Originally Posted by
Carbonfiberboy
Here ya go:
http://www.performancebike.com/bikes..._1028825_-1___
A good trainer isn't cheap, either.
I have an ancient set of Performance rollers with a fluid resistance unit. Not made anymore. I have thousands of miles on them. Resistance rollers are definitely the way to go for winter/bad weather training, IME. Out of the saddle sprints are about the only thing one can't do. Well, I shouldn't say that, I'm sure there are those who can. But those should be done outdoors, anyway. A trainer doesn't begin to properly simulate a road sprint.
You may have noticed a number of trainer-tire, etc., threads on here. Those issues are completely non-existent with rollers. Rear tire wear is about the same as or less than what one would normally see on the road. I always run my normal good road tires. There is no front tire wear, no skewer abuse. You just take your road bike, set it on the rollers, and go at it.
I would have very little use for rollers without resistance. OK for recovery, but how can you do LT or speed/power work on them?
I did see those ones...and if I end up picking some up those will probably be high on the list due to the price. I'd almost rather not have those wierd "parabolic" roller bumpers. Just give me straight rollers with resistance, nice big rollers. I don't want the additional bounce that you'll get on reduced radius rollers from the small contact area.
I agree. I've ridden both standard and resistance, and although you can get some great technique work done on non-resistance ones, they don't mimic the resistance of real riding enough for me to be confident that my 'technique training' is really going to carry over when the effort is high on the road.
Thanks everyone for the input. After using these things for the last month or so, I can't believe more folks don't use them for winter training. I'd say my 1 hour training sessions seem to go by at least twice as fast on the rollers as compared to my trainer...and I have a very nice trainer too (KK Road machine). It's just a completely different experience.
-Jeremy