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Frequently Asked Questions

Choosing A Trainer

Which model is suitable for me?

The best trainer model varies depends on your training location, circumstance, purpose and bike type. No trainer is perfect for everyone and each model has its own benefits. It's important to choose the model by considering your desired training style, experience and the trainer's performance.

Using rollers as a beginner could be dangerous. A hybrid roller is a good introduction to using a roller system.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of direct drive trainers?

Direct drive trainers offer the most efficient power transfer, quiet operation and greater resistance control.

Direct drive trainers are often more expensive than alternatives and setup is more complex, requiring a rear cassette that is compatible with trainer.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of tire drive trainers?

The advantages of tire drive trainer are:

  • Natural pedal feel
  • Stronger resistance
  • Quieter than some other options

Tire drive trainer drives the rear wheel at the outer edge of the tire directly via the roller, so the pedal feel becomes better because you are utilizing your rear wheel. The combination of rubber tire and alloy roller is good for avoiding slippage and allows increasing the flywheel weight and total resistance power.

Tire drive trainers have fewer moving parts and the tire works as a cushion to absorb vibration, reducing noise.

The disadvantages of tire drive trainer are:

Tire drive trainer may wear down the tire. However, if you correctly adjust the compression level of the roller to the tire, the same level of wear can be expected as using the bike on the actual road.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of rollers?

Rollers are the oldest style of indoor bike trainer rather than stationary bike trainer.

On rollers, you ride bike on freely spinning rollers, so
you will not be supported by anything and you must maintain the balance by
yourself.

Advantages on rollers are:

The most natural and fun riding feel.

Less tire wear because rollers don't apply any artificial braking.

You can concentrate on training because you must maintain the balance whenever you ride on rollers.

Disadvantages of rollers include:

Difficulty to ride, especially for
beginners, but it can be solved by having an assistant beside you or using rollers next to a wall.

The noise level is a little louder than tire drive trainer.

Should I choose a stationary trainer or rollers?

Stationary trainers are good for building up muscles. Rollers are good for improving your total riding skill.

The stationary trainer including tire drive and rim drive holds the rear wheel stiffly, so you can ride at any style without any special technique so you can focus on building muscles or increasing your cardiopulmonary function.

Also tire drive trainers are sometimes used for checking the riding form, because it allows you to remove both legs from the ground.

However, stationary trainers completely hold the bike, so you may have bad habit such as just pushing down the pedal (not rotating) or sitting in wrong position (not in the center of the saddle).

Rollers are the best device to learn proper riding technique such as correct sitting position, correct weight application, and smoother pedal rotation including pilling leg technique.

The steering character will be changed to a quick one once you ride on rollers. You won't be able to ride smoothly if you don't maintain your balance perfectly. This unstableness occurs because one or more of above points are wrong. In other words, if you can ride on rollers smoothly, you can ride on the actual road at maximum performance.

Using A Trainer

How Can I Train More Quietly

It's more efficient to reduce vibration rather than noise itself.

In the actual scene of indoor training, vibration to the floor will be transferred further than noise itself. So it's more efficient to cut the vibration than to expect quiet training.

To reduce the vibration to the floor, you should apply an anti-vibration mat beneath the trainer. Our Training Mat is made of a special material that reduces the vibration up to 75%.

In addition, do not pedal too hard. Keep reasonable speed
(below 30 km/h) constantly for effective training and reducing noise level.

Do I have to use the provided skewer?

For safety we recommend using the provided skewer. The coupling (the metal part which clamps the rear wheel axle from both right and left side) is designed to fit our own quick release skewer head.

What is the purpose of the supplied MagRiser?

To level your bike for better training position

When you install the bike on a trainer, the rear wheel must belifted up to avoid conflicting to the floor. If you get on bike in this condition, the front wheel is positioned lower than the rear wheel.

MagRisre lifts up the front wheel to level your bike.

Do not hook the front tire to the edge of the groove on the
MagRiser.

Why am I hearing a squealing noise from my rollers?

Tire air pressure is too low

On rollers, the tire is compressed much harder than on road because the roller drum surface is not flat. It increases the area the tire touches the roller and you are automatically steering side to side to maintain the balance on rollers.

At that time, you can hear the squealing noise between the tire and the metal roller.

To erase this noise, you should check the tire air pressure first. In most case, this will solve the problem.

The proper air pressure can be calculated with the total weight of your body and bike weight.

But we can say roughly that 100 psi or more is safe.
Ideally, keep in 70 - 80% to the maximum pressure which is indicated on each tire.

What is a remote shifter?

Some of our trainers are equipped with a remote shifter. It allows you to adjust the resistance level without getting off the bike, and is usually installed on the handlebar or stem.

Turn the lever toward L mark, the resistance level will be decreased. Turn the lever toward H mark, the resistance level will be increased.

The non-remote models have a small lever on the resistance unit (except VFS non-remote version) to adjust the resistance level manually, but you should not operate it while using trainer. You can also adjust the resistance by shifting the bike's transmission gear. However, using bike's gear instead of shifter device may cause jerky pedal feel.

We think you should use the same gear ratio you usually use on road even while getting on trainer in order for a more
natural riding feel.