johnsjar

Well I did my first bike ride of this year! Indoors, I did 5 km on my bike using my new trainer. I think this is going to work out fine. I feel different parts of my quads are getting worked out and back into shape. This should help prevent possible knee injuries caused by muscle imbalances. I still have a few dérailleur/crank adjustments to make. I am aiming for a cadence of 70 in any gear.

The trainer is made in Italy. It is an “Elite” brand “Crono Fluid Elastogel” model and I bought it for about 250.00 Canadian. (www.elite-it.com) It is a fluid trainer - which means it uses a fluid chamber to generate resistance. This resistance is not adjustable. You use the bicycle gears to adjust the resistance. There seems to be plenty of resistance range using the bike’s gears. I was told that the fluid trainers are a lot quieter than magnetic trainers. Magnetic trainers have adjustable resistance but my sources say they are not as good as fluid trainers in terms of smoothness, ability to mimic the feel of the road, noise levels, and less parts to break.

Here is a view with the bike mounted into it:

Since the rear wheel is elevated above the ground by about 2 inches, I made a wooden block to raise the front wheel a similar amount. You can buy these front wheel blocks if you don’t want to make them. They cost between 10 and 20 dollars. The front wheel is not used. This is why I am not concerned that the tire is worn out and does not match the rear tire. It is inflated to 40 PSI however, as is the back tire. The back tire is not a slick, but it is a road tire with minimum tread. A slick is the ideal tire to use on the back to minimize noise and wear and tear, but they were more money. I haven’t decided whether to stick with off road or on road tires or a compromise yet, but I will be replacing both tires as soon as spring allows me to ride the roads again.

Here is a view of the back of the unit showing the red-colored elasto-gel roller and the housing which contains the fluid. The fluid gets really hot during a ride which is why you see cooling fins on the housing. Don’t touch it until it cools off!

Here is a view of the left side of the unit and the back wheel:

And the right side:

The black handle screws in and together with the other side, pins and supports the axle of the rear wheel. The unit is supplied with a *metal* (as opposed to plastic) quick release skewer and it is recommended that you replace your existing skewer with the supplied one for strength. This means you have to have a hollow axle which I did not have at the time. But that was not a problem since I discovered my solid axle was badly bent anyway, and I had to replace it. So I bought a hollow one for about $19.00. I don’t recommend clamping the bike directly to the nuts of a solid axle; I think this will damage both the bike and the unit’s clamps even though you may be able to tighten the clamps enough to hold it. You tighten the clamp just enough to hold the bike and then slide a plastic lock over it so it won’t loosen off. As the clamps make contact, you can see that as you tighten the clamps the vertical arms on either side of the unit that support the axle are forced apart by the pressure of the clamp. You don’t want to tighten it too much. The manual says about one turn after contact.

A view from the front:

A closeup of the rear axle quick release. You can see it fits into the clamp which has a notch in it to allow the lever and the lever nut to fit in snugly:

Here are some important points to think about if you are thinking of buying one of these units - don’t forget to allow for:

1. A new back tire, preferably a slick used exclusively for the trainer. Change it out if you are going back on the road. Some people buy an entire new wheel exclusively for the trainer.
2. Make sure you have a quick release axle and not a solid one.
3. Make sure your chain and drive gears are squeaky clean or else you will get a huge dirty greasy mess when the grease flings off the chain as you ride. Clean off all grease and use a dry wax lubricant that all bike stores should carry.
4. If you have a bike computer make sure the sensors are hooked up to the rear wheel since the front wheel does not turn. Mine was hooked up to my front wheel and I had to buy a $9.00 sensor kit for the back wheel.
5. Never use the brakes on a trainer. They will cause damage to your tire and your roller. You never have to brake anyway since the wheel turns only when you pedal.

That’s about it. Oh, a couple of comments and complaints from the peanut gallery. Longnamenocansay says that the fluid housing is nice and toasty warm!

Longnamenocansay says that the bike seat is too high and he can’t reach the pedals. Too bad. It is a little harder getting on since the bike is 2 inches further off the floor but there is no need to re-adjust anything.