Jynx

I have had both and MUCH prefer the trainer.

Caad 8

Its actually raining here.

I do! But there's so many hills if I want to do certain exercises I can't.

The thing is, if I want to do intervals, I can just go outside and do them. Since I live in cali...

davesax36

I have a KK road machine and the performance cheapo rollers. I love my KK AND my rollers. I think that you can get a good hard workout on the rollers. For me that include intervals, seated, 3 on 2 off at or above 30mph. There are probably lots of guys on here that can do that much at 40 on rollers, but if you keep shifting and shifting and then increase your cadence, you're gonna eventually find a pace that's at least hard to keep up. It is true that you have to work harder to stay upright (I kinda like that part), and it's also true that on a trainer you can practice jumps and you'll have more resistance. I just feel like if you have a killer headwind and a fork mount you could get away with only rollers. I'm sure that didn't help.

Fox Farm

I think that you nailed it on the head. My rollers, Krietler, are really fun and with an IPod or in front of the TV, you can zone out, but if you want Spinning class kind of jams, the trailer will be better - I suppose.

Puffyg

looking to replacing my trainer since mine is starting to pack it in. Any thoughts on if these stationary trainers having caused any frames to crack or break from the stress put on them, especially a carbon fibre frame?

bostongarden

Rollers if you want to focus more on technique. Trainer if you want to focus more on conditioning,

Pilsley

What technique would that be then, the one you learned when you were 3-4 years old (balance)? Rollers are rollers, there their own deal & being proficient at riding them equates to little gain on your road riding abilities.

Correct on the conditioning. Rollers are no longer a serious training tool, since the stationary trainer came along. Use them if you enjoy the fun of riding rollers, but don't con yourself, they are second rate for developing fitness.

silversx80

Have you ever ridden rollers?

Pilsley

It has been a while, I'll admit.

Think 96 was the last time I rolled. But yes, you name it. Gone off the front of em' back of em' right & left of em' (I don't sound very good do I!) Hell I've even crashed off them when my spotter couldn't hold any more. Raced & lost on em' raced & won (national junior Army champion - nice title, small event) Even did a 24 hour team charity ride on them - that'll send your nads to numbville!

People just get nostalgic over them. Visions of Merckx with his space suit in the sauna on them. Get a kick out of their added dimension to the sport, or as I said before, find them fun, more fun than the stationary - sure.

Wonder if Djamoladine Abdujaparov ever rolled in his basement? Christ his walls would have looked like a bad day in Beirut!

echappist

that's the most important part. i have a mag resistance unit (on a minoura), and right now i don't need it as im learning how to handle the bike. w/ the resistance unit, i can probably do things at 90% MHR, but probably nothing more intense. but then again, i can't imagine the weather sucks so bad that you only ride inside. do your real hard intervals outside, the roller should be able to handle most of your other needs

pelikan

They still make trainers??

I had both, once I got over the fear factor of the rollers the trainer collected dust, got lent out, and eventually sold. In case of injury the trainer would be nice I 'spose. Maybe if I were doing long steady indoors, I might rock the rollers and watch TdF stage races. Living in California though, the rollers are for warm-up, cool-down and intervals only.

Rollers require balance and more importantly engage the core. Not to mention making a super boring experience slightly less boring. Recovery after hard intervals on the track bike is particularly interesting and challenging.

As for resistance, put on gatorskins (or similar) and up the cadence. Until your burning rubber, you still have a lot more resistance & smooth spin to find on the rollers.

Fat Boy

This is just wrong.

Minoura has a mag resistance unit and Kreitler has fan and inertia units. Together, you're good for maybe 2000 watts of resistance on the Kreitlers and maybe a 1000w on the Minoura's. You can't stand and sprint, at least not easily. That is the downfall of rollers (remedied by the E-motion rollers, BTW). Everything else is very applicable.

Riding outdoors is always going to be the best, but rollers are a great option. I find that pack riding often improves after you've been on rollers for a while because you _have_ to hold a line. On a trainer, basically everyone gets sloppy because there is no balance involved. After riding on a trainer for a long time, most people are a little sketchy in a pack for a little bit.

silversx80

I guess I have a little different experience. While I agree that they're not as good for (indoor) fitness as a resistance trainer, after my first hour on the rollers I felt twice as stable on my bike while outdoors. They won't replace the trainer, but for active recovery days and LSD indoor days I think they're perfect.

miwoodar

For me, rollers have been a great investment ($70 from e-bay). True, I can't do jumps on them. I also can't do VO2 unless I'm seated and spinning a wicked cadence. I try to get these sets in outside as the weather permits. Loooonnnng rides are also done outside but I have bagged a handful of 50+ mile days on the rollers.

I got my rollers in December. Wierd size: 4" PVC drums. I've been tracking a string of 2x20 sets (RPE, HR, gears, mph, cadence, watts). I've learned a lot about my gearing, cadence, and pacing. My 100+ rpm spin has improved tremendously. I've also raised my FTP significantly since getting them. I'm now up to 53x12 for my 2x20's and almost spinning out. It won't be long, *fingers crossed*, until I will be able to spin out indefinitely. Despite having a cold and coughing up some sickly flem, I went out and hit some hills last week during a stint of nice weather. I knocked 8 minutes off my PB for one of the climbs (33 mins down to 25). Rollers can't be too bad. Maybe they aren't the be-all-end-all but I wouldn't put any training tool in that category anyways.

If I had to do it over again I would go the same route but would have ended up with 3.0 drums. The trainer might come next winter.

umd

I don't think you realize just how squirley and unstable some people are.

umd

fwiw, I have both, but I don't use either very often, on account of the weather being nice here in general. I like to bring the rollers with me when I travel to races and use them for warming up... they are quicker to setup and sufficient for my warmup purposes. On days like today when I needed to get a good VO2 workout in on a day with torrential downpours, thunder, and lightning, out came the trainer.

gti337

I bought a set of Emotion rollers last year and haven't ridden my trainer again until this week. I managed 12 minutes on it before I took the bike out of it and hopped on the rollers. Can't stand it.

I train with power and on the Emotion rollers I can easily do most workouts without coming anywhere close to spinning out. The only workout I'm not completely comfortable doing are sprints, and a lot of that comes down to my poor sprinting technique

umd

I'd love to have some emotions, but they cost more than regular rollers and a trainer combined

BarryJo

But they are soooooo sweet, if only you lived in a cold weather climate they'd serve you well.
And anyone who thinks rollers don't offer the same workout as a stationary trainer have not ridden the e-motions. The adjustable mag resistance unit let's me put in as much of an effort as I could ever get on my Cycleops Fluid trainer.

umd

Yeah, if I rode them more than a handful of times a year I might care more.

grwoolf

+1 on e-motions

I've only spent minimal time on a fluid trainer, but I don't care for it.

The e-motions are very road-like and I enjoy spending an hour+ on them at a time. I do mostly recovery pace and spinning with them, but the mag unit has way more resistance than I could ever put out. I do wish you could adjust the resistance without stopping, but it's not a big deal for the way I use them.

One area they have really helped me (I need help everywhere) is my form out of the saddle. I used to only get out of the saddle on tough climbs (mashing) and crap out very quickly, now I'm very comfortable doing extending time on long moderate grades. My training for this is to watch TV while riding the e-motions and get out of the saddle for commercial breaks (without upping the effort too much). Any wasted or sloppy movement while out of the saddle is very obvious on the rollers.

rollin

neither

rollin

Here is an alternative. It maybe the one of the stupidest cycling related products ever:

https://www.bikerumor.com/2010/01/07/...er-productive/

Camilo

Does anyone really do that (2-3 hours on a TRAINER)? 1,000X more mentally tough than me, I can handle an hour.

umd

I did 2 hours yesterday and today. Someone just started a thread today asking about this, I think someone said 5 hours.
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...On-The-Trainer