Bike Technologies Training System

[Jake B]

Hi Guys-

Has anyone used THIS trainer before? I saw a photo of Brad McGee using it in Cycle Sport a while back, and it looks very interesting. Are there many benefits in it over regular trainers? Any information would be great

Thanks-Jake Byrd

[monkey]

I have one at home and they are a pretty good unit. I have a power tap hub built into it as well and find it a great training tool. However the resistance built into it with the fans can make it pretty hard to do high rpm O2 type efforts, saying that, if you have a something like a 25 tooth cog on the back and remove some of the fans it might be okay. It is the best unti I have found to do Strength Endurance efforts and threshold efforts as the resistance is constant and there is no slip at all that you sometimes get with magnetic units under high resistance.

[Skillgannon]

I used one on a junior development program camp as the guy who brought it down worked with the VIS, and had the chance to do one interval on it. Setting it up was a bitch. The noise was a bitch. Winding it up felt like a bitch (but that could've been the training we'd done before), but working at a high, hard consistant pace felt really good, and probably a bit more realistic than other units. Sprinting though felt awkward, which may have been the bulk or the fans, though I dont see why the resistance would be a problem. But there is allot of resistance.

[John979]

For realistic feel, nothing beats a high-inertia trainer. I narrowed my options down to either a PowerTap PT300 Pro or a VeloDyne. Veltrons are also excellent but very expensive. Finally, I ordered the PT300 Pro due to 1) reliability; and 2) built-in PowerTap power meter. The PT300's only disadvantage is size/weight -- it is a spin bike. It also does not have the programmability of other trainers, but this is of no concern to me as I have a very, very KISS approach to training and don't need to program courses.