as I posted earlier, I am looking for a set of rollers and found a set or performance band aluminum rollers for $50. Issue with them is they are 5 years old but only used for half a winter season and the rest of the time spent in a closet. They are in Seattle and I'm in Portland. Good thing, he is in Portland for thanksgiving. after talking with him last night he said he would bring them with him and i could meet up. This would be my first set of rollers so I may love it, may hate it. I had a trainer and sold it after 2 months I hated it so much.

While I was waiting for this guy to contact me, I made an offer to a guy in portland who has a set of kreitler 4.5 aluminum rollers for $150. He was asking $200 and just contacted me this morning that he would take it. obviously the Kreitler rollers are a nice set. If I go with the Kreitlers it will wipe my "cycling bank" clean, if I go with the performance set I will be saving some money.

will the kreitler set be worth it? which set should I go with? Either set I go with I will be making my own free motion frame to use with it.

I have never ridden the Kreitlers but from all of the reviews they are awesome (as far as rollers go). I just have a cheap set of rollers and I absolutely hate using them. There is nothing wrong with the rollers, I just hate rollers. Personally, I can't justify buying expensive rollers, which is rare since generally I always buy the best that I can afford.

but you HATE buying Assos bibs =D

I have Assos bibs, I'm just not impressed with the comfort per dollar vs other bibs that I own.

I would say get the more expensive/better quality rollers ONLY if you plan to use them a lot and keep them around for many seasons. Don't buy the best and then resell them later. (you'll only take a bigger hit)

I'm hoping to keep them for a while. just dont know if the extra $100 is going to be worth it. Kreitler having a better quality build, bigger drums and they are newer I'm leaning and wanting the kreitlers. But I also feel bad about having this guy bringing them down and then telling him....nevermind.

The ONLY reservation that I would have would be the Kreitlers are 4.5" which would be quite a low resistance. I got a set of the Performance rollers last week and have used them 3 times. First time having rollers. Much better than the trainer but I see it as a totally different type of workout. For me, it's more of a technique type thing. I just can't get in a full on sprint or do a power interval on rollers. At least not yet. I still like my Cycleops fluid trainer for that. So, if you're wanting to use your rollers for tempo, muscular, or anaerobic workout you may be out of luck with that large a diameter. But, like I said, I'm a total roller noob.

I love rollers, I would rather eat lead paint chips than ride on a trainer. With that said, my advice would be to buy the best rollers that you can afford. I have the parabolic rollers that I purchased at Performance, I ride almost 100 miles a week on them. I absolutely LOVE them. They have a resistance setting that feels quite like the road, when I need more resistance, I shift to a lower gear. I sold my trainer after a month, I simply do not see how anyone can enjoy that. The rollers give me a road feel, improve my pedal stroke and allows me to ride all winter long.

I'd get the Kreitlers. They're used, someone else already took the hit on the price. If you don't like them you can sell them for what you paid, maybe even more.

That's cool, my rollers don't move. I ride my rollers and trainer all winter and I never get a mile in. I got ripped off!

tell that to your wheel bearings!

I've had Kreitlers for a few years now... They are well built/solid. As for the performance branded rollers I have zero experience. Mine are the Challengers I believe, 4 or 4 1/2 drums if I remember correctly.