List Price: $209.99
Sale Price: $167.99
Today's Bonus: 20% Off
This bike trainer is well made and has proved very worthwhile attached to my older mountain bike. When the instruction manual states that a knobby tire is not recommended it is not kidding. I didn't have a smooth tire initially and the noise and vibration was horrible. Using a cheap smooth tire made a huge difference and now the trainer is nice and quiet. I take off 1 star because of the bar-mounted resistance adjustment lever. I could not get it to work; the instructions were useless. The gears on the bike provide all the resistance variance I need so the extra lever was a waste of money. Get the model without the remote lever and save about $10.
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This is a pretty good trainer for the money it costs. It does make some noise, but its not unbearable: the TV is still audible.It was somewhat difficult to set up: make sure your back tire is tight against the roller if it is slipping at all it will wear down in no time.
Even so, it does seem to wear down my back tire pretty fast, so I am thinking of getting a wheel with a Continental tire made for trainers.
I got the model with the remote, but have not really used it. The remote is hard to set up (both on the magnet and on the bike), and it keeps falling off.
Best Deals for CycleOps Mag+ Indoor Bicycle Trainer Trainer with Bar Mounted
I really like this trainer in terms of it's build quality, ease of assembly despite so-so instructions and slightly funky cable installation. I've been using it for about 2 hours a week for the past two months and none of the pieces seem to feel like they are going to wear any time soon. Along with a block for the front wheel it all feels totally stable and that I could use this for the next 3 years without having a problem. In terms of noise, I wear around-the-ear headphones which are semi-open (AKG 240s) and I can watch TV or listen to music without having to push the volume up to compensate.Once assembled the adjustments are all pretty straight forward and your bike should fit easily. They thoughtfully include a replacement skewer in the box in case yours doesn't fit or you are afraid of scratching the finish on yours. There are also online videos which help assembling and mounting your bicycle for the first. Most of it is pretty intuitive, so even without reading the instructions very carefully I had it assembled in less than 20 minutes. With properly inflated tires I found the tension knob too tight to actually turn per instructions, and rather painful too. Fortunately I did not have any problems with tire slippage with far less tension. There are no online manuals or videos explaining how to attach the remote shifter, but this may be a moot point. Which brings me to the major criticism of this model, resistance.
A little background, I'm in my 40's and really out of shape. If I found the resistance range pretty narrow and too light I would guess anyone in better athletic condition will want to start with a trainer with a higher resistance capacity, which this one just won't give you.
Having lived with it for a while, I think I should have either bought the model without the cable, saving myself the money or spent the extra $60-$120 to start with the Magneto or Fluid2, then I wouldn't be thinking of upgrading so early.
