youcoming

Our local club which I'm a director of had their first ever open house today. Had a great turnout with over 90 people over 3 hours coming to check us out. One of the other members brought some roller to ride and draw people towards us, they really draw attention that's for sure. Well he let me try them out and bring them home. I spent 35 minutes on them tonight and man oh man what a workout those things are, and if you have never rode them they can be a little tricky. They sure bring out an un eveness in your pedal stroke, had a couple little spills but no injuries...lol I will definatly be getting some of these in the future.

CliftonGK1

Once you can stay upright without the use of a doorframe or other balance holds, they're pretty easy. I use mine in front of the TV with just a step-stool for a foot brace to get started. I get spinning with one foot, then take the other off the bench and clip in.

I'm still getting the hang of water bottles, though. On the rollers, the slightest twitch can send you off the end of the drums. Reaching down for a water bottle is difficult: One hand on the bars, leaning forward, trying to keep the bars straight while supporting your weight during the reach. You never notice how much the trail of the forks benefits you out on the road until you hit the rollers and try something; and realize that w/o the forward motion, trail means squat for keeping the fork aligned and it's all up to you!

BikeFoz

What happens if you swerve off a roller? Does the bike lurch out from under you or buck you off? Or what? I've seen those rollers and they do look sketchy.

CliftonGK1

If you run the front wheel off the drum, it just hops onto the carpet and you stop. Hopefully you've clipped out by then, since your back wheel can still spin and you'll end up tipping over.
Most rollers are 15" wide, so there's plenty of room to roll around without falling off.
Parabolic rollers are even better, since the flares are difficult to hop over.
If you really want to stay on, most full motion rollers have a set of bumper wheels on the stationary frame. I suppose you could build a set of bumper wheels onto a regular set of stationary rollers if you wanted to.

youcoming

I came off the rollers trying to get to my drops, just rolled off the side, stopped, was clipped out iin a hurry, no problems back on rollers. You find out real quick were you can improve your form I.E. getting bottles, going to drops. I know a guy who can do sprint intervals, STANDING, I've been right beside him as it's done. Pretty freaking amazing to see.

cyclist2000

Remember to video tape your first time on the rollers, it will help your form and be great laughs later on.

Greg_R

E-motion's base of operations is a few miles from my house. Those rollers are definitely easier to ride and allow stand-up sprints (without expert skill). However, they are $$$. They use roller blade wheels on the side of each roller to help keep your bike on the machine.