The Kinetic Road Machine is one of the leading bike trainer brands in the industry, and makes a great range of trainers to transform your outdoor bike into an indoor cardio machine. It's one of our top picks for the best bike trainers thanks to its durable build and high quality materials, and how it's surprisingly quiet in use even at higher speeds.
Via the Kinetic app you can track a range of metrics to see how you are progressing in your indoor training sessions, though we would recommend wearing one of the best fitness trackers to monitor your heart rate, calories burned, V02 Max and more.
Kinetic Road Machine review: Design
The Kinetic Road Machine is perfect for smaller home gyms as it can be folded in half for convenient storage when not in use. One thing to note up front: all of Kinetic's trainers are tested for quality before getting shipped off, so you may find tire marks on the cylinder. These can be wiped away.
The Kinetic Road Machine is compatible with a wide range of bike types, with the trainer's frame designed to 22- to 29-inch bike wheels. It's also compatible with quick release bikes, but it can also be adapted to thru-axle bikes by using the Kinetic Traxle, which must be purchased separately. This means it will work with both mountain bikes and road bikes.
Unlike magnetic bike trainers that need to be adjusted manually, fluid trainers like this one provide progressive resistance, which means that resistance will build as your cadence increases. Many people prefer these types of bike trainers because they're so simple to use - no need to mess around with toggles.
The Kinetic Road Machine measures 16 x 22.4 x 32 inches and weighs 28lbs, making it one of the heaviest trainers on our list. If you want a lighter bike trainer, take a look at our CycleOps Wind review.
Being heavy isn't necessarily a bad quality, as it helps ensure stability. However, traveling with the Kinetic Road Machine will be more difficult than it would be with some other trainers, simply because it's heavier.
Perhaps the best testament to this bike trainer's design and durability is its lifetime warranty. In the past, fluid trainers were known for leaking. Kinetic has improved its products and guarantees that this model is 100% leak-proof. That's impressive.
Kinetic Road Machine review: Features
There is a lot to love about the Kinetic Road Machine. One of the best things about this fluid trainer is how quiet it is in use, even at higher speeds. You can easily watch a guided workout on your tablet and not worry about being unable to hear it over the noise of the bike trainer.
And because it’s a fluid trainer, it also has a much more realistic, road-like feel than most magnetic and wind trainers. Features include progressive fluid resistance for a quieter ride, aided by a 6.25lb flywheel.
The bike trainer also comes with a free one-month subscription to the Kinetic Fit power-training app to enhance your indoor bike training. The Road Machine is also designed to work with apps such as Zwift and Trainer Road, and to sync with Bluetooth Smart or ANT+ connected devices.
If you purchase and install the Kinetic inRide Watt Meter to the Road Machine, you can access the Kinetic Fit power training app to monitor and create workouts on your smart device.
Kinetic Road Machine review: User reviews
The Kinetic Road Machine has 113 reviews on Amazon alone, scoring four stars out of five overall. 65% of them are five-star reviews, with 15% being four-star reviews, so the majority of users have had a very positive experience with this indoor bike trainer.
Positive reviews focused on how the Kinetic by Kurt trainer is ideal for general aerobics exercise and winter cycling training indoors, and that it is both easy and quick to setup.
The durable build and high quality materials were also praised, while some users found the app disappointing and experienced issues with syncing the trainer to their phone. Not everyone had syncing issues though, with most users enjoying how the Kinetic Road Machine synced quickly with platforms such as Zwift.
Should you buy the Kinetic Road Machine?
Overall we were impressed with the Kinetic Road Machine. It's a simple machine that offers durability, user convenience and versatility, and can also be upgraded to make it compatible with expanded training apps. It will effectively turn your outdoor bike into an indoor fitness bike, though obviously the best exercise bikes offer more variety in terms of guided workouts and specific fat-burning exercises.
If you want to put just a bit more money into your purchase, Kinetic offers similar trainers that have a slightly different frame and come equipped with an inRide sensor for wireless workouts that correspond with the Kinetic inRide app. We would also recommend the Tacx Vortex Smart Bike Trainer if you want more workout metrics to see how you are progressing with your training.
