Magnetic Vs Roller trainers?

[Oracle]

I was browsing the bike section on eBay (although not really looking for anything in particular - especially if the wife asks ), and considering it's damn cold in tassie atm haven't been out riding in ages, so was looking at indoor bike trainers.

There appears to be two main types (1) magnetic resistance models that the back wheel sits on; and (2) roller type where both wheels are off the ground on three rollers. Just looking I'd think the magnetic trainer models may be more advantagous considering you can adjust the resistance Vs the roller models - but Ive not used either and this is just an assumption.

So which do farkiners prefer (assuming people still use these things) and why? And, do they work equally with an MTB with slicks as they would with a road bike?

 

[Oracle]

Also, I should mention we have an indoor gym bike thing, or whatever the hell the correct name/term is. But to be honest, I hate the damn thing as the geometery is completey crap - such that one sits almost bolt upright no matter how it's adjusted

Hence the above post where I've thought about selling the indoor bike and buying a trainer so that we can simply use our own bikes instead, and we can reclaim part of the living room back!

 

[LordNikon]

Personally I prefer rollers.

Riding on rollers does wonders for your pedalling technique, if you don't pedal smoothly you're going to come off.

Trainers are a bit more mindless, just pedal, and keep pedalling. Both have advantages and disadvantages though, like you can't adjust the resistance on a set of rollers, except by changing gears.

MTB with slicks works fine on rollers, I've even tried them with off road tyres, not so good.

 

[Pete J]

Rollers are far harder to ride and give much more resistance than i ever thought possible. My first ride on them ended within roughly five minutes because i was so knackered. I'm yet to have mastered them but will spend more time practising during our coming winter.

 

[ScottD]

I use to have an old mag trainer, noisy and use to slip when doing efforts. If your looking to do efforts of any kind look at a fluid trainer.

Someone gave me some rollers last week and i tried em for the first time today and last about 3 minutes. Scary at first too.

 

[LordNikon]

Apparently the done thing is to ride rollers with no hands and only 1 foot on the pedals.



I've never tried it...

 

[ScottD]

and blind folded

 

[Some Guy]

I use warm clothes and the weather radar instead. I really can''t stand the trainer to be honest. So instead I watch the radar and try to sneak my rides in when it's not raining. The warm clothes takes care of the cold .

 

['Ross]

Just the question I wanted to ask. I was considering buying a magnetic one at some point in the future (when I have money) but have heard they are noisy? I am keen to give rollers a shot, but what is the risk of me flying through a window or my TV or something? Also they appear to be a bit more pricey.

 

[Some Guy]

Mag trainers are quite noisey, some models more than others. There is a particular Tacx trainer which is pretty good at cutting down on noise and vibration from memory. Sirrus?

 

[ScottD]

Rollers: Good for pedal technique and are hard aswell as requiring full concentration.
Trainer: Good for if you want to hook up your bike and watch some tv. Fluids the only way to go.

 

['Ross]

So rollers and TV is not a winning combo? I think I've seen some with fork stabilizers, would this help?

 

[LordNikon]

That'd be cheating and slightly defeat the purpose of using rollers in the first place.

 

[aaron01]

Have just made the move from a fixxed trainner to rollers & the benifits are already showing, roller will enhance your technique/core strength & concentration, trainners will allow you to ride mindlessly.
Both have benifits & the real key is to have a good program weather it be intervals or distance etc, & remember to mix things up with some strength excercises (pilates/weights etc).
The rollers have the added benifit of being able to be dragged out at anytime & jump on + they are perfect for warming up at events, especially 24hrs 10minutes & you are primed.

 

[stinkytodamax]

I have a mag trainer, just a cheap one from Torpedo 7 and I'm not really a fan. It's noisy and I'm never really comfortable on it. I could be doing something wrong but it's pretty hard to get it wrong, I've even changed seat positions a number of times to find the sweet spot but nothing feels right to me.

To be honest I'd rather go to the gym for a workout during winter or rug up and ride in the dark.

If anyone has any suggestions for improving the comfort of my mag trainer I'd be glad to hear them. For everyones info the biggest problem is numbness in a n important region. I use an SDG fly saddle and have the seat at my normal riding height.

 

[Some Guy]

Do you prop the front wheel up with something? I whack mine up on a brick to level the bike out which helps.

 

['Ross]

One more question to do with rollers, I see quite a lot for sale used, on ebay and other places, do they age well or notoriously badly? Do they wear out?(having no idea how they work and what they are like) e.g. Would it be a bad idea totally to go out and by a used one?

 

[Rik]

If you're looking at resistance trainers I can recommend trying a centrifugal clutch/brake model (can't remember the specific brand though). It gives a curved resistance similar to what aero drag does, not the linear that mag gives. Very quiet, only a slight high-pitched sound of the brake drag but it's not an issue compared to mag/wind.
Only thing is they get pretty hot so don't pick one up by the brake after a decent session

 

[stinkytodamax]

Do you prop the front wheel up with something? I whack mine up on a brick to level the bike out which helps.

yeah i generally do but I've just been using a yellow pages. Might have to go something more solid and higher. thanks

 

[Elbo]

I have a Tacx Wind Trainer. The only reason I have the trainer is so that I can ride after I get home from work, without needing to buy lights (maybe sometime in the future) and to keep fit over winter when I can't go for an actual ride.

The wind trainer I have is very loud. It sounds like it's pouring rain when you're going flat out. The way the wind trainer works is that the harder you go, the harder it becomes to push. The fan acts as a brake. I think the model was maybe even called Wind Braker. Of course the trainer is dead boring, but you can really work on your pedalling technique. I go for 30 minutes each day and log my average speed and distance travelled. After just 1 week after not being on the bike for a while I got my average from 28km/h to 31km/h.

The wind trainer is very smooth, and doesn't slip like the magnetic ones. I also found the magnetic ones to be too weak, and have not enough resistance. If you don't mind the noise, then get a wind trainer, but if noise is a big issue then definitely go for the fluid trainers.

To give you a bit of a gauge, my wind trainer was roughly $250.