104 october 2011 CYCLING PLUS

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2 ocober 2011 CYCLING PLUS

3 ridden & rated 2 Indoor rainers Keep your finess levels up wih some indoor pedalling. We es 14 urbos and rollers Y ou have o keep riding in winer if you wan o consolidae your summer finess gains. riding oudoors can be reacherous when i s dark and icy, which is why indoor rainers are a boon o cycliss, especially hose who wan o use heir own bikes raher han go o a gym. Bly speaking here are wo ypes of indoor rainers: he urbo rainer which clamps he rear wheel of he bike o a frame and uses a roller wih a flywheel agains he rear yre o provide some sor of resisance, usually magneic, fluid or air; and rollers, which consis of a frame and hree plasic drums aached by a band ha you pu your bike on wih no form of clamping. riding rollers akes more skill han a urbo, bu i can also be more fun, as well as geing closer o he acual feel of riding a bike. CLAMP AND QR The bike aaches o he 1 urbo via a clamp, which screws over he rear wheel skewer wih a couple of lock nus o keep i in place. Mos urbos come wih heir own skewers, which you should use boh for safey reasons and so as no o ruin your own. STAND RESISTANCE UNIT These normally fold ou 2 3 o give a urbo sabiliy. in heory, he wider he legs, he more sable i will be. some have independen heigh adjusmen for uneven surfaces, some lock ino place, ohers jus fold ou. The fee are ypically rubber ipped. Wind, magneic or fluid: hese are he main ypes of resisance. How hey ride depends on how well hey re made and he qualiy of he flywheel, raher han he form of resisance. Wind rainers are generally loud, while magneic and fluid unis are quieer. FLYWHEEL a heavy, well balanced 4 flywheel is generally a good hing in a urbo. i helps smooh ou he ride so you don feel you have o somp on he pedals jus o keep hem going, giving you more of a sensaion of riding on he while you re suck indoors. CYCLING PLUS ocober

4 LeMond RevoLuion 400 Turbo rainer wih is own cassee T he revoluion is differen o your average urbo in ha i comes wih a sram/shimano freehub body (campag adapor, 75) aached o a flywheel and wind uni. This means you don use your back wheel, jus he cassee, which saves yre wear. on his he roll down he ime i akes for he flywheel o sop moving afer you sop pedalling is he bes we ve experienced, and ha means i ges close o mimicking real world riding: sprining on i is excellen. on he downside, he wind resisance uni is loud so you ll need your own soundproof space o avoid annoying anyone. a power measuring uni available for an exra we SAY... Brillianly smooh ride and saves wheel wear bu i s very loud HigHS Very -like ride LOwS loud and no cheap raing Tacx BoosTer he Booser is designed for high power workous a low speed. i works off magneic resisance and boass a 2kg flywheel, so reains some momenum when you ease off he pedals. i can also handle a sprin wihou bogging down or spinning ou and is sable under power. i has 10 resisance seings conrolled via a bar lever, and we found every level save for he lowes o be really hard work okay if you re a bigger rider or wan o do low rev workous, bu no a lighweigh who likes o spin. JeTBlack Mag Pro i n conras o he more expensive JeBlack dynomeer, he Mag Pro is an excellen basic urbo rainer. i s simple o se up, no oo loud and has a good roll down feel. Riding on i feels fairly naural and you can cerainly sprin wihou i feeling oo jerky. i comes wih a fivelevel resisance lever, and we found ha you can ride a level five wihou blowing ou your knees. i s no quie he cheapes on es, he acx Speedmaic being 10 less, bu i s cerainly good for he money and one we d recommend. Minoura V270 Trainer i f you re afer a quie magneic rainer, hen consider he Minoura v270. is powerful magne helps keep he noise down as well as providing resisance. i has seven usable resisance levels conrolled by a bar lever. normal riding is good, sprining beer han average, bu i s no as smooh as some of he ohers on es. i has adjusable legs, for using i on an uneven surface. i also comes wih a raining dvd ha includes fooage from he 2010 uci Road World Championships and accompanying hard workou ocober 2011 CYCLING PLUS

5 KReiLeR KoMPAC Ho dog A ligh and narrow se of rollers T he kreiler kompac Ho dog 3.0 rollers are an all-round cool piece of ki. Wih a narrow 10in roller widh hey re a bi inimidaing for he firs ime user bu we found hem surprisingly easy o ge on wih. The build qualiy is excellen and he bearings roll nicely, while sill providing enough resisance for a decen aerobic workou. For sprining hey re grea for sharpening up your leg speed and echnique. The beauy of hem being so small is ha hey re ligh and fold up nealy for easy sorage. We d happily ride hese all winer. HigHS You can ride hese anywhere LOwS dauning looks for firs imers raing we SAY... Compac, ligh and lovely o ride he Ho dog cus he musard DOn err indoors How o ge he mos ou of your rainer Follow he manufacurer s insrucions on seing up so ha your bike doesn move and your yre doesn slip. if your budge allows, ge a big, powerful fan o keep yourself cool, oherwise your power will drop as he workou progresses and your core emperaure rises. i may feel harder as a resul bu you won be geing he full raining benefi. For long sessions, look a seing up in fron of he TV/dVd player, or a leas have some moivaional music in your ears. DOS AnD DOn S Do ride hrough winer Do vary your workous Do keep your yres pumped Don use your bes race yres Don be afraid of riding rollers Don annoy he neighbours/ parner/ohers elite V-arion rollers he elie v-arion inerial Rollers are a lile bulkier han mos, bu here is a reason for ha. he rear roller offers hree levels of resisance as well as a zero seing, which we found really useful when i came o doing high power workous. here s also a sep o make i easier o jump on and off, as well as a surdy base, and elie s rademark parabolic roller shape makes i far less likely ha you ll slide off he edges. if you are planning a range of specific power workous over winer hen hese rollers wih resisance offer he bes of boh worlds. Minoura MoZ rollers M inoura currenly makes wo ypes of rollers and he MoZ is he lower end model. Wih a roller widh of 415mm (16in), hey re quie beginner friendly as you ve go pleny of room for error if you swerve. no ha you really need i, as we found hey give a sable ride. Alhough he roller diameer of 80mm is small o provide exra resisance, his wasn enough o go really hard, bu you can buy a magneic resisance uni if you feel i s no ough enough for your liking. We liked he hree-way fold as well, as i makes hem a lile easier o sore ocober 2011 CYCLING PLUS

6 KuR KineiC RoCK And RoLL Ride indoors as if you were oudoors T his was he mos enjoyable rainer on es and he bes for replicaing riding. i uses a fluid resisance uni and has a heavy flywheel o keep hings super smooh when you re pedalling. is unique feaure is ha i allows laeral movemen of he bike hanks o hick rubber spacers underneah he roller moun as well as exra long legs o keep he uni sable when you re really honking on he bar. i comes wih a fron wheel riser ha will cope wih he sideways movemen oo. despie is name, he rock and roll isn paricularly loud, or porable. HigHS real world feel LOwS expensive, heavy and bulky raing we SAY... gives you a riding feel ha mos oher rainers lack JeTBlack dynometer he dynomeer surprised us a how poor i was. he ride fel blocky and dead; riding a any effor was a sruggle, even wih varying amouns of yre pressure. Anoher problem was he compuer. i s mean o read ime, power, cadence, speed and hear rae, bu while cadence and hear rae worked, he power curve didn rack well wih our Powerap (considered o be accurae) and would under-read by a lile o a lo. he moun iself was also oo big for our oversize bars, even wih he rubber spacer. cycleops JeT Fluid Pro he Je Fluid gives consisen, progressive resisance as you sep up he gears. i s smooh and reains your pedalling momenum so you can ride on i a any pace wihou i being a chore. Sprining was good, no perfec, bu i s hard o ge a urbo ha will realisically handle a full-on sprin. he oher hing we liked abou he Je Fluid is ha i s quie by urbo rainer sandards we can recommend he Cycleops rubber raining ma o dull noise even furher. i also comes wih a raining dvd. BlackBurn TecH Fluid he only redeeming feaures abou he Blackburn ech Fluid rainer are ha i s easy o se up and relaively quie. he ride is awful, hough, and you won ge much joy ou of somping away on his during winer. increase he pace and i ges worse he fluid uni can seem o keep up wih your acceleraions or even riding seady a differen effor levels. As for sprining, don even hink abou i. Almos every oher urbo rainer ha we ve here is beer han his one ocober 2011 CYCLING PLUS

7 ACx SPeedMAiC Enry opion, wih 10 resisance levels T he Tacx speedmaic is a low priced magneic rainer ha s a grea opion for a firs ime urbo user. i s solidly buil and fairly quie, hough i requires a bi of ime o se up iniially. once on i, you have a choice of 10 resisance levels plus your own gears, and we found ha o be more han enough for any ype of raining. roll down is excellen: we go 17 seconds coasing from a sprin o a sop on he lowes resisance seing. The power curve is quie good, alhough i does feel a bi easy a he op end. HigHS excellen ride qualiy LOwS resisance a he op end raing we SAY... An ideal sarer urbo rainer for hose on a igher budge kinetic MacHine K ur Kineic s Road Machine is a well consruced fluid rainer. Like is more expensive broher he Rock and Roll, is flywheel and fluid uni give you a posiive on- feel. raining a a seady effor level was excellen, while sprining was merely okay: he progressive resisance was good, bu sharp acceleraions didn feel naural. his is a problem wih many rainers bu as he Road Machine sis a he more expensive end of our es, we d eiher upgrade o he excellen Rock and Roll or go for one of he cheaper ones which are nearly as good. cycleops MagneTo he Magneo is a simple looking, lighweigh, magneic urbo rainer. i s quie and surdy and is easy o se up. i claims progressive resisance as you up he gears bu we found i o be average in his regard as we searched for real world feel. he flywheel isn bad wih a roll down of 10 seconds, bu he ride didn feel quie as smooh as some of he oher rainers on es. i does come wih he Real Rides Race Day raining dvd hough a simulaion of a high inensiy crierium (us naional championships wih Robbie venura) wih an on-screen workou o mach ocober 2011 CYCLING PLUS

8 bes for value bes rollers KreiTler KompacT HoT dog 3 rollers Tacx SpeedmaTic KurT KineTic rock and roll bes on es He verdic winner Kur Kineic rock and roll Solidly made wih a -like ride his es of low o mid-range urbo rainers and rollers showed up some sandous and some really poor producs. cerainly paying more isn always going o ge you a beer rainer and, as we found, puing more bells and whisles on doesn solve underlying flaws. Honourable menions go o he lemond Finess revoluion rainer for is awesome flywheel and zero yre wear soluion, while he new Tacx Booser has se ou is sall for he rider who wans a ough, low rev workou. Boh hese rainers will sui cerain ypes of riders so don jus go on our scores when looking for a urbo. We also liked he Minoura V270 for is quieness no urbo will be deahly silen bu we d consider his one o be neighbour friendly, especially in combinaion wih a rubber ma o damp he vibraions. in he budge sakes, we can recommend he JeBlack Mag Pro as a good sarer urbo, bu when i came down o picking he bes value we wen for he Tacx SpeedmaTic. is ride qualiy is similar o he JeBlack bu i has 10 resisance levels, and is 10 cheaper. all he ses of rollers we had heir meris and you can bea hem for heir skillsharpening facor. if you ve never used hem before hey ll ake you some ime o maser, bu we reckon i s worh i. Jus don use hem on carpe unil you re really confiden or you migh burn a hole! The elie V-arion s variable resisance is a useful ool if you re planning on doing some high power workous, while he Minoura MoZ rollers are a good beginner se. Bu we have o give our op rollers spo o he KreiTler KompacT HoT he fac ha you can ge ou of he saddle and go for i and feel almos like you re on he is a big plus dog 3.0. i s a nicely made uni, very porable, no as scary as i looks (hones) and i s jus so damned cool. Finally and his was a ough decision, parly based on he fac ha mos of you would prefer a urbo rainer over rollers we have o give he overall win o he KurT KineTic rock and roll. as well as being a solidly consruced urbo ha rides really well, he fac ha you can ge ou of he saddle and really go for i and almos feel like you re on he is a big plus. While we can ge away from he fac ha i ll se you back 450, if you re going o be doing weeks and maybe even monhs of indoor riding each year hen we reckon i s a worhwhile invesmen. 114 ocober 2011 CYCLING PLUS