I am getting my first indoor trainer which, living in Texas, I will use primarily in the summer. Does anyone have any experience with the Nashbar 2007 Watt Master Fluid Trainer? Nashbar trainers in general? The write up sounds good esp. as it includes a monitor, but I have no idea if the product is any good. Thanks for all replies.

1Rider

Right now, for $300 or less, you can get a Kurt Kinetic Road Machine with a power meter. Kurt Kinetic has been the standard for years and is a quality product. Check the reviews.

If you wait until Spring, REI has been known to discount the Road Machine to about $179.95. The power meter runs about $38.95.

I was going to do another ~200 miles on my trainer before doing a full review for RBR, but i'll give the gist of it. I've owned it for 2 months now.

I like it a lot. It has 5 different handlebar adjusted resistance settings up to 5.4% grade, I believe. I usually leave it in level 3, which is 1.8% and could keep me at a sustained 277 watts in an average riding gear. The power meter is accurate to within 10% to a powertap during hard efforts, but usually it's a lot closer to 5% if you are under ~400 watts.

Complaints: You cannot download data from the unit to your computer. I don't think the Kinetic or other ones can either. I use a riding journal to write down the average and max power. As long as you enter your weight correctly, it's accurate.

My only other complaint is that the unit can only read up to 999 watts, and it doesn't roll over. This is a lot, but not enough for me. My sprints are upwards of 1300 watts now, so it caps at 999 and won't roll over to 200 or 300 to show I did 1300 watts. If you can break 1000w, you may want to look elsewhere. Then again, you may want to just get a powertap.

The unit is reliable and sturdy, a quality build. I would highly recommend it for anyone who wants power but cant afford a powertap or computrainer. If you have any questions you can PM me.