Bike Trainers: Fluid vs. Magnetic vs. Roller
As winter approaches and our schedules fill up, the weather and lack of daylight can make finding time to ride outside difficult. For many, the solution is spin classes or hitting the stationary bike at the gym. But it’s 2018 now, and there are some amazing ways to turn your trusty road steed into an impressive indoor ride without leaving your house. Today we’re talking indoor bike trainers. These days riding inside isn’t as dreaded as it used to be. Better and smarter indoor trainers are providing road-like rides filled with data and training apps (like Zwift) that provide an immersive and addictive game-like environment to maintain and improve your performance and endurance when rubber hits the road. There are a few different types of indoor bike trainers that we’ll cover; as well as their pros and cons.
Magnetic Bike Trainers
A magnetic bike trainer; also known as, a “mag” trainer uses a magnetic flywheel to provide resistance. A flywheel is the wheel the back tire spins on. The magnetic flywheel has rotating magnets that create a set amount of resistance as they’re engaged or disengaged. To change the amount of resistance, you must either dismount the bike and select the new level, or change it via a handlebar-mounted cable that is attached to the trainer.
