when I get home from work, the noise is low so my wife isn't bothered by the low hum of the rollers.

[retromike3]

I have a set of cheep rollers and I have found that you can burn as many calories as you want you just have to have the right gear. I run a fixed gear on my rollers and I like using at least eighty inches.

I have ridden off my rollers and all I did was stop and leave a black mark on the rail that holds the rollers in place. There was once a manufacture that made rollers that had a dish built into them so you would naturally center on them. The guy who made them was a big guy and he had a very little dog his name was Al Kreitler. I wish I had a set made by him.

[retromike3]

PS you don't need a helmet to ride rollers (unless you wear one all of the time anyway)

[photosbymark]

I tried rollers, but quickly realized they were not for me. The slightest bit of inattention and you are off and crashing. Frankly I don't want to be fixing drywall. I took mine back. What I got was a fluid trainer. Solid and you put your bike in it and the gear you select on the bike is how you control how tough it is to pedal. Mine would fall into your price range.

The big down side is space. Frankly if space is an issue a stationary bike might be a better choice. They are often more compact than trainers that need your actual bike.

Finally the magnetic trainers are an option. These give you a separate control to set resistance, but I think most would agree that a fluid trainer is a better choice.

[Burr]

Good & Inexpensive don't go together.

Why would a Good Trainer be cheap and how can a cheap trainer be good.

Think about it.

[Industry_Hack]

I like the Minoura mag rim drive.

[froze]

Originally Posted by Burr

Good & Inexpensive don't go together.

Why would a Good Trainer be cheap and how can a cheap trainer be good.

Think about it.

Right you are, thus a Bernard Hinault bicycle that cost between $8,000 and $10,700 depending on options, is far better then the cheap bikes you ride on; because like you said, good and inexpensive don't go together.