Kurt Kinetic Road Machine Indoor Trainer

The Kurt Kinetic Road Machine is the original bike trainer in the now famous Kurt Kinetic lineup and arguably it's still the king of cycling trainers after all these years. The Kurt Kinetic bicycle trainer is the perfect workout partner to challenge you on your cycling ability on anything from standing sprints to intervals to all-day base building endurance routines. It never has a headache, is always ready to go and isn't bothered by the dark OR the cold of winter.

Kurt Kinetic Road Machine Rider Review
To many cyclists an indoor bike trainer is a necessary evil in order to stay in shape over the winter months. It might keep your legs and lungs tuned up and it will do the job, but no matter what, it's no substitute for the real thing. Even the best bike trainers on the market can't replace the thrill of the wind in your hair and the everchanging scenery or the freedom that a bike will give you.

Now that said, the best bike trainers on the market are a HUGE improvement over some of the worst and while your brain might realize it's not on the road, your legs and lungs will hardly tell the difference if you are on a high quality bike trainer. The Kurt Kinetic Road Machine bike trainer is easily one of the best I've ever ridden that simulates true road feel and resistance. It might not be the real thing but a hard workout session on a Kinetic Road Machine will leave you felling pretty satisfied.

You might be able to tell, I am not the biggest fan of riding indoors but when it's dark at 4pm and it's freezing cold outside, you do what you have to do. As skeptical as I am, I must admit that I was actually excited when I unpacked the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine for the first time. Their reputation is strong and I just like new stuff...it's a curse so sue me.

Kurt Kinetic Initial Impressions

The very first thing you notice when you pop the top on that box is that raging "viper" green color that the Kurt Kinetic trainers are finished with. The other thing was damn, this sucker was heavy. The Kurt Kinetic trainer is a beast, it's solid, rugged and heavy. These might not be good attributed for a bicycle, but they are GREAT attributes for a trainer. You want a big, wide and stable platform to mount your bike into and much of the weight comes from the flywheel, the heavier the flywheel then the more realistic the ride feel so immediately I had high hopes.

Giggling with excitement, I wasted no time in loading my trusty Trek 5900SL into the trainer and was happy to see that it loads with ease. The Kinetic requires no pre-adjustment and you simply slide the self-locking knob inward until it makes contact and then tighten it down. The only downside to loading the bike is when you tighten the resistance unit to the bike wheel, it's not horrible but the knob is small and hard to reach. I prefer the foot operated levers but that's life. It's not that big of a deal, just not as easy as loading the bike into the frame.

Kurt Kinetic Trainer Riding Impressions

Ok, now we RIDE! I popped one of the Lance's TDF victories into the trainer and off I go. First impression was great, the Kurt Kinetic is not noisy and was actually pretty quiet and the base being insulated in rubber did not result in a lot of noise translated through the floor. The flywheel spun up nice and smoothly under my shoes and did feel very road like. The noise issue may not seem important to some, but if you are an apartment or condo dweller then the noise issue can be huge, especially to your neighbors.

Five minutes of easy spinning later and I was ready to rock, Lance would never know what was coming when I got done with him, plus I cheat and hit pause on the DVD long enough for me to get by him. The base Kurt Kinetic Road Machine comes equipped 6-pound flywheel and it does an admirable job of providing a very smooth resistance all the way around the pedal stroke. The Road Machine spins up up quickly, but still provides enough inertial in the flywheel to also provide a very realistic coast down as well, something many trainer lack and many buyers overlook. A smooth and lengthy coast down allows you to train the same way you ride on the road. You can coast and rest on the road without scrubbing too much speed and you can do the same thing on the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine, many trainers scrub speed quickly, which is not very realistic.

Kurt Kinetic Trainer Summary

Forty Five minutes later and with Lance feeling kind of vulnerable all of a sudden , we hopped off the Kurt Kinetic trainer with an absolute appreciation of why many Kinetic owners claim they will never own a different trainer again. It works great, feels great, looks great and is just a great all around choice for someone looking for a trainer.

If you are worried about the reputation of a Fluid trainer then have no fear of that as the design of the Kurt Kinetic trainers is such that they cannot leak. It simply won't happen and this should give those who have had bad experiences with other fluid trainers some piece of mind. In fact, Kurt Kinetic has so much confidence in their bike trainer that they offer an unconditional lifetime warranty.

The Kurt Kinetic bike trainer is my new favorite trainer and I would positively recommend it to anyone looking for one of the best bicycle trainers on the market. Normal price starts at $370 dollars depending on which model you buy, but check out our trainer reviews and we've scoured the net for some GREAT deals for you to save some money.

Who Should Buy the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine

The Kurt Kinetic Road machine is ideally suited for the rider who wants a great trainer at a reasonable price and isn't willing to sacrifice training or ride quality in order to save a few dollars. The Kurt Kinetic Road Machine is not the least expensive machine on the market and nor is it the most expensive but we strongly feel that it is by far, one of the best values available in the bicycle trainer market and will make a superb choice for someone looking for a great bike trainer.

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