Originally Posted by
Brian Ratliff
Magnetic trainers are loud but cheap. Fluid trainers, the ones that aren't crap, are relatively quiet, but relatively expensive. I am not a fan of friction plate trainers like the 1up or Blackburn Ultra. Maybe the 1up is better, but I had a Blackburn Ultra which is basically the same design (Blackburn licensed the design from 1up) and it was utter crap. My review is somewhere on the boards. I have a Kinetic road machine myself.
Based on user reviews, the Blackburn is a poor, albeit expensive, imitation of the 1upUSA. The 1up is a really well-engineered, quality trainer. I've never used the KK Road Machine but it gets great reviews, as does the 1up, which I have and am very happy with.