Rollers recommendation
sqwerl_mk2
Posts: 31
Can someone recommend a decent set of rollers.
I'd prefer something that folds.
A quick scan of Wiggle shows either the Minoura Action Advance or the Elite Ghibli as being reasonable. The Ghibli's parabalic rollers suggests it's easier to stay centred. Something useful to someone (i.e. me) that's not used to riding them.
Ta
I'd prefer something that folds.
A quick scan of Wiggle shows either the Minoura Action Advance or the Elite Ghibli as being reasonable. The Ghibli's parabalic rollers suggests it's easier to stay centred. Something useful to someone (i.e. me) that's not used to riding them.
Ta
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Posts
(apologies for the hijack by the way sqwerl_mk2!)
Haven't used the parabolic ones so can't comment, but part of the reason I went for rollers is that you need to concentrate when riding (unlike turbo trainer) which makes them time spent on them go a bit quicker and once you get the hang of it, your balance will improve.
When I first rode them, I clung for dear life to the adjacent wall, but can now ride no handed. You will pick it up surprisingly quickly.............I've only had a few "moments" on them..............best not use them indoors on the best carpet until you get the knack. :oops:
I actually only use them to spin my legs - either as warm-up/down when track racing or as a recovery ride after a hard ride. There is no resistance and even in a high gear, you just spin like a top. It does improve your balance and encourage smooth pedalling but is no use for interval training. I tend to use mine with a fixed-gear track bike, but there is no reason why you couldn't use a road bike (don't want too much tread on the tyre though).
The only rollers with resistance I have seen are made in the USA by Kreitling (?) but they are about $800 for a set with a turbo fan driven off a separate band from the front roller.
http://www.trisports.com/cyroalwre9.html
Bit more reasonably priced than the Kreitler ones I mentioned above:
http://www.kreitler.com/product.php?pg=product
Have a look at insideride rollers - a friend of mine imports them into the UK and let me have a shot on them last week. The steel rollers themselves sit on an internally sprung frame which allows the whole unit to move back and forth with you, so you stay on even when you're out of the saddle giving it some wellie. Also there are small horizontally mounted buffer wheels on either side of the front roller which bounce your front wheel back onto line. I've hit these pretty hard while giving it a 100% sprint effort on the track bike - no worries.
There's a flywheel which smooths out the ride and gives resistance approximate to riding the road. A magnetic resistance unit then offers another 3 levels of resistance, going right up to 1200w resistance at a cadence of 100rpm.
I've been riding rollers for a few years (and have fallen off a few times), but these are really something else. Here's a youtube of me riding my triathlon bike while practising taking my shoes off (at 30mph) getting ready for transition.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=driJSVzg0cY
There's a few other youtube videos of top scottish riders on the insideride rollers too - check out Craig Hardie's one for some aggressive sprinting.
If you want any more details - contact Martin at [email protected]
Cheers, Andy
http://www.stirlingtri.co.uk
thanks for the plug Andy!
Yes these rollers are expensive but they are not just your traditional 3 drum rollers!
If you want a set of three drum roillers with no resistance for warming up on before or after races, these are not for you and you can buy some very good rollers for much less.
The insideride e-motion rollers are a serious bit of kit for home training on.
They have super smoothy unlimitted progressive resistance.
They allow you to stand up, rock the bike, sprint. In fact to just ride your bike as you want to, inside. Every thing short of going around corners. Things you can not do on traditional rollers or turbo trainers.
You can ride at speeds as low as 5 or 6 miles an hour, with full on resisance, completely smooth. Like climbing a very steep hill. Or you can hammer away on your TT bike at 30 miles an hour and 500 watts.
They are callibrated to allow you to know the power that you are prducing simply by looking at the speed on your bikes computer. No need for an additional power meter.
The build quality is off the scale, so they are a once in a life time purchase.
But do not take my word for it, try reading some of these reviews:-
http://www.roadbikereview.com/cat/train ... px#reviews
That's all great, and they do look and sound awesome... But what is the UK price?!
Wow! :shock:
Seriously I'd love a set, but I winced at £200 for the CycleOps ones mentioned above!!
That's impressive...............if I tried that on my rollers I would have bitten the garage floor pretty hard. :roll:
but the thing that really impresses me is the smoothness of the resistance. It feels just like riding on the road, no matter what you are doing.
What the noise level like on these?
Jakob
Nearly silent - there is no fan - just the tyre and chain noise plus spokes cutting through the air...........I can quite happily watch TV with the volume turned up just a bit.
I'm sure there would be a LOT more orders at sub £400
It's great to be .....
eg.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAvVcNxGlR0
You can see that essentially one creates the outer cradle, attached some wheels to the rollers, and uses bunjees to act as springs.
and here for another close up of another variant where theres more discussion on how to build it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS2yvBo8EMQ