How to choose indoor cycling machines?

What are the main considerations for selection of indoor cycling machines.
I see there are two main groups 1) flywheel type and 2) magnetic drive
types?

Thanks for your advice.

DT was sufficiently re-animated to talk about How to choose indoor
cycling machines?
What are the main considerations for selection of indoor cycling machines.
I see there are two main groups 1) flywheel type and 2) magnetic drive
types?

Thanks for your advice.


all "turbo trainers" have a fly wheel (I stand to be corrected...), they
differ in the type of resistance provided.

1) fan - noisy but simple. A fan attached to the flywheel takes energy
to push through the air, making you work. Mostly non-adjustable for
effort.

2) magnetic. Quieter, works by magic (I can't see how the effort to pull
each set apart isn't mostly made up by their attraction to the next
set....), slightly uneven feel to the pedals (IMHO), usually adjustable
effort.

3) fluid. A fan encased in fluid. Quieter than fan in air and magnetic,
also smoother than mag, also more expensive. Adjustable ones available.

Personally, I use a non-adjustable fluid. After all, there's 21 gears on
my bike to make life easier and harder.

Then there's rollers, where you want the contact point (trainers that
run on the rims are available if you ride knobbly tyres), do you want
the front level off and the bike held on the trainer's frame (if you
have back-wheel only, you may want a block under the front tyre to level
the bike back up) computer monitoring and control..... as usual, how
much do you want to spend? Then get out, and try a few!

Cheers

Jon
--
Why does everything nice I buy at the moment keep @##*%ing breaking?
NOT!! nospam=defblade

On Sun, 4 Jan 2004 21:29:13 +0000, Jon Martin
wrote:

Then get out, and try a few!

Surely you mean stay in and try a few. :-)

--
Dave...

"DT" writes:

What are the main considerations for selection of indoor cycling machines.
I see there are two main groups 1) flywheel type and 2) magnetic drive
types?

I really can't see the point of static cycles, rowing machines, etc. I
mean, sitting in a room doing work to achieve nothing (or to make an
unpleasant noise) seems to me to be the epitome of pointlessness. If
you want exercise, get out on your bike and go somewhere.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
;; Sending your money to someone just because they've erected
;; a barrier of obscurity and secrets around the tools you
;; need to use your data does not help the economy or spur
;; innovation. - Waffle Iron Slashdot, June 16th, 2002

Simon Brooke wrote:

I really can't see the point of static cycles, rowing machines, etc. I
mean, sitting in a room doing work to achieve nothing (or to make an
unpleasant noise) seems to me to be the epitome of pointlessness. If
you want exercise, get out on your bike and go somewhere.

Does anyone remember that Essex teacher doing a "world tour" on his static
cycle. Sat there every night pedalling away and measuring his progress on a
map. A big excitement was when Turkey had a big earthquake a few days after
he had "virtually cycled" through it

Tony

In article ,
Tony Raven wrote:
Does anyone remember that Essex teacher doing a "world tour" on his static
cycle.

I seem to recall that either Hess or Speer did something similar,
counting the laps of the Spandau exercise yard as they walked.

ian

"Tony Raven" wrote in message
...

Does anyone remember that Essex teacher doing a "world tour" on his static
cycle. Sat there every night pedalling away and measuring his progress on
a
map. A big excitement was when Turkey had a big earthquake a few days
after
he had "virtually cycled" through it

Was that in Framley ?

On Tue, 6 Jan 2004 12:34:47 +0000 (UTC), W K wrote:


"Tony Raven" wrote in message
...

Does anyone remember that Essex teacher doing a "world tour" on his
static
cycle. Sat there every night pedalling away and measuring his progress
on
a
map. A big excitement was when Turkey had a big earthquake a few days
after
he had "virtually cycled" through it

Was that in Framley ?

I hope not. It's enough risking life and limb going through Framley on a
moving bike, a stationary bike would be almost certainly lethal.

Colin
--

Ian G Batten wrote:
In article ,
Tony Raven wrote:
Does anyone remember that Essex teacher doing a "world tour" on his static
cycle.

I seem to recall that either Hess or Speer did something similar,
counting the laps of the Spandau exercise yard as they walked.


He had the excuse though of not having another option.

Tony

W K wrote:

Was that in Framley ?

Too wierd for the Framley and besides which it was real ;-)

Tony