Rollers or Turbo

thefd

I have a turbo trainer and enjoy it (sort of). I have seen on here people talking about rollers. What are the advantages and disadvantages of both. Those with rollers, do you wish you got a turbo instead? Or are you happy with rollers?

Are rollers more realistic compared to a turbo trainer?

JackPozzi

I prefer the riding on rollers, they feel better and concentrating on staying upright seems to help the time go quicker. But for hard sessions, I'll always use the turbo, I can't get enough resistance on rollers, plus I want to be just focussing on getting the effort out and not have to worry about keeping the bike on the rollers.

ju5t1n

It's summer mate. Suggest you repost in October

thefd

ju5t1n wrote:

It's summer mate. Suggest you repost in October

Yea I know but I have the offer of buying some cheap now for the winter...can't decide if I should or not!

simon_masterson

I use rollers, but my main bike has 27" wheels and you can't get turbo tyres in that size.

elderone

I used turbo all winter but just got some tacx rollers,but cant say which is best yet as not got knack of rollers yet.
The plan is suffer on turbo and longer rides on the rollers over next winter.

gaddster

Kurt rock n roll turbo for me, does the job when the weather is poor.

smoggysteve

Choice 3

Go out regardless of the weather and stop being a fanny!!!

NITR8s

Turbo + Sufferfest = the way to go!

imposter2.0

As ever, it depends on what you actually want to do with them and what you hope to achieve. Turbo is probably the way to go if you have any plans for improvement through structured/focused sessions.

dennisn

TheFD wrote:

Are rollers more realistic compared to a turbo trainer?

The is no realism in either of them. Unless of course your idea of realism in cycling is 4 walls. Both boring as hell IMHO.

dragonontheedge

I have done both.

Being a total fanny I don't do cold and wet so option three mentioned above is a not an option.

I dislike turbos since my last one crept back and bored a hole in the kitchen wall meaning I had to decorate (something a hate more than getting wet and cold).

I bought my first set of rollers last Friday and have taken to them like a duck to cold wet water. I love them and have done 24 miles on them in 3 sessions since.

For me rollers are the way forward for winter training. I prefer the relative freedom and the fact that you are not mindlessly plugging away for hours on end. You have to concentrate or you get hurt (VOE).

Al

elderone

SmoggySteve wrote:

Choice 3

Go out regardless of the weather and stop being a fanny!!!

That's helpful,so maybe this winter I will mtfu and just follow the plough as he clears several feet of snow.
Nah think being a fanny is safer.

dennisn

elderone wrote:

SmoggySteve wrote:

Choice 3

Go out regardless of the weather and stop being a fanny!!!

That's helpful,so maybe this winter I will mtfu and just follow the plough as he clears several feet of snow.
Nah think being a fanny is safer.

I'm with you. To put yourself through what you don't enjoy sort of defeats the purpose of riding. I suppose that IF you're a pro or IF you're riding in bad weather for bragging rights then have at it.

Sprool

I vote rollers, keeping balanced feels a lot better than being clamped down, it keeps you more focused and it helps to develop much smoother pedalling technique. You can get a good workout by using the bike gears and you dont have to muck about with your rear wheel or get a training tyre, just lift your bike on and climb aboard. When you get bored (and you will) then you can play at keeping balanced one handed, then no-handed, then doing a mile at 95 cadence whilst juggling oranges. So much more fun than turbos. Still not a patch on emerging into the real world though. However, mine got great use last winter for 40 minute sessions at night when I got in from work, or for when the snow had shut our road for 3 weeks. The only benefit of a turbo is its easier to rig up to a dynamo and power your house lights for an evening.

Monty Dog

Third button - both

Rollers are great for improving pedalling technique/cadence and cardio workouts but less so for high-intensity training - tends not to be so mind-numbingly boring as turbo as they require greater concentration

Turbo is better where you are tyring to do 'fixed load' or progressive training e.g. specific power output / ramp test

Saying "one is better than the other" is a bit like comparing a road bike with an MTB as it really depends on what you want to use it for.

slowbike

elderone wrote:

SmoggySteve wrote:

Choice 3

Go out regardless of the weather and stop being a fanny!!!

That's helpful,so maybe this winter I will mtfu and just follow the plough as he clears several feet of snow.
Nah think being a fanny is safer.

I quite like a winter ride - even with snow and ice on the ground ... it's naff all good to "training" though as you have to be quite careful where you ride and tend to go a lot slower. But as we don't tend to get months of snow it's not a huge issue - if it was I'd get tyres with studs in!

seanorawe

I have a turbo trainer. Bought for 130 quid 2 years ago. Used 4 times. get out and ride

smoggysteve

Slowbike wrote:

elderone wrote:

SmoggySteve wrote:

Choice 3

Go out regardless of the weather and stop being a fanny!!!

That's helpful,so maybe this winter I will mtfu and just follow the plough as he clears several feet of snow.
Nah think being a fanny is safer.

I quite like a winter ride - even with snow and ice on the ground ... it's naff all good to "training" though as you have to be quite careful where you ride and tend to go a lot slower. But as we don't tend to get months of snow it's not a huge issue - if it was I'd get tyres with studs in!

Me too. If the weather is bad. Get a bike setup that will suite the weather. Better winter use tyres, mudguards and some really good winter clothing. And I bet all that is cheaper than buying a Turbo. Just because of a bit of snow or rain, people think its better to stay in and stay in their comfort zones. That not training, its called being a fanny. And if you think you can't cycle in snow and rain look at the last Giro. Sure they cancelled 1 day because it was unpassable and too windy but that was a big exception.

GGBiker

Get the sportcrafters rollers from Planet X, all the benefits of rollers and as much resistance as you could want, it has an inbuilt resistance unit in the rear roller, all you do is change up/down through the gears to increase resistance. Much quieter than tacx rollers and the turbo I used previously.

dbb

i agree with the last post.
for everyone that has commented about not being able to get a max power workout on the rollers - i'm guessing that that haven't tried rollers with inbuilt resistance.
they really are the best of both worlds

Gussio

GGBiker wrote:

Get the sportcrafters rollers from Planet X, all the benefits of rollers and as much resistance as you could want, it has an inbuilt resistance unit in the rear roller, all you do is change up/down through the gears to increase resistance. Much quieter than tacx rollers and the turbo I used previously.

+1. They are my first ever set of rollers and I love them!

denniskwok

Voted for rollers. Got some for last winter and loved training on them while watchng the TV. I fell off them hard in one session though after getting a big static shock off the metal picture frame hanging off the wall I was using for support. :roll:

I still go out in winter as long as it's dry. I refuse to go out when it's wet in winter due to the salt all over the roads destroying components and I don't have a winter hack. Yet.

chiark

I bought a turbo trainer 18 months ago - cycleops fluid 2. I get on well with it, but it does eat tyres a little.
I then bought a set of jetblack rollers. Got on with them OK after a while, but I didn't find them interesting at all... I do think they helped me pedal smoother, but that

I sold the rollers, and have just bought a new back wheel and tyre to go with the turbo trainer .