You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
I can get a Tacx TT or decent roller within £20 of each other in the sales, both with variable resistance
Whats best (for a road bike workout) and do I need a specific tyre for the rollers?
Tricky one.
Sufferfest or Intervals are safer on a turbo.
Rollers are good for core strengthening and technique.
I just use my normal tyres on the rollers.
ok, one of the things thats moving me toward rollers is the lack of faff with wheel & tyre changes..... (although granted a spare wheel/tyre/cassette combo is'nt that difficult to achieve).
Rollers are less boring than turbos. Only just mind, but it's enough.
And I use normal tyres (on rollers).
*Copies and pastes answer from last week*
Depends on what you want to do with them, I've only had my rollers a few weeks but I don't think I'll ever get to the stage where I'm comfortable knocking out really hard intervals on them like I would on the turbo.
I can steadily roll along in Z4 on mine by changing through the gears.
I use the turbo for the short / hard intervals and the rollers for pedal technique and spinning.
As Scratch really.
I have both and use the turbo for efforts and high intensity work, If I just want a spin or a long steady session I find the rollers better but anything other than high cadence work is out as there's not enough resistance to get much power out (400w max but in 53/12 @ 120rpm)
As above - I've only ever considered rollers a warm up/cool down device never a "training" device per se.
I've got a Kurt Kinetic Turbo that has an extra much heavier flywheel you can screw on. With it on its a bit tricky for interval/sprints as you induce too much wheel spin accelerating but on longer steady sessions it feels a lot smoother than most other turbos I've tried. Might be a good compromise if you can still get them in this country.
Another cut n' paste response;
I’m lucky/ unlucky that I ride to work everyday, so get at least 26 miles in, and will always try and extend the run home even if it’s just by a half hour. I went with a set of rollers with a resistance unit when my daughter was born, and use these when I’m in alone (daughter in bed) and MrsB is out, so have used them in all seasons for the last 2 years. I can generally tolerate just over an hour with some music on. I’ve tried turbo’s but just cannot get motivated to really lay it down with them, so I’m quite happy to spin with the rollers as it’s only a spot of bonus exercise. One of the lads I ride with, will pack away his bikes for the winter at the end of October, and just move to the turbo doing sessions of up to 3-4 hours; I would rather drink tramps urine. But he holds his fitness well over the winter. As always, it’s horses for courses, i'm not really sure anyone can answer it for you
It's really hard to fall off a turbo. It's really easy to fall off rollers. After half an hour of falling off rollers my decision was made.
I owned a set of rollers, but never used them (mind you, I didn't use the turbo much - was too busy out riding!).
These days, with much less riding time on my hands, the turbo is where it's at. I've only ever a few times ridden for longer than an hour, but that's been doing some base miles when it's been snowing/icy. Normally, rides are up to 40 mins and, when I've got some base fitness, mainly used for intervals.
Hmm. So for short hard sessions when I can't ride outside, its a Turbo Trainer then.
Whats the consensus on wheel/cassette/tire (bearing in mind the cassete/chain combo won't have "worn" together) - is it better just to change the tyre on the existing wheel?
I got one of the those yellow turbo tyres (forget the make). Good god its stiff to get on the rim. I wouldn't want to be swapping it out to switch between road and turbo. It lives on a spare wheel.