Are fluid trainers more quiet than magnetic trainers?
Is there any sort of consensus on what the most quiet trainer is?
Right now I have a cycleops wind trainer that I really like but it is pretty loud. I’m still in college and will be living in an apartment next year. So I’m looking for a bike trainer that won’t get my roommates angry if I wanted to bike at 6 AM.
Money is not really an issue but I would like to stay under 300 dollars (or something near that.)
As long as you don’t do intervals, any trainer really isn’t that bad. It’s more of a steady state white noise–like a fan. But as soon as you start shifting gears and cadences things can go loud quite quickly.
I have a cycleopsfluid2 and the turning of the chain is louder than the trainer.
Ha… work on your chain?
I’m running a cycleops Fluid Pro and it’s relatively quiet. I wouldn’t bike at 6 AM with roommates, but I wouldn’t do that with any trainer. Have you considered rollers?
As long as you don’t do intervals, any trainer really isn’t that bad. It’s more of a steady state white noise–like a fan. But as soon as you start shifting gears and cadences things can go loud quite quickly.
I also have to agree, I ride after my daughter goes to sleep and have hundreds of hours on my trainer. Cycleops Fluid 2, and she was only awoken once and it was during a set of intervals at the end of a long ride. Also the trainer is quieter when you are riding at a good clip opposed to just barely turned the cranks.
Ok. That makes sense. My only real experience has been my wind trainer… and that vibrates my whole house. I’m not very familiar with rollers, although the price seems kinda high for what looks like something that could be fabricated fairly easily.
I have heard good things about the Cycleops Fluid 2. Maybe I will see if the local bike shop guy will let me demo one.
I’ve used a Kurt Kinetic in apartments for 4 years now with a ton of time on it as I previously lived in Maine and upstate NY and did 3 IMs the last two years of med school. Quiet and durable. Look for Bikesport Michigan’s angry badger for a great deal on an awfully ‘similar’ trainer. Tom can’t say what it is for reasons to do with lowest allowed advertised price but look at what all the extras are for or do a search here on ST as other people do say what he can’t.
I looked a little at the Blackburn Trakstand Ultra. Looks like a decent price and it is cheaper than the Cycleops.
No one knows if there was ever any data on decibels produced?
It looks like I will probably go with the “Angry Badger” deal on BikeSportMichigan or try to find a Blackburn Trakstand.
I will be living in a duplex type place, so bedrooms upstairs and living room downstairs. If noise becomes too much of an issue maybe I will just have to move the bike to the living room.
I just returned my Blackburn Trakstand Ultra under warranty. The resistance started to fade not long after I bought it. It occasionally “slipped” as well during muscle tension workouts. Take a look at roadbikereview - it appears I am not alone in my experiences with this trainer. I have a few friends who also had to return theirs - STAY AWAY!