Bicycle trainers??

check out http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/Gear/indoor_bike_training.htm for an overview.

Thanks for the link, Ron. Any personal preferences. I had my eye on a CycleOps Mag II (used for about 80 dollars)

D

I just got the Nashbar rim drive mag trainer ($45 off in the latest catalog - on the website it also came with a dBase 300 HRM - which has been ripped in a couple of reviews - but...) My bike is in transit, so I haven't used the trainer - but my serious biker buddy tried it out and likes it a lot.

Thanks for the input malvey. I'll look into it.

Tri'-in,
Dana

greetings dana!
i love e-bay. as long as you look the picture over really well and get any info from the seller that you are interested in i have not had a problem up to now. (other then my wife which say's e-bay is the devil. since we always have these mystery packages showing up. ha, ha.) the artical that ron linked you to is great. i have read that some used trainers that are magnetic resisted do lose there resistance after heavy use. so if you go the e-bay way you might be carefull. if there are any bike shops near you go in and talk with them. #1 being the first of the year some want to clean out some of there inventory and may give you one sweet deal.(my buddy bought a new trainer last week for the same price used ones on e-bay are selling for.) #2 the bike shop i go to is a no pressure shop. the owner , if he knows what you are after will help out.( remembers the guy he sold one to 6 months ago that never uses it. gives him a call asking if he wants to sell it . no shipping costs!!) i can get long winded sometimes so sorry if i have dragged on but see what you have locally first. theres a deal for you right next door.

rick

No, no--not long-winded at all! Thanks for the information--I'll look into the things that you suggest. I do have a great local bike shop that does all of my maintenance. Though I have almost no experience on e-bay (just one were a lost a trainer to the computer gods as it froze 5 minutes before bidding deadline... ARGH), I will proceed with caution!

Happy MLK day!

D

I consider myself something of an eBay queen. Not a big volume buyer or seller, but when I want something or want to unload something it is the first place I look. I sold all my Spinerval tapes when I thought I was washed up as a triathlete. Had 'em all too. Sold my aero bars, water bottle that fit in it, fuel belt, and didn't get the reserve on my wetsuit. Good thing maybe? I'll get into it again dammit....

Anyhow, back to ebay....

Only 2 things I have ever bought arrived damaged. The first was a Giant OCR that I bought for my son. The box had huge holes in it and things were missing. Things like pedals, seat, stem....and the frame was damaged. UPS paid the insurance claim. I ended up buying myself a new bike and gave him my old one. It wasn't old, just too big for me. It's now too small for him and I'll put it on ebay this spring.

The second broken item arrived 10 minutes ago. A piece of stoneware broken into a million pieces. Not a huge loss, I'm not nearly as ticked as I was when the bike arrived damaged.

ok, well, part of this post is tri related! I wish I hadn't sold those tapes as I am heading downstairs to ride on my trainer.

almost forgot, I have a Nashbar trainer and it's fine.

Edited by TriMom217 2004-01-17 10:35 AM

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?MfcISAPICommand=GetResult&...

Edited by TriMom217 2004-01-17 6:33 PM

Thanks a ton!

I've auctioned for one coming up. We'll see. I'm an e-bay virgin... so, I'm a little nervous.

I appreciate the encouragement,

D

okay this has been a hard call for me but i feel compelled to help out. but you must promise never to bid against me. no chuckling , this is serious business. some tips to help you get your item on e-bay. let me crack my knuckles . ok first. when you find an item that you want click on the "watch this item button" but don't bid on it. this does a couple of things. first it doesn't let others know that you want this item. all the newbies start bidding and drive the item up so that you can find that item new at the store. second this places it in your "my e-bay" section that way you can keep an eye on the item up till the time when the bidding is about to end. this does two things , it lets you have a few days to let auction fever wear off so that you can bid with your wits about you. and also it gives you a chance to see that same item get listed by others so that you really know what the item should go for. i have seen many professional e-bayers list an new item for what it sells for in their store. so as soon as people start bidding they really are paying more then store prices for the item and then they have shipping on top of that. some e-bayers list their shipping costs starting at $25.00 though it only costs them $5.00 to really ship it ,that way they are making money off of the shipping as well. what i do and not everyone likes to do bidding this way is i determin what i am willing to pay for the item. i keep hitting my refresh button till there is 45 seconds left in the auction then i place my bid. ( the full amount that i determined) can someone come in and snipe the bid away from you? yes, but if they do get the item its was for more then i had allowed. is placing your bid the last 45 seconds kind of unfair? if you go to a live auction the biding goes up to the last second. everyone interested in that item can place their bid in the last 45 seconds but the person that had allowed themselves the most amount of money won it. if you lose the bid don't worry you already have a list of that same item posted in your "my ebay" once you had used the "watch this item" button on that same item listed by tons of other people. sorry once again for the long post but i have to go . e-bay calls

rick

My wife is a power seller on eBay, having started about four and a half years ago buying then selling. Her shipping is always yhe exact cost. She also makes 100% good on her satisfaction promise. Look at seller feedback before you bid. How long have they been on. Are they simply selling off a few things without much ebay experience. Do they have a 100% satisfaction guarantee?

On "sniper" (last second) bidding. Not unfair at all - there are at least 15 web sites that will do sniper bidding for you. You don't have to be home - Your maximum bid sits on their server and they have servers that hit quickly. I've lost some bids by biding in the last few seconds because the server traffic at my server or at ebay "chokes" and the bid doesn't get in. Pro sniper sites can blast in your bid with .30 seconds to go and sometimes better. Some sites will let you "try" their sniper software. To learn more see http://www.auctionsniper.com/.

Special offer for beginner tri folks - if you're thinking an item and want to email us (take off the x's - [email protected]) with what you are looking to buy (item #) and she will be glad to give you an opinion of the seller - no guarantees of course, but she's helped a few folks.

I bought a Minoura HyperMag trainer 2 years ago, and it is OK. It requires some fiddling around when you are trying to get the right resistance and roll before starting your workout.

I have tried Tacx trainers in a spin class and wish I had bought one of those instead. Oh well!
Good luck

JB

Mate I brought a Cyclops fluid trainer. easy to set up, adjust ect ect. There fairly pricey at about $400 AUS , but worth every penny

Craig

Craig--

What's an austrailian dollar equal to, may I ask. When you said $400 I almost fainted!! Then I remembered that you called me 'mate' (o:

Happy with the CycleOps??

D

I almost forgot for a second that my thread was about people's recs on trainers!! (Quite a side-track on to e-bay... although helpful!)

I appreciate the rec. I haven't heard of Tacx--I'll have to look it up!

D

Your post made me laugh--it is highly unlikely that I will be doing a lot of on-line bidding... so don't worry I won't be sneaking up on you bidding-wise. I pretty much save all my shiny pennies for entry fees!

But I appreciate the e-bay tips. I lost my second bicycle trainer today though. I may just go out and but the darned thing brand new... but (if possible) on sale!

D

I think it's about 80 cents.

Wow--that must be some nice trainer!!

Isn't the weather supposed to be great down there??

From the wet and foggy coast of California,
Dana

I'm a sniper. I learned the hard way. I sat there checking the site every 15 minutes on the product I wanted. Then, at least last second, someone came in and swooped it away. Their final bid was higher than my conservative max bid, so there final bid was higher and I had no time to counterbid. I thought "Oh, so that's how it is".

Now, you just wait till the last second and click "send" with your max bid in the box. If my max bid is $100, and the 2nd higgest bid is $63, then it automatically bids $64 for me.

Even looking at prices before there's 2 days left is a waste of time. No one really starts getting down to it, until there's just hours left ... otherwise you end up just driving the price up on yourself.

Anymore, I don't haggle back and forth. When I want something I want to buy it then, know I have it, go back to life. I usually just buy the "buy it now" new products that are much cheaper than the same product in stores. Too often the "auctioned used" products price gets almost as much as the "buy it now" brand-new products, b/c the compeittion drives the price up, and the over-inflated shipping cost.

I'll probably use the "buy it now" feature to buy a Polar 410 or 710 (or 720, can't remember which). The 410 is $188, and the 720 is $234. There inexpensive (comparative), and new (som used stuff is fine, some isn't).

-------------------------------------------------------
I bought a Minoura Mag500 trainer. I enjoy it. Okay, enjoy is too strong of a word for indoor riding. The trainer is fine for the most borning activity there ever was. It's more exciting to watch grass grow.

Edited by TripleThreat 2004-01-20 10:03 AM

Finally something I know about. The Australian dollar was around US$.60 a year or so ago, but has shot up into the mid 70s (around $.77 right now I think). Bad time to vacation in Oz. Kickass time to convert an Australian retirement account into American $$. I'm hoping for $.80!

Sincerely,

Currency Speculation Geek