Turbo Trainer or Rollers ?

Gav2000

The nights are getting darker and I'm thinking that I might need some sort of indoor trainer to get me through the winter, I'm not sure what to get though.

I like the idea of rollers but I don't think you can vary the resistance so they might not get my heart rate up enough to be beneficial as the only exercise I might get between weekend rides. Turbo trainers look to have more resisitance flexibility but look very boring and the range of price and options is confusing.

Therefore;

* Are rollers a good option for a 1 hour winter workout? Which would be a good set to buy if they are?

* If I were to get a Turbo Trainer what are the features to look for? Are there any definite best buys out there at a reasonable price?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Gav.

simbil1

It's something you can easily spend too much money on (no surprise there for cycling stuff). I'd recommend a £50 second hand turbo with variable resistance. The resistance is not essential as you can create more or less resistance with your gears, but adding resistance on the trainer simulates hills/head wind better as it has a constant braking effect.
I got a cycle ops one off e-bay and it is fine for shed biking (too noisey for inside the house). Go for a better mag trainer if you need something quieter.

Bronzie

Rollers are available with resistance (c.£300) although I haven't tried them myself (just have the non-resistance kind) - see this thread which was discussed in "Training" a while back:
http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... ight=turbo

Rollers are great for:
- improving your balance
- recovery rides (spinning your legs)
- being fairly quiet - can still watch TV with the sound up a bit
- being more interesting to ride than a turbo as you have to concentrate otherwise you fall over!
Without a resistance mechanism though, you don't get much of a workout.

If you want a decent workout, I'd probably go for a turbo with variable restistance. Not much experience of what's currently available so I'll leave that to others to comment.

Don't just sit on them and pedal as you'll soon get bored and it'll become a chore. Get a set of workouts with intervals / single-leg workouts etc to follow and the time passes a lot easier. I've got a "turbo trainer workout" book floating around somewhere, but I can't remember it's exact name or author. If I find it, I'll let you know.

John C.

I clocked my highest heart rate ever on rollers
Those who say you don't get a proper workout are talking out of their ****
As Bronze said but I wouldn't try whaching TV whilst on them, you have to concentrate to stay upright.
You can use any bike on rollers.
There is less to go wrong with them
Go for the rollers you know it makes sence

John C.

For my work out I warm up for about 5 mins then 3 mins at 60% on HRM then over the next min raise to 80% for 3 min then back down during next min to 60% repeat 4 times cool down. You would need a HRM to do this. After this work out wou will be very hot and sweaty, I ride mine in the garage with the doors open, even in winter.

Bronzie

John C. wrote:

I clocked my highest heart rate ever on rollers
Those who say you don't get a proper workout are talking out of their ****

Enlighten me how you managed it then - I use my rollers with a 50x15 (90" gear) fixed wheel bike (because I find it easier to develop a nice smooth pedal stroke this way) - my max pulse on the rollers is about 150bpm when my max is 175 - and I'm seriously spinning my tits off to get there.

What am I missing? Do you ride yours uphill?

APIII

Haven't used rollers, but have used a Tacx Swing for the last 4 or 5 years. It's fairly cheap, quiet and has variable resistance, but like Simbal said, using your gears is sufficent most of the time. I'd go for a fairly basic one, spend any spare cash on a turbo specific tyre to cut down on the noise and on expanding your cycling dvd library. You will get bored without something to watch!

John C.

Bronzie wrote:

John C. wrote:

I clocked my highest heart rate ever on rollers
Those who say you don't get a proper workout are talking out of their ****

Enlighten me how you managed it then - I use my rollers with a 50x15 (90" gear) fixed wheel bike (because I find it easier to develop a nice smooth pedal stroke this way) - my max pulse on the rollers is about 150bpm when my max is 175 - and I'm seriously spinning my tits off to get there.

What am I missing? Do you ride yours uphill?

You are probably a lot fitter than me
I tend to use the gears to get up to the 80% I ride at ,but after the session sometimes I put it into top gear, depending on the bike that may be 52-11 and go for it , that is when I hit the very high heart rates , 52-11 works out at 127 inches , a lot more than your 90 inches.
So, try using a bike with high gears

stevec205gti

I think it's the fear of death if you come off that makes your heart rate go up!!!!

Eddy S

Bronzie wrote:

Rollers are available with resistance (c.£300) ...snip

Not completely accurate - if you go for any model of Tacx rollers, Tacx make a resistance unit (T1350 Speedmatic) that is available for about £65 on top of the price of the rollers (£62-£90)

I've used a set of Sport Track rollers plus the T1350 for the last 2 winters and I get plenty of "proper" work-outs using this set up.