It''s silent except for the sound of your tire rolling over it, and completely stable. There''s really no need to buy the next more expensive one. I haven''t felt the need for a mat. And the resistance truly is road like except without the bumps and traffic lights. It''s a constant effort though, so you will get more of a work out in 45 minutes on the trainer than you would in double that time riding on the road.You will want to accessorize however for a few reasons:
First of all, riding a trainer is the most boring thing ever. At the very least you will want to be listening to music, and ideally you will want to set up a TV to watch while you''re putting in your time getting nowhere fast.
If you don''t have water bottles and cages on your bike, this is the time to get them, and also a good way to practice drinking from them while riding.
You will sweat buckets, and don''t want to soak your bike and the floor with it because sweat is highly corrosive in addition to being stinky, so in addition to the roughly $300 you will pay for this trainer you might as well spring for the the "Bike Thong" which Amazon also sells (with Free Super Saver Shipping) for about $22 (cheaper than CycleOps sells it for, and they don''t give you free shipping). The bike thong will protect your bike from all that corrosive sweat and it comes with a handy pocket organizer to hold your TV remote control, iPod, Clif Bars or whatever you might want handy. Trust me, attempting to cover your bike with a towel wont work nearly as well either for the bike or you as you try to keep it in place.
You should also get a fan to blow air on you as you ride your trainer.
As for a climbing block to raise your front wheel for another twenty-something dollars, I''ve been using an old sandle and that has worked just fine. The first few times riding with the sandle under the front wheel I keep turning involuntarily, but got used to it. Honestly, I feel the climbing block is a waste of money, and that for the price of the trainer it should have been included.
This trainer does come with a DVD, but I haven''t watched it yet because I don''t imagine the most beneficial and boring task of riding a trainer every day is going to be made more beneficial or interesting by having someone tell me what to do. Instead, I recommend a DVD of Breaking Away or Top Gun--so you feel like you''re flying.
Last point: if you''re really into cycling rather than simply doing this as exercise, the bike trainer will help your technique. Any amount of wiggling around, or most any bad cycling habit, it soon eliminated after being amplified by your time on the trainer. You will also hear your bike better, and notice all those squeeks and strange clicks that you couldn''t hear while riding for real (personally I feel a bike should purr).
Love it. Highly recommend it.
Buy CycleOps Fluid 2 Indoor Bicycle Trainer Now
This Trainer is great. Relatively easy set up. Tremendous customer support when you call about anything that is unclear. The instructions are a bit weak for setting it up (hence the call to customer support). Once you get it set up it is wonderful. A truly tough workout, the free Chris Carmichael DVD helps you through your first workout and gives you ideas for setting up other workouts on your own. You need to get the riser block for the front wheel or it does not feel right. During my first 2 workouts on it I easily exceeded the Heart Rates I was getting in an organized Spinning Class. Feels rock solid.Read Best Reviews of CycleOps Fluid 2 Indoor Bicycle Trainer Here
The Fluid 2 trainer is a good option if you are unable to hit the road, but definitely is not the same. Eventhough it has a great feel and its pretty quiet, the resistance is great I really like it, if you are going to ride outside and also use the trainer I strongly recommend to have another tire, because the rear tire is going to wear easily, but I think this is the best trainer you can get out there.Want CycleOps Fluid 2 Indoor Bicycle Trainer Discount?
I used to do a lot of road riding 20 years ago, so now I''m not really "in shape" for returning to road riding. I got this trainer when I bought a new road bike since I used to use an old fan based trainer, the fan was very noisy! I didn''t like the idea of the mag trainer having a resistance selector via cable or having to get off the bike to adjust. The fluid trainers adjust resistance based on how fast the rear wheel spins... faster spin, more resistance... this makes it perfect for the training videos that are available... they say you should shift up or down and the resistance will then be easier or harder. Actually, most of the training videos I''ve seen use fluid based trainers (either cycelops or kinetic) anyway.I do my exercise at night, usually when my family has gone to sleep. I wouldn''t call the trainer very quite, but it''s certainly not loud. I can be downstairs and the family asleep upstairs and it doesn''t disturb them... even with the bedroom right above where I''m riding. I don''t need to turn the TV volume up much to hear the audio.
This is a well build and sturdy trainer. It''s not light, most of the weight is in the fluid and flywheel assembly, but the tube frame is very strong and looks well designed. It was very easy to assemble, it took about 5 minutes to figure out and put together. The hardest part was setting how much pressure to apply with the metal roller to the tire so it wouldn''t slip when I sprinted and wasn''t pressing too hard to cause the tire to heat up/wear faster.
I''ve done about 100 miles in the past week on it (got it last Sat!) and am looking forward to more.
BTW, it also works with mountain bikes, but the knobby tires are a lot louder than the slicks on my road bike, but I didn''t buy it with plans to use my mountain bike since the gearing is so much lower for hill climbing, I don''t think the resistance from the fluid would be enough for a hard workout since it wouldn''t be turning as fast as a higher geared road bike (53:12 on the road bike verses 44:11 on the MTB)
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