JFlurett

So I posted this in the gadgets section, but did not get a response. Maybe you folks can point me in the right direction. I did find a couple of articles on the two, but not sure if I have it all down.


It seems like rollers would be ideal, if you plan to actually go outside for hard riding.

In terms of watching football, though, how difficult would it be to maintain upright on rollers?

How about the level of noise? I'm not concerned about neighbors etc., more of hearing the game without blasting the TV.

Oh and from what I've gathered Kreitler seems to be the gold standard?

Any and all help is much appreciated.

jmess

I have a spin cycle and just upgraded my rollers to E-Motions. The E-Motion are much quieter and smoother than the Travel Trac rollers I was using before so it is much easier to watch and hear TV. The E-Motions design also provides more safety during concentration lapses, it is much harder to ride off of them which isn't the case with the more traditional designed rollers. For serious TV watching though the spin cycle is better since you don't have to focus as much. Spending time on both a spin cycle and rollers is about as good as it gets for indoor training.

brian416

Rollers have a steep learning curve, but once you get the hang of them, they're pretty easy to ride. I watch TV and movies all the time while riding them with no problems, but its best to have them centered in front of the TV rather than off to the side.

I have E-motions and have no problem doing hard intervals, VO2, threshold, on them while watching movies.

Rollers are quite quiet, its the fan that will be loud, I use two bigger fans to keep cool while riding indoors, but I can still get the TV loud enough to hear whats going on.

BarryJo

+1 on the e-motions, there's little if no learning curve involved in riding them. And there are 3 magnetic resistance settings that go from easy to painfully difficult so you can get a variety of workouts on them.
+1 on the fan(s), regardless if you go with rollers or a trainer, get something heavy duty to keep your body cool.

edit: Wait, you'd rather stay inside watching football than outside enjoying the best riding weather of the year? You'd be better off investing in a video recorder if one doesn't already come on your cable box.

thesmoothdome

You're kidding right? Live events should be watched live. A better solution would be to wake up early and get a few hours on the bike before football kicks off. Tomorrow's is at 6:30am. A quick 2-3 hour spin puts me home before kickoff of the morning games. It's even easier on the east coast except most of you have that thing called winter coming towards you.

JFlurett

e-motion eh? Haven't seen that name yet, so I'm on their site now. Is there a reason to choose these than Kreitlers?


Well, here in the PNW, it's not nice for long.

Yes, live events live. Mine is more of a combination of time. Just like when I chose to commute by bike. I could drive faster than I bike to work, sure. Then, I'd spend extra time doing cardio. Why not combine them, and save time overall?

JFlurett

Any further advice? $800 is a bit more than the $400-500 I was thinking I would have to spend.

JFlurett

Yes, that! That up there!

datlas 

I LOVE my travel-trac rollers, when on sale with a coupon you can get them for $100 from Performance.

Once you are comfortable on rollers (it may take an hour or two) you can watch TV on them if you so desire.

I am sure the e-Motions are wonderful but way too pricey.

If you are a DIY type you can apparently buy cheap rollers and do a e-Motion like conversion, there are You-Tube videos on how to do this.

Even better solution is to get some cool/cold weather gear and ride outside.

JFlurett

Thanks for the help.

Again, I'm less concerned with being in crappy weather (I've commuted for 2+ years) and more concerned with making use of my time watching football.

edit: Off topic here, but I'm doing my first relay-tri tomorrow. My little bro (20 years difference) is doing the swim, I'm biking and a buddy is running. Poor dad, he's doing it all solo

agarose2000

I don't think you can go wrong with the $120ish rollers from Performance. It sounds like you're not doing "hardcore" type indoor type training sessions, and with minimal practice, you'll be doing well enough on rollers to get a workout with minimal noise. You can actually get a hard workout on it if you push yourself as well - it's built tough enough for it.

For serious intervals and other intense workouts, I find the fluid trainer better because you can hammer with abandon and not worry about the super twitchy handling of rollers, but doesn't sound like that's what you're doing. I'll bet you'll also find the rollers more interesting than the trainer for your type of steady continuous riding.

Emotions sound pretty, but dang they're expensive - sounds like overkill for what you're planning.