Originally Posted by ghoundz

As another question, did you get the folding option on your Tru Trainer Rollers?
Did you get the optional platform?
(NOTE: I don't have enough posts to personal message.)

Originally Posted by Wesley36

Just in case you were interested, this does not come with resistance, but you could always add resistance later if you wanted...



https://spinzonecycling.com/product/s...roller-630.htm

Originally Posted by tanguy frame

I've heard you can fold up a towell and put it under the rear roller for resistance.
Also magnets.
Or the headwind unit.

Originally Posted by himespau

Thanks, I'll look into it.



I've heard about the magnet thing, but aren't most rollers PVC or aluminum? If so, it seems like magnets wouldn't do a whole lot.

Originally Posted by Wesley36

I am on Sportcrafters rollers as well. There was definitely a steep learning curve for me, but I am now comfortable riding in a variety of positions and intensities (ie in the drops, on the hoods with forearms parallel to the ground, etc), getting out of the saddle, getting my water bottle out of the cage, drinking, and replacing it, and pulling food out of my pockets to eat. I have definitely learned a lot about the finer points of balance on my bike riding the rollers - in fact, I am finding it really helpful in terms of tweaking my fit.

I just started using the progressive resistance drum on it - if you have Cycle-Ops or Sportscrafters rollers the resistance unit is contained in the rear roller, and you just swap it out. My nominal wheelspeed went from about 45-50km/h without resistance, to 25-27km/h without, at around 170 watts (a reasonable Z2 for me). Awesome, but it is like I am having to re-learn rollers. Yesterday I pulled the bottle from the cage, drank, and ended up tossing the bottle onto the floor because I was getting wobbly. It is starting to feel stable again, getting out of the saddle is no problem, but the eating and drinking thing needs work.

Originally Posted by tanguy frame

Disclaimer - YMMV.
There are lots of people on thie board who may want to post the facepalm picture after reading this. To those people, I suggest you skip this post, or douse yourself with your sense of humor.

I deleted all my pix, so sad.

The rollers, and the headwind unit have rectangular hollow legs, so it was easy to fashion wooden pegs out of a 1x1 piece of lumber that fit snuggly inside the legs. I have good carpentry tools so getting the lengths even was not a problem. I used wooden shims where necessary to get a snug fit.

I drilled an axle hole into each of the pegs (6 for the rollers, 2 for the headwind unit) to accomodate a 5/8 diameter bolt.

I poked the wooden pegs into the legs of the roller with the axle holes properly oriented.

I bought off ebay a set of 10 skate board wheels and a matching set of bearings.
At the hardware store, I bough a bunch of 5/8 bolts of the proper length, and a bunch of washers, also, nuts.

I poked a bolt through the axle hole in the peg, set up some washers to engage the skateboard bearing, added the skateboard wheel. applied more washers, and then the nut. Repeat for 5 other legs.

Took two long shelves and one short one.
created an H pattern so that the rollers run on the long shelves, and they are connected in the center with the short shelf. Standard hardware for attachments.

Screwed eye hooks into the fore and aft edges of the center shelf. Got 2 old innertubes and routed them thru the eye hooks and around the roller legs to create for and aft tension. I may have used some string for the attachments to the eye hooks.

The headwind unit took some additional creativity to get everything lined up and rolling, but the same idea. I used a single axle for both feet, and stacked the axle with a wheel, 1 foot, a spacer, a center wheel, more spacers, another foot, and a third wheel. overkill, but hey -I got 3 wheels!

Let me know if that makes no sense whatsoever. I'll can take pix later if you ask for them.

By the way, I also made a removable post for leaning on:
2 2x4's screwed together, a frame unit attached to the ceiling to accomodate the post, and a slab on the floor with wedges to put the system in compression. It's removable by removing the wedges. There's a small shelf for TV remote volume control, glasses, and a water bottle. I also made a stool with a floor and a hollow interior to store my shoes, and as an aid for mounting and dismounting, since the entire system is elevated beyond my ability to straddle the frame with my feet on the floor.

This is my longest post ever! >celebration<

Originally Posted by tanguy frame

here are some pix, pertty self explanatory.

Originally Posted by 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).

Originally Posted by himespau

So you like the resistance unit? I've been looking at the ones that come with that. I like the simplicity of it, of course it is new so there aren't used ones like you can get with the older adjustable magnetic resistance. I would like it if it is truly progressive though.

Originally Posted by Wesley36

I am on Sportcrafters rollers as well. There was definitely a steep learning curve for me, but I am now comfortable riding in a variety of positions and intensities (ie in the drops, on the hoods with forearms parallel to the ground, etc), getting out of the saddle, getting my water bottle out of the cage, drinking, and replacing it, and pulling food out of my pockets to eat. I have definitely learned a lot about the finer points of balance on my bike riding the rollers - in fact, I am finding it really helpful in terms of tweaking my fit.

I just started using the progressive resistance drum on it - if you have Cycle-Ops or Sportscrafters rollers the resistance unit is contained in the rear roller, and you just swap it out. My nominal wheelspeed went from about 45-50km/h without resistance, to 25-27km/h without, at around 170 watts (a reasonable Z2 for me). Awesome, but it is like I am having to re-learn rollers. Yesterday I pulled the bottle from the cage, drank, and ended up tossing the bottle onto the floor because I was getting wobbly. It is starting to feel stable again, getting out of the saddle is no problem, but the eating and drinking thing needs work.

Originally Posted by grolby

Rollers are highly unnatural, and while I like rollers and think they have value for working on balance, I've used them mostly as a training tool. After all, even non-floating rollers are psychologically gentler than a stationary trainer. The "smoothness" that rollers teach you is of questionable value in the real world, where your bike does move underneath you and that is not a bad thing! Good bike handlers are not static over their bikes.

Hmm. I haven't had a set of rollers in four years. Maybe I should correct that.

Originally Posted by Wesley36

I have not been able to push it to test the higher end (need to get stronger!), but from what I can tell, it does seem to be progressive. The guy who made this chart would say so (his testimonial and analysis is published on the Sportscrafters website):

https://sportcrafters.com/blog/testim...ve-pro-rollers

Originally Posted by fstshrk

On the contrary, I have noticed my "real-world" bike handling improve quite a bit since I started using rollers. The ability to hold bike upright using core muscles on the rollers translates to much better control in the real world. The smoothness also helps with being able to maintain a higher cadence outdoors.

Originally Posted by 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.

Originally Posted by 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.

Originally Posted by 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.

Originally Posted by Carbonfiberboy

Hey Wesley, what's the inside distance between the frame members on your Sportcrafters? I have an old set of rollers with poly drums on which I've mostly worn out the fluid resistance unit - I must have cooked the fluid. I'd like to swap in that resistance drum.

Yeah, more speed always makes the bike more stable, and they are great for getting your fit and form just right. I try to concentrate on my position, my form: back, hands, elbows, knees, feet, head, neck, shoulders, abs. And of course on my pedaling form: exactly where I push on the pedals with which muscles. Steady hummmm. Since you go slower with resistance, your rollers and wheels have less inertia, so the hummm thing becomes more pronounced. This training does translate to the road.

Originally Posted by grolby

I didn't say there's no benefit, but I have to disagree with a couple things, first of all that your core muscles are somehow deeply involved in balance and are strengthened by trainer work (nope), and second that "smoothness" on rollers is cadence training. One trains the ability to maintain a high cadence by practicing spinning at a high cadence. Preventing a bike from popping off the rollers when you stand up isn't really the same thing. Like I said, I like rollers, but the ways in which they are different from riding on the road aren't beneficial.