This is my first go around with a trainer. I looked at tons of them online and finally decided just to go for it. This one serves it’s purpose just fine, and I bought it for less than $100, and free shipping. It is somewhat loud, but that is just the sound of my tire riding on the roller. If I had a smoother tread it would quiet down. All steel frame, easy to assemble and adjust. I just use my gears on the bike to increase tension while riding. I set it up in my home theater room and watch DVD’s (with headphones on) while peddlin away. No more missed workouts due to weather. Highly recommend.

This Schwinn trainer is very solid; it does not shift about; it attaches easily to the bike; it folds easily for transport in the car for vacations (what we bought it for); and it is not very noisy with trail bike use. Worth more than it costs!

This unit appears to be the same as the “Outback Magnetic Indoor Bicycle Trainer” and also the “Graber Mag Indoor Bicycle Trainer“. At the moment the Outback is priced lower so the Outback represents a better value (minus one star for the Schwinn’s higher price). The other brands have better pictures so if you want a better look at the Schwinn check out the other clones.

Cons: The roller that hits the bicycle’s rear tire is plastic not metal so it will be more likely wear out quicker. There is no quick release to get the bike off the stand – ideally there should be an adjustment on one side and a quick release lever on the other side, like the Sette Glyde Tire Drive Trainer (black lever) the CycleOps Mag Indoor Bicycle Trainer (metal lever with black ball) or the Minoura M60D Tire Drive Trainer (white lever). The resistance adjustment is a little hard to figure out and should be labeled better. Finally a heavier flywheel would be a welcome addition. (minus one more star)

Other than the above mentioned complaints this is a nice enough magnetic unit. It is easy to assemble (like another reviewer I found it easier to screw the “L” bolt in first) and comes with a replacement skewer so you don’t need to worry about the fit of your existing road skewer. The Schwinn trainer actually worked fine even on a bike with a solid rear axle with hex nuts (the nuts happen to be exactly the right size).

One of the reviewers of the Graber mentioned that the resistance setting didn’t do anything but this is not true. Twisting the resistance knob clockwise moves the resistance shaft farther away from the spinning wheel in 4 progressive steps. Each step makes for less resistance as the resistance shaft gets farther away until you have gone all the way around. Once you have gone all the way around the last step returns the shaft to the closest position (greatest resistance). There are a total of 5 possible settings (closest plus 4 additional steps) but they are completely unmarked so it is easy to see how this would be confusing. There is a noticeable difference in resistance between the closest setting and the 2nd closest setting.

Verdict: Decent but far from perfect.