I competed against a Master's world champion in a roller race once. He kicked my ass.

And I'm sure Chris Hoy could kick his.

actually it was Craig McClean who set the fastest time in the end....it has to be said thought that unlike Craig, Chris didn't warm up, was clearly tired and wore Jeans....

we've got loads of pics and public reults but for now the movies are here....Craig's ride is awesome....amazing technique....just look at his start and how quick he gets up to speed.

http://www.rollapaluza.com/?p=132

I can't believe some of you are arguing against a bunch of bike people gathering together and having pretty innocent, good natured fun. Insane.

Had an article in Urban Velo last year on this, but the real source of info is opensprints.org. You know, for those of you not to cynical to laugh and cheer with friends once in a while.

Roller racing is cool, so it is good to see
all the enthusiasm. In many of the links above the riders have their
front wheel locked down. Is there some fear of liability that is killing
the old fashioned way of doing things? It ain't so hard to
ride the old way once you get used to it and it is safe.
Look at how bored Merckx looks in this
post below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7K4O...eature=related

'nuther clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKEHoA_xl-U

I think its that many people cant ride rollers and drink 8 beers.
Also, they might lose to someone who can ride rollers.

after 4 beers riding a roller is like @_@


finally gonna build up the circuits from the schematics from OpenSprints.

home made rollers?

The other night here in Tokyo.
http://www.vimeo.com/1638025

I am putting together an opensprints.com style setup! is freewheel the best way?

I am assuming you have fixed gear setup for the magnet on the crankarm, pics?

holy cow guys. I am totally blown away by the interest in DIY roller racing and opensprints

Really, really good things are on the horizon at opensprints.org, I wish I had more time in the day to write it all up in the wiki but here is a quick hitlist of the things we've developed this summer:

1. Battery powered, Bike LED display option for those days when you can't get an extension cord
2. New arduino based completely open source hardware. No more pesky license caveats.
3. RJ45 connectors for everything. It's sooo simple.
4. Kits for sale (soon) and custom etched electronics for cheap (the CAD files are open source too, you don't have to buy them from us! get 'em fabbed yourself!)

Also, this hasn't been announced yet but I am doing a three night IRO Sprints series in December in Chicago, if you are anywhere in the midwest, come out because the prizes are gonna be huge. Also, to all of the people with goldsprints-style setups: if you guys give me warning I will gladly advertise your events on opensprints.org's main page, I want people interested in the software to know about their local guys!

Also to chime in / reiterate on these "debates" about fixed vs. freewheel, stock bikes vs. personal bikes, forkmounts vs front wheels.

There is no right answer! You guys saw one photo and somehow decided that was the gospel I was preaching. You can do whatever you want! I don't usually decide myself, I just make myself and my setup available for rent to the Chicago-land bike community and I'll do pretty much anything the renter wants. I usually quide these decisions based on the target audience for the event, and the target audience is usually a bunch of drunk uninformed and clumsy hipsters much like myself.

Regarding forkmounts:
I really don't want any of my friends or enemies to bust their heads open, so if there is alcohol out we will always use forkmounts. There is usually alcohol involved.

On the other hand, I technically could go without the forkmounts because my sensor is mounted on the rollers. I would rather do that at the local velodrome's season-end barbecue than at say, a bar. Going without forkmounts would add this whole other dimension to the races, and would make them even more interesting to watch even if it excludes some people.

Regarding bikes:
IRO Sprints has bikes graciously donated by, guess who, IRO Cycle; the bikes have never been ridden on the street and they are only used for Sprints. By controlling the bikes you can make sure that everything is as fair and balanced as FoxNews.

On the other hand, Rollapaluza in London has a great policy which I have adopted: You can ride any bike you like as long as the rollout is less than or equal to the stock bikes and the crankarm length is no shorter than that of the stock bikes. This is a great way to let shorter and taller folks ride a bike that fits them while ensuring that no one has a mechanical advantage.

Regarding fixed gear bicycles:
I use a freewheel on a (brakeless) track bike. There is some strange mechanical law: when your wheel rotates forward on the rollers the bike tends to stay in the middle keeping it upright. There is an equally strange and opposing law: when a wheel rotates backwards on rollers the bike will immediately go to one side or the other and tip over. Drunk people have a REALLY REALLY hard time understanding this, no matter how many times you explain it. If you say things like "DON'T PEDAL BACKWARDS YOU WILL BREAK IT" it only exacerbates their lack of understanding.

On the other hand, Fixies are cool right? I want to be Natty Fab-ulous

I am thinking freewheel is easier for the competitors but fixed is more accurate for the sensors (!?)

Actually at Rollapaluza we have two identical Condor bikes with identical components, wheels, tyres (Conti Home Trainer) only the frame sizes are different, we have extra long seatposts to accomodate all size riders.....like this we can be sure it's a totally level playing field.....we regularly check chain tensions, hub bearings, bottom brackets and tyre pressures, just to make doubly sure.

Rollapaluza is so popular we just wouldn't have the time to get through all the riders if they used different bikes / pedal systems.....we had 88 competitors at Kingspin and regularly race upwards of 120 at festival style events.