Trainer or Rollers
 

Was wondering which is better, any of you with either trainer or rollers care to share your thoughts, recommendations etc.

Search function is working now. Some great threads about this from the last months

-D

I think you need both if you want to be a good rider. You could get smaller diameter rollers for some resistance.

I don't know what a trainer does that rollers don't, but I've only owned rollers. I do know some of the obvious things that rollers do that trainers don't - like balance, evening out spin.

I'm obviously a vote for the rollers.

I can't ride trainers - just too boring. Beyond the technique benefits, on rollers, your cycling computer works fine because the front wheel is rotating.

I bought a magnetic resistance unit from Sportscrafters (good rollers). It's not as adjustable as it makes out, but it definitely makes riding the rollers pretty tough. So I get spin training and resistance training in one piece of equipement.

resistance for one.

I don't know about your rollers, but mine can give me more than enough resistance to do hard workouts on. I can do an LT workout very easily on mine. Sportcrafters, to be brand specific. Granted, mine came with the 5 setting mag resistance unit...

On a trainer, you can do more power training. It's more difficult to simulate a long climb or a sprint (standing or out of the saddle) on a set of rollers. And, in the case of a Fluid2, you can really produce big power...

Rollers are great for smoothing out your pedal stroke, improving bike handling, etc...

If you are a crit racer and want to simulate final sprints, or want to do extended standing climbs, that's really not what rollers are for. In other words, you'll get stronger or more powerful, faster, on a trainer. You can develop a smoother stroke and better balance on rollers.

Really, if you can, having both is the best.

I vote for rollers......
I don't race....or sprint even...:eek:
This winter I will use my rollers to work in increasing my average cadence.
I should still be able to get out of the roads for all but the coldest and/or snowiest weekends to keep my climbing legs in decent shape.

I've never trusted that having my bike hooked to a trainer and then standing and rocking the bike side to side would not cause damage and/or unusual stress on the frame....especially with carbon seat stays......
I know that statement will draw some fire but that's how I feel. :eek:

If you only have one indoor trainer I think rollers are best all around.
If you can have more than one, more power to you.....:)

This has always raised a fundamental question for me.

Rollers with a mag unit can provide just as much resistance as most trainner's. Free motion rollers enable you to ride out of the saddle and even sprint. Therefore the only advantage that's left to trainners is undistracted power trainning allowing for maximal force to be acheived since you don't have to divert energy to worrying about controlling the bike.

The fundamental question is: Should you be getting more powerful if you can't handle the bike with the power you can generate now?

Rollers have always made sense to me, although it gets tricky to control my bike on a 16" tube when doing maximal L5, L6 & L7 intervals, it's still something you have to learn to do. Your bike isn't going to bolted to a trainner during a race especially during a final sprint when bike control is critical.

I find sprinting on my free motion rollers very informative, I immediately noticed that i had to much weight shifted over my front wheel and not enough over my rear, fixing this I immediatly noticed an increase in sprinting power.

And of course rollers increase your balance which alot of cyclist's think they have, until they try to ride a set of rollers, especially with no hands, or do a track stand out on the road.


http://members.accesswave.ca/~derekn...%20rollers.jpg
NOTE:I didn't have my mag unit attached at the time of this video but i do now and it works fine with the whole setup.

Wow, every time you post that video it motivates me to continue trying to learn these rollers (been having issues getting used to them). To be fair though I haven't really given sufficient time yet either. Weather is still too nice outside.

-D

Holy Crap !!!! :eek: :eek:
That's the coolest rollers video I have ever seen !!!
You rock !!
What is that rack setup you have your rollers bungeed to ?
Where can I get plans for one ?
What is the premise behind the concept ??

That is so cool !!
I must build myself a set.
Thanks for the inspiration !!!

J. :)

you can go way harder on a trainer than on rollers. you can also
safely test extreme high cadence allowing your form to take a
back seat while you probe you physical limits (first time you
spin 198 cadence is an eye-opener. I lose 'roller form' above 160)

rollers teach peloton kung-fu and technique, which is crucial
to ride in fast groups. they are only hard the first few times, then
it become easier, yet you can never lose focus. you can work up
to no-handed water bottle swapping then one legged spinning
on rollers, no handed, then I'd say you might have good form to
stay in a peloton at speed (tho' shoulder and handlebar bumping
is something you can only learn on the road) don't try this at home
folks...it is fun to test yerself but not necessary to become a
cycling guru (which i am not)

stationaries can make you see stars and come close to passing out
which you cannot always do on rollers without coming off them by accident.

you can come close, but no dice on the passing out part. which is part of extreme
anaerobic training if you want to test your limits and train your body to
hit that spot, and back off and recover to BLT levels without having
to stop. no one needs to pass out on a bike, but it sure helps to come close to it
then you can really meter yourself in real world hammering sessions and not
blow up. last time I passed out on the road, it sucked. I fell off and it hurt.

on the stationary, hitting 209bpm and the tunnel vision started,
I just leaned over the bars and took a 5 second forced nap, then
continued to spin easy. on rollers I'd have smashed up my room

survey says, get both.

rollers and a stationary setup. for the unique
aspects of each, and it is never boring when you swap out spinervals
dvd's and switch up trainers ....it doubles the action during the winter

KrazyDerek -

The roller setup ROCKS!!!

Where'd you get the idea to make a horizontal float for it? That's great! I'm gonna have to build one of those!

:)

you know I've always been a big proponent of Rollers,
and have resisted these newfangled rollers, however
after seeing that vid I may have to give these free motion
rollers a longer second look.

marty

I can see why Derik built his setup.
They have them here but they're not cheap $800
http://www.insideride.com/index.php?...tpage&Itemid=1
Some more cool videos on there site too....

Check out Deriks thread on how he built his set:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...motion+rollers

Derik,
I noticed one thing about your setup....
Your rollers were not folding...
Could you do your setup with folding rollers ?
Would the weight of the rider & bike be enough to keep the rollers from snapping open like a mouse trap !! :eek:

Can you still buy non-folding rollers ?
Why did you choose to attach the bungee cord along the top of the roller frame ?
Couldn't you have just drilled a few holes on the sides of the roller frame and used the S hook to attach there ? A couple different holes would allow you to easily fine tune tension of the overall frame ?

Just curious...:D

I would get both. trainer for intensity workouts and rollers for your spin

I recently bought rollers and have tried them a few times. I'm getting the hang of it little by little. They work your balance and cadence nicely and if you want resistance, then just shift up. I wish I had a resistance trainer though.

Now if I went with the resistance trainer, I'd probably be wishing that I had the rollers! :rolleyes:

So I guess I'll be getting the trainer too in the near future to put my mind at ease. :)

When I try to stand up on my rollers, I always drive off the front, what am I doing wrong?

You're leaning too far forward....
It's not noticeable on the road but you're rollers know...;)

I have my front roller directly beneath the hub... thats right, right?

That will work....you can also experiment with having your hub slightly behind the front roller too.
This would give you a little more stability....but move the hub back too much and you'll be likely to pop off the back of your rollers and/or your steering will become twitchy....

If you have to get one or the other....get a good fluid trainer (Kurt Kinetic, CycleOps). Gives you more options to train with. If you need to work on balance, cadence, bike handling, etc...that's what pavement/roads are for. If you need to focus on your fitness, a trainer is the better choice, as noted by others as well.

:eek: :eek: We disagree ??? :eek: :eek:

;)

In general, aren't trainers easier to take with you to a race? Haven't seen any folding rollers close up to know for sure...

Well...me personally, I'm a bit of an interval freak, and well.....trainers make much more sense in that case.

Not to mention portability, better resistance, the ability to pummel yourself into a suffering pulp, and the added bonus to focus all of your energy and concentration on the effort at hand, rather than trying to keep the bike on a set of drums. I have found that to be particularly useful when going all out, as I can literally shut out everything and focus 100% on the effort. Plus, when going for long sessions, sometimes when your mind wanders, falling off isn't an issue with a trainer.

My wife handles the pummelling me into a suffering pulp chore....:eek:

Look, I would never say that folks who prefer resistance trainers have it all wrong....different folks are going to approach indoor training with different mindsets and with different goals in mind.

I don't worry about the heavy resistance I may be missing from a stationary trainer. I feel that I will find enough opportunities to get on the road in the winter to keep any strength losses to a minimum, and I am not convinced that you can't get enough resistance from either small diameter rollers or rollers with a resistance unit. The setup that CrazyDerik built takes that one big fat step further. On his setup you can certainly stand and climb or sprint out of the saddle for intervals, plus get all the added benefits of balance and spinning of regular rollers......

My Two Cents....:)

TESTING would be the one area a trainner would be safest, i guess i kind of overlooked this fact since i had my vo2max tested in a lab on one of those stationary computer bike things.


Rollers that have 2 bends fold up to roughly the same size as a trainner, maybe a little thicker. I've carried my minoura rollers raceside to warm up for a crit or two.


Yup, Tacx Rollertrack are the one's i used.


Free motion rollers from E-Motion. Good Luck, see my thread for a couple of hints on what i learn along the way.

Thanks for the compliments on my mcguiver'd rig. Sorry if i'm hogging :o

I would so fall off of rollers and crash my noggin into the wall. I've been riding trainers for years. I'll be honest... rollers scare the livin' poopoo out of me! :eek: