Author Topic: Bike roller options...  (Read 2889 times)

Bike roller options...
« on: 18 March, 2020, 09:24:08 am »
Never used rollers (or turbo); as didn't appeal.  What are rollers like to use in general?  Is a lower end turbo better than the roller option?

ETA.  https://www.cyclingweekly.com/fitness/training/rollers-vs-turbo-trainers-better-405474
Cycle and recycle.   SS Wilson

Re: Bike roller options...
« Reply #1 on: 18 March, 2020, 10:27:43 am »
Rollers are nice but i might die using them, a mate rolled off the side and destroyed the door of a big frige freezer 😅

zigzag

  • unfuckwithable
Re: Bike roller options...
« Reply #2 on: 18 March, 2020, 10:38:24 am »
i have got rollers and a smart trainer. haven't used rollers for more than a year. they are much louder and require more concentration (even if i can ride no hands), also a limited range of power, even the ones with built-in resistance.
they are most suitable as a simple warm-up tool before a race - if you drive there and can take them.

Karla

  • car(e) free
    • Lost Byway - around the world by bike
Re: Bike roller options...
« Reply #3 on: 18 March, 2020, 10:45:53 am »
I've got some Jetblack rollers you can have for £50 if you like?  I'm near Epsom in Surrey.

Re: Bike roller options...
« Reply #4 on: 18 March, 2020, 11:02:45 am »
the choice depends on mentality as much as what training you are trying to do. Some folk welcome the sheer meat-headedness of  blindly mashing away on a turbo; others appreciate the fact that you are having to concentrate more on rollers.

  I happen to think that you are more likely to come out of the winter handling your bike well if you have been riding the rollers, but that is just one factor to be considered.

cheers

Re: Bike roller options...
« Reply #5 on: 18 March, 2020, 11:04:37 am »
Thanks all.

K, cheers for the offer, prob have to say no for the mo (logistics etc).
Cycle and recycle.   SS Wilson

Re: Bike roller options...
« Reply #6 on: 18 March, 2020, 12:28:51 pm »
I don't know where you are in Oxon, but if you are passing you can borrow my rollers to try (I'm in Barton).
I still want to learn to ride on them without falling off, so would want them back at some point, but there's no prospect of me riding them in the next few months.

I got them because I thought it would be an interesting change from the turbo and I could put the recumbent trike on them. I set them up in a doorway and I can just about ride them, bouncing my shoulder off the door frame every so often to steady myself, however I can't do a workout there, and riding them in the garage would result in me falling off onto various hard/pointy things. They do work with the trike, but the resistance is low without anything on the front roller, so I end up in top gear, and the gears aren't suited to precise intervals.

Re: Bike roller options...
« Reply #7 on: 18 March, 2020, 02:21:42 pm »
Thanks for the offer Duncan.  Abingdon.  A roller loan would potentially be good.  👍   ATM in Headington... waiting for miniao and friend to fill the car with their stuff from Brookes, which has closed for face to face contact.
Cycle and recycle.   SS Wilson

Re: Bike roller options...
« Reply #8 on: 18 March, 2020, 02:48:49 pm »
Thanks for the offer Duncan.  Abingdon.  A roller loan would potentially be good.  👍   ATM in Headington... waiting for miniao and friend to fill the car with their stuff from Brookes, which has closed for face to face contact.
You probably don't have the space for a set of rollers - shame as you are just up the road.
They are the Elite basic ones that fold in half, but they still take up quite a lot of space in a car.

Re: Bike roller options...
« Reply #9 on: 18 March, 2020, 02:58:51 pm »
I use these  rollers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dtwkM_v6Gs by insideride.com.
Dead easy to ride on. Downside is that they're expensive*(compared to other rollers).


*[Edit: I bought mine in 2009, so they might be cheaper now]. :thumbsup:

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Bike roller options...
« Reply #10 on: 18 March, 2020, 03:16:38 pm »
Rollers are nice but i might die using them, a mate rolled off the side and destroyed the door of a big frige freezer 😅

Learning to ride on rollers now would seem like a recipe for putting unnecessary strain on the NHS.  Go for a bike ride, it's safer.

Re: Bike roller options...
« Reply #11 on: 18 March, 2020, 03:32:35 pm »
I actually have a dumb trainer you could try as well if you wanted! I seem to have been hoarding bike stuff! It's a Tacx Booster - I replaced it with a smart trainer last year but haven't done anything with it. To use it with Trainer Road (possibly Zwift too?) all you need is a speed sensor (on your back wheel) that can talk to your phone/computer - they have some power curve for it so can measure "virtual power". I don't think I have a working one of those though.

Re: Bike roller options...
« Reply #12 on: 18 March, 2020, 03:51:44 pm »
*[Edit: I bought mine in 2009, so they might be cheaper now]. :thumbsup:

Re: Bike roller options...
« Reply #13 on: 18 March, 2020, 04:43:02 pm »
Rollers are nice but i might die using them, a mate rolled off the side and destroyed the door of a big frige freezer 😅

Learning to ride on rollers now would seem like a recipe for putting unnecessary strain on the NHS.  Go for a bike ride, it's safer.

Point taken.  :)  Food for thought. 
Cycle and recycle.   SS Wilson

Re: Bike roller options...
« Reply #14 on: 18 March, 2020, 04:45:16 pm »
I actually have a dumb trainer you could try as well if you wanted! I seem to have been hoarding bike stuff! It's a Tacx Booster - I replaced it with a smart trainer last year but haven't done anything with it. To use it with Trainer Road (possibly Zwift too?) all you need is a speed sensor (on your back wheel) that can talk to your phone/computer - they have some power curve for it so can measure "virtual power". I don't think I have a working one of those though.

Thanks - sounds interesting.
Cycle and recycle.   SS Wilson

Genosse Brymbo

  • Ostalgist
Re: Bike roller options...
« Reply #15 on: 18 March, 2020, 05:29:58 pm »
I have a set of the old Elite entry-level rollers with the metal frame.  I bought them to keep my balance sharp during the winter when I paddled racing kayaks a few years ago and have used them ever since.  They are certainly very good for maintaining/improving balance and I believe they've improved my pedalling smoothness.  I doubt they're anywhere near as good as a turbo for workouts because they don't offer much resistance even when big-ringing it (however you can deflate your tyres a bit).

I suggest you try some rollers first to see how they suit you; apparently some riders just don't get used to them.  I've not fallen off mine but I did start from a decent position balance-wise, having spent a summer falling out of kayaks into the Thames.

If you accept DuncanM's offer on the rolles ensure you have supports around you just in case; mine are situated between a garage wall and a lawnmower.
The present is a foreign country: they do things differently here.

Re: Bike roller options...
« Reply #16 on: 18 March, 2020, 05:40:26 pm »
Learning to ride on rollers now would seem like a recipe for putting unnecessary strain on the NHS.
For a moment I thought you were serious. :hand:

LittleWheelsandBig

  • Whimsy Rider
Re: Bike roller options...
« Reply #17 on: 18 March, 2020, 06:36:46 pm »
The standard method is to put them in a door frame so that each shoulder will rest against the frame if you need some assistance staying upright.

I learned to ride rollers within 5 minutes when I was a teenager and went no hands within an hour. Pedal smooth and light and keep the rear tyre pressure up to reduce bouncing. A bit softer front tyre somewhat reduces handlebar swivel. It helps stability if the wheelbase of the bike is a bit longer than the wheelbase of the rollers.
Wheel meet again, don't know where, don't know when...

Re: Bike roller options...
« Reply #18 on: 18 March, 2020, 07:22:14 pm »
The rollers have an adjustable front roller so you can move it forwards/backwards. I was even able to adjust them so my daughter's 24" wheel CX bike fitted on them, but she didn't enjoy it much (I basically had to hold her upright!). I'll be WFH for the forseeable, so drop me a PM if you want to try either...

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Bike roller options...
« Reply #19 on: 18 March, 2020, 08:08:23 pm »
I learned to ride rollers within 5 minutes when I was a teenager and went no hands within an hour.

Yeah, that's clearly the optimum time to acquire these sorts of not-falling-off-things skills.  While not quite as bouncy as the under-10s, teenagers have a reasonable confidence in their indestructibility, and a lot more perseverance.   ;D

LittleWheelsandBig

  • Whimsy Rider
Re: Bike roller options...
« Reply #20 on: 18 March, 2020, 10:52:39 pm »
Maybe it was the age I learnt but riding rollers is actually pretty easy if you relax into it. Putting on or taking off a jersey is an easy way of surprising onlookers. Doing the same with leg warmers or booties is quite tough, because of one-legged pedalling with only one hand on the bars.
Wheel meet again, don't know where, don't know when...

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Bike roller options...
« Reply #21 on: 18 March, 2020, 11:13:28 pm »
 :o

Re: Bike roller options...
« Reply #22 on: 19 March, 2020, 09:17:26 am »
No thread on rollers can go by without mentioning Ruby Isaac. Check out the pinned tweet!
https://twitter.com/RubyWIsaac?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Re: Bike roller options...
« Reply #23 on: 19 March, 2020, 09:23:20 am »

Re: Bike roller options...
« Reply #24 on: 20 March, 2020, 11:30:18 am »
Had my first rollering setup session yesterday.  :D  Inside so as to be able to grab something easy to hold if needed, and a small kitchen plastic stool to the side.  Got the hang of it pretty easily, probably took 5-10mins to get balancing nicely. 

What sensing / recording kit do people use on a roller?  ATM, I have a basic (dumb) HRM, and two old bike computers one of which seems to register speed when the wheel is stationary, the other does a full reset when pressing the mode button.   :-\

So bluetooth HRM, and decent basic bike computer?  Something else good value?


ETA. De Sisti - looks like a good peice of kit that.
Cycle and recycle.   SS Wilson