trainer

Damn. Is it that time of the season to start talking about trainers already? I'm getting depressed.

Welcome to the madhouse. Enjoy the forums and have some fun here.

Mag-based...does it have the fan option? $25-$50 seems to be the going rate for one in very good condition after a look at eBay, Craigslist and the web.

It's a full frame style trainer that locks the front fork and rests the bike frame on the bottom bracket so I, personally, would only use it with a beater steel or aluminum frame bike. This style of trainer has always been looked at with a jaundiced eye by riders that honk on their trainers, do sprint training, high Watt intervals, etc. because of the stresses placed on the frame and fork while attached to the trainer. For sit-n-spin sessions, no worries.

thanks for the input,it has " adjustable magnetic resistance" and all I want it for is cardio/fat burning spinning,nothing too maniacal
I'm also looking at a conquer magnetic rear whl stand...

Your bike might be better served by the Conquer Mag style trainer. I use a similar trainer except it is a fluid resistance unit instead of magnetic or fan resistance. While there are still stresses applied to the frame and fork on any style rear wheel stand at least the front end is not captured and even slight rotational movement of the fork will go a long way towards decreasing those forces.

I use a fixed front wheel riser block that allows some small amount of fork rotation and I see things the front end is doing that I would never see during road riding. I may try the riser block with a rotational bearing that allows the front wheel/fork to move much more. Kurt Kinetic sells a nice rotating riser block. It's not cheap, but neither are forks.

Note: I know nothing of the value or durability of the Conquer products. The cheap house brand trainers sold by Bike Nashbar and Performance for around $80-$100 enjoy a pretty good reputation and the more expensive name brands ($150-$350) are all solid trainers with good parts availability if you plan on using one for several years or even multiple decades.