About the reviewer: Ron Fritzke is a cycling product reviewer with a passion for ‘all things cycling’. A former 2:17 marathoner, he now directs his competitive efforts toward racing his bike…and looking for good cycling products.

Product Quality		Noise Level
Realistic Feel		Bells and Whistles
Overall Value

The Humble Beginnings Of Bike Wind Trainers

Before the Kinetic Cyclone: Squirrel cage or wind trainer?

When you look at the Cyclone or the CycleOps wind trainer you see a very solidly built unit without bells and whistles.  It’s easy to forget the early model wind trainers; and not fully appreciate these modern bike wind trainers.  Early wind trainers were flimsy affairs, susceptible to breakage…not only in use, but even more so when being transported from place to place.

Sometimes that transport was back to the storage room after a sweat-fest in the living room, and sometimes it was in the trunk of a car when going to a local race.

Whatever the circumstance, the little fins on the squirrel cage could easily get bent (making riding on the early wind trainers as pleasant as driving your car with a front tire out of balance).

Kinetic Cyclone Wind Trainer Frame Is Same As Road Machine Frame

Another source of grief in early trainers was the small diameter roller.  The little rascal spun like a deafening whirlwind…and just as disturbing was the fact that the small amount of surface area between the tire and roller led to increased tire wear.  The roller on the Kinetic Cyclone wind trainer is the same 2.5 inches diameter as is on the $329.00 Road Machine, and the $499.00 Rock and Roll.

In case you didn’t know, all of the Kinetic products are made by a larger company called Kurt Manufacturing which machines a multitude of products for the automotive industry and  the aerospace industry.  In short, you can trust these folks to accurately machine something as basic as a 2.5 inch roller.  That’s also why you’ll often see the bike trainers called the Kurt Kinetic bike trainers.

Let’s Start With The Kinetic Wind Trainer Frame

You can bet that the 2 inch steel tubing of the frame isn’t going anywhere.

The frame on the Kinetic Cyclone is the same frame that’s been used for years on the Kinetic Road Machine…a bomb-proof monster about as similar to the frames of early wind trainers as a Bradley tank is to a Toyota Prius.

The 16″ legs on the frame fold up, creating a ‘sorta’ portable package that’s 19″ by 22″ by 6″ tall.  When the legs are unfolded, the base is 32# wide…plenty of width for stability.

I use the word ‘sorta’ because it’s certainly not as easy to carry the Cyclone wind trainer  around as a laptop in a case…but it’s not like you’re going to pack the thing with you when you impersonate a pseudo-intellectual at the coffee bar, for Pete’s sake.

So I take that back, it’s plenty portable in light of lugging the 9.6 pound unit from living room to spare bedroom, to car trunk, to attic (once the New Year’s resolution fades into the background).

As a point of reference, the Road Machine weighs over 30 pounds, so lifting the Cyclone is something even a spaghetti-armed cyclist can do.

Just kidding about the attic remark…don’t you dare quit exercising.

The bike is attached to the Cyclone by two threaded shafts, cupping the quick release that comes with the Cyclone in ‘machined gizmos shaped for cupping’ (Huh? My words, not theirs).  Anyway, I can’t think of how to describe the simple mechanism.

Let me just say, the attaching of a bike to the CycleOps Wind trainer or the Kinetic Rock and Roll is a bit easier than attaching a bike to the Kinetic Cyclone or the Road Machine.

Dem Fans, Dem Fans, Dem Noisy Fans

At the start of the review, I wrote about early generation fans being light and flimsy.

Double the fans, double the fun!

Not so with the twin cast iron fans on the Kinetic Cyclone.  The fans are 6 inches in diameter and each one weighs 2.2 pounds.  Because they have a decent amount of inertia, the spin-down and spin-up of Cyclone is much more realistic than wind trainers with fans as light as a geisha girls’s paper hand-held accouterments.

If you’re new to bike trainers, you may not know that one of the valued features of a trainer is it’s ‘spin-down’ time…the time it takes the trainer to slow to a stop after the rider quits pedaling (the Cyclone has a spin-down time of five seconds).  There is an implication that the rider benefits from a long spin-down time (like a bit of ‘free distance’?).

That’s not the issue at all.  The issue is really ‘spin-up’ resistance.  Just think about it, to simulate realistic riding there has to be some resistance to acceleration.  When you accelerate on your bike outdoors, you have to overcome the inertia of your lard-butt weight.  It takes effort to transform yourself from a dawdling bicycle rider traveling at 11 mph to a cyclist tearing down the trail at 23 mph.  I know…I have to do it every time I see someone coming toward me on the bike trail.

On the road you can’t just ‘spin those cranks’ and go from 11 mph to 23mph in the blink of an eye.  But you can if you’re on a trainer with an extremely light resistance unit…and thus the issue of ‘realistic’ riding on a trainer involves a relatively heavy flywheel.

The heavy flywheel concept can be taken to the extreme…witness the eighteen pounds of flywheel on the Kinetic Pro trainer.

Room for Improvement:  Which leads me to resume banging the drums for improvement regarding the tightening of the roller to the tire on the Kurt Kinetic products.  A simple star shaped knob does the job.

Problem is…there’s no indicator on the knob, so it’s hard to know how many of the prescribed three to five tightening turns you’ve accomplished.  A simple solution would be to mold the plastic star knob with an indicator bump on it.

Who Should Ride The Cyclone?:  The Kinetic wind trainer is recommended for riders who average under 18 mph, at which the trainer is resisting at a level of just under 150 watts.  That’s not a whole lot of watts…as a point of reference, riding outdoors or riding on the Kinetic Road machine at 18 mph is at an effort level of 200 watts.

The folks over at Competitive Cyclist thought that the noise level only became unbearable at 25 mph, at which time the watts were 349 watts.

So why not just pedal the Cyclone faster?  Well, that’s when the noise level gets substantial, and for a lot of people the loud roar is too much.  One guy thought that a vacuum cleaner was chasing him down.

Who are we to believe?  The highly trained professionals at Competitive Cyclist…or a man burdened by a phobia of vacuum cleaner noise? 

Cyclone Warranties

The Kinetic Cyclone wind trainer is covered by an unconditional lifetime warranty.  That kind of speaks for itself, except for the fact that it also includes a lifetime crash replacement policy.  Now I become confused…why a crash replacement policy when it’s already covered by an unconditional lifetime warranty?

Not to worry, I guess.  It’ll be covered one way or another.

The Kinetic Cyclone Wind Trainer Is For:

1. Cyclists who appreciate high quality and reliability.
2. Cyclists who aren’t the most hard-core on the block.

 –>The Lowest Price You’ll Find For The Kinetic Cyclone Is At Amazon <–

If you think this review is thorough, please link to it, Facebook it, Google plus it, or bookmark it.  Much appreciated!

A thinly disguised effort to meld 'bike washing' to 'Occupy Wall Street'.

I’ve had a real hanker’in to get over to an ‘Occupy’ event; but a busy work schedule precludes it.  Seems the best I can do is ‘occupy’ my bike when I get home from the office, in an effort to stay fit.

But, I’m not just anybody’s fool (I’m the sole owner of this here fool)!

I’ve seen enough newsreels of occupiers getting the ole heave-ho due to uncleanliness (not to mention pooping on the sidewalk) to realize that I may face the same fate (the heave-ho) should my chosen ‘occupy’ location (my bike) slide into a state of slovenliness.

Thus, this short tutorial on keeping a bike clean!

Not too long ago I had a problem getting the shifters on my mountain bike to work correctly.  Obviously, the problem was far too complex for this mere chiropractor/bike rider, so I hustled the bike over to the local bike shop.

Low and behold…my bike was suffering from a severe case of ‘no-wash’em-syndrome’.

Who would have guessed that all of that mud build-up between the seat tube and front shifter could be the culprit?  Certainly not this knucklehead.

Anyway…here’s to keeping our bikes clean.  With the increased amount of mud, blood, and guts that accumulate on winter roads, our bikes could use a good cleaning now and then regularly.

I’ve embedded a video below of a pro mechanic from team BMC, courtesy of Bicycling.com, so that you can see how the big-shots get their already clean bikes cleaner (could they be the one percenters?).  There are some very good points in the video, as well as in the linked-to article.

Be forewarned, watching the mechanic wash down the team bike is a bit like watching a juggler perform his craft with no balls.  Since the bike is already squeaky clean, it comes off as a superfluous activity.

Of course, should the bike mechanic not wash an already clean bike, he’d soon be struggling to de-grease a chain that actually has grease on it.  He’d be in the same boat us mere mortals occupy…

Here’s to enjoying the video!

Related articles

• Chain-L: The Best Chain Lube You Probably Are Not Using (kentsbike.blogspot.com)
• Bike mechanic pedals his workshop to clients’ homes (gizmag.com)

Image via Wikipedia

Well, according to Lance Armstrong’s coach, Chris Carmichael, the story may be written in the hands.

Before you get all indignant on me, and try to maintain that you’re only interested in how your riding partner’s doing so that you can:

• murmur words of encouragement,
• offer advice about engaging different muscle groups by changing position on the saddle,
• or other helpful acts of kindness,

let me remind you…

One cyclist going down the street is a bike ride, two cyclists riding down the street is a bike race.

So now that we’re on the same page, let the gamesmanship begin.  And lest you think that gamesmanship isn’t powerful, don’t forget Lance Armstrong’s fake fatigue in stage 10 of the 2001 Tour de France.  He lulled his opponents to sleep on earlier climbs by feigning poor form… before beating them by two minutes on the celebrated L’Alpe d’Huez.

I’ll bet he rocked back and forth on his bike, uttered soft un-Texan-like whimpering sounds, let himself get gapped a bit, and most importantly…gripped his handlebars tightly.

So ole Ulrich looked over at those white knuckles with a Ho, Ho, Ho.  Just before Lance launched an attack that was critical to winning his third Tour de France.

Use Hand Tightness To Your Advantage

Up until now this discussion has been about looking how tightly your adversary riding partner is gripping the bars, in order to time your savage attack.

But you can use the ‘hand-grip’ technique to ride offensively as well.

The judicious use of the double-cross, the double double-cross, or the head-spinning single hand cross-up may be just what you need to throw your opponent off your desire to dominate.

That is, of course, if your partner is privy to the message that hands can telegraph.  If they’re merely trying to remain upright while riding, none of this hand-reading stuff works.

Save it for a ride with someone to whom you really want to deliver a sound beat-down.

• Double Cross- it’s relatively easy to grip your bars tightly when you’re still fresh in order to signal fake-fatigue.  It’s harder to loosen your grip when you’re suffering mightily.  But the reward is great…so ‘just do it’.
• Double Double Cross- once you’ve successfully pulled off the double cross, the double double is an option.  Just go with what comes naturally (tight when tired, loose when fresh) and your condition on the climb may be misinterpreted by your smug opponent.
• Single Hand Cross-Up- much like rubbing your stomach with one hand while tapping your head with the other, this technique requires ‘autonomic neurogenic dexterity’ (made that one up).  The complication occurs when betwixt two riding partners.  One hand is held tightly for the benefit of the rider closest to the right side, and the other hand maintains a loose grip for the misdirection of the rider on the left side.  But it becomes complicated.  Are you delivering a double cross to the idiot guy on the right, or a double, double cross?  Same goes for the rider on the left.  Mix it up too much and you’ll unseat yourself…or lose bowel control.  Use this technique only in dire circumstances.

And Then There’s The Face

The 'Silent Assassin's' Face Is A Blank Page

You think that’s effective?  How about the face?

Two pros come to mind.  Denis Menchov is known as the ‘Silent Assassin’  because no matter what the circumstances, his face is placid.

On the other hand, Jens Voit has made a career of face grimacing.  In practically any situation, Jens is able to produce a convincing look of pain and determination.

His entire persona revolves around being a tough guy who tries really, really hard.  But it occurred to me that pain is a relative thing.  Some feel it much more intensely than others.

A Case Of 'Reverse Face Determinosis'?

If you were to dish out 600 units of pain to one guy, he may feel it quite intensely, while in another guy it may hardly be noticed.  So what’s to say that Jens is actually feeling more pain than the Silent Assassin?

Maybe Jens is getting a tiny tinkle of pain…but he feels it most intensely.

Could each of them be playing a sophisticated game of Reverse-Face Determinosis?

Related articles

• Nobody Suffers Like Jens Voigt (online.wsj.com)
• Missing Lance (amybunny.wordpress.com)
• Get Fit While Giving Back (prweb.com)

Sure, there are a lot of subtle things to do to get into a top-notch time trial position on a bike.  But what should you focus on if you don’t have unlimited money and time?

You know…how do you get the most bang for your buck?

In the video below, Lance talks about three positioning fundamentals to be aware of .  I’ll summarize a few points for you.

1).  Get your head out of the way.  It goes without saying that your body can be as ‘small’ as possible, but if your coconut is sticking up, catching the wind, you’ve got problems.

Should I get into time trialing again, I’m going to do some ‘blind’ riding.  There’s really no need to have my head up like an ostrich, searching the road for loose change, discarded bear cans with high redemption value, or even the finish line.

I think I’ll just glance up now and then to make sure I’m not headed for a double-parked delivery van.  Then I’ll get my pumpkin down out of the wind.  And here’s a positive side effect…my neck won’t be screaming for relief.

One problem with this whole ‘glance up’ routine when wearing a ‘long tail’ aero helmet is that the tail of the helmet will be up in the stratosphere when I drop my head.  I suppose the new short-tailed aero helmets don’t pose the same degree of difficulty.

I just read a blog post that labeled my ‘only glance up now and then’ to be extremely dangerous.  Probably true, so don’t try it.

You know the old saying, ‘Don’t do as I say, don’t do as I do!’

2).  Narrow your shoulders.  Narrowing the shoulders is accomplished by reducing the space between the elbow pads on the aerobars.

A Good Angle For Appreciating My Wide Shoulders

I have very manly, wide shoulders.  I’m proud of them, and believe they make me more important than men who are cursed with narrow shoulders.

Blessed with such shoulder width, I’ve felt the discomfort of having the elbow pads too closely spaced in my effort to get as aero as possible.  The discomfort was so significant that at times I didn’t think highly of my physique,  instead reducing myself to sniveling and whimpering.

I widened the space between my elbow pads and was able to inhale again, after which I once again appreciated myself.

3).  Flatten your back.  Lance will tell you (with stylish graphics) about drawing a line between the center of the hip and the center of the shoulders (of course, mine are quite wide).  The more horizontal the line is, the more aero the position.

But, if your ability to produce watts is compromised by too flat of positioning, you’ll have to compromise and ‘sit up’ a bit.

Look How Horizontal The Line Between 'Point Of Shoulder (Narrow)' And 'Point Of Hip' Is On Levi.

Lance references his teammate Levi several times in this video.  He’s careful to not speak poorly of Levi’s body type, but you can read between the lines and rightfully infer that Levi probably doesn’t have very wide shoulders.

Actually, it looks like Levi is cursed with a long torso and itty-bitty short legs.  He can keep his Tour of California victories and Tour de France performances.

As for me, I’ll take my wide shoulders any day.

If you’d like some insight into why the bent over position of time trialing hurts your low back, read all about it at Askfitnesscoach.com .

Related articles

• The Case Against “The Case Against Lance Armstrong” [Lance Armstrong] (deadspin.com)
• Lance Armstrong to compete in Worlds triathlon (espn.go.com)
• Is Lance Armstrong a success? (psychologytoday.com)
• Lance Armstrong confronts Tyler Hamilton over doping claims (telegraph.co.uk)

John Crook Talks Pedaling Stroke

I just watched an interesting youtube video wherein the esteemed purveyor of Crookscycleright.com, John Crook, presents a case for busting a few pedal stroke myths. Citing studies done quite some time ago on the 7-11 team, he notes that ‘ankling’ and ‘pulling up on the upstroke’ may not be all they’re Crooked up to be.

Ankling is a form of pedaling in which the rider gets some ‘action’ out of the calves. While this may seem like a great idea, John Crook points out two pitfalls.

1). When you watch the video below, take note of the portion in which John demonstrates that ankling directs force during the downstroke toward the bottom bracket rather than directing it around the arch of the pedal stroke. Considering that you’ll be unable to get any benefit from pushing your crank arm toward the bottom bracket…don’t do it.

2).  Additionally, as with the other ‘myth’ that John seeks to break…using the smaller muscles used when doing ankling technique is a poor ‘bang for your buck’. It’s not efficient.

I kind of suspected that ankling may have its detractors. When I first started racing, I brought up the subject with my coach and he wasn’t too jazzed up about it.  I thought he’d reveal that it was a part of the secret arsenal of fast riding.

Hmm, I thought.

Maybe ankles should be limited to being a place to wear my sponsor’s socks.

Watch the video and see what you think.

What About ‘Pulling Up’?

John also shoots at the benefit of pulling up on the upstroke. Yes, there is more power generated when pulling up on the upstroke…but the metabolic cost is quite high.

Bottom-line? When you want to sprint like Cavendish, push down, pull up, and elbow your neighbor. In short, do anything you can to generate watts.

But if you’re looking to use as little oxygen to get down the road as possible, think twice before pulling up on the pedals.

I’m still convinced that it’s helpful to do the ‘scrape dog poop off the bottom of your shoe’ routine, as well as trying to ‘pedal over the top’.  But for the most part, don’t go overboard trying to maintain the same pressure on the pedals throughout the circle…it just isn’t going to happen.

Related articles

• Cadence (andrewgrant.me)
• What’s the most comfortable road bike pedal system? (ask.metafilter.com)

Cycling Hillbilly Takes Burley Travoy For A Ride!

About the reviewer: Ron Fritzke is a cycling product reviewer with a passion for ‘all things cycling’. A former 2:17 marathoner, he now directs his competitive efforts toward racing his bike…and looking for good cycling products.

Versatility		Bells and Whistles
Quality of materials		Customer Service/Reliability
Cost

Burley Travoy Cheap-shots…Taking On The Naysayers

Before I get going on what I think of this trailer, I want to get some things off my chest.

I’ve spent hours scouring the web for reactions to the Travoy…and I’ve come away realizing that I’m glad I don’t live in a crowded city next to the few little nit-pickers taking cheap shots at this quality product.

"Oohoo, the Bikehod came out first, it came out first, it came out first!"

I can just see them flapping their hands in glee and piddling in their self-righteous pants after pointing out that…

• there’s been another product similar to this one offered in England called the ‘Bikehod’ (it costs over $500, while the Travoy costs about $289.00), or that…

• someone did a Master’s thesis on a primitive concept similar to this one, long before Burley came out with the Travoy.  They don’t bother to discuss the difference between a skeleton concept and a ‘full-figured’ final product (and the Travoy’s got curves, baby!), or that…

• Stinky Pete went to the dump, pulled a rusty golf cart out of the pile, hosed off the rotting apples and bananas, hose-clamped it to his two wheeled tank bike, and called it a bike trailer.  All it cost him was a rabies shot at the clinic, or that…

• in order to keep the costs manageable, Burley has the Travoy put together in the Philippines (are people who gripe about overseas manufacturing willing to pay three times as much for their bike trailer?…just asking).

Have at it, bike snobs…as for me, I appreciate this excellent product.

It’s The Little Things That Count

This thing rivals ‘Transformers’ in its ability to change shapes and functions (try that with a used golf cart).

It rides along behind the bike as a trailer, or it can be used as a hand cart, or it can simulate a piece of ‘pull along’ baggage, or it can fold up into a suitcase-sized carry item.

There are handles that twist to allow the trailer to fold up, there are little cables to be pulled to get the bottom shelf to fold, and there are buttons to be pushed to release the quick-release wheels.  It’s a gear-head’s dream come true.

This thing pulls much easier than the Apache travois of yesteryear.

Bypass the Skycab guy at the airport.

That's no suitcase, it's a Travoy!

And A Bag Lady’s Dream

The Travoy comes with two bags.  The top bag is the size of what used to be called a ‘briefcase’, but is now called a ‘messenger’ bag.

This in spite of the fact that there’s usually no message to be delivered.

Keep your laptop safe when delivering messages.

There’s a laptop protector/carrier in the bag which is secured with Velcro, there are a series of pockets for pens and pencils (remember those?), and there’s a pocket to hold the handbook, Why I’m Superior To Every One Else Because I Don’t Own A Car.

Update:  This upper bag is an accessory costing $79.00.  Thanks to reader ‘Joe’ for pointing this out.

The lower bag is humbler in status.  Like the upper bag, it attaches to the frame using the tie-down buttons.  It’s 20 inches tall, 8 inches deep, and 13 inches wide.  That’s 2080 cubic inches of carrying-capacity marvelousness.  This is the bag that the Burley Travoy folds down into when it’s not in use.

Some haul begonias and filagree, others chainsaws!

For those who’re going to use the trailer for ‘hauling freight’, the tie-down buttons work well to secure the load.  Where I live that load would be chainsaws and pickup truck bumpers.  In Portland, the load consists of narrow solar panels and boxes full of filleted wild salmon (with a spritz of lemon).

Stability While Under Way

Because this trailer isn’t as wide as your aunt Enorma’s sitting apparatus, stability is a concern.  I’ve read some of what the product testers at Burley did in developing the Travoy in order to minimize any tipping-over tendencies.  They went to great lengths.

Amusingly, it’s the very factors that make this a stable trailer (for it’s width) that the nit-pickers are critical of…the low clearance (12 inch wheels) and the attachment bracket.

I just measured the clearance from the pavement to the axle at 5 inches, and the width from outside of one tire to the outside of the other to be 22 inches.  That gives a ratio of .2272.  This ratio is entirely meaningless, but demonstrates my ability to use the calculator in Windows 7.

But you know what?  The product testers didn’t just pull the ‘center of gravity to width ratio’ out of their butt (like I would); they were purposeful in their decision.  I loaded the trailer up with 50 pounds of weight and never felt any inclination of the trailer tipping.

So easy even a Hillbilly can do it.

The attachment bracket clamps onto the seat post, after which the attaching and detaching of the trailer is accomplished in lightning speed using a flex connector.  If your seat-post is larger in diameter 32 mm, you may have to head down to the hardware store and get some longer machined screws.

You’re advised to not clamp the bracket to a carbon seat post (compressive forces are hard on carbon fiber).  I did clamp mine onto my carbon seat-post for a short while because I wanted to use the power-meter on my racing bike to measure how much extra work was involved in pulling 50 pounds around in the Travoy.  Bottom line is that my carbon seat-post emerged unscathed.

More on that experiment later…

Burley Travoy Rack Mount

The flex connector is interesting.  There’s a bit of flex resulting from a polymer in the coupling connector.  The resistance that the polymer has to a twisting motion results in less likelihood of your load of organic papayas hitting the pavement due to a surprise pothole.

There was some early grumbling about the limitation of having to attach the Travoy to the seat-post, rather than having the option of attaching it to a rear rack. There are some urban cyclists who put their kids on the back of the bike, so the little tykes are in the way of the seat post attachment.

Well, gripe no more!  Burley now has a Rack Mount for the Travoy.  Sells for only $28.00.

Speaking of connectors, here’s a bit of bike-gear-reviewer advice.  It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea for Burley to put a safety strap on the connector in case the trailer comes loose and a Prius runs over this week’s groceries.

How About At The Grocery Store?

Fold this little kickstand down and your Travoy will remain upright in any grocery store aisle.

Here’s where some genius comes in.  Just unhook the trailer and, because it has a little kickstand, it can be wheeled through the aisles of the grocery store, capable of carrying 2080 cubic inches of grocery goodness.

All you have to do is cozy up to the check-out stand, unload the groceries for the checker, and then have them loaded back into the cart for the trip back home.

Burly Travoy Weights And Measures

I almost forgot to state the obvious…the carrying capacity is 60 pounds and the weight of the trailer is 9.8 lbs.  There has been some mention of the use of plastic on the Travoy.

Here’s my perspective…life’s a trade-off.  If you want an all metal trailer, you won’t have a trailer that’s light enough to be portable.  Besides, when I had 50 lbs in the trailer there was a bit of ‘flex’ in the frame of the trailer with each of my pedal strokes…which is nice, since it acts like a bit of a shock absorber.

I haven’t perfected my pedaling stroke sufficiently to make circles; I pedal in squares with rounded corners, so pedaling against a trailer with no ‘give’ would be very uncomfortable.

"4-wheelin Can Get So Muddy, Oh My!"

This isn’t an off-road trailer, it’s more like a metrosexual…well-heeled, functioning perfectly in the city, but not suited for four wheeling.

And lest some of you metrosexuals begin whining your disapproval at my characterization, riding in a pick-up truck (with four wheels) doesn’t count as ‘four wheelin’.

Don’t put passengers on this trailer, that job’s relegated to a trailer like the Burley Honeybee.

The entire trailer folds down compactly (thus the quick release wheels and the handle twister/latches) so that you can carry it unobtrusively up to your apartment without your nosy neighbor knowing that you’re on the cutting edge of green technology.

Like I stated previously, I measured the outside dimensions at just over 22 inches, which means it gets through any door wider than those on Bilbo Baggins’ house.

When underway, you should pack the trailer in such a way that there is at least 2 lbs of downward ‘tongue pressure’ on the connector. This is very easy to do. Those of us who’ve towed a lot of trailers know that insufficient tongue weight can cause a trailer to start a swaying motion that is hard to get back under control.

How Much Does It Cost To Pull The Travoy?  Energy-wise.

Ever wonder how much extra energy it takes to pull a trailer?  Well, by using the Powertap on my racing bike, I found out.

I loaded the Travoy with 50 lbs and rode on a stretch of road at 15 mph.  Before doing so, I rode the same stretch with my bike unladen and at the same speed.  There was an imperceptible incline on that stretch of pavement.

• at 15 mph, without a load, I was putting out 135 watts.
• at 15 mph, with a 50 lb load in the Travoy, I was putting out 190 watts.

Next I did the same experiment on a moderate incline.

• at 10 mph, without a load, I was putting out 170 watts.
• at 10 mph, with a 50 lb load in the Travoy, I was putting out 250 watts.

Bottom line?  There is between a 40% to 45% increase in effort when pulling 50 lbs up a hill, as certifiably measured by this hillbilly.

What About Accessories?

If you’d like to, you can ask for Burley Travoy accessories for many Christmases to come.  There’s everything from rain covers, extra tie down straps, duffel bags designed to fit the Travoy, dry bags that rival those used by kayakers, and green colored market bags to make trips for groceries even more convenient.

That’s About It Folks!

Well, I’ve come to the end of the line…successfully ‘reviewed’ myself out.  I made a few other notes on the Travoy, but they are inconsequential.

For those who are using the modern day bike for a good portion of their transportation needs, this little trailer is just the ticket.  If you get satisfaction from owning well thought out products, you’ll drool over this one.  If you get satisfaction from getting discards out of the landfill, the Burley Travoy is probably too ‘up-town’, and you’ll be left to drooling on yourself.

One of the best places to get a Burley Travoy is at Amazon.  Their pricing is as low as anyone’s, they are a very trusted merchant, and they stand behind what they sell.  Give them a ‘look-see’ here.

If you think this review is thorough, please link to it, Facebook it, Google plus it, or bookmark it.  Much appreciated.

What I’ll do here is explain the features of the Schwinn 240 recumbent, with an emphasis on what they mean to you; clarify any terms that need to be explained (i.e. Eddy Current Brake Resistance System, Telemetry Enabled, etc); and cheerfully ignore a lot of the nonsense that’s written about, but is so obvious that it borders on ‘product review spam’.

About the reviewer: Ron Fritzke is a cycling product reviewer with a passion for ‘all things cycling’. A former 2:17 marathoner, he now directs his competitive efforts toward racing his bike…and looking for good cycling products.

Product Quality		Noise Level
Realistic Feel		Assembly
Overall Rating

A Word About The Schwinn 240 Recumbent Resistance Unit

I’ve spent hundreds of hours doing reviews and writing articles about indoor bike trainers…and the resistance unit in the Schwinn 240 recumbent (as in just about all high quality exercise bikes that plug into the wall) puts bike trainers to shame.

The Schwinn 240 recumbent generates resistance using an Eddy Current Brake Resistance System.

Industrial Eddy Current Brake, But You Get The Idea.

In short, this system spins the aluminum flywheel through a magnetic field (generated by the electromagnets- thus the need for it to be plugged in).

Any metal that conducts electricity (the aluminum flywheel) will be influenced by the “eddy currents’ which are around the electromagnet.  The ‘drag’ on the aluminum flywheel as it spins through the eddy currents creates the resistance in this system.

It’s a similar system as that used on some trains…and if it can stop a train, it’ll certainly slow down your massive legs when you’re pedaling.

Distinct Advantages of the Eddy Current Brake System

• No friction between moving parts, so no noise, heat buildup, or wear and tear.
• ‘Seamless’ transition between resistance levels on the Schwinn 240 recumbent. Change is gradual, not abrupt.
• Smooth resistance with no ‘pulsing’ through individual magnetic fields (like in mag trainers).

To understand the advantage in this system, let me describe how units without this type of resistance generate a workload.

Back to the world of bike trainers…

Bike trainers are those devices you attach the rear wheel of your outdoor bike to in order to get an indoor workout.  But they’re portable, so they can’t afford to be hindered by being within reach of a wall socket…and besides, the Eddy Current System weighs too much to be put into a portable bike trainer.

In order for a bike trainer to generate resistance it has to turn a fan, spin some magnets, or turn an impeller through silicone.  They all have their disadvantages, and three of the worst disadvantages are easily conquered by the Eddy Current System.

Unlike exercise bikes with Eddy Current Resistance Units, bike trainers are noisy, don’t always provide smooth resistance, and they don’t all provide enough of a workload for high intensity workouts.

Not so with the Schwinn 240 recumbent. The pedaling is very quiet, it’s absolutely smooth, and it can provide nearly limitless resistance levels (the Schwinn 240 recumbent has 16 resistance levels), with gradual change between workloads.

Getting Set Up

If there’s a gripe about the Schwinn 240 recumbent, it’s the setting up.  The instruction sheet has a lot of very small print with too much blank space around it.  If you want to see what I mean, you can look at the entire Schwinn 240 recumbent assembly instructions in a PDF file format here. 

The advantage to the PDF file is that you can make it as big as you need to.  It beats using a magnifying glass like one reviewer did.

Another tip is to be sure to write down the serial number of your Schwinn 240 recumbent since you’ll need it to register for the warranty, and it’s on the bottom of the unit, so once it’s assembled the serial number’s hard to get to.

I’ve read all sorts of time estimates for the Schwinn 240 recumbent set-up…anywhere from 20 minutes (highly unlikely), to 45 minutes when performed by a professional exercise bike assembler, to a couple hours when performed by those who end up being very irritated by the whole assembly procedure.

Some Schwinn 240 Features

1). Long live recumbency!  If you’ve spent many miles on a traditional bike saddle (yes, the correct term is saddle…not seat) you’ll know that spending too much time on the bike hurts more than your legs.  Namely your back and your backside.

The adjustable recumbent seat on the Schwinn 240 recumbent accommodates a variety of leg lengths, and is pretty comfortable.  The company calls it a ‘padded ergonomic’ seat which might just be taking advantage of the trendy term ‘ergonomic’.  Nonetheless, the seat on the Schwinn 240 recumbent is spoken of very highly by most riders, and both the seat and the console are adjustable so you can get the correct  ‘reach’ to the pedals as well as the most comfortable height of the console.

The adjust-ability of the seat is unclear.  Numerous reviewers note the awkwardness of changing the seat position, noting that you have to screw out a pin, slide the seat, and then screw the pin back in.  They’re crying out for an easy slide adjustment device on the Schwinn 240 recumbent.

Large Flywheels Are Good.

2).  20 pound flywheel…so what?  While the weight of the flywheel may not seem like much of an issue, it is critical for producing a ‘realistic’ feel to the exercise bike…and the Schwinn 240 recumbent has a heavy flywheel.  A heavy flywheel resists changes in speed, much like occurs when riding a bike out on the road.

After-all, accelerating on a bike isn’t instantaneous, so why should you be able to ‘spin-up’ instantly on an exercise bike?

As a point of reference, the top bike trainers have flywheels in the neighborhood of 6 pounds, with the granddaddy flywheel of bike trainers weighing in at 18 pounds.  Once again, the Schwinn 240 recumbent flywheel is twenty pounds.

3). The Schwinn 240 recumbent has 17 preloaded exercise programs in it, including 8 different course profiles.  If there’s anything that stands out in my hours of indoor cycling, it’s the monotony factor.  I’ve watched football games, detective shows, and ultimate fighting to ward off boredom.  With the different course profiles on the Schwinn 240 recumbent, you should be able to fight off the dull-drums trying to ‘keep-up’ with the machine.

Speaking of ‘profiles’, this unit will remember the user profiles of two different riders so you don’t have to enter in the information every time you switch between exercisers…should you do like your mama told you to do, and share the Schwinn 240 recumbent.

4). Telemetry enabled, integrated grip heart rate system merely means that you’re able to grab a hold of the grip and it’ll give you your heart rate…important feedback for determining how hard you’re working.

In case this seems to be an inane feature, consider the alternative…wearing a strap around your chest to get your heart rate, which I can tell you is just one more annoying thing that has to be done before each of my outdoor bike rides.

The All Important Console

The Console Has Everything...Some Made Up, Like Speed And Distance! (see text)

If you’re casual about working out, reading a magazine or watching TV may be up your alley.  But if you’re doing some ‘purposeful’ huffing and puffing, your eyes will no doubt be glued to the information on the console.

The Schwinn 240 recumbent console is multi-colored and back lit to grab your attention in case you can’t concentrate for any length of time.

It’s like Ritalin in that way.

Here’s something else to consider if you can’t concentrate very well…setting up the console to make maximum use of the many features isn’t ‘intuitive’.  Several brilliant minds (at least they report themselves to be brilliant) have had to monkey around to mine the depths of the Schwinn 240 recumbent console.  In this ‘information’ age, something as basic as instructions shouldn’t be an issue, but it appears to be with this unit.

But the console does store all of the data from previous workouts, so you’ll know how well you’re progressing in your workouts.  I read a good discussion comparing the electronics of the Schwinn 240 recumbent to those on the Nautilus R514.  It seems the heart-rate monitor on the Nautilus unit (by the way, Nautilus owns Schwinn) doesn’t work very well.

The heart rate unit on the Nautilus is made by the Polar company.  I’ve had a bias against that company after my portable heart rate monitor broke and they were unresponsive to my sniveling.  Who knows, maybe they’re a lot better now…but I still like resenting them.

But back to the Schwinn 240 recumbent console unit;  it has a back-lit color LCD display, it’s easy to navigate, it ‘remembers’ you (and who doesn’t love to be remembered?), and the heart rate monitor is more reliable than the one on the comparably priced Nautilus.

Here’s what’s displayed on the console:

1. Time- accumulated time of the workout on your Schwinn 240 recumbent.
2. Interval time- The Schwinn 240 recumbent is ideal for doing ‘Intervals’, so that you can do the High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) that’s sweeping the fitness world.
3. RPM, or what should be called ‘cadence‘.  Only someone more inclined to watch tractor pulls on Hillbilly TV would use RPM’s instead of the svelte term ‘cadence’.  I guess I’ll have to forgive the Schwinn 240 recumbent designers for this misnomer. 
4. Watts- this is the actual unit of work as it relates to human powered energy produced.  This is better than ‘horse power’, since it’s very difficult to get a horse onto the Schwinn 240′s recumbent seat.  More importantly, it’s more encouraging to know that you’re producing 200 watts than merely .27 horsepower (that’s an actual conversion).
5. Distance- not much to say here except that you can toggle from miles to kilometers on the Schwinn 240 recumbent.  But then again, you aren’t turning an actual wheel so I don’t know how they calculate distance.
6. Pulse- if you put together heart rate, watts, and perceived effort you have a very accurate picture of your workout.
7. Speed- big deal…it’s a stationary bike so you aren’t going anywhere anyway.  And once again, you aren’t turning a real wheel, so it’s an estimation.
8. Calories- after you enter your body weight into the Schwinn 240 recumbent unit, it will couple this information with your heart rate to come up with an estimate of how many calories you’ve burnt up.  I use this figure to figure out how much ice cream I can eat without feeling guilty.
9. Resistance- not much to say here…this lets you know which of the 16 resistance levels on the Schwinn 240 recumbent you’re pedaling.

‘Convenience’ Features

These may seem frivolous, but here goes.  You never know which small features make or break your satisfaction in exercise equipment.

The water bottle holder is out in front of the rider just below the console.  Some other exercise bikes have the bottle holder under the seat.  Not so with the Schwinn 240 recumbent.

The walk-through frame on the Schwinn 240 recumbent makes getting onto and off of the unit easier.

There’s a rack for magazines under the seat of the Schwinn 240 recumbent .  But you’ll probably won’t be able to read any magazines with all of that stinging sweat dripping into your eyes.  What, no sweat in the eyes?  Pick up the pace, slacker!

Here’s a good one.  There are transport wheels on the Schwinn 240 recumbent so that it’s easier to move it out of the way when not in use.  After-all, this unit weighs 117 pounds so you won’t be lifting it anytime soon.

==>Amazon Has The Schwinn 240 Recumbent At Discounted Pricing<===

The Schwinn 240 Recumbent Bike Is For:

1. Those looking for a solid indoor recumbent bike that’s withstood the reviews of over 200 customers and emerged with a 4 and a half star rating.
2. Someone who’s willing to put up with a bit of assembly angst to put the machine together.
3. Someone who likes a nice console with enough bells and whistles to entertain and inspire them to better workouts.

What Other People Are Saying…

The Schwinn 240 recumbent model is nice looking, smaller than our elliptical and easy to move around with the wheels. I haven’t had it long enough yet to know how it will hold up, but it’s very sturdy, very quiet and seems like it will last for a long time.   ‘Lisa Lynn’ {read entire review here}

I did extensive research before I bought the Schwinn 240 recumbent. I’ve ridden it for about ten hours since assembly and am simply delighted with it. I am a good mechanic and assembled it by myself in about three hours. The assembly manual has little text, mostly illustrations; but they marginally suffice, more text would be very helpful.  ‘Larry’  {read entire review here}

Conclusion

I was pleasantly surprised to see how well thought of the Schwinn 240 Recumbent Bike is.  After all, I’m a bit of a bike snob and Schwinn has greedily occupied the bottom rungs of the cycling product world for a long time.

Apparently that’s not the case in the exercise bike world.  Perhaps because Schwinn’s owned by Nautilus; or maybe they just put their focus into exercise bikes rather than ‘on the road’ bikes.

When a product gets a four and a half star rating (out of 5 stars) after being reviewed by over 200 reviewers (and you know how much people like to gripe and moan on the internet), I’m confident to say that you’ll get plenty of exercise bike for your money with the Schwinn 240 Recumbent Bike Trainer.

Where To Buy The Schwinn 240

I’ve looked high and I’ve looked low.  You’ll be hard pressed to find a better place to get the Schwinn 240 recumbent than from Amazon, of all places.  They have the best pricing (last I looked they offered a 33% discount), are very good about standing behind what they sell, and their online transactions are very secure.

If you think this Schwinn 240 recumbent review is worth reading, please link to it, Facebook it, Google plus it, or bookmark it.  Much appreciated!

"All of those acting lessons have paid off now!"

For OJ Simpson it was a glove, for cyclists it’s their shoes.

You remember…Johnnie Cochran chanting ‘If it don’t fit, you must acquit’.  Well, poor ole OJ struggled and struggled to get those shrunken gloves onto his hands.  It was a ‘no go’ and the jurors realized that if OJ couldn’t get his bloated hands (three cheers for swollen hands due to no arthritis medication  for a few days) into shrunken gloves (they’d been completely soaked in blood), he must have been framed…and should be allowed to go free to pursue the real criminals who’d committed the bloody crimes.

We cyclists have a parallel problem…if our cycling shoes don’t fit, we’ll want to quit.

"I'm thankful I'm not wearing tight cycling shoes."

In an effort to get my bike shoes to fit snugly onto my feet, at times I’ve just about strangled them into submission by tightening the closure to near suffocation status.  And I can tell you, when that happens you’ll want to whimper like a spray-painted poodle.

But as the video at the end of this post points out, the snugness shouldn’t be in the closure, Instead, it should be in the way the shoe fits ‘organically’.

Nah, ‘organically’ has nothing to do with pesticide-free carrots, beets, or other tubers.  It actually has nothing to do with just about anything from the vegetable kingdom.

When I speak of ‘organic’ cycling shoe fitting, I speak of the kind of fit that comes from…well, I’m not sure of what I speak.  This is going no where; the only saving grace being that no one ever reads this blog anyway.

Let’s get back on track.

Get some insoles that fit your feet, buy a shoe that fits tightly from side to side (I don’t actually like this ‘tight’ advise, since it’s ruined many a ride for me), and when it doesn’t work out all that well for you, give Victor at Bicyclelab.com a holler.

Victor did a follow-up video regarding the proper length of shoe, in which he clarified the relationship of the front of the toe with the shoe.  The toe should only be ‘brushing’ the toe of the shoe.

Not jammed up against it.

There will be a bit of swelling of the foot during a long ride, making any toe discomfort worse as the miles tick away.

Let’s see, what else?  I have a pair of the Specialized shoes that have the ratcheted cable closure that Victor is demonstrating on the Lake shoes.  I liked them for a long time…and then the ratcheting device failed.

I ordered the replacement ratchets, but even though I have a super-handyman skillset, I gave up on succesfully repairing them a couple of years ago.

I’ll bet that if I were to try on those old shoes, I’d have a terrible time trying to fit into them.  Of course that may acquit me from having to go on a ride that day.

If OJ wasn’t in jail for ‘strong-arming’, I’d give him a call to see if he wanted to play golf.

Looking For Cycling Gear? Amazon Has Just About Everything Related To Cycling…As Cheaply As Anywhere You’ll Find On The Internet. Trusted Merchant, Fast Shipping.

It was a bit sobering to hear from Cycling Coach Bruce Hendler from that it would take upwards of five years for me to develop a supple (hate that word) pedaling stroke.  And until that happened, riders with smaller engines would be able to outdo me on the bike.

That ticked me off.  After all, I’d be knocking on sixty years old before I was pedaling in circles rather than mashing.  Plus, by that time my ankles will be ankylosed (put that one in your vocabulary pipe for smoking)…no longer capable of doing much more than hosting my socks.

One of my questions has been about the position of the foot during the pedal stroke.  Some people pedal ‘toe down’ and others pedal with their foot level.  Is one preferable to the other?

And the answer is…static foot position is for losers.  There should be sprightly foot movement when you’re spinning those pedals.  And you’re not going to get that with slow, repetitive pedaling.

Despite what you may tell yourself, pedaling can be accomplished by just about any old clod-hopper (of course, I’m referring to inefficient pedaling). To separate your pedaling technique from that of the guy who couldn’t master jumping jacks in PE class, you’ll need to do something extra.

I found this Youtube video touting a training program to add nimbleness to your cycling style.  I don’t know if the program is good, bad, or somewhere in between…but the video gave me something to think about (something other than my favorite subject, myself).

While I can imagine ‘freeball’ running in a stream bed, jumping from rock to rock, it’s hard for me to imagine such quick movements on a bike.  Even Contador’s famous ‘dancing on the pedals’ isn’t very fast in the world outside of cycling.

Sixty year old square dancers can match the tempo of his version of happy feet.  Those dancing the Polka wouldn’t even notice that he was in the room.

So give the video a ‘look-see’, and think about becoming a cycling stud from the knees down…and quit worrying about how you’re filling out those spandex shorts.

About the reviewer: Ron Fritzke is a cycling product reviewer with a passion for ‘all things cycling’. A former 2:17 marathoner, he now directs his competitive efforts toward racing his bike…and looking for good cycling products.

Product Quality		Noise Level
Realistic Feel		Bells and Whistles
Overall Value

'Road Machine' meet its father, 'Papa Kurt'

When Pam from Kurt Kinetic offered to send out a Kurt Kinetic Road Machine for review, I thought it was a great idea…for several reasons.

• I’ve been pounding out mile after mile on my original Kurt Kinetic Fluid trainer for five winters now, and it’s never let me down.
• In my obsession to search for the best bike trainers to recommend to my readers, the consensus has been that the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine is at the top of the heap.
• But for some time now, I’ve been wondering how much different the Road Machine is from my ‘old’ trainer.

Well, it turns out that Kurt Kinetic hit on a winner with the original design… and except for a new ‘hair color’, the two units are nearly identical. Wisely, Kurt Kinetic decided to not fix something that isn’t broken.

There are now several new fancy Kurt Kinetic horses in the stable (namely, the Rock and Roll), but the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine is like a cowboy’s trusted quarterhorse – not too flashy, but SOLID and impervious to breakdowns.

I do have an idea or two to make it even better, but I’ll get to that later…

My Scott CR1 put on his best wheels to meet the Road Machine.

1) Magnetic Coupling Makes The Kurt Kinetic Road Machine Stand Out In The Crowd

Cut away view of Resistance Unit

If you’re new to the bike trainer world you may not have heard of Kurt Kinetic’s unique magnetic coupling design. I’ll get you up to speed.

While fluid trainers are recognized as being at the top of the trainer food chain, they do suffer from a fatal flaw. They start to develop leaks when they shouldn’t, and have to be put out to pasture.

I’m just thankful that such a fate doesn’t await us older men when we start leaking inappropriately at social events. My kids assure me that I’m safe…at least for now.

Kurt Kinetic forged its place in the bike trainer world with a patent that eliminated the need for O-Rings (which predictably fail). In the Road Machine, the chamber containing the silicone fluid is completely sealed, and the roller which your bike tire is causing to spin is ‘virtually’ connected to the impeller by a magnetic coupler.

This is best understood by watching the video below.

Don’t get this confused with a mag trainer, which uses magnetic resistance to provide the workload.

The Kurt Kinetic system uses powerful magnets to couple the external roller assembly with the sealed impellers. That means that there’s no shaft penetrating the inner sanctum of the fluid.

Check out the video later in this post for an excellent cut-away of the two chambers.

2) How Strong Are The Magnets In The Kurt Kinetic Road Machine?

There were times in the past when I’d accelerate on my Kurt Kinetic fluid trainer and feel some slippage. I wondered if the slippage was occurring inside the trainer; in the inner sanctum of the magnetic coupling.

It turns out it wasn’t the ‘innards’ that were failing. Here’s how I found out- I practically wore out my rear tire within the span of a couple of indoor rides. Like a meat head, I hadn’t put enough tension between the roller and my tire. All of that slippage was tearing the tire up.

Since those early ill-fated rides, I’ve discovered that the idea of me having enough power in my legs to disrupt the bond between the coupling magnets was foolish wishful thinking. Kurt Kinetic’s testing demonstrated that the magnetic bond withstood an electric motor’s ability to suddenly accelerate the trainer from 0 to 50 mph without any slippage.

My abilities are somewhat less than that.

On a similar note, this trainer provides up to 3000 watts of resistance. As a point of reference, elite road cyclists may produce up to 1700 watts as an instantaneous maximum at the end of a road race. Instantaneous means for the first few seconds of their ‘jump’ as they accelerate.

It’s not likely you’ll be too powerful for this trainer.

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My two cents: I’d like to see an upgrade in the way in which the roller is tightened up against the tire. The CycleOps Fluid 2 has a lever, which once ‘set’, easily replicates the appropriate pressure against the tire.

But because there ‘s no colored indicator or ‘bump’ on the tightening star of the Road Machine, it’s sometimes difficult to know if you’ve tightened it up appropriately…particularly when the trainer’s backed up against a wall so that you can’t see behind the trainer while you’re tightening the roller against the tire.

The prescribed number of turns is 2 to 4, after the roller initially contacts the tire, but it’d be easier to keep track how many turns you’ve done if there was a point of reference on the tightener.

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Calibration Notations

The folks at Kurt Kinetic calibrated the resistance unit using a Powertap watt meter. Their ambition is to match the amount of effort (wattage) with a realistic number of miles per hour when a bike would be ridden on a flat road.

It just so happens that I’ve been riding with a Powertap for about three years now, so I’m able to give you some screen shots from my bike (my wife took the pictures while I huffed and puffed to get up to… and sustain 400 watts) of about how many watts it takes on the Road Machine to go about 20 mph… and how many it takes to go about 25 mph.

From my experience, these values are pretty close to what happens out on the road.

-See The Uniqueness Of The Kurt Kinetic Road Machine-

3) Why Silicone In The Kurt Kinetic Trainers?

Kurt Kinetic calls their medical-grade silicone fluid ‘thermodynamically neutral’. That means that the consistency of the silicone fluid remains essentially unchanged even as heat builds up (the temperature in the fluid chamber can reach up to 400 degrees, which is largely why O-Rings fail).

Other types of fluids lose their viscosity (thickness) as they increase in temperature. So if your trainer doesn’t have silicone in the fluid chamber, your workload decreases as heat builds up.

My enthusiasm for the Road Machine has nothing to do with it matching my racing kit. Scout's Honor!

4) A Word About Guarantees

Kurt Kinetic maintains that their competitors warrant their trainers for ‘manufacturer’s defects‘. Kurt guarantees their trainers with an Unconditional Lifetime Warranty.

Yes, in the Kurt Kinetic literature the competitor’s guarantee is in lower case, while the Kurt guarantee is capitalized. Further proof that these fellers mean business.

There is actually a ‘crash replacement policy’ guarantee for the lifetime of the trainer. What kind of a fool could crash on a trainer?

I guess it’d be the type of fool who’s writing this review. But in my own defense, I’d forgotten to tighten everything down. And the impact onto the tile floor wasn’t too bad.

If I’d have had the Kinetic training mat at that time, I’ll bet it wouldn’t have happened at all…since the trainer ‘sticks’ very well to the training mat.

And then there’s the issue of the training mat (instead of the floor) catching all of that sweat.

Easy Set-up And My Wasteful Thoughts

Set-up of the Kinetic Road Machine is extremely easy…but I have a confession to make.

About all you have to do to put the trainer together is use the carriage bolt and nut to attach the resistance unit to the frame and then put the tightening device on.

When I was putting the nut onto the carriage bolt, the thought crossed my mind that there should be one of those thin, cheap 14 mm wrenches included with the trainer. That way I wouldn’t have to walk all the way to my garage and get a wrench out of my toolbox. What’s wrong with these Kurt Kinetic guys?

Then it hit me…through the years I’ve thrown away oodles of ‘specialty’ wrenches that were used only one time for the installation of something like a ceiling fan, a vacuum cleaner, or the tank on the back of a toilet.

What a waste. Just because I’m too lazy to go get a ‘real’ wrench from the garage, a lot of items come complete with ‘disposable’ wrenches. That’s why I have a variety of cheap, metal installation devices scattered all over my workbench.

Anyway, a 14 mm wrench from the garage performed the 10 second procedure just fine…and the environmental waste was minimized.

A Few Miscellaneous Extras

• There’s a DVD that comes with the trainer which goes through the set-up step by step (in case reading the simple written instructions is too ‘old school’).
• The DVD also includes a very difficult workout by the head dude from Spinervals, done at a Mercedes dealership. The Mercedes connection is interesting…no doubt Spinervals is banking on a bit of ‘parasitic branding’.
• There are two extra skewers that are included with the Road Machine which go into the ‘cone’ shaped holders. But if you’re going to use your own skewer that isn’t round on the lever end, the trainer comes equipped with a ‘slotted’ holder. I’m not sure if my picture illustrates what I mean, but I’ll include it anyway.

Thoughts On Setting The Height Of The Trainer

There are four different sets of holes on the frame of the trainer so that the height of the trainer can be altered according to what size wheels are on your bike. But in keeping with the ‘commercial grade’ nature of the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine, there are some ‘manly’ bolts holding the legs in place.

What this does is make switching the height of the trainer from bike to bike a bit more inconvenient than if the bolts were instead ‘pins’. You can see my ‘pin’ idea in the picture.

But I have to say, there aren’t too many instances in which the trainer’s used by a variety of different sized bikes on day-to-day basis…and the use of my ‘pin’ idea would probably make the trainer less sturdy.

Just trying to earn my keep as a bike gear reviewer.

How Do You ‘Level’ Your Bike On A Road Machine?

Take a look at the picture of my bike at the top of this page. With a slanting top tube, it’s impossible to put a level on the top tube and determine if the bike’s level.

And because I’m such a ‘wanna-be’ racing guy, I have the handlebars set well below the saddle height. So nothing worthwhile can be determined by running a level from the saddle to the stem.

So what needs to be done is to measure the distance from the ground to the center of the rear axle…and then match that height on the front axle. You can then put your front wheel in the appropriate slots on the riser (there are four to choose from). In my case, the height was about 15 inches.

This trainer is for:

1. Riders looking for a high quality product that they can be proud to include in their cycling equipment.
2. Cyclists wanting a realistic feel, without spending a couple thousand dollars for a virtual reality trainer.
3. Cyclists who are willing to spend a bit more (than a trainer from a lower quality manufacturer) in exchange for reliability.

Kurt Kinetic Road Machine Features

• Get a realistic feel with the 6.25 pound flywheel. Now you can buy an extra 12 lb flywheel to attach for additional ‘realism’. This feature essentially substitutes for what used to be called the Kurt Kinetic Pro.
• Get the advantage of knowing that the resistance unit has been calibrated using a Powertap wattage meter.
• The patented fully sealed resistance chamber eliminates any chance of leakage.
• Uses silicone fluid, which is thermodynamically stable.
• Makes use of 80 fins to effectively dissipate heat.
• There are other features, but I’d just be repeating myself…they’re covered in The Good section above.

Here’s What People Are Saying…

“I’ve ridden on several different trainers that my son and I have used for training on mountain bikes, road bikes, and recumbent bikes. This is the best one. You’ll notice the quality of the unit from when you first lift it out of the carton. It is strongly built…”

James {This review edited for brevity. Read full review here}

“I bought this trainer 2 months ago, and I’m thrilled with it. When considering a trainer, fluid trainers are the way to go. There are 4 types of trainers… Fluid trainers are quieter, realistic, and smoother than the other types. The only drawback with fluid trainers is leakage. Three companies have solutions to this problem…the Kurt Kinetic is the best because it uses a sealed resistance unit…and is guaranteed not to leak…”

Marc (This review edited for brevity. Read full review here}

My Conclusion

I’ve loved my early-model Kurt Kinetic Fluid trainer for a lot of years now; so being sold on the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine is a natural for me (I’m in good company since it’s also the mainstay for a lot of pro cycling teams).

I’ve done all I can do to be a good product reviewer…providing a few ideas to perhaps make the machine a bit better.

But there is one reality that can’t be overlooked…The uniqueness of the resistance unit on the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine (for which there is a patent that extends for more than ten additional years) makes this fluid trainer a slam dunk.

We can quibble about different bells and whistles, but I can tell you that you won’t go wrong with a fluid trainer that’ll never leak, provides all the resistance you’ll ever need, and operates quietly.

===>Get the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine from Amazon Here<===

I’ve looked around a lot, and they have as good a price as anywhere on the internet (currently a savings of over $180.00), are a very trusted merchant,
and your Kurt Kinetic Road Machine trainer may be eligible for free shipping.

If you think this review is thorough, please link to it, Facebook it, Google plus it, or bookmark it.  Much appreciated!