Turbo Trainer - Fluid or Magnetic?
bobtbuilder
Posts: 1,537
I'm just about to take the plunge and splurge some hard-earned cash on a turbo trainer.
Budget is £200 - £250. For that price there are a wealth of choices and two main types: fluid or magnetic.
What is the difference between the two types in terms of use & feel (rather than the science bit)? And, any recommendations and reasons?
At the moment I'm leaning towards the Cycleops Jet Fluid Pro or the Cycleops Super Magneto pro.
Cheers,
Rob.
Budget is £200 - £250. For that price there are a wealth of choices and two main types: fluid or magnetic.
What is the difference between the two types in terms of use & feel (rather than the science bit)? And, any recommendations and reasons?
At the moment I'm leaning towards the Cycleops Jet Fluid Pro or the Cycleops Super Magneto pro.
Cheers,
Rob.
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Comments
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Bump. Anyone have expereince of these types of trainers?0
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I've had a Tacx Swing, which is a magnetic trainer and now have an Elite Chrono elastogel (fluid trainer). The fluid trainer has a much smoother resistance curve. There are no cables, so you just pedal harder to increase the resistance. The Tacx had a handlebar mounted control that adjusted resistance (10 levels I think). Beyond 2 or 3 clicks though it became almost unrideable, feeling like you're pedalling through sand. I just used to keep it on one or two settings and use my gears to adjust the effort. That said, if you are doing a steady state session the Tacx can be better because the fluid trainer tends to drift as it gets warmed up i.e. the resistance increases due to the heat build up, maybe only 10% or so, but worth noting.
These are just my experiences though. My Tacx is quite old, so it may be that newer versions are much improved.0 -
I upgraded to a Supermagneto pro from a Tacx Swing.
I opted against the fluid pro as I'd heard a few tales of the fluid trainers leaking and looking at the Cycleops resistance curves, there didn't seem to be a great difference between them. Whilst I haven't ridden on the fluid version, the resistance doesn't feel remotely like a normal magnetic trainer, much more like the effort you do on the road. I've found the 4 modes very useful, warming up/recovering on the "easy" setting to doing tough intervals on the "mountain" setting, although you do have to get off to adjust the setting. It is relatively quiet at least compared to the Tacx, the base unit is pretty stable and mounting the bike is easy.
I'd buy it again!0
