I was responding to this: "You'll be smoother sure, and that helps in a group situation, but that's about it." Just trying to make the point that pedaling efficiency is not just one other thing. It is where the interface between man and machine begins. As I said it's the foundation.

I am late to the party, but do think rollers will help with some of your goals. Since a budget set can be had for only a bit over $100, I think it's worth it. An additional training benefit, possibly, is that rollers are likely to be less boring than your spin bike, so your potential workouts may be longer.

My experience may be instructive to someone so I'll offer it. I started cycling when I was pushing 40. Had no idea what I was doing. Read a book (Greg LeMond I think) and saw the statement "If you can't afford a coach buy rollers." So I did. I am still riding those rollers at age 68. Have never used a trainer. Last month I was a on a fit cycle at my LBS with a guy who is a local fitting guru. He measured my pedaling efficiency and said that anything over 70% for a recreational cyclist is good. Mine was at 85% and he was surprised that there was virtually no imbalance between legs. He knows I'm an ex-college football guy who at age 68 is 10 lbs. over cycling weight and only rides about 100 mile a week. When I told him that I had never used anything but rollers it was like "Oh yeah, of course."

As a newer cyclist I used them 1-2 times a week last winter and found rollers helped my bike handling skills greatly. Due to my work schedule I am unable to get much group riding experience. So when I did get in a group I was kind-of nervous and I was that squirrely guy who we all read about.

The best way I can quantify it would be how long I can stay on the 4" White line on the side of the road while looking down the road. Before rollers I would estimate I would stay on that line maybe 30% of the time. Now I stay on the line probably 70% of the time. The way I can tell if I am on the line or not without looking down is due to the multiple coats of paint on the line I feel significantly less road buzz when on the line.

I still suck at group riding because I don't get enough group riding experience but being handlebar to handlebar with another cyclist does not freak me out as much. I am also less nervous about some roads where there is limited shoulder room and cars are zooming past me. As far as helping pedaling efficiency I can't really say. As far as improving my fitness over a trainer or the road, probably not. Over sitting at home and doing nothing' absolutely yes.

Bottom-line as a newer cyclist the rollers helped a lot with my confidence and knowing where my tires are in relation to the side of the road.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=311494928975182

^^^
Cool. Does he have a trials background?

And of course that's how you move the bike from side to side on rollers, so I think they do help with cornering skills somewhat. Riding with a group, you see some riders whose upper bodies don't move and whose front wheels don't move from side to side as they pedal, in or out of the saddle, and those guys probably ride rollers. Pedaling smoothness reflects in bike motion, or the lack of it. Pedaling smoothness probably doesn't relate to higher power output, but it does relate to endurance. Ride with folks who ride ultras and you'll see some very smooth pedaling. It's just a whole 'nother world compared to trainer riding.

I always emphasize the importance of getting rollers with resistance so that you get smooth when going hard, not just spinning easy, and can do intervals at lower cadences. In winter, I get about half my cycling hours on rollers. It makes a difference.

As in countersteering?

All two wheeled vehicles initiate a turn by countersteering. Gotta get the front wheel outside the rear wheel somehow. But putting your weight on the inside handlebar kind of drives the front wheel into the turn and lends the bike to turning better than keeping your weight neutral between the bars.

Yes I know. I am an MSF Instructor. I was just wondering if you knew what it was called or were just doing it instinctively. When you push on the left bar it leans the bike over to the left. Straightening it out leaves you in a left arc. Car drivers who are new to motorcycling often get in trouble because they attempt to turn left by "steering" the bars to the left which, of course, puts them into a right arc.

As some of the later posters here have said, what you will gain is pedaling efficiency. Your body will adapt to only using the muscles needed to propel that part of your pedal stroke, then relax completely. We ought to do this all the time, but we rarely actually learn to do so unless something hammers into our bodies the need. Rollers do! Riding fix gear down fast hills does also! Unless we can be completely smooth, both of these activities are scary/close to nightmarish/far from fun. If we stick with it, our bodies learn. And we reap benefits from it every time we get on any bike. Longer, harder days become easier and more fun. We may have fewer chronic injuries.

I spent one winter on rollers post accident many years ago. I have been riding fix gears ever since. I have done nothing else (coaches, etc) for my pedaling style but have heard more than once that I pedal very smoothly, once hearing that in the late miles of a hard fix gear ride.

Ben

This is a forum, not a classroom. Leading questions are generally considered an insult unless you are in an explicit classroom environment. Just say'n. Also, bicycles have a CG about a foot or two higher than a motorcycle; I'm pretty sure this matters quite a lot. On a motorcycle, the CG is well below the rider and is dominated by the weight of the bike; the rider controls the bike only through steering and less through body weight distribution. A bicycle has a high CG and is dominated by the weight of the rider. The rider can steer through both mechanisms of steering and weight distribution.

There are lots of places to put your weight on a bike. You can certainly countersteer without explicitly putting weight on the inside bar. What weighting the inside bar does is shift your weight to the front wheel (which is the one doing the turning). This stabilizes the bike through the corner and allows better control over it's line. That it also initiates a countersteer is an added bonus you actual have to control least you cut the corner over sharp.

Life is a classroom but that wasn't my intention and I'm surprised you took it that way. You never mentioned "counter steering" so I wasn't sure if you were aware of the concept or just had a natural ability. Some people do those things without ever knowing that there's been a label attached. FWIW there has been at least one experiment I know of that indicates that using body weight to counter steer a motorcycle does not work. I do not know if this is also true for bicycles. FWIW here's Keith Code's site: http://www.superbikeschool.com/machi...bs-machine.php

I once had to take a buddy out on my motorcycle to demonstrate the principle of countersteering: let go of the left bar and with one finger pull back gently on the right bar. The motorcycle turns left. I wouldn't try this on a bicycle - much twitchier than a motorcycle, but the principle is the same. Pushing down on the left bar, I think, is a slightly different thing: it leans the frame slightly beneath the rider, which lean then initiates the turn. This is all that is necessary to control the bike on rollers.

However when cornering at high speed on the road I treat the bicycle more like my moto: holding my head vertically, I drop it to the inside to initiate the turn and bring in the inside knee to the top tube, twisting my pelvis slightly away from the apex. I don't do anything with the bars. This would have me on the floor in an instant on my rollers. :eek: