Conversion to stationary bike

HbC

New Member
Region
USA
I have an Lectric 3XP bike for about a year now. I try to ride it every day, weather permitting, but I can only ride it for about seven miles and then my butt gets achy. I am also a little bit older. A seven mile daily ride is just fine for me. My concern is that with the wintery weather, ice and snow on the roads, I end up with more no-go ride than actual ride days. I am looking for a way to use my bike as an indoor stationary bike for the upcoming cold nasty months. I want to stay with the 3XP to keep my saddle soreness under control. Any advice?
 
I have an Lectric 3XP bike for about a year now. I try to ride it every day, weather permitting, but I can only ride it for about seven miles and then my butt gets achy. I am also a little bit older. A seven mile daily ride is just fine for me. My concern is that with the wintery weather, ice and snow on the roads, I end up with more no-go ride than actual ride days. I am looking for a way to use my bike as an indoor stationary bike for the upcoming cold nasty months. I want to stay with the 3XP to keep my saddle soreness under control. Any advice?
I doubt you would find a trainer that would hold that bike. they are designed for a normal road type bike.
 
Expensive, though:

 
20x4" tires are about 23"1/2. Might get close with some of them. Or buy a used one, and cut out a pair of steel plates to extend the friction rig two inches. Most of them look pretty simple.


.
 
Thank you for your replies. They confirm what I have found, ie nothing "off-the-shelf" at a reasonable price.

HarryS' suggestion of modifying a Trainer Stand for regular bikes maybe the way I will go. I was thinking about that but I wasn't sure if that was feasible. I will keep thinking.
 
Seven miles on a trainer and 7 miles on the road. The Lectric XP will handle many miles of pedal assist on the road, so I think it should last on a trainer, but can the trainers axle supports hold it off the ground that long?
 
Seven miles on a trainer and 7 miles on the road. The Lectric XP will handle many miles of pedal assist on the road, so I think it should last on a trainer, but can the trainers axle supports hold it off the ground that long?

trainers axle supports
is my concern.

About 50 years ago, my friend had a devise in his basement where he could ride his bike. If I remember correctly, it consisted of three rollers. The two back rollers were positioned about 3-4 inches apart. The front roller was located directly under the front wheel axis. I believe that there was a belt/chain connecting the front and rear rollers. With both font and rear wheels turning, he could pedal away without any side support.
 
is my concern.

About 50 years ago, my friend had a devise in his basement where he could ride his bike. If I remember correctly, it consisted of three rollers. The two back rollers were positioned about 3-4 inches apart. The front roller was located directly under the front wheel axis. I believe that there was a belt/chain connecting the front and rear rollers. With both font and rear wheels turning, he could pedal away without any side support.
they still make them.
 
they still make them.
My Google skills are lacking. I have been searching for the last couple of weeks for that type of device with no results. I gave up and joined this forum to ask for help. Could you point me to one or give me the correct terminology for that unit so I can get Googling again?

Thank you
 
Wow, that Portland bike trainer looks cool, but for that price you could just buy an even nicer dedicated stationary bike. Or you could buy another bike and a traditional bike trainer.
 
I have an Lectric 3XP bike for about a year now. I try to ride it every day, weather permitting, but I can only ride it for about seven miles and then my butt gets achy. I am also a little bit older. A seven mile daily ride is just fine for me. My concern is that with the wintery weather, ice and snow on the roads, I end up with more no-go ride than actual ride days. I am looking for a way to use my bike as an indoor stationary bike for the upcoming cold nasty months. I want to stay with the 3XP to keep my saddle soreness under control. Any advice?
I thought about using my ebike indoors for exercise during the off season but decided it made no sense to put unnecessary wear on on an expensive bike. Instead, I picked up a used NordicTrac trainer for $200.

Like you, I wanted to keep my butt in condition so I took the saddle of the e-bike and put it on the trainer. I've been using the idea for 5 years now and it's worked out well.

Welcome to the forum and good luck finding a solution!
 
I thought about using my ebike indoors for exercise during the off season but decided it made no sense to put unnecessary wear on on an expensive bike. Instead, I picked up a used NordicTrac trainer for $200.

Like you, I wanted to keep my butt in condition so I took the saddle of the e-bike and put it on the trainer. I've been using the idea for 5 years now and it's worked out well.

Welcome to the forum and good luck finding a solution!
Thanks for that idea.
 
Wow, that Portland bike trainer looks cool, but for that price you could just buy an even nicer dedicated stationary bike. Or you could buy another bike and a traditional bike trainer.
A lot of what it is being marketed for is professional bike fitters. You need to somehow shoehorn your bike into a trainer to do the job well. Given that most e-bikes play poorly with existing trainers (and also belt-drive bikes, bikes with IGHs, and fat tire bikes) there was a gap in the market. All of those people need decent bike fit too.

And a basic bike fit session is around $100. So a $2000-$2500 gadget will pay for itself pretty quickly.
 
A lot of what it is being marketed for is professional bike fitters. You need to somehow shoehorn your bike into a trainer to do the job well. Given that most e-bikes play poorly with existing trainers (and also belt-drive bikes, bikes with IGHs, and fat tire bikes) there was a gap in the market. All of those people need decent bike fit too.

And a basic bike fit session is around $100. So a $2000-$2500 gadget will pay for itself pretty quickly.
Sorry, I'm not sure I understand here.

I think you're saying that people pay for a professional bike fit on their ebike so they want to keep that position and thus buy this trainer to ride indoors so they have the position. Do I have that correct?

I can appreciate why one would use an ebike on the road, but for a trainer I don't really get it nearly as much. You're not going anywhere so it's purely for a workout so why use a motor? I can also see the problems using an ebike when using Zwift as well.
 
What I think he means is that you bring your bike to the fitter and they chuck your bike up in the trainer and then do their thing with you and the bike. It probably cost quite a bit for the fit as, afterall, they need to amortize that 3k trainer.
 
Sorry, I'm not sure I understand here.

I think you're saying that people pay for a professional bike fit on their ebike so they want to keep that position and thus buy this trainer to ride indoors so they have the position. Do I have that correct?

I can appreciate why one would use an ebike on the road, but for a trainer I don't really get it nearly as much. You're not going anywhere so it's purely for a workout so why use a motor? I can also see the problems using an ebike when using Zwift as well.
The product I pointed at can be used as a trainer for any bike or as a stand for a bike fit -- the requirements are similar. My understanding is that a lot of them have been sold to folks doing pro bike fits because they can fit more bikes. My further understanding is that only a handful have been built, and that negotiations are underway to manufacture more. Chances are with larger production runs the price will come down a lot.
 
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