Trainer VS. Rollers

[smittymac]

I'm not asking which one is better than the other, what I want to know are the pros & cons of each.

 

[daveryanwyoming]

I'm not asking which one is better than the other, what I want to know are the pros & cons of each.

Rollers - Pros:

• Fun
• Promotes balance
• Teaches you to ride a straight line
• Promotes smooth spin (if you care)
• Great for staying warm between track events

Cons:

• Requires skill to ride
• Takes practice to learn to stand, rest or ride no hands
• Rollers without fan or other resistance unit too easy even in big gears for serious power work
• Even folding designs a bit bigger than most rear wheel trainers, non folding designs much bigger to store and transport

Trainers - Pros

• No skill required
• Wider power range in most designs , better for high power workouts
• More portable
• Easy to standup, stretch, out of saddle work

Cons:

• Boring
• Fan units are loud
• Trainers with small flywheels feel unnatural, pulsed pedaling instead of smooth
• Most trainers wear out rear tires rapidly

That's what came to mind for me. I do most of my real indoor training on a Kurt Kinetics Road Machine, it's real quiet, has a wide power range and a big flywheel for smooth stroke. I still jump on rollers occasionally but even in big gears have to spin ridiculous rpms to get the power into decent training ranges so I use them more on rest weeks or carry them to the track for staying warm.

Good luck,
Dave

 

[Burble]

I can help with this - i just went through the same decision (ended up buying a kurt kinetic trainer)

Trainer: (eg: http://www.kurtkinetic.com/ )
pros:
good for power development
good for multitasking - ie watching tv or reading while training - (thiis was the main draw card in my opinion)

cons:
possibly shreds tyres (use old cheep tyres)
can be boring if you don't have something else to distract you
not easy to work on proper technique
speedo doesn't work unless its on the rear wheel

Rollers: (eg: http://www.minoura.jp/advance-e.htm)
pros:
good for working on proper pedaling technique
good for developing better balance
closest to real riding you will get
rollers do provide some resistance so will assist with fitness (esp if you get one with resistance - that is good)
speedo will work becuase the front wheel is moving too

cons:
tricky for developing good power - as requires balance to stay on rollers (however you can get rollers with resistance - minoura one was reccomended to me)
you can't multitask becuase you risk falling (if your distracted for even a second). some people manage it, others find it impossible. eg: I was doing a st john duty at the oceana 2007 championships and found that even pro level peoples needed help getting onto the rollers - or at least something to hold onto!

hope this helps!

 

[Burble]

Rollers - Pros:

• Fun
• Promotes balance
• Teaches you to ride a straight line
• Promotes smooth spin (if you care)
• Great for staying warm between track events

Cons:

• Requires skill to ride
• Takes practice to learn to stand, rest or ride no hands
• Rollers without fan or other resistance unit too easy even in big gears for serious power work
• Even folding designs a bit bigger than most rear wheel trainers, non folding designs much bigger to store and transport

Trainers - Pros

• No skill required
• Wider power range in most designs , better for high power workouts
• More portable
• Easy to standup, stretch, out of saddle work

Cons:

• Boring
• Fan units are loud
• Trainers with small flywheels feel unnatural, pulsed pedaling instead of smooth
• Most trainers wear out rear tires rapidly

That's what came to mind for me. I do most of my real indoor training on a Kurt Kinetics Road Machine, it's real quiet, has a wide power range and a big flywheel for smooth stroke. I still jump on rollers occasionally but even in big gears have to spin ridiculous rpms to get the power into decent training ranges so I use them more on rest weeks or carry them to the track for staying warm.

Good luck,
Dave

Dave - have you tried one of the rollers with a resistance module? apparantly they're pretty good (i haven't tried one - just had them recommended).

I also second the Road Machine - fantastic trainer.

to address the original question:
Whatever you do make sure you get a good quality one - esp the trainer. the cheep ones are horrible!

 

[daveryanwyoming]

Dave - have you tried one of the rollers with a resistance module? ....

Yeah, I owned a Kreitler with the headwind unit a long time ago. It does provide a lot of training resistance which really helps for tempo and even some hour TT (FTP-but we didn't call it that then, Andy et al hadn't invented the acronym yet ) work. But for anything harder I found I had to keep too much focus on riding smoothly and not falling off the rollers. So it wasn't good for hard short intervals or max efforts. At least not for me and I've been riding rollers a long time, am pretty comfortable on them and haven't actually fallen off a set since Ronald Reagan was in office but they still require some of my attention.

-Dave

 

[vascdoc]

I can help with this - i just went through the same decision (ended up buying a kurt kinetic trainer)


cons:
possibly shreds tyres (use old cheep tyres)

I use the Continental Home Trainer tire. It is designed exclusively for indoor use.

http://www.biketiresdirect.com/productdetail.asp?p=COUHT&tnum=5516791&c=7351445

I have used rollers over twenty five years ago. I now use a Computrainer from Racemate. I think that a Computrainer is much better than rollers.

 

[rudycyclist]

I know Kreitler (one of the top roller companies) makes a set of rollers with a fork stand on it. This totally eliminates the feeling of balance, learning to ride straight, etc. However, I think it may have adjustable resistance.

Just thought I'd mention it in case you want something that feels actually like the road but can't get up on rollers.

 

[smittymac]

Well, I have decided on a trainer. The question now is, what one trainer better than another, and what features should I look for?

 

[vascdoc]

Well, I have decided on a trainer. The question now is, what one trainer better than another, and what features should I look for?

It all depends on how much you want to spend and how you want to use it.

 

[smittymac]

It all depends on how much you want to spend and how you want to use it.

Spend about $200, and use it to train and get in shape for the spring.

 

[stansman]

Well, I have decided on a trainer. The question now is, what one trainer better than another, and what features should I look for?

A fluid trainer will be the smoothest and have a large resistance curve. If you go fluid i would recommend something with a heavy flywheel. This will make for the smoothest pedaling and more road like feel. Cyclops fluid 2 and kurt kinetic fluid anything are both great. I've ridden both the fluid 2 and the kinetic rock & roll pro (similar to the kinetic pro trainer i think) and i thought the resistance and flywheel on the kinetic were really nice. I have an original cyclops fluid and think it's ****. Light flywheel and super steep resistance curve...my knees hate me every time i ride hard. My friend has the same thing and loves it though so to each his own. I ride rollers mostly...cyclops with resistance unit does the trick for everything but super hard intervals.

 

[smittymac]

Thanks for the advise, I ended up getting a cyclops mag ($170) So far I like it, but since it is my first trainer I guess I really can't miss anything that is better since I never rode a fluid.