CycleOps Fluid 2 Indoor Bicycle Trainer

I absolutely love this. I am not a huge cyclist, but needed to switch from running to something with less impact. It gives a great workout with plenty of resistance. It is very loud though. Definitely need the stacking block for the front.

I've had this trainer for about four years now. I used to have a wind trainer, and this trainer is much quieter (but I still have to turn the volume up on the TV - it's not totally quiet). It also provides a higher level of resistance that increases in a realistic fashion the faster I go. Another plus is that the fluid takes a few minutes to heat up before the resistance kicks in, which provides a warm-up period that is just about right. Overall I'm very pleased with it and have had no problems. It's great for keeping you in condition over the winter, or if the weather is not cooperating.
One warning - if you don't have any distraction you will die of boredom. Miles creep by after a certain point. While 30 or 40 miles may go by quickly on the road, 10 miles on the trainer is excruciating - none of the rush that comes with flying down the road, no racing along with your buddies, no conversation, none of the small breaks that you get while drafting, coasting, or going downhill. You will get a great workout but time will drag. A TV is nice and a workout video really helps (and gives you the benefit of a structured workout).

We bought this for some indoor knee rehab. Tried to attach two bikes to it, smallish women's Trek 7200 and a larger men's Trek 520. In both cases the rear wheel remains firmly on the ground. Undecided as to whether we will simply return the product or try to prop up the side balance legs on some blocks of wood.

This trainer was easy to set up. Took less than 5 minutes. I didn't have to follow the instructions because a coworker gave me some pointers and then it was obvious. The trainer works really great. I have used it for several months now to cross-train for an upcoming marathon. I have a mountain bike with road tires and the gearing on the bike is low so I am near the top gears when I train. The resistance is adequate for my current level of training but I would think that a Lance Armstrong type would either need higher gearing or more resistance to create a challenge in a harder workout. The only other issue that I have is there is no way of determining the energy input to the trainer which makes estimating the workout pure guesswork. This seems like a simple feature to add--either directly to the trainer or as an add-on accessory. Since it is fluid resistant, I would think the energy absorbed is a non-linear function of wheel velocity. In summary, this trainer is a no-frills, utilitarian work-horse that is sturdy, consistant, and (so far) reliable. The one accessory I would add is an accurate way of measuring the energy input to the unit. Even a table that translates wheel speed to watts or calories would be useful (assuming that this is the same as on a level road is likely not accurate).

I bought the trainer for a few reasons. The first is that Phoenix drivers don't see bicycles and kill a rider 6 times a month. The second is that since my vision has declined enough that I feel even more in danger riding in town, I should best train at home. Everything about the trainer is fantastic with one exception. Fitting a 29" mountain bike tire on it is impossible if you have stubs on the tread. It simply won't fit. I read that these size tires should fit and was a bit irritated when they didn't. Only after additional research, I discovered that Slicks will/should fit on the trainer. Slicks on the bike will cut down on a lot of the noise too and save your good tires. I would imagine this trainer is not designed for mountain bikes either, but rather for street or racing bikes that are designed with smaller and narrower wheels. Fortunately, my roommate has a regular 26" bike and is going too switch out his bike's tires for slicks. The reason I give this product a 4 out of 5 is because the description should have been clearer on what size tires should be used, otherwise I'd give it a 5.