Bouncy on rollers

Hurricane151

I did my very first session on my new rollers, which was an interesting experience, and after I managed to get used to them I thought I would try some faster work.

Most of the session was done at about 95 rpm and I felt smooth at about 110 / 115 rpm but if i started to get above this it starts to get very bouncy and it almost feels like if i pushed any harder i would ride off the front.

Is this purely down to my riding style or is there another cause (roller set up etc.)?

Any tips greatly appreciated.

Cheers

TommyEss

It's almost certainly your technique - sounds like your pedalling is a but unbalanced. Take it easy, don't go too fast - a fixed wheel will work wonders but that's a pretty expensive way of working around it. To be honest though, I only use my track bike on rollers...

Herbsman

Pedal smoothly and circularly

doubleoseven

Have you positioned the front roller correctly?If you look at the back wheel for guidance, the front wheel should sit as low as the back, so it will be slightly off centre to the roller. An easy way to check is to measure the distance from the rear tyre to the floor and make the front the same. Like the other replies said, you will find that as your technique improves you will stay smooth.

scoobymacdoo2

Try going up a gear or two,it sounds like your gearing is to low.

Eddy S

I can almost guarantee that:-

Your arms are locked solid*
You are gripping the bars too tightly*
Your shoulders are tense and hunched up by your ears*
Your upper body isn’t relaxed and your hips aren’t moving freely*
You start chopping at the pedalling as you try to speed things up*
(*delete as applicable)

You have to relax, let the bike move around under you and develop your leg speed. Very few people have a smooth natural style with immediate high cadence capability and it’s something you have to work at.

And I wouldn’t follow the set-up guidance above – that is not where you set the front wheel.

For Doubleoseven’s guidance, the correct set-up process is to imagine a vertical line through the front axle down to the tyre/contact patch. The front roller should be set so that part of the tyre is sitting on the roller literally just behind the crown of the roller. If you set it as low as suggested, you won’t be able to manoeuvre the bike on the rollers while riding and it’s going to make the whole feel very heavy and sluggish to ride.

oldwelshman

Eddy S wrote:

I can almost guarantee that:-

Your arms are locked solid*
You are gripping the bars too tightly*
Your shoulders are tense and hunched up by your ears*
Your upper body isn’t relaxed and your hips aren’t moving freely*
You start chopping at the pedalling as you try to speed things up*
(*delete as applicable)

You have to relax, let the bike move around under you and develop your leg speed. Very few people have a smooth natural style with immediate high cadence capability and it’s something you have to work at.

And I wouldn’t follow the set-up guidance above – that is not where you set the front wheel.

For Doubleoseven’s guidance, the correct set-up process is to imagine a vertical line through the front axle down to the tyre/contact patch. The front roller should be set so that part of the tyre is sitting on the roller literally just behind the crown of the roller. If you set it as low as suggested, you won’t be able to manoeuvre the bike on the rollers while riding and it’s going to make the whole feel very heavy and sluggish to ride.

+1 for being relaxed and also +1 for not setting the front wheel low, unless you want to fall off Just relax and practice and gradually increase speed, it is relatively new to you. I would not change gear, leave it in one gear, probably 53 x 16 or 53 x 17 is pretty good. Work on getting used to the feel of the rollers.