No one is discussing the diameter of the drum on rollers. Krietler rollers offer a variety of diameters - the smaller diameter will work you harder. I have the large diameter Krietler rollers with the resistance fan unit. It has three pulley settings and you can also open or close the air intake which contributes to the resistance provided. The fan also blows up at you offering a cooling breeze. Open the air intake flap all of the way and put the drive belt on the smallest pulley and you will push very hard to maintain 23 mph.

I learned to ride these in a door way but now simply place them about one foot away from a flat wall surface. They are easy to ride and much more fun than a fixed mag or fluid trainer.

For what its worth, Nashbar's rollers are currently on sale for $140. Performance rollers, which I think might be identical but foldable, are on sale for $160 but not shipping until mid-February.

The Nashbar sale price and solid reviews just pushed me over the edge. The 85mm (3.3") diameter rollers likely offer enough resistance for base miles.

Does the resistance mechanism attached to the rollers affect the easy of staying upright at all? I would think that low effort would be easier to apply smoothly than high effort. Is there any truth to that.

I have had a set of rollers for about to weeks. And I love them first couple of days I could barely ride 3 minutes without losing my balance. But I am slowly improving and notice a big difference on my actual rides. Rollers really show you when you doing something wrong with your pedal stroke and are a great training tool. For resistance training just ride outside you are in california so weather is not a big limiter. Plus trainers are just dead boring.

My (really simplified) take: Trainer for power and conditioning gains. Rollers to train your muscles to ride a bike really efficiently and well. You will win more sprints with the trainer. You will find yourself riding in better company with rollers. (Quality riders won't mind being around you; smooth riding does that.)

Ben

In the 23 years that I have used rollers, I have not observed that the resistance unit plays any role in keeping you upright. The key to staying up on rollers is to relax your shoulders and look forward. Looking down and tensing up causes you to waver back and forth. My biggest problem is that I get bored on them, even with music playing or a movie playing on the laptop. I am good for about 45 minutes and then I think about getting off of them, but at this point, I have broken a good sweat. So, I would say that rollers are really good for maintaining or developing cardiovascular base and learning to have a relaxed pedal rhythm.

I have both and there are a couple of downsides to rollers to keep in mind that have been mentioned in some of the previous posts.

1) I find using rollers for hard intervals to be challenging. If you push yourself to the point where you feel a bit wobbly at the end of the interval rollers can be problematic. You have to keep pedaling at a reasonable pace to maintain your balance and if you push an interval to exhaustion you can run into problems (loose your balance). Given I have had this experience I tend to hold back a bit on my intervals on rollers for safety sake.
2) Rollers are not great it you want to watch a movie / sports during an extended low to moderate intensity ride. You need to maintain decent concentration while on the rollers (to remain centered) and if you get caught up in a movie or game it's easy to drift off to the side of the rollers and run into problems (fall off).

Ideally having both is the way to go but if I had to choose one I would go with a fluid based trainer for overall versatility.

Love that video. It's right on so many levels.

Speak for yourself. FWIW, I tested my FTP last weekend on my rollers (w/ resistance). Being in control while deep in the red is a valuable thing to practice.

Do your research pal. If you are in control at the end of a FTP test your not doing it right. Seeing stars, dizzy, barely able to stand, ready to puke ... that's how a FTP test is done.

Rollers are cooler, of course, but that's a comparatively recent development. I used a set of RollTrac rollers (I'll be amazed if anyone remembers those) from 1974 until the RacerMate came out in the early '80s, then ditched them. Figured out that 45 minutes doing intervals is far more beneficial than spinning at moderate effort.

Also figured out that rollers train you how to spin smoothly on rollers but are about as useful as a unicycle for road smoothness. Hot flash: if you can ride 50 feet on a bike without falling over, you can ride as smoothly as any roller fanatic if you so choose. Learning "smoothness" equals learning pack etiquette, not pedaling technique.

Lol, 41 it up

Perhaps you should look up the definition of "threshold" and then give some thought as to why it is called a "Functional Threshold Power" test (just a suggestion) .

Perhaps instead of absurd rhetorical overkill, you do that search and join the real world of training with power

Determining Functional Threshold Pace (FTP) | TrainingPeaks

NB
Note the lack of puking/passing out/falling over/head exploding/spontaneous combustion

Joe Friel's Blog: A Quick Guide to Setting Zones

Alex's Cycle Blog: The Sins of Sins (Testing FTP #2)

Alex's Cycle Blog: The seven deadly sins

You can do this very briefly, but it's really not much like actually riding out of the saddle. (Trainer isn't exactly the same either, but much much closer.)

I kind of amazes me at how fast some threads go down hill.

This one had great potential... simple cost benefit question. Some thoughtful insight... and then, WHAM.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YFQdLLKxiww

if you don't mind spending the money, inside ride rollers might likely be the best training purchase you ever make. The rollers move with your body and you can do just about anything on there, including out of the saddle sprints. The whole 'learn to spin' thing is utterly over rated anyway, and with the resistance unit on here you can simulate pretty much anything. I know I find being locked into a set position to be mentally and physically challenging. I do much better on rollers, and I find I can ride these for hours without some of the difficulties I have with other trainers.

Exactly Manweiser. It turned into a "i know more than you do about max workout heart rates, etc." Where in Ct are you? I grew up in Newtown/Danbury in the 1960s/70s.

But back to the OP question(s), if he is not really sure which to get, look for something used on Ebay or similar to test them out before investing $200 - $400. I found a stationary Magura trainer at the Salvation Army. I took it home and tried it but liked my rollers more because they were much more challenging to master. Once comfortable on them, they are fun! I think that for big aerobic work outs, go to the gym for spinning classes. Whereas I do find them useful, the fit of the stationary spinning bikes is never as good as my own road bike.

I have a set, I have not graduated out of the hallway yet with a wall on each side however :-).

Bill

I fell off of mine too many times. I built this.

ok, I'll bite...how do you fall off inside ride rollers?

Dunno? The last time I was watching Netflix and came off really fast. I think it's been from watching TV and not paying attention to the sides. Now I have wood on either side of me and even if I watch TV I can see it in my periphery.