Trainer Recommendations?

[roadie gal]

1. They're all going to wear down your tire to some extent. You can get a "trainer" tire that will be more resistant to wear. They're generally heavy, so they're not great for riding outside, but they do save your good tires.

2. I've been on mine for up to 3 hours without a problem. The resistance area (fan area, whatever it's called) will get hot, but not so much the part that touches your tire.

3. Anything will work - a board, a phone book, etc. The prop is just more stable. You can get them for about $10.

4. Depends on your computer. It might be compatible with the back tire.

5. You do change resistance by changing gears. Many of the trainers also come with a dial or other way to also change the overall resistance. Generally you don't fiddle with that during a ride like you do with your gears. You set the trainer to a tension that works for you and then just leave it.

6. Almost all of them adjust enough to be compatible with mountain or road bikes.

7. I don't know the mechanism by which they increase or decrease resistance, but see #5 above.

8. I've seen multiple discussions on bike and tri sites about this. They all say that the trainer will NOT damage your frame and that there's actually more stress on the road than the trainer. You do want to use the skewer that comes with the trainer, though. They tend to be heavy steel that resists the torque better than the nice one that's probably on your bike.

I would suggest a fluid rather than a mag trainer. I've had both. The fluid gives a much more realistic road feel.

[mayanorange]

I have a cycleops fluid trainer and I like it. Yes, they all wear your tires eventually. You definitely need something under the front tire otherwise you feel like you're going downhill the whole time. I picked up a front tire block cheap, but before that, had a chunk of wood under there. The resistance on mine is adjusted with a knob- tighten it and it holds the wheel firmer and you have to pedal harder. Mostly I set it to what it recommended- 2 turns past when it touches the tire, then just shift to a different gear to increase the workload.

[Norse]

Save your good tires and use cheap or worn ones on the trainer. Because I sometimes use the trainer during the season, especially as a morning before work work-out, to save time I bought a used wheel with the same make of cassette as my "good" wheel and put the crappy stock tire that came with the bike on there and that's what I use.

[Irulan]

I picked up a a trainer specific tire for $5 at the LBS.

Where you will get frame damage is if you sweat a lot that drips on the frame and you don't clean it off.

I have a Kenetic fluid trainer that has a flywheel - as you increase cadence the resistance increases.

Just shift gears to maintain cadence/resistance.