Rollers vs Trainer
 

On days that I can't get out and ride I'd like to be able to ride indoors. So to help keep my training mileage up over the winter what system would be better to use for indoor training. Rollers or a Trainer. I'd like to do intervals over the winter and some long rides. Are their any pros or cons to either device

Rollers for high-cadence work.

Trainer for intervals and everything else.

i have both.

my rollers are kind of loud, and require pretty much constant pedaling and concentration. people might disagree with this for the purposes of demonstrating how skillful they are at using rollers, but if you get distracted, there's not much keeping you from hitting the floor. requires some practice clip in, pedal out of the saddle, etc. Still, great training tool. i got mine cheaply via craigslist. Side note: if you haven't already learned how to use these, the best i can give you is (1) KEEP PEDALING and (2) DON'T LOOK DOWN. the faster you pedal, the less likely you are to fall. if you get wobbly, PEDAL FASTER and you will straighten up.

my trainer is excellent (1UP is the company); silent and easy to throw the bike in. good for time in front of the TV or if you want to have kind of an easy spinning session playing video games while you pedal.

for the winter, i recommend both so you can vary things.


PS - people often are amazed that the bike doesn't fall when you use rollers; it's hard to explain gyroscopic stability. but it's easy to demonstrate. take a wheel (off the bike), hold it by the skewer, and wobble it around. easy. then spin the wheel and try that while the wheel is spinning, notice how it resists you. magic!

Rollers for all.
Trainers are for those who can not ride rollers.

Trainers and rollers (without resistance) seem silly waste of time to me.
BUT, rollers that power a fan blowing cool air onto you makes epic sense.

Kreitlers with the Killer Headwind are perfect, IMO. Despite living in San Diego where the roads are smooth and the weather's always nice, my Kreitlers still get plenty of use.

http://www.calamarichris.com/junk/100609-spyvspy.jpg
I have some sound-absorptive foam sheeting on the fan unit to the right of the photo. They're not that loud, but this way I don't have to turn the Tour DVD up so loud to hear it.

That's what I think.

Trainers, IMO, are so boring that they should be banned by the Geneva convention as torture.

See if you can try/borrow both.

I'm a shill, and will continue to be for these.
Interval training, high cadence work, the 4 settings on the magnetic resistance unit allows you to change the resistance to attain any kind of workout you want from spinning to really hard interval training.
They're free motion and easier to get used to than traditional stationary rollers.

www.insideride.com

http://www.insideride.com/images/sto...delh-1-480.jpg

I have rollers, but I'm thinking of buying a trainer this winter to compliment them. Indoor riding is boring no matter what you do, but rollers require you to concentrate. Most times I'd rather zone out, watch some TV, and just pedal without having to think or pay attention. I'll keep one ride a week on the rollers for form, then do the rest on the trainer.

One of the things I dont like about the emo rollers is the fact that you don't have to concentrate while riding them, and I do zone out from time to time and get rudely awakened when the tires hit the bumpers.
Have only fallen off them twice, and both times was from not paying attention.

... resisting desire to comment on Calamari's pushmepullyou...

I've always used rollers, though I do find them extremely boring. I much prefer being outside for winter so I do a lot of nordic skiing which does a great job of keeping your entire body in shape (I think I'm often in better shape at the end of winter than at the end of summer). One complaint with my rollers is that I can't vary the resistance. So, I'm thinking about getting a trainer for this winter (I'll still ride rollers, if nothing else for form), prob either a TACX or KURT.

[education rant] sadly, most kids never get to take physics to understand the simple principle[/rant]

+1 for rollers. if you want to go hardcore, there's always resistance unit you can buy. but my rollers are for the dog days of winter only, during which i won't be doing much intensity efforts anyway.

that's not the worst part: the handlebar tape on his felt is atrocious. someone should get fizik microtape next time

+1, shill #2.

Nothing like riding the rollers on a cold rainy saturday while catching some college football.

Oh dude...$850 for that? I paid $60 for mine, and they function.

i have rollers...I prefer them. something about strapping my rear wheel into something and tightening it down so I dont go anywhere seems scary to me.
i love my rollers...helps me stay focused on what I am doing...if you lose your focus, your quickly brought back to reality!

I have a resistance trainer in the basement, sitting right in front of a big old TV and a fan. I use it in the winter/rain/when ever, pop in a DVD or watch some horrible tv and completely zone out. I'm not on the trainer for mental stimulation, I'm on it to get a little cardio in on a crappy day, and that's exactly what it does for me. I usually use it in the mornings before work so I'm a complete zombie anyway... there's absolutely no way I could function on rollers at that hour. So, short story unbearably long, I vote trainer just because it takes less mental effort and still gives you [pretty much the same] work out physically.

P.S. Nice avatar jasandalb :)

I have both. I ride rollers for form/balance and use my old Racer Mate wind trainer for more intense workouts. Unlike modern rear-wheel mounted wind trainers, the Racer Mate supports the frame under the bottom bracket and offers a level, more stable platform IMHO.

Holy carp.

$850 would pay for 2 years of full membership at my indoorvelodrome. My little $100 craigslist trainer works just fine on days I'm not on the wood. Rollers are just not in the cards for me.

Rollers are my preferred indoor torture device. Trainers make me suicidal. Nothing removes any joy from riding a bike more than locking your back wheel into a rigid stand and pedaling for an hour.

That being said, it's easier to link computers to trainers, so most of the ride simulation systems use trainers.

On the other hand, I can do intevals just fine on my rollers, thanks, and the element of danger keeps me awake/aware of the task at hand.

I've ridden rollers.
And then I've ridden the E-Motion rollers.
Night and Day.
With the rollers I spent way too much energy trying to concentrate on balance, form and not falling off, instead of concentrating on the matter at hand, my workout.
With the emos you can just get on and do the workout at hand. With the changeable magnetic resistance settings, you can adjust your workout to the intensity your training plan dictates. Hard days, easy days, short and intense, long and easy - these rollers do it all.
And they are a little less boring than a stationary trainer because they pretty much give you the same sensation as riding on the road.

For me they were worth the investment, and I got them for a little less than the price you listed, plus free shipping. Not sure if they're still offering the same deal.
Your milage may vary.

Trainer time can be improved with a decent phone book/w.h.y. under the front wheel too. Music helps. Ride until a certain song comes on.

Sometimes I take my bike and trainer across the street to the empty covered parkade. Watching traffic and being cold helps.

With a little work you can make your rigid rollers into free motion rollers on the cheap.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=196027

One last thought, the only indoor trainers I have to compare the E-motion rollers to are a stationary set of rollers I demo'ed, and a 2006 Cycleops Fluid 2 trainer I own.
I don't have the coordination for the stationary rollers.
The Cycleops trainer bored me to death, so much so I used it about 1/3 as much as I use my E-Motion rollers.
That being said I know others in the racing forum who get excellent results with stationary rollers, Cycleops trainers, KK trainers and other trainers.
It's all about how much you're willing to put into it. Mind over matter and all that stuff.
And it isn't too early to start thinking about your winter workouts and what's going to get you the results you want for next year.
2cents.

For a sport/hobby that can be so expensive, I find comments like this pretty funny. I've got an $800 set of rollers that I love, I see $1,200 carbon wheels all over the place, I know several guys with $5,000+ bikes, lots of guys with Oakley sunglasses, powermeters, DuraAce , etc., etc., etc.,.......

I'll let you in on a little secret, we're all f'in nuts and we don't need any of it......... Except my powermeter, I need that.

Yeah, a nice quarq power meter on a set of E-Motion rollers would really help me to see how much I really suck.
At least with the "power chart" you get with the E-motions you can feel good about yourself (even if as others have suggested/ proven, it's way over weighted) :D

edit: you live in Austin, what the heck do you need an indoor trainer for?