Cyclops The Silencer direct drive magnetic trainer

Cyclops' The Silencer is a direct drive magnetic trainer that provides a realistic ride feel and, as its name suggests, it's very quiet.

Direct drive is the name given to those trainers where you drop out your rear wheel, fix your bike in place at the dropouts, and run the chain on a cassette mounted to the trainer itself. This one comes with a 10-speed Shimano/SRAM cassette (11-25-tooth) already fitted to a Shimano 11-speed freehub body, so you can fit an 11-speed cassette if your bike runs an 11-speed groupset. You can contact CycleOps for a Campagnolo freehub body.

You change gear in the normal way using your handlebar shifters and you can also alter the magnetically controlled resistance via a handlebar mounted lever, so you can simulate hills. CycleOps don't give a measure of resistance provided by The Silencer, but I was struggling to maintain a cadence of 40rpm for a minute in the hardest setting with a standard chainset. There's enough resistance here for all but the very strongest of sprinters doing the shortest of sprints.

The weighted flywheel (5.9kg, 250mm diameter) produces a ride that feels very much like you're out on the road. It's not jerky when you're accelerating or when you stop and then restart pedalling; it just feels natural.

You need a stable trainer for high-intensity efforts and that's exactly what you get here. The base is large (612mm x 465mm) and you can adjust the feet up and down to compensate for non-level flooring. Plus, The Silencer is super-sturdy. Weighing in at 18.8kg, it really does stick to the ground whatever you get up to in the saddle.

On the downside, portability isn't great. Once set up – it's a simple 10-minute job bolting the resistance unit to the base – The Silencer doesn't fold down. With that large base and a height of 493mm, it's quite awkward to carry all but the shortest of distances and it takes up a lot of space. Measure the back of your car first if you're hoping to take it along for warming up ahead of a time trial, for example.

One other issue is that you might have to adjust your rear mech limiting screws if the cassette doesn't sit in exactly the same position relative to your mech as the one on your rear wheel.

The Silencer will take both 130mm and 135mm rear dropouts – so most bikes out there – and you just reposition a couple of washers to swap between them. It's suitable for bikes with 700c and 29in wheels. A bike with smaller wheels will work too, you'll just need a riser block up front to level it out. CycleOps give a maximum load, excluding the bike, of 100kg (15st 10lb).

The Silencer lives up to its name by being quiet in use. CycleOps boast that the noise level at 20mph is 59-64 decibels although that probably doesn't mean a lot to you. It's by no means noiseless but if you're coming from an air-resistance turbo, you'll be amazed. That's not just more pleasant for you, it's better for your family in the next room, the bloke in the flat upstairs, or anyone else in the vicinity.

Verdict

Solid direct drive magnetic trainer that provides a quiet performance and a realistic ride feel