Rollers or Turbo?

[MickeyBlueEyes]

An hour of Z2 = an hour of easy riding.

How do they perform when you want to be at Z5-Z6?

By level 2 I don't mean Zone 2, I mean resistance set to level 2 on the rollers.

 

[Mapster1989]

Now we've come to the conclusion that it's down to personal preference which rollers/turbos do you own and would you reccomend it/them?

Conversely are there some which I should steer away from. Budget would be max £200 although I can stretch a little.

 

[jdtate101]

Rollers....every time.

Just progressed to riding the TT bike (on the bars) on the rollers, which is very difficult to do.

 

[MickeyBlueEyes]

Rollers....every time.

Just progressed to riding the TT bike (on the bars) on the rollers, which is very difficult to do.

double bravo that man ! I haven't progressed to this yet but it's on the to-do list over this coming winter, would love to master it. Any tips ?

 

[jdtate101]

double bravo that man ! I haven't progressed to this yet but it's on the to-do list over this coming winter, would love to master it. Any tips ?

Yeah...have someone to catch you .

1) Get comfortable riding a roadie on it and make sure you can change from tops to drops and back again without any wobbles.
2) Make sure your TT position is dialled in so you don't need to make any movements once down low.
3) Keep the speed real high (I ride mine in 53x11) at 270W for 1hr (about 90rpm). This helps keep it stable, the faster the better.
4) I keep the bars slightly wider than when on the road, this provides a more stable base.
5) Really practice keeping the shoulders/upper body rock steady and still, this is really important as your weight is over the front wheel, so any movement is magnified much more than when riding a roadie.
6) Look up... I focus on the tip of the front wheel. In the TT position on rollers it's tempting to look down...DON'T.. unless you really want to fall off.

 

[PhunkyPhil]

I was also thinking of rollers for the worst of the winter weather but keep hearing people talk about balance problems. How does this compare to balancing a bike on the road?

It is a lot more difficult to balance on rollers, if you don't concentrate it is easy to wobble and feel out of control whereas the same movement on the road won't impact you. It is a strange feeling.

 

[HLaB]

IME, most people at TT's warm-up on turbo's, using a second wheel

The flat TT I did the other night, only three had trainers and they were all turbos, yet on the previous hilly TTs (especially hill climbs) there's been a majority on rollers. Is this a terrain thing or a North/South thing

 

[PhunkyPhil]

I bought at turbo for last winter and used it for interval training which brought my fitness on leaps and bounds. I only bough at Tacx £225 model to see how I got on.

Over the summer I bought some rollers because I didn't want the hassle of swapping wheels when I wanted a quick ride.

In my experience the rollers don't have enough resistance to do intervals as I end up riding top gear at 115 rpm all the time to get a workout. I wouldn't want to go much faster as it starts feeling unsafe. I also use them for cool downs after rides from time to time which I think they are great for. They have also helped with my balance on the bike.

If I had the choice to own just one I would have the Turbo and am looking into buying a power based one so that I can train with power over the winter which you can't do with out a power meter on the current crop of rollers.

 

[HLaB]

I repacked my rear hub last night; 11:45pm was too late to go out on a test ride but this for me is where rollers come into their own, no hassle of swapping wheel/ skewer.
@PhunkyPhil try upping your gears a bit you'll get more of a work out IMO and a better cadence (rather than one which is too high)

Back to the OT overall I prefer rollers, given my current location (in a flat) they're quieter and less hassle to plump the bike on without switching wheel/skewer and they are marginally less boring. When I have the money I'll replace mine with a pair with a resistance unit but I might spend the cash on a new bike first

If I wasn't worried about the noise, however, had the room for a dedicated turbo bike (aka my parent's garage) and wanted care free training I'd use a turbo.

 

[Rob3rt]

The flat TT I did the other night, only three had trainers and they were all turbos, yet on the previous hilly TTs (especially hill climbs) there's been a majority on rollers. Is this a terrain thing or a North/South thing

Maybe it is to do with the kind of effort, if it is a proper HC, then it is going to short and brutal, 3-8 minutes and with a larger anaerobic element than a TT that is going to be 20-60 mins long so it may be optimal to just spin the legs rather than do hard efforts in your warm up? I don't know the answer.

 

[VamP]

Maybe it is to do with the kind of effort, if it is a proper HC, then it is going to short and brutal, 3-8 minutes and with a larger anaerobic element than a TT that is going to be 20-60 mins long so it may be optimal to just spin the legs rather than do hard efforts in your warm up? I don't know the answer.

I think it's just what people bring. Over the last two years I've been to maybe a 100 races, and there's no rhyme or reason to people using turbos over rollers for the warm ups. Whatever is in the back of the van seems as much of a reason as anything else.