I just got my first bike trainer. It’s a Kurt Kinetics Rock and Roll trainer that I picked up used off of Craigslist. I was wondering how hard the tension should be when the bike is in its hardest gear. The tension doesn’t seem to be a tough as I thought it would be. I’m used to riding spinning bikes in class and there’s no shortage of tension there. How tough does it get using your trainer?
You’re thinking about it wrong. The knob for making the roller contact the rear tire is NOT for adjusting the resistance. It is simply to couple the wheel to the resistance unit (the cylindrical thing on the back with the fins). Spin bikes don’t use a roller, it’s a fixed brake shoe whose pressure against the flywheel (and thus the resistance) you adjust with the tension knob.
On your Kurt, the resistance is determined by how fast you can make the roller spin.
I run tension pretty high on my KK. No matter what, it squeaks for whatever reason, but the squeaking seems to be most minimal with a good amount of tension.
I use 3 turns after the roller touches the tire. If it squeaks I clean the tire with a damp rag. The resistance of a KK is a function of your speed similar to what you would experience riding outdoors. The power goes up with the cube of the speed (i.e. 10% faster requires 30% more power).
I think Kurt Kinetics has information and manuals on their website. You definitely need to go read.
So the faster you pedal the more tension you get?
So the faster you pedal the more tension you get?
It’s resistance, not tension – I believe that your thinking it would act like the “tension” knob on a a spin bike is what’s causing some confusion. Just call it resistance.
The faster the *rear wheel spins (*and thus, the roller and resistance unit it’s coupled to) * *the more resistance you get. If you want more resistance at a given pedal cadence, change to a higher gear. Simple!
EDIT: Also, read the manual for the proper setting of the roller against the rear tire. You can find it here:
So the faster you pedal the more tension you get?
It’s resistance, not tension – I believe that your thinking it would act like the “tension” knob on a a spin bike is what’s causing some confusion. Just call it resistance.
The faster the *rear wheel spins (*and thus, the roller and resistance unit it’s coupled to) * *the more resistance you get. If you want more resistance at a given pedal cadence, change to a higher gear. Simple!
Oh. That makes sense. It’s just my first trainer so I’m not quite sure how it’s supposed to feel and work yet. I don’t even have a bike computer yet so I don’t even know what my cadence is.
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Oh. That makes sense. It’s just my first trainer so I’m not quite sure how it’s supposed to feel and work yet. I don’t even have a bike computer yet so I don’t even know what my cadence is.
It’s ok, you don’t need to know what your cadence is. Just that if you’re spinning along and you want to put in more effort, you either a) shift to a higher gear, b) pedal faster, or c) both.