rollers? advice?

[BarryTas]

advice required

I am thinking rollers.

I am thinking for winter training, spending about 30 mins on them before work.

is this a good idea? where do you get them from? what do you recommend? how much? do you need special tyres? in the kms per hour accurate (is the km count correct or are the cheating miles) ? what type of training benefits will i get( i am assuming high cadence)?

[steve-waters]

Very interested in this thread.

I am thinking of going the same route as well - but maybe also getting a Kurt Kinetic Road Machine (Pro) as well to be able to mixing it up between the two of them.

What I also gather is rollers will help with your balance & smoothness of pedal stroke along with what you have also outlined.

Can I also add to Barry's questions:

- What makes a good set rollers? (Barrel diameter, weight of roller etc etc....)


Cheers,
Steve

[apsilon]

I'm thinking of making the switch from a trainer to rollers myself as my trainer needs new bearings not to mention the grove worn in the metal contact roller from the tyre. I was/am planning to just grab one of the $150 ones off ebay to see if I like it before committing too many $$$$ but would be interested to hear opinions.

[BarryTas]

i have a trainer and i dont like it. It chews through your tyres. i know that you can get special tyres but i honestly cant be bothered changing tyres all the time. also if a roller can give me an accurate km count- all the better, oh and i need to improve my balance and core


oh and rollers cost the same as good lights.

[drac]

I have a Kurt Kinetic trainer and some Elite Rollers.
After I got the trainer I didn't use the rollers as much.

Just started using the rollers again when I can't get out.

Rollers involve more balance but this is just a new skill to learn and I suppose stops you from getting bored, as you fall off if you don't concentrate.
I don't think it helps with your bike skills on the road. The annoying thing I find with the rollers I have is that you can't get enough resistance out of them.
They are good for spinning/turning the legs over, but the resistance between gears is not like riding on the road or a trainer. You can spin out in top gear without too much trouble.
You do have to have a smooth pedalling motion otherwise you bounce up and down a bit and increase the risk of falling off.

The trainer is great. You can stand up and put maximal effort in, interval training etc. Wears out the back tire so I use a spare wheel.
Good for doing spinervals/CTS DVDs on. You shouldn't run out of gears on this sort of a trainer.

Still, much prefer riding outside even if it is dark.

[steve-waters]

drac - you strap the SuperSix into the trainer?

[snark]

It chews through your tyres. i know that you can get special tyres but i honestly cant be bothered changing tyres all the time.

I got a $50 wheel set from Cell, a cheap casette off ebay and an old tyre heaps of cuts that started puncturing too often on the road. Far far easier than actually swapping tyres.

also if a roller can give me an accurate km count

I'm not sure what you're asking here. On both a roller and a trainer your wheel spins around, so I don't understand how one can be any different to the other as far as "accurate km count".

Cheers,
Simon.

[Leeroy]

I have a KK and some Minoura rollers and agree with drac. Rollers are great for helping with pedalling smoothness but the KK is much better for efforts. I hardly use the rollers these days.

I have a PT wheel which I ride all the time so I don't have a special trainer wheel or tyre. Personally I don't find that the KK wears tyres overly quickly. I use GP 4000's and they last pretty well based on the 4 hours or so a week I spend on the KK.

Used to use my old Alu roadie for trainer work but now just use the good Crabon Fibre bike as its a better fit and therefore more comfortable. No problems so far.

[steve-waters]

Barry - I would be thinking for the trainer (in fact even on the road) working off time and HR is going to give the results you want.

Unless off course you have a powermeter as well then work off that and your HR plus time.

But for me with no power meter I just work to HR and time.

[Plastic bike]

Hi Barry,
I brought some torped7 rollers about 6 months ago, they were about 150bucks i think there really good i use them when its raining.You dont need any special tires and they work wonders for your cadence,I can spin at 130rpm at 60km per hour now. The only problem is it gets real boring real fast! but hey its only 150 bucks and we had loads of rain last year.. good luck

[Plastic bike]

It chews through your tyres. i know that you can get special tyres but i honestly cant be bothered changing tyres all the time.

I got a $50 wheel set from Cell, a cheap casette off ebay and an old tyre heaps of cuts that started puncturing too often on the road. Far far easier than actually swapping tyres.

also if a roller can give me an accurate km count

I'm not sure what you're asking here. On both a roller and a trainer your wheel spins around, so I don't understand how one can be any different to the other as far as "accurate km count".

Cheers,
Simon.

It is not the same as riding on the road or a trainer because there is almost no resistance so you average speed is really high.

[number21]

Copied and pasted something I put in another thread...

"Anyway after doing a bit of research about them all I ended up going for the cycleops pvc ones for $185 plus $50 postage from probikekit. Originally was intending to get either the tacx or elite ones with the lips but read a few reviews saying that while they may help beginners they may also restrict harder riding due to the narrower rideable surface when your more confident on them. So I went long term, have to learn to ride them now of course so there might be a bit more painful initially, no pain no gain(brain) right?

Also cycleops had good comments relating to their customer service as they offer a lifetime warranty. Plus they use 100% sealed bearings, apparently other brands claim they use sealed bearings but they aren't fully sealed so carpet fibre, pet hair etc can get into them.

The only drawback of plastic over aluminium rollers seems to be that the pvc may warp if left in direct sunlight and they aren't recommended to be used outdoors, pros are they are meant to be quieter.

Other info you might find useful is that in relation to the drum diameter, the larger the easier it is to get started because of the greater contact with the tyre but offers less resistance, vice versa for smaller diameters. 3" to 3.5" seems to be the optimial balance of each."

So after receiving mine I've found it wasn't as hard as I imagined. Although I imagined it'd be pretty hard. Started with one hand on the back of the sofa and had my girlfriend holding the seat post so I could get both hands on the bars then told her to let go without telling me once I got a rythm going. Worked a treat.

I wasn't interested in a trainer due to the noise, plus the tyre wear. Like you Barry I couldn't be bothered changing tyres/wheels. I also chose rollers to boost my confidence, as I'm coming back from a stack which fractured my femur.

I've downloaded 'The Hunted' from the sufferfest website which has longer intervals/sustained efforts which I assumed would suit rollers better than regular interval dvds. Did it the other night and found it fun, although in the early firstperson camera view it starts on I found myself tending to take the corners! Not sure if there are other training dvds more suited to rollers?

Much easier to accelerate I find on the rollers, speeds are definately higher.

[moreegolfer]

I have a Kurt Kinetic trainer and some Elite Rollers.
After I got the trainer I didn't use the rollers as much.

Which model of Elite rollers did you buy? I have been looking at the V-Arion model which has resistance levels in the rear roller. I have flagged it with my wife as a possible birthday gift around July.

[foo on patrol]

^^ What he said. ^^

[BarryTas]

also if a roller can give me an accurate km count

I'm not sure what you're asking here. On both a roller and a trainer your wheel spins around, so I don't understand how one can be any different to the other as far as "accurate km count".

Cheers,
Simon.[/quote]

my bike computer bike speed sensor (magnet) is on the front wheel, so when i use a trainer i dont receive a reading. so my question is, if i use i roller will i get a realistic km per hour reading?

[steve-waters]

Both wheels will be turning at the same speed? IF so yes the speed will be acruate as in if you were outside with your wheels at the same RPM you will be traveling at the same speed.

But form what I gather the force required therefore the work you are doing to obtain this speed will be much less - this is why I suggested HR or PowerMeter to get an idea of the workout your doing.

If you go the trainer route you will get nothing as only the back is turning.

Looked at those eBay rollers they only have a two month warranty - did not fill me with me confidence.

[hannos]

Got on my T7 rollers for the first time tonight.
It was nowhere near as difficult as I expected. Only did about 4km though. definitely requires some concentration!

[Wayfarer]

I recently bought some cycleops rollers (with resistance) from wiggle; they came in less than a week later. Brilliant set of rollers. As for the 'accurate speed count' question, it does feel the same as on the road; I still feel 'heavy' at 35km/h and can't maintain 40km/h for very long. I still have to change to the big chain-ring at the same speed I would on the road. It took me about an hour or two to get really comfortable on them. Best advice I can give is dont look down; look forward, so your brain can balance your body out properly.

Other than that, they're alot more fun than trainers, and better for your balance too.

[BarryTas]

I recently bought some cycleops rollers (with resistance) from wiggle; they came in less than a week later. Brilliant set of rollers. As for the 'accurate speed count' question, it does feel the same as on the road; I still feel 'heavy' at 35km/h and can't maintain 40km/h for very long. I still have to change to the big chain-ring at the same speed I would on the road. It took me about an hour or two to get really comfortable on them. Best advice I can give is dont look down; look forward, so your brain can balance your body out properly.

Other than that, they're alot more fun than trainers, and better for your balance too.

cheers, i will be getting one very soon

[jacks1071]

I recently bought some cycleops rollers (with resistance) from wiggle; they came in less than a week later. Brilliant set of rollers. As for the 'accurate speed count' question, it does feel the same as on the road; I still feel 'heavy' at 35km/h and can't maintain 40km/h for very long. I still have to change to the big chain-ring at the same speed I would on the road. It took me about an hour or two to get really comfortable on them. Best advice I can give is dont look down; look forward, so your brain can balance your body out properly.

Other than that, they're alot more fun than trainers, and better for your balance too.

cheers, i will be getting one very soon

I was doing heaps of indoors training last year and at one point I would do 1hr on the KK then 30-45mins on the rollers to finish off or vice versa - helped break up the boredom.

As to Rollers vs Trainer? I think if you can afford it have both - if you can have only one, for me it would be the trainer and if I had NONE and was starting out with indoors then I would be buying a trainer first.

I don't know how you guys can do a sufferfest video on the rollers! I need to concentrate on them