Customer Reviews

Minoura Mag-850DR Trainer With Remote " w/ Riser Block, Blue 128595

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Bought this on Ebay for about $90 - almost brand new.

Unit is sturdy. Not whisper quiet as the fluid trainers are, but all trainers make noise, so it's just a matter of degree. Can adjust difficulty level easily without changing gears.

Can spin for as long as you want without over heating. With proper adjustment, very little tire wear.

Unless you are a pro, this trainer is all you'll ever need.

The setup instructions are fairly vague but common sense should prevail. The only thing I was a little confused over was an "extra" piece which wasn't explained - it's a bar you use IF you have a quick release on your rear wheel. You have to use the Minoura piece instead. Since I couldn't figure out where it went, I didn't use it, but later found out what it was for. (didn't need it anyway) Other than that, it's a decent product for a beginner (since I'm a beginner, I can only speak from that perspective).

Over time, I've found that I can't stand treadmills, elliptical machines, stair climbers, etc. But for some reason, I can sit on a spinner/stationary bike for 30 minutes & not care about time, so I decided to get a trainer for my mountatin bike instead of a dedicated stationary bike.

I searched the net for a week & decided that I wanted one with variable resistance. I chose this one, got it for about $140 shipped with the riser block & the handlebar shifter. The unit is designed well. It holds my bike well. The resistance levels are very adjustable when combined with the speeds on my 21-speed mountain bike. I can easily fine tune the tenstion level from effortless to very difficult.

One thing to mention: I have knobby mountain bike tires. As others had said about trainers, the units can be noisy because of the tires. Mine was fairly loud, but didn't bother me. However since my wife works out at the same time, she found it annoyingly loud. After the first 30-minute session, my tire was noticable worn & there were rubber bits on the floor. The trainer will wear out terrain tires. I got a "comfort tread" tire for dedicated use on the trainer. It is much quieter, but not silent. My wife is much more pleased with this tire as she can hear her MP3 player or the TV while she is working out.

Overall, its size is definitely a plus for an apartment. Also, it's very quiet, though not silent (I can watch TV without having to up the volume). It's is also heavy-duty but easy to move when I'm done with it. The resistance settings seem adequate, too.

It is a pain to adjust the height each time you set it up for a different bike or rim/tire size, but doesn't need to be readjusted if you use it again with the previous bike. Also, I don't find myself using the remote much because once I set the trainer resistance, I use the gears to fine tune the overall resistance as I am using it. I probably would have saved the money and got the one without the remote.

In all, I would recommend this trainer.

I like this thing. It is super quiet. The folks that complain about the noise probably don't realize that mountian bike tires are really noisy indoors and out. They probably don't ride places that are as quiet as their homes. I have a Bianchi Brava road bike. The adjustment thingy really is not necessary, the speeds on your bike should suffice. It to simulate different riding conditions takes practice and getting to learn how to set it. Buy one and ride this thing, it'll give you boner legs.

Happy with this trainer but I have nothing to compare it to so..... Gear changer works a little hard and the tire rubs on the wheel which will wear out a tire eventually, but it is a sturdy trainer and relatively easy to use. However, when all is said and done, I still hate to exercise.

I have only had one issue with the trainer, my tire slips/spins faster than the trainer at times as I increase my pedaling effort. I need to make a few more attempts at adjusting the pressure as this might be my fault. Otherwise it's been great. Came assembled, very easy to setup and adjust. The adjustable resistance is great. Combined with the 14 speed you get a huge range of resistance from very easy to quite difficult. This is my first trainer so I don't have any baseline to compare it to, but I would recomend this to anyone, especially novice/intermediate bikers who have long, snowy winters to deal with like we do here in Michigan. Great Product!

I bought this, albeit from Dicks I think, for around $150 or so back in 2004. I didn't use it much for a couple of years but since then have put many hours into it (dozens, but it's hard to say exactly how many, perhaps 100, perhaps more).

I don't bother with the remote, it's a useless function. I just set it to 5 (max) and wrap it around the thing. Resistance can be changed via gears. Works on a mountain or road bike but don't bother on a mountain without road slicks. Any trainer is very, very loud with knobby tires. With road slicks on a mountain bike or just a standard road bike you're good to go.

Based on your gearing resistance can be very light or quite substantial. I have a typical triathlon gearing on my bike (can't quite remember the tooth count) and on the highest gear, despite being fairly fit (I get about top 10% for bike split on sprint triathlons), I can only ride this in high cadence for short spurts in my highest gear. The trainer does not offer the resistance needed to mimic an aggressive hill climb (though others can), but for speed work or other riding it should be good unless you're a really accomplished cyclist (high sustained watts) or you do want to do hill climbing in front of the TV.

I purchased this product last year and still use it. It has been trouble-free and is great for helping me keep in shape. Winters are long here in Ohio, so I just hook up my bike and pedal away. Easy to install....I love it!

Very nice smooth pedaling. I can't say It's quiet because i ride it on concrete.
Although I've had it for a while.
It is not very well built.
It does have very shoty plastic.
Sometimes the plastic would touch the inner flywheel creating an unusually unpleasant scrapping noise.
At one point the plastic start to break off. literally breaking into pieces.
I'm not sure if I'll buy from Minoura again.
Trying Cyclops next time.