robbyville

Decided I needed something other than my cyclops super magneto to keep me going this winter. Last season there were only a few weeks where I couldn't ride on the road but the almanac is calling for a nice cold one this year and considering I make my living in the snow sports industry... Well let's just say karma has me thinking about indoor riding!

At any rate, it's been a long time since I've ridden rollers and felt that for long rides I'd be better off with them. I mostly ride when I can, in my office in the early evenings now with TrainerRoad and a video. I figured that motion rollers would be a step in the right direction given my need to move around and lack of form.

Packaging was nice, build instructions horrible (in fact the first few steps had the belt on the wrong roller . Still it took less than 20 minutes to figure it out and get these measured and built. I'll post a review tomorrow after my first longer ride but I did set them up in a doorway (overly cautious) and was riding them within a few minutes and moving my hands around and in the drops. No out of the saddle yet. I'll be curious to see how they are with no resistance.

2 wheeler

I'm a fan of rollers and am riding them a LOT since it got cold and icy here. I would be very interested in how these work out for you.

Be sure to set up a fan in front of the rollers to cool yourself off, otherwise sweat will cause corrosion on your bike and the rollers. In my experience, it's best to run the same tire pressure as you would when riding on the road.

Good luck with using the rollers. I think that you'll find that, after a few hours, you'll be quite at home and confident on them.

robbyville

Thanks! Yep, looking forward to it. I have a ritual that I've been using with the cyclops super magneto which I received a few weeks ago and which I think I'll keep for now. Large fan, open door to outside, sweat catcher, and game of thrones with a trainer road workout superimposed on top! Will see how I fare tomorrow.

Do you have a resistance unit on your rollers?

2 wheeler

Not yet. I've got some neodymium magnets that I'm going to experiment with to add resistance. Since I'm 60, I'm not too wound up about dialing in a bunch of resistance, I just want to keep active and retain most of the fitness I gained over the summer. 40 minutes to an hour on the rollers, in nearly top gear, gives a nice workout, at least for me.

robbyville

Did my first one hour workout on the rollers today. First I'd mention that it really took no time to get back on them even having not ridden rollers in over 20 years. I'd say it took me about 5 minutes of ride time before I was comfortable getting into the drops, pulling a water bottle from the cage, etc. Probably 15-20 minutes before I attempted my first out of the saddle. Different to say the least and still need lots of practice but no problems. My main challenge when standing was swaying side to side.

I used a TrainerRoad workout and had no problems with this one getting wattage where I needed with the exception of a few sprints where I just didn't have the stability to stand and stomp. Also not sure that I would have been able to hit the sprint target power which was over 300. I think the rollers will be great for longer rides and rides with intervals up to 180 watts (my current FTP is 190), but I think I may be challenged with higher wattage workouts since this does not have resistance, it doesn't seem like Tacx sells a resistance unit for it either so perhaps I'll try a DIY method (drums are plastic). So I guess I'll keep the Cyclops stationary unit as well.

I'm looking forward to using these more, especially if I can add some drag.

Brian Ratliff

Ah, plastic rollers. Prepare to be SHOCKED!

I mean, literally. I borrowed some plastic rollers a couple times at track races for warmup and spent the whole time holding a steel rail to avoid getting shocked through the crotch to my steel frame. Static electricity is a b*tch sometimes.

Brian Ratliff

A word of warning: Don't do the "towel under roller" DIY resistance with the plastic drum. Good chance the heat will cause the roller to warp.

robbyville

Great words of wisdom thanks, that's exactly what I was going to do! Any thoughts as to other options? Funny about the static electricity, no problem with that so far.

Brian Ratliff

Maybe rig a resistance unit built for a different brand roller to yours? You can maybe mount the unit to a bracket that mounts to each the rear roller axles. I dunno.

Plastic rollers and plastic frame makes for a good, tight, silent and light package, but it's not so good for DIY modification.

robbyville

I googled it and found a video, which appears to be in some Eastern European dialect of a fellow who used a minoura mag unit pretty easily on the Galaxia's going to look at that option!