ZHVelo

Is it possible to do interval training with rollers? I do not mean very intense intervals bordering sprint level, but at least do Zone 4 / 5 work? I see that there are some rollers with resistances, e.g. the Elite Quick Motion but that has 3 manual resistance levels that you have to change off the bike, so my question is, by changing gears on your bike and changing your cadence, can you get from say 300W to 100W without having to get off and change resistance levels?

I am more and more interested in getting a roller rather than a turbo trainer, for various reasons, but if they are just good for low power spinning and Zone 2 long rides I wouldn't get one.

gregf83 

Kreiter publishes the power curves for their rollers. For 300w you’d probably want 3” or smaller diameter if you want to avoid any additional resistance attachments.

https://www.kreitler.com/wattage-information

Carbonfiberboy 

Yes. Sportscraters make a very nice magnetic resistance set: https://www.sportcrafters.com/produc...ve-pro-rollers
They'll take you up to 800 watts at 40 mph ~200 watts at 20, which seems nice.

I've used a set of fluid resistance rollers, long out of production, for ~25 years, still work perfectly. They probably only go up to about 500 watts. In winter, I'm on them 3-4 times/week. I do zones 1-6 on them. Very satisfactory! I'd hate to have to use a trainer, boring.

ZHVelo

Unfortunately neither of these seem available where I am, I did find a deal on the Elite Arion Digital which also has this magnetic resistance and with the deal is not much more than the Quick Motion I was looking at first. Good to hear your experience with them, sounds like I would also prefer them over a trainer.

Carbonfiberboy 

Those Digitals apparently have firmware built into them so they can interact with various computer programs to imitate road courses. That's a lot different from a plain set where the faster you go, the more resistance, which is the way mine are. I just change gears and cadence to vary resistance. I know one can order the Sportscrafters from the factory for $399 + shipping. Still, it would be fun to ride specific training programs or maybe ride with others on the computer.

There's an even cheaper thing one can do: buy a plain set of aluminum rollers with the big drums. Then one adds a bar across the frame near one of the rear rollers and mounts super magnets to it. Magnets induce eddy currents into the aluminum rollers which causes resistance. That's the way all these magnetic resistance roller sets work. There are Youtube videos showing how to do it.