I just bought a BRAND NEW Cycleops Fluid 2 with video, sweat mat, under bike mat, and riser block for $300 shipped off ebay. Way better price than anyone local to me. No shifting mechanism to deal with.

I have only ridden it once so far but it's really nice. I wouldn't bother with rim drive, just get some $10 hard as crap rubber tires and a mag or fluid.

Basically, I figure no mattter what you buy it will work...I wanted quality, efficiency, and noise control.

PJ