Rollers are great for developing a smooth pedal stroke and balance awareness on the bike. Turbo Trainer are ideal for workouts that are Z4/Z5 such as sprints or hard intervals. Personally I have both. I enjoy doing short 20-30 spins on the rollers to keep my skills honed in and everything else is done on my Lemond Revolution. I can't do anything over an hour on the rollers simply because they require concentration at all times or you will slide off. So I use them mostly to warm up and down at races. Spend your money on a nice turbo trainer and search craigslist for a cheap set of rollers. I have two sets of rollers I scored off craigslist, one for $10 and the other for $25 with a resistance unit.

---

____________________________________________________
BLOG--> http://swimbikerundrink.blogspot.com/

I've got a turbo trainer and it bores my tits off!
I was thinking rollers might make it more interesting, because like you say, it requires more concentration

---

-

http://www.thetrinerd.com

Rollers will require a lot more concentration and will smooth out your pedal stroke. Start off next to a wall or in a doorway.

 I used rollers last winter. I can't argue with what has been explained so far in this thread. But, The only way to get your wattage ip is to spin faster. A lot faster. This winter I will use a fluid trainer.

I bought rollers with resistance (Elite E-motion) a year ago and haven't touched the turbo ever since...

Looking at the wattage chart for Kreitler Rollers, it looks like shifting should provide enough variation in resistance to allow a steady cadence and varying wattage.

http://www.mountainracingproducts.com/...s/wattage_chart1.pdf

Am I missing something there? I'm a noob also pondering this question(trainer vs rollers) for my first winter cycling. I'm leaning towards rollers to teach me better balance/smoother pedaling since my bike handling is pretty rough.

edit: And 2nd question about the kreitler rollers, if I get the fan-does the fan put out enough airflow to render a box fan unnecessary?

edit 2: e-motion rollers have a wattage calculator as well.

If you go with the kreitler (which are great rollers by the way) and are looking to use them for an actual workout then I highly recommend the 2.25 drums or if you go with the 4.5 drums definitely get the fan. There simply isn't enough of resistance to get in a hard workout with the 4.5 drums alone. I have a set of rollers with similar size drums and can't even reach my FTP. The 2.25 drums give you a wide range of difficulty, although I have heard the fan with the 4.5s are great and deliver a great workout. The fan should deliver plenty of airflow to keep you cool

---

____________________________________________________
BLOG--> http://swimbikerundrink.blogspot.com/

I've got Kreitler 3" alloy rollers and a fly wheel. I've used that setup from 30 minutes to quite a few 4 and 5 hour workouts in the past about 6 years.

If you can use 53/11 or even 50/12 for more than a couple minutes with two flywheels and the killer headwind attachment you belong on the tour.

I don't think the headwind beastie could possibly put out enough wind to not need a fan.

^this.

I did a ton of training on rollers, and it definitely helped dramatically improve my pedal stroke, core strength, and bike handling skills - especially in the TT position. But, it didn't do jack sh*t for my power and overall performance. It seemed to condition my cardiovascular system well, but my legs couldn't match it. I guess maybe I felt less "winded" but blew up in the legs when riding out in the real world...

I switched to a fluid Kinetic Rock n Roll after that. It seems to have done the trick. In fact, I can't recommend it enough. With the turntable riser and the rock n roll feature, I seem to have retained some of the benefits typically found on rollers, while also massively improving my power and overall performance... and I'm talking a huge improvement where I went from averaging ~20/mph over 40k to ~24.5/mph over 40k.... granted, that was also accompanied by a dramatic change in my eating habits (down 30 lbs) and overall dedication to the process of training and making a real commitment to getting better over just effin' around...

If cycling is like a glacier (90% below the surface - i.e. diet + 10% above the surface - i.e. training on the bike), I'd opt for that 10% on a fluid trainer over rollers (but yeah, there's a lot of other factors to consider)...

e*motion rollers+power meter+sufferfest vids=a great spring

---

The Rat Snake:
A Tribute Race at Gilbert Lake State Park, Laurens, NY May 16 2015
Follow the Rat Snake on Twitter