I work in a bike shop, been doing it on and off full-time/part-time since 1982. Been riding rollers since 1982, also have used mag trainers and fluid trainers. Now I have a Wahoo. The thing feels very much like rollers, which feel much like cruising on a flat road.

With rollers I select a gear and cruise, or select a higher gear to push a little bit, lower gear to rest. They really help with my spin for some reason whereas the traditional trainer does not. Rollers are a lot of fun, require that the user pay attention, and improve balance quite a bit. With resistance trainers there is always a flat spot regardless of the flywheel weight. Obviously the heavier the flywheel, the less noticeable it is, but it is always there.

Enter Wahoo. Take the best of rollers and combine with resistance and you get a freakishly realistic ride. Don't know how they do it, but it works. Do not use Zwift or anything like it as the cost is prohibitive on a bike shop income, so I ride with videos of the great classics and cruise with the leaders and accelerate with them. Acceleration really is a good mimic of real life and is what convinced me that this is a very useful tool for racers, egotists such as myself that like to push themselves once in a while, or just a person that wants to maintain fitness and feel like they are riding for real. Love it!

A Wahoo... what? They make 4 different trainers, 3 if you consider the Kickr and Kickr Core the same tech.

They all share the same tech and function the same.

That's factually wrong.

Please explain. Thank you.

It's not my job to add useful information to a thread without any.

Ah, that's the good ol' internet we've all come to cherish. Enthusiasm crushed by superciliousness.

wahoo should come out with a city version. Feel those real life potholes in the comfort of your own place while getting sooted in the face from the simulated unspent vehicle fuel.

Bahaha.
1 in every 10.

The Wahoo in the garage with the car running gets it half way there. If using the Snap put zip ties across the tire and rim at unevenly spaced intervals gets the vibrations going, however simulating the pot holes is a tall order.

I used to love rollers. Now it is a Kickr for me. Indeed an incredibly realistic feel.

NOT recommended for those wishing to live.

Don't perpetrate the theory we get grumpy as we grow Winter moss.

Not even December. Lots of short, dreary, damp days ahead for us up North. - smile, get a strong cuppa and a big toke - ride it out, maybe you will feel better.

edit: Or go skiing = early season openings at several resorts close.

OP: I'm old enough that I inherited rollers from my Dad, among other sets I used. I now have a KICKR CORE, and couldn't agree with you more. It's just a next-level sense of realism.

FWIW, I am able to spend a bit and have been trying out software/training platforms. Zwift is a fun eSports game - when it works. But aside from the fact that it is old, buggy software (no, really: they use a 2014-era API) it is also much less realistic than some other options. Currently I'm on Rouvy. (Bear with me, I'm headed somewhere with this). I also will be using either Trainer Road or Sufferfest in early 2021.

Rouvy is $12/month, and - here's the key - allows you to share that cost across three user accounts. That's $4/mo. To say the least, it's worth it, and I know that Fulgaz also gifts a 2nd login. You work in a bike shop - you can find someone to share the cost.

And I'm going to tell you that as much as you've discovered a levelling-up with newer trainers vs. rollers, you're going to love riding on good software. I had a 25k chase yesterday on Rouvy that was incredibly realistic.

I know it seems like a lot to absorb at once, but go ahead and try some of the free trials for the new platforms, and then buddy up with someone. $5 a month is not too much.

what is this from? just this little snip and it looks funny.

I do a lot of things that aren’t my job.

"Half Baked," a Dave Chappelle stoner comedy from around 20+ years ago. The entire scene is hilarious but inappropriate for ... pretty much any audience.

I first rode rollers in 1976/77 while in the dorm at Ohio State. Jim rode a 25"-frame racing Paramount, and I already had my 23"-frame Fuji S-10S. His rollers were obviously adjusted for his bike, and when I'd borrow them, it was a challenge -- more of a challenge than just riding rollers - because my Fuji had a longer wheelbase so the front tire was 'over-center' in relation to the front roller. I didn't want to mess with adjusting the wheelbase of the rollers since they were not mine. Anyway, that over-center situation made it even more imperative to have a smooth pedal stroke - or I'd ride off the front to a spectacular crash&burn. After just a few short weeks, I was comfortable enough that I could ride either one-handed to reach for a water bottle or even no handed. That smooth pedal stroke has stayed with me ever since. Efficiency of motion!

I've had my own rollers for over 35 years - a cheap set of PVC-drum Tracx - but I also sprung for the optional wind-resistance turbine. The faster I go, the more resistance. Not quite like real riding, but it is nice having that increasing resistance -- and the breeze - although I normally place a 20" fan in front of me to keep myself from getting too overheated.

This past Spring I bought a better set of rollers with aluminum drums and better bearings on a closeout sale. Now that riding season has come to a close here in the North (I won't ride on salted roads) I'll be setting them up in the living room, much to my wife's displeasure... She has the recumbent exercise bike in the bedroom, and a spa-quality treadmill in one of the spare bedrooms, so she has no room to complain about me...