Turbo Trainer Advice

The flywheel air resistance creates really good inertia. Search TTforum or google, been discussed in detail.

It gives a good road feel intertia. It's not quite road, but is good. So the muscle recruitment is near it would be on road.

I love mine. Works for me. And improvements on Turbo give me improvements on road. If I keep doing some efforts on road, so my muscles stay used to variable terrain and the torque change.

So, are we saying that doing longish threshold efforts on one of these gives greater gains than on a fluid trainer? Watts are watts, Shirly?

The answer is - "it depends"

Lower ke trainers (ie traditional ones) replicate lower ke situations (ie hill climbs)
Higher ke trainers better replicate the requirements of lower gradients/tt'ing

So if your goal was the quickest time up Alpe D'Huez then you might want to stick with a low ke trainer. But if you are looking to improve your performance on the flat then a higher ke trainer makes sense.

A watt is a watt. But the production of that watt can be different.

And no. As danb said, it's not that simple. But I'd disagree about having a low kenetic energy trainer. That would trash my legs. As the pedal stroke would be different to on the road, recruiting different muscles.

Just saw this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VeMNv2FxJE

Pretty much explains the product, does it mean it has JUST fan resistance? And I am guessing bigger the fan = more resistance?

Is this a similar product just with smaller fan? https://kurtkinetic.com/products/kinetic-cyclone/

The 'fan' is a solid metal wheel.

ah ok so adds weight (hence resistance) too?

It's more work to turn a heavier wheel than a light one, so it increases the inertia. But once spinning it has greater kinetic energy.

Gotcha, quite cool (literally) piece of low-tech.

Almost impossible to make it silent/quiet.

I have been pondering this and reckon an exhaust of sorts could be fashioned which would greatly reduce the noise.

It's quite a different noise from my fluid turbo, less whiny and rumbly so despite being loud the sound doesn't travel the same way...

Hmm. My creative (and very un scientific) brain is struggling a bit here.

Simple Q: I have a Kurt Kinetic Road Machine. I've always got on very well with it and it doesn't feel like pushing through treacle. Do I need to spend more money on a new DD trainer?

Thank you please.

Do you have the larger flywheel attached to it? I found that improved the feel of the KK even more.

No, just the one that came with. Is it worth the £70?

Hmm, it's gone up a bit since I bought mine.

Hard to quantify how much that extra 'feel' is worth. If you only used the turbo for sprinting intervals, I'd say don't bother with it, as the extra weight can cause a tiny bit more slippage under sudden starts*. It does feel more realistic though, which helps when you spend a lot of time training indoors.

*Not a problem with a direct trainer like the Lemond.

I very rarely sprint. Almost all of my work is tempo-threshold.

@skinny has made me nervous I've been recruiting the wrong kind of muscle now :-)

All those watts gone to waste ;-)

No. KK are very good trainer.

And go out and do the same effort on the road. If you can get the power near then it's cool.

My issue is that, the road is varaible terrain. And I find, personally, that if Idon't keep my body adjusted to variable terrain and the demands it places on changing torque then I suffer with getting the power out on the road a bit.

Phew

Anyone recommend decent UK retailers for the Lemond as discussed previous page.

Can't seem to find any!

Don't think you will. Discontinued now I believe.

Add weight to your turbo wheel.

Keep meaning to press some of those small lead balls you get from fishing shops onto my spokes. They are pre split. Should be easy.

They have started making them again but are selling direct iirc. Although I think bikeinn has some.

Edit :

Yup they do but they are pricey.

http://www.bikeinn.com/bike/lemond-revolution-1.1-compatible-with-shimano-sram-9-10-11-speed-without-cassette/612670/p?utm_source=google_products&utm_medium=merchant&id_producte=814913&country=uk&gclid=Cj0KEQiAzai0BRCs2Yydo8yptuIBEiQAN3_lFlnEPfm-NrtvCCsfF8KREcDfGbKTMERInbJouBsmhiMaAhk48P8HAQ&gclsrc=aw.ds

Picked mine up for under £200 on eBay.

Hot damn, £200 sounds good compared to £600 on Bike Inn!

Thanks all, will trawl Ebay.

Yeah fuck 600.

I paid about 300 I think. They come up 2nd hand sometimes on ttforum.

Ah, TT Forum, thanks. Will post a WTB and see where that gets me.