Official Bicycle Trainer Of The USA Cycling Team

I always had it in my head that our USA Cycling Team just traveled to warm weather climates to train. The other thought was that they trained in the mountains to not only get great strength but to increase aerobic capacity as well. I knew I was partially right on the latter because a buddy of mine trained in Colorado and Montana with one of the teams a few years ago. What I came to find out though is just like the rest of us, inclement weather sometimes forces you to train indoors. And when indoors how do you train? On an indoor bicycle trainer of course. So, what is the official bicycle trainer of the USA Cycling Team? It is the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine indoor bike trainer. In order for the team to recognize this particular trainer, it must be something special. Hmmmm. Why don't we take a look.

Kurt Kinect Road Machine Features

* 6.25-lb flywheel for realistic coast down
* Powertap calibrated resistance unit
* Patented sealed fluid chamber with magnetically coupled driveshaft
* Thermodynamically stable, silicone resistance fluid
* 80 cooling fins to dissipate heat

Lets dig a little deeper and see what Amazon says about the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine.
"Tested and rated the best by the Cycling press and loved by riders, it's no wonder the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine indoor trainer is the official bicycle trainer for the USA Cycling Team. It's quiet, smooth, leak-proof, and offers an ultra-accurate simulation of outdoor riding. Powertap calibrated, the fluid trainer automatically adjusts resistance as you change speed."

Ok, no offense against Amazon but why don't we find out what actual users say about this trainer and I'll list them by bullet points.... pro's and con's.

Pro's:
* Thrilled with its performance and quality
* The best trainer you can buy
* The greatest feature is the quietness with which it operates.
* It is BUILT strong
* I am very happy with the trainer
* The Rolls Royce of trainers
* This unit is absolutely wonderful; Really good resistance, really stable and tough
* The unit was easy to set-up, it is very smooth and quiet, and the resistance is very realistic
* This is a great indoor bicycle trainer
* Very impressed with its stability and ease of setup
* Swapping out bikes takes literally 30 seconds
* The fluid resistance is realistic and will keep giving you a good workout

Con's:
* I found it does not imitate the feel of riding on the road
* Noisier than expected
* Difficult for me to get my bike placed on the unit correctly
* The only thing I can say negative is that it is quite noisy and he has to have the TV turned way up in order to hear the directions above the noise of his spinning

Alright, as I look through the list of Pro's and Con's, I can see why why the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine received such positive reviews and to be perfectly honest, I only put up about 10% of the positive responses while finding everything negative that I could. To me, it looks like this trainer is easy to setup, built very strong, has good resistance and a realistic road like feel, and will give you a very good workout. On the negative aspects, a couple of people said that this trainer is a little noisy. I'd personally combat that with an mp3 player which I use during all of my indoor rides anyway.

One more thing which I consider negative but I suppose it has to do with just about every indoor bike trainer, except for the more expensive one's. That is, the lack of a heart rate monitor and a bike computer. So, my suggestion is if you choose to purchase this trainer (and I would just based on its reviews), do yourself a favor and purchase those accessories because they will enhance every aspect of your training.

I guess now we know why the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine is the official bicycle trainer of the USA Cycling Team.

Head over here to check out available indoor bicycle trainer accessories or below to look at a few of our recommendations.

Here is more of an all in one unit.

Related posts:

1. There Are Many Types Of Indoor Bicycle Trainers
2. Bicycle Trainer or Roller. Which Is Better?

This entry was posted on November 18, 2010 at 5:04 PM and is filed under fluid trainer, indoor bicycle trainer, indoor bike trainer, Kurt Kinetic. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.