The advantage of a Wheel-On approach is reduced setup time (You’re not having to remove the rear wheel), but the disadvantages include erroneous wattage readings due to calibration issues and tire slippage.Īnother notorious problem is tire wear caused by roller friction.
The flip side to Direct Drive are trainers that use Tire-to-Roller or Wheel-On contact, like the Computrainer.
COMPUTRAINER VS KICKER INSTALL
I have found that having these tools available makes life much easier should the need arise to install or remove a cassette. These 2 tools eliminated the need for an adjustable wrench and they make it even easier to install or remove cassettes. Park Tools has recently added some really cool tools that I just noticed were made specifically for cassette removal including a Cassettte Lockring Tool with handle and Chain Whip Pliers. Most Direct Drive trainers will also require you to install a rear cassette, which means you will need a few bicycle tools if you want to do it yourself including at the bare minimum a The biggest disadvantage to a direct drive is having to remove the rear wheel. The advantages of a direct drive style bike trainer is it eliminates the tire-to-roller contact, the trainers are usually more accurate, have a faster response time, and have higher wattage upward limit. Most of the high end electronic bike trainers now are direct drive. The first is what is referred to as Direct Drive and requires the removal of the rear wheel. There are essentially two types of electronic trainers. Wahoo KICKR Snap (Wheel-On) – Retail: $599.00.Wahoo KICKR (Direct Drive) – Retail: $1,199.00.Kurt Kinetic Road Machine Electric (Wheel-On) – Retail: $569.00 for the Road Machine and $749.00 for the Rock and Roll.Elite Drivo (Direct Drive) – Retail: $1,299.00.CycleOps Hammer (Direct Drive) – Retail: $1,199.00.The current top indoor bike trainers include
Over the years new players have emerged including Wahoo Fitness, Elite, CycleOps, Tacx, and Kurt Kinetic. An unfortunate event that probably could have been prevented if they had adapted to a changing market. Let’s just say, it made me VERY mentally tough on the bike and maybe just a little crazy.įast forward to 2017 and Racermate ceased production of the Computrainer. I even managed to do 3 sessions of 5 hours gearing up for an Ironman one winter. While the design wasn’t flashy, ok it was down right boring, the Computrainer was a beast that could hold up to a lot of pounding. People seem to have a love – hate relationship with their trainers, but if you are looking to up your game this winter and next year, an electronic trainer could become your best friend.īack in the early days, the Racermate Computrainer was about the best electronic trainer around. I thought it would be a great time to cover some of the Top Indoor Electric Bike Trainers for the 2017 – 2018 season, also referred to as smart trainers or turbo trainers. So the weather is turning slightly cool here in Austin and thoughts of doing indoor training sessions are starting to pop up.