hhnngg1

Curious - of all you roller-loving indoor training folks out there who find it preferable over a trainer - any of you using non-float regular rollers? Nearly all the thumbs up roller comments I see come from e-motion roller users, so curious of some people are actually doing a lot of quality work on rollers, more than just spins for technique.

gsteinb

I used a set of minouras with a magnet unit for years before I got emotions. I liked those much better than a real wheel trainer.

datlas 

Real rollers here. Performance travel-trac model.

Good rollers and only a bit over $100 if you wait for a sale.

I can't do intervals on them though, I must admit. Just spin and work on technique.

youcoming

Regular straight rollers for me. Do one leg drills, sprints and intervals.

Carbonfiberboy 

Straight Performance Travel Trac with a fluid resistance unit. Bought in 1998, I think. IMO the resistance unit is necessary for a quality workout. Otherwise can't get enough resistance even in 52X12 to force the cadence down for those sorts of workouts. I wish I had two of those resistance units on it. A huge help for my training. I do pedaling drills, intervals, recovery rides, endurance rides, TTs, all that stuff on my rollers.

jsutkeepspining

cycleops rollers with resistance are the bomb.

bsektzer

The Kreitler rollers with their Head Wind resistance unit is more than enough to give anyone a good workout

hhnngg1

Also curious - how much roller time (or days per week) are you guys doing your roller work, and how hard? Just surprised that there are actually some folks who are doing real quality work on the regular rollers without e-motions.

datlas 

Why are you surprised?

hhnngg1

Do you do that work on old-school rollers? That's why I'm surprised.

FasterNearGirls

I had a Travel Trac Inertial (with the 3 sets of mag / progressive resistance) but since the resistance was so mild, I got a Kurt Kinetic Road Machine trainer, and exchanged the rollers for the regular alloy Travel Trac. So now I use both, and as you mention, use the rollers only for leg speed, technique, and recovery spins.

So again, in my opinion, the resistance provided by my first set of rollers was lame and nowhere near enough for what I needed to train with structure. I'd spin out my 53x11 and while not generating that many watts.

Very happy with the current combo of KK Road Machine trainer + regular rollers.

hhnngg1

I have a pair of TravelTracs that are about 3 years old (no resistance setting.) It has enough resistance for tough workouts - I just have to spin it up in the largest gear, but it's plenty enough to hurt me if I keep the pace up. That's not the problem though - it's the inevitable bumps forward/back that require some really delicate handling, even after lots of proficiency (I can do lots of roller tricks including one leg,sprinting in the drops, no arms, and no look.) It just takes me too much concentration to keep the bike from not occasionally hopping forward/back on the accels/decels, which detracts from the power of doing dedicated hardcore intervals compared to my trainer.

Less of an issue on true steady state riding, but even with that, it's so much easier to do it on a trainer and go for longer with more TSS than to do it on the rollers for 3 hours, constantly worrying about the fore/aft on accels/decels.

jsutkeepspining

honest question time: do people actually struggle riding rollers? I don't think they are that hard, hell if u ride them for one hour you've mastered them. I think i did threshold intervals on mine the second day i owned them,

Carbonfiberboy 

Yeah, real quality work on old school rollers. Except that, as I said above, I have a resistance unit. I do everything except sprints. Sprints on a roller or trainer aren't the real thing because you're not accelerating your bike and bod.

From October to April I'm usually on them 3 days/week. It'd be 4 except that I do a spin class instead. I do a group ride one day, hike one day, and take one day off pretty much all year. Rollers get old and lonely. I'm always glad when I can get back on the road again evenings. Although I still do some roller work all summer. I have a lot of miles on these puppies. I don't see how people manage without them. I'd go nuts on a trainer, plus it's not the same.

I like my cheap plastic drum rollers. The rollers are light, hence little rotating mass, which puts more emphasis on the smooth part. Can't get away with anything.

Brian Ratliff

I use standard rollers. Not for interval work though. It is my staple base workout when I can't get outside -- 1 hr at moderate power (200-ish watts) is my standard. I save the intervals for outdoor or trainer. I do spin it up regularly and stand to keep things from getting too boring, but my bike never jumps for-aft unless I am particularly violent transitioning from sitting to standing.

bitingduck

Back when I lived in a place with winter we used to do "Star Trek Intervals". You put on Star Trek and ride tempo during the program so you can pay attention, then when a commercial comes on you hold it at max til the end of the commercial. They tend to get more frequent and last longer as the show progresses. Now that I live in a winterless place we just ride outside. I've used rollers to warm up at the track a lot though- just plain old cheap rollers-- usually the folding version of the Performance travel-trac.

calamarichris

+1
They're the cat's meow and the dog's bollocks.

saratoga

I do 90% of my indoor work on plain jane rollers with no resistance (about 18 hours in Jan so far). About the only thing I can't do on them is big gear stomps because it's too easy to just spin up.

Looking for a better set now because the belt broke on my el cheapo minoura rollers the last time I used them. The bearings were crapping out because the rollers moved side-side when riding.

Are there some people implying they're too hard to ride?

DaveWC

Trutrainer rollers with the weighted flywheel for me. I do Sufferfest videos for an interval workout and try to hit 0.90 IF on the Powertap (which records low for me on rollers to begin with) and long hard sessions for non-interval workouts.

wheelzqc

How can a powertap record low on rollers (or trainer or any other place) ?

I use Minoura rollers with the mag unit. I did a threshold hour workout last night while watching the hockey game. First winter with the rollers. I had a KK Road Machine but sold it (I was satisfied, but decided to keep one).

gsteinb

for a variety of environmental reasons wattages tend to be lower indoors for the same perceived effort

youcoming

I don't have resistance but still do everything on them. I don't train with power but HR and I can get into all of my zones no issue on rollers.

nhluhr

Emotion and other floating rollers defeat the purpose of rollers. By accomodating your lack of smoothness, they don't force you to correct it. Rollers are all about improving form (and yes, you can get enough resistance with various models to get plenty of a workout).

gsteinb

sigh. the purpose of any training aid is to improve. the idea that one needs to spend a lot of time getting 'smoother' is erroneous, at best. What emotion do is allow you to train long and hard without being locked into a rigid frame. It's a much more natural way of riding, and as a result in general one can typically ride longer with less mental and physical discomfort. The float allows one to change positions, stand, sprint, etc while riding more naturally.

I've got two sets of them, and have ridden 100s and 100s of hours on them.

And no, I couldn't get enough resistance from regular rollers to do what I just got done doing.

Looigi

Correct. When you go from sitting to standing, standing to sitting, or otherwise shift your weight forward or back on the bike when riding, the bike moves back or forward beneath you because its so much lighter than you. You certainly see this riding in a paceline if the rider in front of you suddenly stands. E-motion rollers helps to accommodate this natural fore/aft motion of the bike.