Kurt Kinetic Road Machine

Price Paid:  $314.00 at www.rei.com

Favorite Ride:
riding by the beach.

Bike Setup:
i have 2 kestral bikes

Summary:
i am new on the trainer.but it feel good.
the first 20 minutes i felt a good work out.i am going to enjoy it in the winter months.

Strengths:
i notice the faster i go the resistance
increase.i like that.

Weaknesses:
none

Similar Products Used:
none

Price Paid:  $350.00 at Kurt Kinetic Website

Favorite Ride:
Outdoors on the road

Bike Setup:
Road Bike

Summary:
I have used the trainer for almost four years. The tension bolt eventually stripped but the company sent me a new one without any questions. Lifetime warranty, no questions asked. I would recommend this trainer to anyone who uses one more than twice a week.

Strengths:
The trainer is solid and the resistance unit feels more like a road than stantionary bikes at the gym.

Weaknesses:
Significantly more expensive than other trainers. The tension application screw and handle seem to need revising due to long term wear issues.

Similar Products Used:
None.

Price Paid:  $220.00 at ebay

Favorite Ride:
any

Summary:
Oustanding trainer. I tried quite a few different models and read numerious reviews before finally settling on the kurt kinetic.

Riding a trainer is not necessarily fun per se but a necessary evil where I live if I want to maintain my fitness year round. The kurt kinetic has an outstanding warranty and is a smooth quite trainer that has the closest experience I have found to riding on the road.

Strengths:
Smooth, quite, closest I have found to 'road' feel, progressive resistence.

Weaknesses:
$$

Similar Products Used:
most major fluid trainers

Price Paid:  $299.00 at 1up USA

Favorite Ride:
I like em' All!

Bike Setup:
My indoor training/beater bike is a NOS Casati Gold Line (Columbus SPX)with old Campy and Mavic Open Pros.

Summary:
I just took delivery of my new Kurt Kinetic Road Machine and did a 45 minute workout. I have traditionally preferred rollers over trainers, and did not often use the Performance Travel Trak Trainer (Fluid)that I've had since the mid 90's. However, 30-45 minutes on the rollers is about all that I can tolerate due to the concentration needed, and I want to be able to comfortably be able to do longer inside workouts, so I figured it was tie to get a new up to date trainer.

My first impression was that the Kinetic has a good clamping system that is a big improvement over the old, lower end system on the Travel Trak. Sadly, other than that, the cheaper, older Travel Trak does not fall short in any notable way to the Kinetic.

The Kinetic performed fine and the quality was what I'd anticipated. It's just that once you take away the marketing hype, a trainer is a trainer. The Kinetic is smooth and stable, but so was the old, cheap thing I was using. The kinetic wins in terms of the bike mounting hardware and process, and the old cheap thing wins in terms of price and noise level. Yes I can't believe it either, but the Performance trainer is quieter by more than a little bit. Additionally, the Performance fluid module does not heat up nearly as much as the kinetic's does and I'm certain that they improved the bike clamping system by now.

I'm not a fan of Performance products, and I actually try to avoid the place, but as I said before, a trainer is a trainer.

The kinetic is good and I liked it, but I'd say that the level of difference from one fluid trainer to the next is probably not enough to agonize over. Go with the one that looks the best to you and costs the least. Unless you get a lemon, you'll probably find it to be adequate.

Strengths:
*coast down
*smoothness
*Stability

Weaknesses:
None...Well, maybe the Neon Lime Green color!

Similar Products Used:
*Performance Travel Trak Fluid Trainer
*Kreitler Challenger Rollers
*Sportscrafters/Cyclops PVC Rollers

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Price Paid:  $280.00 at REI

Favorite Ride:
Pontiac Lake

Bike Setup:
Trek Fuel 80

Summary:
It has functioned well but has a slight imbalance and make more noise than my Fluid II. Note: I returned my wife’s Fluid II due to a significant imbalance and replaced it with the Road Machine

Strengths:
Durable

Weaknesses:
Noisy

Similar Products Used:
Fluid II