I’m looking at purchasing my first bike trainer ever and using zwift for the first time. I have been doing a lot of research on trainers and I know there is a lot on the market (it can be overwhelming!). I have pared my potential purchase down to two trainers simply because they are both affordable and on sale, but I need help with choosing one:
Kurt Kinetic Fluid Road Machine Smart $329 (CDN)
Cycleops Fluid 2 smart $349 (CDN)
I am an occasional cyclist and would like to stay fit over winter by cycling indoors. 10 years ago I used to cycle 60km 3-4 times a week in hilly conditions. I don’t do this anymore but I would like to get back to this fitness level. I am small (125lb) so don’t need serious wattage. I am not too concerned with super accurate readings, although consistency would be great so I can judge my progress. I am looking for something simple, quiet, and, fun. Because i’ve never tried a trainer or zwift i’m not ready to spend the big bucks. I don’t have a power meter, or any speed or cadence sensors.
If possible I would love to not have to put a trainer tire on my bike for some rides. e.g. I would love to start indoor training while I still use my bike for commuting everyday, the overlap will be about one month. Is this possible with either of these trainers? I have a road bike.
Thoughts? Suggestions? I know these aren’t new machines but the price is right!
While both are fine trainers, if you can scrape together enough loonies, I suggest you invest in a smart trainer. A kickr snap or core will make (IMO) your training much more effective.
Thanks for the response. I looked at both of these options and the kickr snap is more than double and kickr core maybe even quadruple the cost of those i’ve been looking at. Would you say the cheaper options aren’t even worth it?
I am reluctant to spend more $$ as i’ve never tried indoor training and am not sure how much i’d like it. But if the cheaper versions aren’t even worth it perhaps I should just wait and save up?
Let me tell you another point of view on all of this equpement-toys around Zwift ))
Having Kinetic Rock and Roll 2 fluid trainer at home and some experience with direct drive smart trainers at gym.
This is all about how schizophrenic and modern are you ready to be and how strong your schizophrenia is supported by your financial ability )).
For the so-called “non-smart” fluid trainers: just always remember, that there are many people out there with the smart trainers that not really using those “smart” capabilities, since they just adjusting the difficulty lvl to 0-20% what makes it same experience as fluid trainer.
(especially very known thing for races…)
Well, you do will loose the option of ERG with non smart trainer, but this is not the end of the world again…
If you have the option of Kinetic with the latest InRide sensor (the green one) - it is good enough and will give all that you need.
For the wheel-on: well, you will always have the parts of cleaning the tire, checking the pressure (each time), tightening and un-tightening the bolt, and also a slight wheel slippage during sprints with 800+ watts.
Besides those things above, you will not really feel the big difference.
You could always go to any local gym with Zwift smart bikes and test those differences by yourself.
