Kinetic Road Machine 2.0 Fluid Trainer

This is a long one if it's just a quick read, skip to the bottom.My Cycleops Fluid2 (F2) started leaking a month ago. No complaints it's almost 8 years old and has about a million miles on it. It was a warranty replacement for a first gen Cycleops fluid trainer. The first gen fluid trainers leaked because of a design flaw. Saris bought out Cycleops in '99. When they came out with the redesigned model they replaced leaky trainers, no questions asked. Saris will have my business for life.Anyway, I kept nursing my F2 along hoping to get through my current training block before sending it back. The leak was not catastrophic.. I still delivered a decent workout. The plan was to use the turnaround time for active recovery. It went back to Saris the Monday before Christmas. Expecting a fat and happy Holiday Season I resigned myself to indulging in Beer and Christmas Cheer.....I guess an elf heard me grumble on my way to the post office.Flash forward a couple of days to Christmas Eve. There was a big heavy box under the tree; TO:Me FROM: SantaWife....out popped a new Kurt Kinetic Road Machine.This morning, Christmas Day, while the rest of the family and guests were sleeping, I unboxed my present. Here's my sorta comparison between Kurt Kinetic Road Machine (KK) and my trusty old Cycleops Fluid2.Compared to my F2 the KK's frame is HUGE. The entire unit must weigh about 5 lbs. more than the F2. My F2 was sitting on an older Cycleops frame, which at the time, was made by Kurt manufacturing company. Take a look at Kurt's `about us' for more info. From out of box to ready to use took less than 10 minutes. I don't know if it's a copyright thing, but twisting knobs to mount the frame and set the roller tension is very last century.My `exertainment' of choice is Sufferfest videos interfaced with Trainer Road. Trainer Road is a power based structured interval training program. Check out both sites if you want to know more. I use Trainer Road's `Virtual Power' feature. The premise is that most trainers require a certain amount of effort at a given speed. Effort=Power. Trainer Road has power curves built for almost every trainer out there, including the KK and F2. I also use Sufferfest's Relative Perceived Exertion Scale (RPE) to measure effort. An RPE of one is sitting on the couch, ten is an all-out effort, eyeballs bulging, tongue dragging on the ground, counting the seconds till the interval is over. If you ever did HIT you know what I mean. The rest can look it up.My last known pre-leak good workout on the F2 was Sufferfest's `Half is Easy'. This morning, I switched my profile over to a KK trainer and did the same workout. The numbers for both sessions were pretty consistent. Normalized Power for both workouts were about equal at 212/207. The average speed was close. My RPE was the same. Efforts that called for a nine, hurt as much on the KK as on the F2.All the above considered, IMO there's not much of a difference between the two when it comes to how much you want to flog yourself playing bicycle hamster. Both will require an effort that is proportional to how much work you want to put into your saddle time.Obviously there's some `product differentiation' between the two.KK's been using the same leak proof design since 2000.The KK's resistance unit felt subjectively warmer to the touch after my workout. You are not going to burn yourself, its WARM not hot. If you burn yourself on a any resistance unit, please send me a picture of the burn, along with documented evidence that your NP is above 400. I'll also accept a copy of your birth certificate if your name is Jens Voigt.The OLDER F2 design may be prone to leaking if everything is not balanced and perfect, or you wear it out with thousands of miles. The newer F2's have solved this issue. In the past year my LBS has not had a warranty exchange for any F2's with leaks.The KK's spin down does seem a bit more road like. The bigger flywheel takes longer to coast to a stop.KK has accessory virtual power sensor available for another $170. It's about as accurate as Trainer Road's virtual power. This means that your moment to moment and burst power will probably be off, but your average and normalized power will be comparable to a PowerTap or Stages meters. If you want real power measurements, get a power meter for $700+. There is no free lunch.There's a lifetime warranty for both KK and F2. From experience, Saris/Cycleops is awesome.The frame is stiffer on the KK, and it's heavier, so not going to take it to races for warmups. The stiffness just feels strange when I stand to put the hammer down, like my first few times on the old Cannondale jumbo aluminium frames back in the day. I've seen the newer F2's they are still lighter. And, Yes, I know KK makes a Rock and Roll trainer. To me it's all marketing, no proven benefit from having a resistance trainer that moves with you. I'll get used to the feel in a couple sessions.The KK is painted 'screamin green'. The F2 is gloss black.The noise level is pretty much the same for both. You get a whirring sound with the F2. The KK seems to add a slight 'running water' sound at low speeds. But my BTC (workout room) has two industrial fans. When somebody's home I wear headphones and suffer in silence. When I got the house to myself, the music's shakin' the basement on my old 300 watt per channel Pioneer sound system with Boston Acoustic speakers big enough to be furniture. I picked it up when stationed in Asia, where you went broke saving money on audio gear and cameras. I can't hear myself scream let alone trainer noise. Obviously don't use knobby tires.The KK is `Designed in USA, Made in China' like Apple stuff. Cycleops is `Made in USA'.The F2 is a bit cheaper than the current version of the KK. If you find KK with the older frame design, the price is the same or a bit less.Finally....I'll probably keep the Road Machine down in the basement. When the warranty replacement comes back from Cycleops, if my son doesn't want it, I'll put it in my office for lunchtime spins when the weather is too crappy for the crew to go outside.

I am a semi-serious cyclist living in Michigan, meaning that five months of the year, I cannot cycle outdoors because of snow, salt-laden roads, or brutally cold temperatures. The indoor trainer allows me to use my own bike indoors, keeping me fit for when spring comes around and keeping my riding geometry consistent.For years, I used a magnetic bicycle trainer, but the magnetic trainer can be limited as to how much resistance you can get while riding. What I mean by this, is that in order to get the same resistance with the magnetic trainer as you would get on the road, you need to ride in a higher gear on the trainer. This is not a big deal until you get strong enough that even the highest gear does not give you enough resistance anymore, and tightening the roller any more against the tire will either damage the bike or the trainer.The fluid trainer does a much better job of simulating true road resistance, provided you set it up correctly. Using the trainer over the winter--when I go out riding in the spring, it's like I was never off the bike and I crush my friends that did not train over the winter!In the box was included a through axle and a lift cup for the front tire, meaning that for most bikes, the trainer is ready to use out-of-the-box. Just replace the rear through axle on your bike with the included through axle, attach the bike to the trainer at the rear axle, set the front tire in the lift cup, and you're ready to go. The proper way to get the right resistance on the rear tire is to do the following: (1) inflate the rear tire to the normal pressure; (2) use the rear knob to adjust the roller until it just starts touching the rear tire; (3) tighten the knob about 3-4 more full rotations; (4) grab the rear tire and suddenly start and stop the movement of the tire--if it slips on the roller, tighten another 1/2 turn at a time until the tire no longer slips; (5) at that point, tighten another 1/4 turn. With this procedure, you will feel like you are riding on a level road with a very slight headwind. Adjustments will be needed every month or so as your tire loses pressure, which is normal.I have been using the fluid trainer now for a little over a month, about four times per week, 45 minutes at a time. Everything is working great with it, and I hope to get many years of service out of it. I have a 26" mountain bike with hybrid tires mounted on the trainer. The noise level is less than it was with the magnetic trainer. I can play the TV at elevated volume, but at about 80% of what I had with the magnetic trainer. The trainer can also handle a 29" bike, which another reason I upgraded, since my older magnetic trainer could only handle a 26" bike.

I'm an avid summer road road cyclist and was looking for a way to train for Lotoja this year - preferably without having to go to the gym and dealing with the bros. You know what I mean. Unfortunately, I live in a harsh winter weather climate which doesn't allow for outdoor training in the winter.Enter the Kinetic Road Machine Trainer. I've had this for over a month and have spent at least 20 hours on it total. things that I have observed:+The unit is very well built. It's heavy and sturdy, just like you'd expect from an item this price+The trainer came 100% fully assembled. All I had to do is replace the skewer on my bike with the one provided, screw in the mounting points, and set the resistance drum against the tire. Easy.+The resistance feels really good. It increases as you pedal harder, so you can intensify your workout just by switching gears. Just like you can outside.-More of a recommendation than a con. I can see some of the tread on my back tire wearing off. For a few extra bucks you can buy a tire made by the same company specially suited for resistance training. Kinetic Trainer Tire, 700 x 25, GreenLastly, something that I was really curious about before I purchased. My road bike (Giant Propel) feels much better IMO than your run-of-the-mill stationary bike at the gym. If you're looking for something to keep you in shape until riding season, look no further!