Feedback Sports Trainer Review – The Analyzer
I’ve used bike trainers before a little, but I have never gotten into it because it’s just a pain to set up and usually doesn’t play well with mountain bikes which I normally ride. When I saw the Feedback Sports Omnium Trainer hit the market a couple years ago, I thought that it might be an interesting solution. I found out my favorite local bike shop Beyond Bikes in Stuart was a Feedback Sports dealer and was stocking these, so I had to see what they were all about. Bryan said he’d let me borrow one for a weekend if I’d write an article about them. That sounded like something The Analyzer couldn’t say no to, so I picked them up for a quick weekend review, since I was going to a friend’s house for the weekend anyway.
This trainer is designed to act like rollers, meaning your rear tire sits on two aluminum drums, but the fork mounts to a rigid frame. This design eliminates the “excitement” aka sketchyness of rollers while still giving the same feel which mimics how a road feels. The front section unfolds to a very stable platform and has adapters for whatever front axle setup your bike may have, from road Quick Release to MTB Boost front axles.
The Feedback Sports Omnium Trainer is light too, under 15 pounds. Fully aluminum, it folds up into a small bag and is pretty easy to take anywhere. I took it on a weekend trip to a beach house where I knew I wouldn’t be getting any training rides in, just to get a little interval work in before anyone got up in the morning. Considering I was putting a 2.35” MTB tire on it, the noise was pretty reasonable. Sure, it would have woken up some people in the house, but I was nice and took it outside on the deck with the pool and it wasn’t too bad. Check out our Instagram Story Highlights for videos of the sound plus a tutorial on taking it apart and putting it away. (only available in instagram mobile app)
Since I was using a bike with a power meter, the trainer can function as a Smart Trainer like a Wahoo Kickr for apps like Zwift. I got the bike set up on the trainer pretty quickly, just bolted the axle through, moved the rollers to the right distance and jumped on. There are 3 settings for the front fork mount height, and I probably should have lowered it one as I was angled up a bit. Nothing too bad, but maybe next time I’d fiddle with it. Next began the epic sweating.
As I started to warm up, I found it pretty easy to hold power consistently on it, with a few surges into the 400w+ range to wake the legs up before an interval session. Once I was warm, I held a zone near threshold for 8 minutes with 5 second spikes over 450w. This is a common workout you’ll see prescribed on trainer programs, and is actually a pretty good simulation of what happens in races when you’re just about on the limit and then have to sprint up a hill or around a corner. I stood up and did a couple big sprint efforts and the trainer was very stable, impressively so. I went through about 40 minutes on the trainer on my first ride and was satisfied it was able to give me a good workout. I did another ride on it without doing intervals, just about an hour of nice easy zone 2 while I watched a movie and it was great for that too.
I’m looking forward to using this Feedback Sports Omnium Trainer for race day warm-up so I can be really consistent instead of rolling around some strange park or road trying to get my legs warm while worrying if they’re getting lined up at the race back at the start line. Also as I travel I think these will be a great way to keep my training consistent instead of slacking off when I’m on the road. They’re portable, quick to setup, and provide a realistic and consistent workout. Two thumbs up in my opinion, pick up a set at Beyond Bikes or your local bike shop if you’re in the market for a new trainer to get those watts up :).
