Buy mine... on the for sale forum...

Yes thanks, I have seen a few but at this time I cant do a science fair project. I was hoping for a parts kit that someone knows works with the Nashbar rollers.

yes

The cheap nashbar and performance ones are fine. Sometimes you can get them on sale for <$100, and the folding ones from performance are reasonably compact for travel if you take them apart. I've seen a lot of elite riders on all kinds of cheap rollers, and the people with the expensive ones really like theirs, but everyone with cheap ones seems to be pretty happy with them, too. I've always owned cheap ones (performance or tacx), and have occasionally ridden kreitlers, and I'm perfectly happy with the cheap ones.

I'd go for large (3-4") larger is lower resistance, and you can always add resistance but it's a lot harder to reduce it from whatever the rollers are normally.

Depends on the floor. Upstairs on a wood floor will be very noisy. On a concrete floor (or something with concrete under it) should be pretty quiet.

Be aware that they can wear your rear tire pretty fast (sometimes you'll notice a pile of rubber dust under the rollers) so don't ride expensive tires on them for winter training.

Thanks for all the replies, I think will buy the Travel Trac from performance since they are having the $20 off + free shipping promotion (although it's backordered, hopefully it'll be here by x'mas).

Next issue is, my place is all carpeted (except the kitchen and bathroom, but I don't want to be riding there), should I get a mat? I understand that it's bad to use it on carpet. Any recommendations? Is any kind of mat ok? Yoga mats?

Also, I still have my stock tires, Hutchinson Equinox. I'm not sure but I don't think these are anything fancy right? Am I ok using these on the rollers or should I buy cheaper ones?

Always a great read.

I too have the Travel Tracs btw.

awesome story! thanks for the link.

Unfortunately, I can only do this in the living room and its carpeted. Fortunately, I do not have a significant other. So, that said, do you use a mat? If so, which one? I just pulled the trigger on the Travel Tracs.

I have mine in the garage on concrete surface to be honest. But if I had to have it on a thick and soft carpeted surface, I would have put together a 2x4 frame of some sort or a sheet of MDF board to raise it up.

I did not use the poll as there is no correct answer. Different tools for different jobs.

I've had the performance rollers and now have E-motions, I have yet to see any tire wear or dust even with significant time spent on rollers, I just run them over top of the carpet.

Thanks for all your help. I had ordered the Travel Trac rollers from performance, but after a week the store rep said ETA for the backorder was another month. I cancelled that and got a new cycleops with resistance from ebay for $250!

Took me about 45mins of persistence to finally get a hang of this sucker! Lessons learned:
1. the thermostat on hallway wall can break if sufficient force is applied
2. white walls get tire marks very easily
3. (Like everyone says) you really have to not think about it too much and not look at the wheels or you'll tend to oversteer/overcompensate. I looked 4-5 feet ahead but had to use peripheral vision and concentrate on what I'm doing.

going to try it with the radio on today. hopefully no more markings on the wall =)

I've had the Travel Tracs for about a month and one thing that is still tricky for me is the start. I have my left hand on the handlebar, right hand on the wall, and the moment when I transfer my right hand onto the bars it's a scary situation for a split second. Otherwise the rollers are built solidly and pretty simple to balance yourself for 30 minutes at a time. Any longer than that and I lose concentration.

I read that the ones with the alloy end caps (such as the travel trac) have a inertial moment even when you stop allowing you to coast for a bit, that gives you a better simulation of the road. Do you find that it coasts?

Start is not as tricky for me now, 1 hand on the wall, start pedaling, then remove hand from wall. But the hard part is shifting my butt! After being on it twice, I can only stay on for 30minutes, not because of boredom (I can easily go longer), but because I still don't have the skill to get out of my seat (everything comes to a stop once I stop pedaling, then it's harder to balance) so I can't shift my butt, after 30mins, I can't feel my stuff!