2Tired2Shift

Terrible "investment". very unlikely you'll be able to realize a gain when you sell them.

musician

hilarious video, thanks.

i plan to buy some rollers for use indoors this winter (Connecticut, we get a variable amount of snow). also seems like a great means of training in and of itself, since you must balance.

i read somewhere the cheaper rollers have rollers that may get bent or dinged.

any comments on how well your cheap or expensive rollers have held up?

Phantoj

Is it better to fall over sideways than to ride sideways off the rollers?

Yoshi

I have Minoura rollers which can be found for as little as $130 online (I think I paid $160 at the LBS). They have held up pretty well though I don't get to use them too often because of the neighbors.

During the making of RASH my friend's set of Minoura rollers got a little chainring bite on the rear most roller. We took a piece of sandpaper to the roller while spinning it and it smoothed it right out.

It's better to ride off sideways but that usually ends in falling over sideways anyway. The wheels on the side will hopefully prevent both however.

People are always worried about riding off the rollers and crashing through their wall. It won't happen. I've seen people spinning at over 200rpm on rollers - going in excess of 60mph - ride off the side. Their wheels hit the ground and immediately stopped spinning and they just fell over.

And here's some more video we took - the footage never made it into RASH but it was a lot of fun:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwKuJ9JVJho

Phantoj

I think that if your wheel comes over and hits the side roller, you are going over sideways just as surely as if you drop your tire into a trolley track (not that I've seen trolley tracks...).

To maintain your balance on a bike, your wheels have to be able to move laterally.

Yoshi

There are commercially available rollers (called the e-motion rollers) that come with side bumpers like that. I saw a video (here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_jHfjXsb6c ) that shows a guy hitting the side roller. I don't see how it is in anyway comparable to dropping your tire into a trolley track. The tracks cause you to fall because they stop your wheel from moving. The wheel on the side will roll with your wheel. As long as you don't lean too hard into the side roller it will keep you from rolling off.

twobikes

I am not sure we are talking about the same thing, but most of the time I can keep the bike between the casters I added to my rollers, as pictured above. In my experience the front wheel may occasionally wander to the side and brush the casters lightly. That is just enough to nudge the front wheel back toward the center of the front roller. The rear wheel almost never touches the rear casters.

The part I have not mastered is starting on the rollers. I get along OK if I start with my shoulder leaning against the door frame until I can get enough speed to balance without extra support.

Phantoj

They seem to work OK in the video, so what do I know?