Rollers vs. Fluid Trainer

[rwsaunders]

I have the opportunity to pick up a set of Kreitler rollers for a fair price. Should I pass on the rollers and focus on the fluid trainer? I've never tried rollers and all I can picture is that video of The Cannibal spinning in his basement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7K4O7YTLQQ

[Ray]

I have the opportunity to pick up a set of Kreitler rollers for a fair price. Should I pass on the rollers and focus on the fluid trainer? I've never tried rollers and all I can picture is that video of The Cannibal spinning in his basement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7K4O7YTLQQ
Depends on what you're after. Rollers for a smooth spin, trainer for power. Neither are fun. Tru-trainer or e-motion for something that feels a bit more like riding an actual bike.

-Ray

[pbjbike]

Rollers are awesome for your pedaling technique. Are the Krietlers 4.5 or 3 inch? The 3 inch will give you more resistance, more of a workout. The larger 4.5 drums are great for keeping conditioning and flexibility, but you won't build much fitness on them. Rollers are much less monotonous than any bolt-on trainer. Just get the courage up to let go of the wall or doorway, relax, and pretend you are riding on ice.

[terrytnt]

Rollers over fluid, I have the Trutrainer which are outstanding, hard workouts, significant balance benefit and closest feel to road,

I save my stationary training for 'spin' at the local club in winter,

[stephenmarklay]

I hate to say it - both. I have emotion rollers and ride them a lot right now since the weather is turning and I am putting on base miles for next year. They have a mag resistance unit so you can endurance - tempo - speed training etc.

Later in the year I will spend more time with the fluid for intervals and sprints etc.

[R2D2]

IMHO It is hard to beat rollers to teach spin and balance.
Start in a doorway. Once you start don't stop pedaling and you'll be upright and in a groove in no time.
When you can ride rollers with no hands you are ready for a paceline.
If you are just starting out on rollers get the bigger drums.
The 3 " take some effort and it is better to get the spin first.
You can add resistance latter.
They flywheel is good for a semi road feel.

As someone pointed out, both rollers and fuild trainers require work and are not all that much fun.
Unless you turn the jams up to 11 and rock it out.

[OtayBW]

..Just get the courage up to let go of the wall or doorway, relax, and pretend you are riding on ice.
And, if I might add: watch out for those 'accidental departures'. Don't watch in front of the TV....

[stephenmarklay]

I might be the minority but I do not mind my indoor training at all. I like the ability to easily perform drills or ride for a set amount of time before I have to run to a meeting (outdoor ride out of the question due to time constraint) etc.

Sure I would prefer a scenic ride through wine country several thousand miles away but...

They key for me is having a nice variety of equipment, and distraction.

[PBWrench]

one of each

[McQueen]

I've had the Kreitler Dyno-myte for years which are the small red (2.5") drums with fairly decent resistance. You can get good power intervals on these rollers once you are comfortable riding rollers. Getting out of the saddle will take some technique that isn't established overnight.

However, after years of riding just my rollers, there were times I just wanted to get on my bike and ride, without the mental fatigue that rollers put on you. So, I invested in the fork-stand - not the greatest device for your headset. (unlike a trainer that connects to your rearwheel (fluid, etc) the fork stand doesn't have the benefit of the front tire to absorb any force you exert on the front end of the bike) Once you go to the fork-stand, the resistance is dramatically reduced, so then I resorted to getting the killer-headwind fan.

I wish I had the killer headwind fan years ago, as the breeze it creates is awesome (and it's practically worth it for that alone), and cuts down on my post training recovery - as my core temp isn't through the roof. Additionally, with the additional resistance, you can go from one extreme (easy spinning) to another (hard intervals) without having to change from the small chainring. It makes intervals that much easier to not mess with the big chainring.

Back to roller mode (without the forkstand) the killer headwind really gives you a pretty good amount of resistance, but still the ability to spin in the small gears. (although the Kreitlerr site doesn't reccommend matching the Dyno-myte with the headwind due to excessive resistance, it's not bad - probably not the range most would want, but it works for me)

I can't remember what book I read it in, (and I don't follow it all the time anyhow) is to be 'present' with the activity you are engaged in. When you are on rollers, your mind is on the biking, and from a mental standpoint, I think there is a positive to the mental workouts you get from rollers. You just can't watch tv, let your mind wander, etc. or else you'll quickly find yourself close to the edge of the rollers.. or off.

[terrytnt]

McQueen makes a very good point about rollers (that I often forget to mention) - MENTAL FATIQUE. I use TruTrainer rollers and though I ride for little over an hour (rotating through a variety of sets) with the TV on, my focus is always on the rollers, especially proper weight distribution. Anyone who rides rollers understands both the realism you gain with rollers but also the mental fatique that increases as you become physicially tired. Balance and focus is ALWAYS on my mind... if my mind wanders, I can very quickly lose my centering. That said, I much prefer my rollers over my stationary trainer.

[djg]

McQueen makes a very good point about rollers (that I often forget to mention) - MENTAL FATIQUE. I use TruTrainer rollers and though I ride for little over an hour (rotating through a variety of sets) with the TV on, my focus is always on the rollers, especially proper weight distribution. Anyone who rides rollers understands both the realism you gain with rollers but also the mental fatique that increases as you become physicially tired. Balance and focus is ALWAYS on my mind... if my mind wanders, I can very quickly lose my centering. That said, I much prefer my rollers over my stationary trainer.

Sure, but after about an hour I get sick of just about any indoor training device. I mean, a spin class with the right company might be something worth doing for two hours, supposing there are two decent classes in a row, but "riding" in one place is what it is. I might split an hour and a half into a morning and evening spin, but I'm not spending 3 hours on a trainer indoors -- just cannot stand it. The caveat is that I don't need to because rollers are mostly a gap filler for me, not a three or four month training routine. NoVa isn't southern Cal or the south west, but we can ride more or less year round without special precautions or studded tires or such -- there are stretches of a few days here and there where snow sticks around and I stay off the road (every third or fourth year we get a cold snap that pushes one of these intervals into a second week) -- but there isn't a month in which I don't ride outside.

I have both rollers and a kinetic trainer, but I mostly use the rollers and prefer them for just about everything that's not pre-cross-race warm up. With the 3" kreitler drums or smaller . . . well, it's hard to do big gear drills or standing sprint work outs, but you can definitely get some work done if you ramp up the rpm in a big gear; and all of your time on the rollers is time spinning and paying at least a modicum of attention to what you're doing.

[thwart]

The thing is... rollers make you a better cyclist, not just a cyclist in better shape.

That said, I still use an old beat-up Kinetic fluid trainer for climbing workouts.