I own a Minoura Hypermag Alu trainer and it serves my purpose. Paid somewhere around $120 for it at www.nashbar.com. It, however is not a fluid trainer. It is quite smooth and fairly quiet and is lightweight. It's easy to set-up and also can be used with both 650c and 700c wheelsets. I also own a Cycleops fluid trainer. Once again serves my purpose and is probably the finest of all fluid trainers out there. A little bit pricier however. I get just as good a work-out on the Minoura as I do with the Cycleops. I'd opt to save a little money and go cheaper if I were you but that's my opinion. Think about how much time you will actually be spending on the trainer. I personally would much rather be out on the road but I only have to deal with an unusual low temperature of 40 degrees. This I can easily tackle with layering of clothing and full fingered gloves and a balaclava or skullcap. As far as damaging your Cannondale R600, the only thing I would recommend is having a dedicated rear wheel to swap out or at the minimum a rear tire. It could become a pain in the a$$ to have to constantly switch out tires, that's why I say rear wheel. Good Luck!

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Team Endurance Nation

I went through this a couple of months ago - bought the TACX Basic - its more $$ up front, but being able to train by watts makes it much more useful and very motivating - I feel it totally justifies the cost.

They send a replacement skewer for your rear wheel so no damage to your bike - do plan on having a spare (old) tire or complete wheel if you can afford it dedicated to the trainer - otherwise you'll just keep getting flats on the road.