[Closed] So, I ordered rollers

Rollers are good for cadence work, probably not so good for power, but I only used mine with a fixed gear of 50x14.

Cooking...

I use rollers instead of a turbo, as you can't just switch off on them, like you can with a turbo, as you'll probably fall off if you do! Great for cadence and Z2 long distance stuff, and OK for big gear sprints, not so great if you want to give it full beans standing up (Although better "rollers" than me can use them like that!)

Have something that you can grab fast when you start to use them, like a door frame, or a chair, as they can be like riding on ice for a bit. I found looking straight ahead, rather than down helped...

Edit: That vid!! eeek, I can about grab a water bottle from the frame, and put it back without ending up spread all over the floor and I've been using rollers for a couple of years!

Brilliant skills on the rollers there, the rider has a rather "interesting" name, Siri Minge. I'll say no more.

I wonder if she knows [url=

Chmelar[/url]?

I'm ok on them, I have borrowed a set previously.

I found that there wasn't enough resistance to do flat out sprints on them, but now I've got in mind some longer sub-max intervals which seem to be extremely effective out on the trail. Basically I'd been doing them not long enough and pacing myself to not be dead at the end of the set. I think it's better to do fewer and go 50% further than the point where you want to stop.

don't come in from a wet ride and do a cool down on them with wet tyres, it gets a bit difficult to stay on them and the fall is a long way when fully clipped in giving it some.

Obvious but not at the time, don't know why.

Cooling down on rollers after a ride? What a bizarre idea...!

all uphill back to the house so no chance of a break, so often end up doing a cooldown in the garage.

Cyclists have lots of bizarre ideas........

Cadence drills
Trackstands
Wheelies

TV helps a lot but headcam footage messes with your balance

I do all my sessions on rollers, fine for up to 700 watts then things get interesting

See I don't know why people say rollers are no good for resistance. Ok so they don't paint a realistic picture that you can cruise on the road at 35 mph at 85% hrm, but as long as you focus on the power and heart rate they are just fine IMHO. I downloaded the Motion Trax app the other day and the workouts on their are certainly lung busters!!!

Not very structured but neither is my riding, my rollers are great to gives me a workout when my Mrs is out and I have to stay in with the boy.

Baby monitor on, headphones on, I watch the SuperX (indoor motocross) on YouTube. When there's a pass I have to sprint. A close race leaves me in pieces, hardly able to climb the cellar stairs. Plenty of resistance doing 120rpm in 53/13. Fit old wide tyres and let them down a bit for more.

You can't simulate riding up a big hill on them, that is the difference.

Great for techinique, great for core stability, great for endurance rides indoors (and marginally less boring).

A good way to test your fitness if you do not have a power meter is to do a 10m tt on them. See if you think they are not hard work then!

I have the cycle-ops (same as sportcrafters) and you can get a resistance unit for them.

Less wear on the tyre than a turbo, and no faffing when setting up.

Great to take to races for warming up (road bikes, not sure how an mtb would behave!).

Mostly showing off:

😀

See if you think they are not hard work then!

Ah no, I didn't say they aren't hard work, of course they are which is why I bought them. What I'm saying is that the resistance doesn't go that high, which means you (or at least I) can't simulate low cadence up a big hill.

You've got to be joking right? No one in their rightmind would buy rollers to simulate low gear big hill sessions!

We've rollers and a Wattbike in the office, though the Wattbike has some very clever features and is great for training it also bores me to teas so tend to jump on the rollers 9 times out of 10.

As above, great for cadence and distance but harder for power. I tend to do a good long warm up/spin then do as many 'around the clock' sessions I can handle followed by another long spin/warm down.

You've got to be joking right? No one in their rightmind would buy rollers to simulate low gear big hill sessions!

That's exactly what I'm saying... You can't do all your workouts on rollers because of the lower resistance.. in response to someone up there who wondered why we were talking about resistance.

I reckon I can go over threshold on them though so something like 5 min intervals would work.

Got both rollers and a turbo. If I could only keep one it'd be the turbo. Can do a lot more with it in terms of resistance work. Also prefer it for distance work precisely because you can switch off and not fall off!

I have the cycle-ops (same as sportcrafters) and you can get a resistance unit for them.

I've got the resistance drum and TBH it's quite hard work! Can't remember the power numbers now but z2 work had me in quite a small gear which made it harder to balance. I pretty much always use the non-resistance drum. Mostly use the rollers for shorter z1/z2 recovery rides.

Turbo is much more versatile IMO. Rollers are okay, but mostly for warming up / down on.

I have the cycle-ops (same as sportcrafters) and you can get a resistance unit for them.

Btw, if anyone wants one of these drums then let me know, I've got one going spare 🙂

For a moment, I thought:

[img] [/img]

60 PSI in (road) tyres enables simulation of hills on rollers. Very unpleasant.

I'd rather go and find some hills!

I just use mine for warming up at the track, but I love gravity slave's workout idea!

Different tyres make an enormous difference to the amount of resistance. On training wheels with chunky 28 gatorskins on them at 80psi they give a pretty solid amount of resistance. With race wheels at 180 there's virtually none at all. A good trick for adding some resistance during warm ups is to wedge a folded up towel under the back roller - you need to experiment with thickness to get the resistance right.

And hope that whatever you've wedged under the roller doesn't snag on anything........... going from 250W to 5000W of resistance in 4/10ths of a second is messy.

My Kreitler mid size rollers provide the same resistance as level 3-4 on my Tacx Sartori. This is enough for endurance and tempo training and will allow sweet-spot sessions. Not for sprint intervals, but I prefer those on the road.

I prefer rollers to turbo if I had to keep one.

What do you lot like to do with them?

Teach my gf to ride them by holding the saddle as she gets going. Once the gets going steadily, without telling her, let go of the saddle. Then tell her she's riding unsupported. Then as she wobbles from a moment of uncertainty get a static electric shock to the groin from her touring rack.

I'd rather go and find some hills!

Generally me too, one doesn't use indoor trainers out of choice, one does it when one only has 45 mins to get in a quality workout.

This gives me other options that may fit in with work when WFH.

mrblobby - Member

Btw, if anyone wants one of these drums then let me know, I've got one going spare

How much do you want for it?

Umm 30 quid maybe and whatever postage will be (it is fairly heavy.) It's the original Resistance Drum that came with the Planet X rollers (same as the sports crafters one.)

Right.. bought the damn things, better go use them.. today is the ideal day.

maxtorque - Member
Mostly showing off:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuqU8aZTjVo

POSTED 15 HOURS AGO #

With cleats?

Bah.. well:

1) It's still grim, just a bit less so than a turbo

2) More resistance than I remember - freewheeling slows down pretty quickly, and consequently there's no dead spot in the pedal stroke which seems to make it feel much harder. Probably good for my pedalling stroke mind.

3) 100rpm or so in 52x11 is enough to reach threshold heart rate after 4 mins or so, which is enough, just

4) There is now a noticeable flat on my rear tyre so I suppose I do need a trainer tyre after all

5) Nasty clicking coming from the bearings in the rollers.. needs investigation

6) I really want my power meter back on

One of the original bearings in my galaxias packed in after a few weeks, so i bought a complete set of decent 2RS ones (SKF i think) they've been on there 2 years with not a squeak. Only cost a couple of quid each. And took 10 minutes to swap over.

Could be bearings, but more likely to be how they are seated somehow, I suspect.

The front one went away when I slackened off the bolts, not so on the middle one.

[i]There is now a noticeable flat on my rear tyre so I suppose I do need a trainer tyre after all[/i]

I'm not convinced they're not a gimmick TBH, I'd just fit something cheap and hard

hope that whatever you've wedged under the roller doesn't snag on anything......

Like what exactly? The friction of the towel against the roller is a lot less than the tyre. I wasn't saying it's a better solution than a resistance unit or turbo for regular training, but for warmups at an event I've found it a great way to get some harder efforts in when just spinning the rollers does not give you the resistance you need.

I paid about 15 quid for mine, can't use it outside anyway, so why bother trying to find something cheap and hard (so crap for road use anyway) AND good at higher temperatures AND designed to be quiet?

And the last cheap nasty tyre i used on a turbo deposited a lovely streak of partially melted rubber powder in a stripe across the floor and up the kitchen wall.

[quote="Sam"]Like what exactly?The plastic seam between the drum and the end cap? The belt if the rollers move around. The chips and scrapes in the surface of the drum from transport and use? The tiny bits of burnt on rubber from sprints? They'll all start pulling at the towel, it's not like the drum surface is perfectly smooth........

It's not going to happen often, but i've seen it a couple of times.

I'm not convinced they're not a gimmick TBH, I'd just fit something cheap and hard

Well you can get trainer tyres for £11 each on Rose bikes, can't find many tyres cheaper than that.

Lots of people charging £25 for folding ones though - I mean why? Who the F needs lighter weight folding tyres on a trainer?

[i]one doesn't use indoor trainers out of choice, one does it when one only has 45 mins to get in a quality workout.

This gives me other options that may fit in with work when WFH. [/i]

Bingo! It's the convenience when weather is bad and time is short. I think some folk miss that point. During the winter, I use my rollers, it's dry, I can be rolling in a matter minutes. Then it's straight into the shower. Bike is dry, no cleaning or lubing required and it's all ready to go next time.

Yes, it can be boring on longer sessions, but one can say that about lots of stuff.........

[i]4) There is now a noticeable flat on my rear tyre so I suppose I do need a trainer tyre after all[/i]
I learnt this the hard way, ruined two road tyres before accepting that on the grounds that using a road tyre was, for me, a false economy and after using a road tyre on the rollers, the damage made the tyre unsafe for further use. I now have a specific tyre for the job.

[i]I'm not convinced they're not a gimmick TBH, I'd just fit something cheap and hard [/i]
I think I paid about £15 for my trainer tyre and considering the road tyres I used couldn't be used for road after being on the rollers, I'd say the roller tyre easily pays for itself by sparing my nice Italian road tyres.

I have Cyclops rollers, and the bearings have become increasingly noisey as the miles have amassed. Doesn't seem to be much of an issue, TBH.

[i]AND designed to be quiet?[/i]

I think DC rainmaker pretty much killed that idea didn't he?

[url= http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/02/genius-trainer-review.html ]This review where he measures the sound they make.[/url]

There is now a noticeable flat on my rear tyre so I suppose I do need a trainer tyre after all.

Hmmm - how long were you on the rollers for?

You shouldn't need a special tyre for rollers (debatable for a turbo). There is no additional tension/load on rollers than you would see on the road plus the drums are smooth.

The key thing is to pump your tyres to the maximum stated on the sidewall.

Track bikes spend just as much time on rollers as they do on the track and the wear is minimal over a season. I have never seen anyone change their expensive race tubs for a turbo tyre at an omnium!

No, of course. You are correct, I was just making it all up. In truth:

a) I didn't ruin a Michelin Pro 4 service course on my rollers, the tread didn't come away from the tyre wall. It was all just a figment of my imagination......

b) There is not structural difference between tubs and clinchers, so that's why it's ok to compare tubs with clinchers.

Yadda, yadda, yadda.

In the meanwhile, 1 roller tyre, £15, sorted!
Thank you, byeeee.
😉

I think you got the wrong end of the stick! I wasn’t suggesting that there is a structural difference between tubs and tyres (although there is, but lots of tubs have the tread part bonded similarly to clinchers - you will also see loads of people on clinchers at velodromes on rollers). I was trying to highlight how little wear rollers produce (and that is why people with expensive track tubs are happy to ride on them).

I have never seen a tyre delaminate on rollers like you describe (I assume in an hour or so). What pressure were you running?

Quick hijack.

Can anyone with Tacx Antares rollers comment on their resistance? Am hoping to do some sweet spot / threshhold intervals on them to give me a break from the turbo. They seem to be the cheapest decent rollers around.

stevious - Member

Quick hijack.

Can anyone with Tacx Antares rollers comment on their resistance? Am hoping to do some sweet spot / threshhold intervals on them to give me a break from the turbo. They seem to be the cheapest decent rollers around.

They should be fine. I have cyclops and Antares and ride either (depending on what the kids have nicked). I can do some decent threshold work on both (in 52x11). It will be a different kind of riding to the turbo but it should improve your pedaling technique, if it doesn't you will bounce off above 120rpm cadence!

Can anyone with Tacx Antares rollers comment on their resistance?

Resistance is quote light, I'm getting about 330w @ 110-113rpm. Replicate hill climbs it does not, but good for my needs.

Thanks guys. I am small and weak so the chances of me needing to spend much time above 300W is pretty slim.

Resistance fan, flywheel and front fork mount available for my rollers. A flywheel would really be nice. As for noise, well they are aluminium with nice bearings and I find them to be very quiet. I won't be swapping tyres, nor do I need to swap speed sensor between turbo wheel and bike on the rollers.