Advice on rollers

Road cycling & upcoming rides
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jonboy
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Postby jonboy » 24 Jun 2013, 11:42

Cycling brethren,

This wet weather is getting me down. I eschew wet weather cycling on the grounds of safety (and laziness). I’m going to start porking on weight soon if I don’t get some exercise.

I’ve never tried rollers before but I’m thinking that it might be a good idea to buy some, especially if I start doing some (more serious) time trialling.

I’m looking for your advice please:

Question 1: Rollers or Turbo/Gel trainer?
On the grounds of convenience and tyre wear I’m thinking rollers are preferable to a turbo/gel /mag trainer?

Question 2: Does anyone have rollers that they simply never use and want to sell them?

Question 3: If no to Q2, advice on selection of model

I already own an Elite workstand which is beautiful quality. I’m thinking about these rollers from my friends at Wiggle:

http://www.wiggle.com/elite-ghibli-parabolic-rollers/

Any caveats/ brand selection tips here?

All advice is gratefully received.

John

timyone
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Postby timyone » 24 Jun 2013, 11:53

They look well priced to me. The advantage of a trainer can be adding resistance to your ride. It turns out only to be a problem for a track bike for the most part, as you can go up gears on a road bike to some extent.

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JoTheBuilder
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Postby JoTheBuilder » 24 Jun 2013, 12:11

My vote is rollers. More fun and teach you bike control.

One thing would be to look at weight of the rollers themselves. I bought a cheap set but they are so heavy it's difficult to move them and I don't bother taking them to RAW.

Also, apparently ones with plastic rollers generate static electricity and you get an electric shock when you touch something metal.

I don't know too much about brands etc. sorry. Mine were $99 on sale from Torpedo 7.

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utopia
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Postby utopia » 24 Jun 2013, 12:20

Here's one rollers+resistance+Elite quality option.
Grab a labcoat and look at the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfLMLbepQlA
The problem with this , is it's not foldable which means it needs to live in the garage for the rest of its days.
Last edited by utopia on 26 Jun 2013, 12:01, edited 1 time in total.

christian
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Postby christian » 24 Jun 2013, 12:24

Only problem with those rollers is the static electricity you'll generate. I zap myself all the time with the ones at the track. The hyperbolic ends also won't stop you riding of off the side (as I tend to deliberately ride off the side) they may just slow you down a little and thus if you are only drifting sideways slowly they may push you back towards the centre.

Smaller drums equal higher resistance, large drums spin better.

My other roller trick is if you want some more resistance let some air out of your tyres, not too much as you don't want to damage your tyres but having them down a little bit increases the tyre drag.

The rollers that move like the elite motion are horrible to ride IMO.

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utopia
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Postby utopia » 24 Jun 2013, 12:31

The rollers that move like the elite motion are horrible to ride IMO.
Can you elaborate why so Christian ?
Based on one attempt, they are the only rollers I've managed to stay on for any reasonable amount of time.

christian
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Postby christian » 24 Jun 2013, 12:39

I rode them for the first time on Friday night at RAW, mind you my bike is a bit twitchy and I had race wheels on but I found the ability of the rollers to move back and forth off putting, I also managed to slip off the front them when dismounting. If your pedal stroke is uneven then the bike tends to move back and forth and these rollers are meant to take care of that. My pedal stroke isn't bad so I find it horrible. Given enough practice you can even ride out of the saddle on conventional rollers. If these are to make it easier then are you getting the whole benefit?

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utopia
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Postby utopia » 24 Jun 2013, 13:04

Thanks Christian.

Back to the topic:
My non-resistance rollers are probably what Jo has http://www.torpedo7.com.au/products/T7T ... er-trainer, the heavy-ish (12.55kg) metal ones from T7 which goes on discount ($99.99+$15 delivery) every now and then.
Personally I can't handle them, and never managed to get a session going on them - but thank goodness both my juniors are not as incompetent.

I have been eyeing http://www.wiggle.co.uk/elite-arion-parabolic-rollers/ , but recently got a http://www.wiggle.co.uk/elite-v-arion-p ... l-rollers/ which I've fallen off twice so far.
They are 8.4kg , for comparison.
Last edited by utopia on 24 Jun 2013, 13:25, edited 1 time in total.

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Philip
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Postby Philip » 24 Jun 2013, 13:12

Hi John,

I have the Elite floating ones and I like them a lot. Having said that though they are my first and only experience of rollers so I have nothing to compare them to. My only regret is that they are not foldable so getting them to and from races would be problematic. And from my very limited race experience I think warming up on rollers would be a good thing.

You're welcome to come by the studio some time and give them a go if you like.

Cheers,
Philip

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Colin Campbell
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Postby Colin Campbell » 24 Jun 2013, 13:52

... and after you get set up you need some Sufferfest, especially if you have masochistic tendencies and a mop-able floor. I accept no responsibility for any self-inflicted pain that exceeds pleasure experienced during participation :wink:.

christian
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Postby christian » 24 Jun 2013, 14:14

It comes down to if you want something that is really nice to ride, or something portable. If you don't intend on taking them to races and you want them to last get Kreitlers with Allow end caps.
http://www.babol.co.uk/products.asp?cat=70

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mikesbytes
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Postby mikesbytes » 24 Jun 2013, 14:55

I don't own rollers, so I jump on other peoples rollers. My analysis;
- don't like ones that are smaller in diameter, such as the T7 ones that Trouty has. Generally find them bumpy, though I do run 160psi at DGV
- didn't find any benefit in them being tapered at the ends

Metal cap ends is probably a predictor of quality but not necessarily.

At the end of the day it boils down to personal preference

Eleri
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Postby Eleri » 24 Jun 2013, 21:38

I can't ride my road bike on rollers. I can ride my track bike.

Richard
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Postby Richard » 25 Jun 2013, 17:17

Due to all the rain the MTB tracks have been unridable

Discovered that riding a dual suspension XC MTB on rollers is fun, a tad noisy with the nobblies but better than being bored

I have Minoura's, I like them

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jonboy
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Postby jonboy » 25 Jun 2013, 17:28

Many thanks for all the information and replies to date.

After considering the advice I think I've settled on buying some rollers.

I'm still weighing up options but something that folds and isn't too expensive and heavy are the key attributes.

I might see if there are any more end of financial year offers out there but I'll go ahead before the A$ tanks any further.

Amazing price ranges - the basic ones cost $100; but at the higher end, cost is $1,600.

But please pray to one of your Gods and ask him/her to stop the rain!

John

patn
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Postby patn » 26 Jun 2013, 08:01

I can't help but give a personal opinion... I've always used rollers, but at Christmas 2012 got a trainer (a Kurt Kinetic), and it has really made an enormous difference to my conditioning. To be honest, if I was a roadie or a time-trialler and I was riding to win races I would actually never take my bike off the trainer except to actually race. On the trainer you can go WAY harder (you don't have to watch where you are going, just put your head down close your eyes and belt yourself), you don't have to stop at traffic lights, you don't coast down a false flat etc etc. And you just can't get the resistance on the rollers. But the main difference is the fact that you can just concentrate on going hard and not worry about falling off or running into a car or something. And lets be honest, how many times on trips to w'fall or road races are you dropped because you couldn't pedal at 150+ RPM or corner well enough. I never have, I get dropped on the road cause Im not fit enough. Full stop. My trainer is damn boring to use, but unbelievably effective. And yeah ESPECIALLY if you are interested in time trialling either on the road or track I would get a trainer hands down over rollers, no questions asked.

shrubb face
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Postby shrubb face » 26 Jun 2013, 12:23

I agree with Pat. If your focus is time trialing then go for a trainer. It will take you two years of roller training before you learn to do efforts in the time trial bars on the rollers.

timyone
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Postby timyone » 27 Jun 2013, 17:34

lol, yeah I once knew a lad who had a tendency for taking the wrong right turn down at the velodrome who only trained on a trainer, and did exactly as Pat mentioned he would do. This young lad had some crazy power, and some time trial times on the road that were mouth watering. But he had no experience in a bunch, and then even less experience going 50 plus on a track, though he had the ability to! he was some lad to ride with, and eventually after some different experiences on the track stopped riding on riders wheels making him impossible to sit on also. But yeah, he was fast, and was able to ride A grade at the time, though I wish he hadn't!!! Amazingly nice lad though, and yeah, I would be proud to be as fast as he was!!


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