Rollers

ntnunk

I don't know why, other than the fact that I'm a serious "Gear Geek," but I've been looking at rollers lately as an addition to my cycling and training kit collection. I have my Tacx Neo for my day-to-day indoor work but have been entertaining the idea of adding a set of rollers for specific cadence/skills work and as a pre-race warm-up tool. I've never ridden them before but I understand it's a skill that has to be acquired. Performance bike has a double sale going on today that would let me pick up a set of Elite Parabolic rollers, normally $299, for about $160 and I'm really tempted.

I guess my questions are:

1. Does anyone here have both rollers and a regular turbo or smart trainer?
2. If you do have both, do you use both?
3. Is it worth having both?
4. Any other thoughts you might have about the subject?

Thanks in advance!

TheBigYin

Back when I had rollers, it was because there wasn't really an alternative. I had a set from around 1977 to maybe 1983, where I picked up one of the really primitive turbo-trainers - awful thing, big heavy box section frame, front wheel removed and forks bolted to the frame, with a resistance unit that was basically just a fan and a roller on a tensioning device. Resistance only really became effective at a wheel speed of around 25mph, so you'd be on the bike, in the big ring and small cog, hammering the damned thing. Howled like a banshee, and ate tyres for breakfast. So, I kept the rollers as well - mainly because of using them for warmups around the back of the van at races/tt's/crit's - because you didn't have to a) dismantle the bike, b) knacker your race tyres and c) get a hernia moving the Turbo out of the back of the van...

Eventually sold the rollers and the 1st gen turbo to fund the purchase of a Cateye Cyclosimulator - one of the first magnetic resistance turbo's - fantastic bit of kit for it's vintage - well ahead of its time - which was quieter than either the old turbo, or the rollers, offered variable resistance (up to the equivalent of a 7% hill iirc) whilst on the bike (had a resistance lever to set the magnetic resist) AND amazingly, had a reasonably accurate power display based on the power generated by the magnetic resistance... (I subsequently "calibrated" it against a real powermeter a few years ago, and found it to be within 6-7%... not bad for a vintage bit of kit really...) But the real thing was the Cateye was portable enough to replace the rollers for warmups, so it allowed me to reduce my clutter a bit. It's a wonderful bit of kit, they're still actually in use with the French Track Cycling Team as their warmup/down trainers - i've seen them in use a few times on the telly - I passed my old one onto a fellow MFP member @Frannybobs a while ago - and as far as I know it's still doing sterling service.

Today, I don't think I'd bother getting a set of rollers as well as the smart trainer unless I happened to actually have a full dedicated gym in my home, a fixie to ride on the rollers, and space to leave everything rigged up. Even then, I thing I'd be slightly uneasy at hammering away on them indoors now - i'm not getting any younger, and my co-ordination and reaction times aren't quite what they used to be.

I'd still like a crack at roller-racing if one of the Rolapalooza events came to my local pub though - wonder if i've still got the leg-speed to hack it ???

matsprt1984

I currently have, starting at the top, 2 Velotrons, 1 CompTrainer, 4 sets of rollers (2 @ 4.5" and 2 @ 3") and a Cyclops Fluid2.
I use them all. Rollers are a must for leg speed and balancing the left right power. One of the 3" rollers are 10" wide and are really light and easy to transport. With that said I use the Fluid2 for pre race warm ups. It is much easier to ramp up power in a short timeframe.
Rollers are garage "hamster" days. I used to do most of the roller work on the 3" version. I added a Killer Headwind Fan to a set of the 4.5" and find it is really nice for adding resistance. Not easily transportable but a good quick setup.
I've preached rollers forever and in fact use them throughout the season. Rollers will quickly show you were you need work. Thinking way back, I don't remember it being real hard getting the hang of it. It had been a while since I was on rollers and I had loaned out my 3" X 15" set and only had the narrow hotdog 3" set...that took me a few minutes to remember just how narrow they were. But didn't ride off them so all was good. The larger the drum the easier to ride and lower the resistance.
I'm a Kreitler fan. Look for them on CL. Near new condition for <$200. Last forever. Depending on fitness get 4.5" or 3" version. No stress or strain on bike, just like riding outside, but you actually have to pay attention.

ntnunk

I finally picked up a set of rollers last week. I tripped across a set of the Kurt Kinetic Z Rollers at a Performance Bike tent sale and managed to snag them, new in the box, for $75 so I couldn't resist.

I spent about 10 minutes with them Friday night, another 20 minutes or so on Sunday, then Monday I was able to let go of the ladder I was using for support and ride with both hands on the bars. I very quickly got comfortable but I haven't started riding clipped in yet. That will probably happen this week.

So far, I really like them. It definitely tells you if your pedal stroke is choppy (mine is worse than I thought) and I can certainly see where it's going to help with balance, and keeping a "light touch" on the bars. I'm definitely going to use them at least a couple times per week during my winter training on my endurance spin days. I am probably going to use them during TT season next spring as well, as I have found that I seem to respond better with a longer, gentle warmup as opposed to the typical short, hard intervals type of warmup. Plus, the Z rollers fold up very easily into a compact bundle so they'll be easy to transport, set up, and tear down.