Has anyone tried an Indoor Roller Trainer?

Question

What do you think about it?

http://www.torpedo7.com.au/products/T7TRRN7RT

Answer 1

Rollers are good for teaching you to pedal smoothly. Ride behind a rider who has mastered rollers, then ride behind one who has never used them. The difference in the smoothness will be striking. The roller rider will ride in a straight line, avoid obstacles with grace and style, and keep a steady, even cadence. The non-roller rider will show jerky pedal motion, bounce excessively at high pedal cadences, and swerve dangerously around the slightest road obstacle.

Don't be afraid to spend a few bucks on a decent set of rollers. You'll have them for the rest of your life. As one poster wrote, don't get plastic drums. The ones you show are just fine actually. There are resistance units you can get, but you really have to look around. A resistance unit will help you learn to ride rollers, riding with no resistance is the hardest of all.

I bought a set of Minoura rollers 20 years ago and they still work great. About ten years ago, I bought a magnetic loader and bolted it to the frame, works great. Brands like Tacx and Kreitler are the best, and you can buy either magnetic or wind loaders for resistance training.

Beware of the Kreitler Wind Loader! This is one of the hardest workouts I've had in 25 years of racing. You want a real challenge, get it and run it with the 'door' wide open OUCH!!!!

Answer 2

I don't know much about that model. I have rollers from cycleops and they work well. To increase the resistance, you just shift into a harder gear which makes the rollers spin faster and creates more resistance, or like previously mentioned, some have the ability to add an attachment to increase resistance. No way I could ride mine in my fastest gears for any period of time.
I was torn between getting those or one of the fluid trainers, but got a killer deal on ebay for it, so couldn't pass it up. I like to just put my head down, close my eyes, and pedal fast which is obviously dangerous on the rollers, so I only do that when i am in a doorway.
Indoor training is more boring, but I just hop in front of the portable dvd player and ride for an entire movie or tv show or whatever. People here drive like maniacs, so for me to ride onroad, i usually drive 25 miles or so north to get away from traffic. By the time I ride 40-50 miles and come home, i've blown over 4 hrs (yes, i'm slow), so the trainer is often more convenient with the long hours I work.
I would be careful buying some no-name rollers as quality does matter. Keitler makes the best ones I think and cycleops makes the best fluid trainers in my opinion. Pretty sure I paid about $125 for my rollers off ebay.

Answer 3

Rollers are not difficult to master. Starting in a doorway is good advice. Also, you can put a stool or box or something on one side to aide in mount/dismount since the rollers put your bike 8-15 cm higher off the ground than normal.

For me rollers are vastly superior to a resistance trainer. Some say that sitting on a resistance trainer all winter can actually degrade your bike handling skills/balance.

Also, there are many rollers out there these days that also have either a wind resistance or adjustable magnetic resistance unit. This negates the "not enough resistance" argument.

I don't want to put a commercial plug here, so keep doing your research. :-) If you get a good quality set of rollers with a resistance unit, you won't be disappointed.

Some things to look out for: Stick with alloy rollers, as the poly rollers can deform with time and you end up with a bumpy ride. Larger diameter rollers are typically easier to ride than small-diameter ones. Look for the best precision machined rollers. There is a measure of "out-of-roundness" (runout?). This should be as small as possible. The least expensive rollers are sometimes not as round as higher quality ones.

Good luck!

Answer 4

Rollers are okay, but, as the previous reply said, you have to get used to staying on the things, because you're riding them freely, just as if you're riding your bike on a narrow path out in the open. (One trick here is to glue two strips of tape about six inches apart around the centre of the front roller. Then, as you ride, aim to keep your front wheel between the two strips.)
But the balance isn't the problem. In no time, you'll master that and even be getting out of the saddle and riding free hands (not at the same time, of course!).
I find the main handicap of rollers is that there isn't enough resistance, and there's no way of increasing it really. One way I found was to let your tyre pressure down somewhat. That gives a harder ride, but of course you can't keep jumping off the bike and changing that while you're riding. Another option is to go through the gears, assuming you're riding a road bike. I sometimes start in a low gear, change up every five minutes to the highest ratio - which makes it a bit harder - and then down again. Plan for a ride of 60 to 75 minutes. Otherwise you can do intervals - resting in low gears, "sprinting" in high gears. Used in conjunction with a pulse rate monitor, this is quite good.
So, roller riding can be quite rewarding (you'll learn to ride straight in a bunch!), but also a bit limited.
A stationary trainer gives you a lot more scope with changing resistance.
Hope this helps.

Answer 5

i too like a resistance trainer better, only because of the resistance part. rollers are great. they teach you to spin smoothly, and some models have fans available to add some resistance. i have a resistance trainer, but have had rollers and they are okay too. like most things, they will do the job if you use them. the problem is indoor trainers arent a lot of fun for someone that loves being out. ohio here has about a third of the year where you just can't get out unless you are very motivated and dedicated, so i force myself to use it. dont like it, but i do it.

Answer 6

Fairly easy to use, difficult to master. Start in a doorway, it will make it easier to get "rolling". The only difference between rollers and a trainer is that mastering a set of rollers will improve your pedaling stroke, in the beginning you will notice all the glitches in your pedal rotation. Unfortunately rollers, like a trainer, is B O R I N G!

Answer 7

I have used another system that accomplishes the same idea. The one I use lifts the back wheel and clamps onto the tyre so that resistance is applied to the rear wheel as you peddle.

This is a reasonable idea and works relatively well. However, the idea that one hour on the trainer is worth two on the bike is rubbish.

You do not get to climb hills, you do not have fresh air and you do not get the fun.

When I am riding I get to set myself targets and have real fun on and off road.

The trainer is a viable alternative, but you are much better off on your bike.

Luck