turbo or rollers

tony m

whats the best buy? what are the pro,s and con,s off either which one will benifit me more?.all i want to do is improve my general fitness more.i commute about 18 miles 6 days a week and have started doing extra as well but im getting hassle from the wife from not spending enough time at home so i need to buy either a turbo trainer or rollers as its a lot cheaper than getting dioverced :? :?

drummer

Rollers for me.

OK, you dont get the resistance of a turbo but it's a lot less hassle than tyre shredding or changing wheels.

You can still get a great workout and your pedal stroke improves!

eyebee

+1 for rollers
much more interesting especially done with sufferfest or similar.

AlanW

drummer wrote:

Rollers for me.

OK, you dont get the resistance of a turbo but it's a lot less hassle than tyre shredding or changing wheels.

You can still get a great workout and your pedal stroke improves!

What he said!

One Man And His Bike

I hate turbo trainers.

Turbo trainers resistance to me feels nothing like riding on the road and annoys me. I can never get the resistance on a turbo I want, even though I have a unit that has 10 settings + my 20 gears.

You have no movement on a turbo as your bike is locked in, this again makes the sensation of using one unrealistic and annoying, also I'm fairly sure it can't be that good for your bike frame and such with heavy or prolonged use?

Wear and tear on a turbo Vs Rollers is higher on your rubber and gearing I believe.

So much faffing around putting your bike on the turbo then taking it off unless you have a dedicated bike and storage to keep the bike + turbo set up.

If you want mind switched off, sat in the same position boredom sweat fests, get a turbo, good luck with it though.

Rollers however, I love.

You get a full core workout & it's far more interactive because of that. It's good for your pedal stroke and keeping a smooth cadence as well as helping you to make any movements on the bike smooth and easy.

It's entertaining for someone who catches you during a moment of lapsed concentration as you shoot off across the room at 30mph and headbut a wall!

rundle

drummer wrote:

Rollers for me.

OK, you dont get the resistance of a turbo but it's a lot less hassle than tyre shredding or changing wheels.

You can still get a great workout and your pedal stroke improves!

I use the cyclops rollers with the mag unit. I can ride them free of any resistance if I want, if I want I can dial the resistance in beyond anything I would ever get on a turbo.

I do intervals on those things and my legs are like jelly at the end.

Rollers.

One Man And His Bike

I have the same Rollers, not even used the resistance unit, quite happy with my gears for resistance.

Though I use the rollers for bad weather days and tend to use for long slow calorie burners than structured leg wobbler intervals.

bilirubin

Turbo for me.

I use the Cycleops Jet Fluid Pro and to those of you who say you cannot get a "road feel" from a turbo or "resistance" have not tried this model.

It comes at a price but as with most things in life you get what you pay for, if you want to spend less than £100.00 on Ebay on a turbo then yes, rollers will be a good alternative, but if you invest £250.00 plus in the turbo above then the road feel is great and all you need do is change gears for resistance.

Each to there own though, good luck whatever you choose.

a_n_t

bilirubin wrote:

I use the Cycleops Jet Fluid Pro and to those of you who say you cannot get a "road feel" from a turbo or "resistance" have not tried this model.

+1

Surfr

If you are buying rollers and take them to a race to warm up on the start line. Try and avoid lining up next to your clubmates and falling off the rollers causing a huge domino effect roller crash like one Halesowen A&CC (I think) rider did at Shrewsbury on Saturday. Very hard to keep a straight face under such circumstances.

Equally, you can look hyper cool by effortlessly doing your hair, no handed on the rollers a la Amy Roberts from Cardiff Ajax on the other side of the start area.