As coordinated as I am (not), I wouldn't attempt riding rollers with anything less than full football pads.

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"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"

You forgot: I can make and eat breakfast while on rollers.

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no sponsors | no races | nothing to see here

So that's a hard "no".

I do not wear a helmet but I also have a pretty elaborate.... what's the term... "stability setup" around my rollers. Think about the safety bars you might have around a treadmill. Worst "crash" I've had on rollers involved me squishing the family jewels on the top tube.

I thought rollers were supposed to help you even out your pedal stroke or something.

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Just like . . ."I do triathlons blah blah blah" = Ego.

Without rehashing the debate, rollers vs. trainers are not equivalent. Sure, you can get strong and fit from trainer sessions, yet still have poor technique. You have to have a smooth pedaling technique on rollers, else you can't ride them well. If you can have both, that's a nice setup. If you have to choose one, rollers give you more. Although there is a short learning curve.

IMO, if you need to ask about safety gear, you should be using it (general rule in life).

You could always modify as your level of confidence increase.

Definitely not a bad general rule! I (my friend ;-) was primarily curious what others did. I'm actually quite surprised so many people say "yes" to helmet, even while beginning.

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

You can practice the no handed stuff on-road a well if you're in a safe situation.

If you ride hours of tempo/SS alone at some point you need to do something requiring more balance than drinking while riding. Like putting on a jacket or taking off a jacket. A smooth straight false flat uphill is a good starting point.

I think rollers and a freewheel hub bike isn't the same as a trackie on a fixed gear. That's the real deal.

Also, you think people riding their BMX bikes for a 1/4 mile a time steering the thing no-hands in a peg-stand practice that crap on rollers? No joke, I'm on the way home one day in traffic going like 15mph and see a guy on his BMX bike on the curvy bumpy sidewalk doing 15mph beside me downhill while standing no hands on the rear pegs and just in the zone listening to some song he liked. Dancing his arms around and such. Makes the average clubbie roadie look like an infant who can't even walk or crawl yet for bike handling skills.

After watching the youtube videos of folks on rollers, I can say for sure that starting out with a helmet might not be such a horrible idea at all.

Roller rider for years and have never worn a helmet on them-but I can understand why someone would.

Haha. Maybe this is because I live in Minnesota and thus have to spend the winter months (every month except June, July, August) riding indoors, but I like my rollers. I've never fallen off, including the first time I used them. Now and again my front tire will go off the side-then I just clip out and put my foot down. It does smell like burning rubber after.

I have a direct drive trainer as well, which I use more but the rollers are great for recovery rides and when I'm bored of the trainer.

I think the %importance distribution would vary greatly amongst and plus other factors than what you listed. Depends on the course, conditions, distance, etc. Aero is less important on a tough uphill course (Mt. Washington hill climb); more important on something flat and fast, etc. I'm sure there is a way to quantify and illustrate 'smoothness' as well - old schoolers with CompuTrainers had this SpinScan thing or something - but that focused on force applied to the pedals.

Why I like rollers is because to ride them 'smoothly', a whole bunch of things come together - certainly an even pedal stroke; but also how you shift your hands on the handlebars, how you shift your weight on the saddle, etc. -- all of these movements affect the bike on rollers. Smoothness means your body is automatically compensating and adjusting to all of those effects when done well. Done poorly, rollers will let you know. I remember early days when pushing the shifters to change gears + the change in cadence would bring me to a near crash. Smoothness in these terms are missed on a trainer. And that also explains why a roller session is closer to the experience of riding on roads than a trainer.

Re: Power - a trainer can be better for focussing only on power - pushing/mashing a big gear with high resistance - and that'll get you strong. But it would miss the other elements that come into play in cycling, and that rollers would give you.

Edit - Most rollers need some resistance unit added to match that kind of power focused trainer session or different sized drums than the norm; but can be done.

Yep. Old school crap; lore from the days of old.

Not a stretch to get from there to powercranks.

I have this climbing harness I rigged up to the ceiling so if I go off the rollers I don't hit the ground.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

I assume you don't need to wear an aero helmet on rollers.

 

pics or it didn't happen

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

It is a personal choice and i don't brag about it, but it is much more convenient to just take my bike inside and place on rollers for indoor workout, then just grab the bike on saturday or whatever day i might ride outside and just go for a ride. 100% of my indoor riding is on my rollers, i don't even own a trainer.

Okay I lied but I think it is a legit idea. If you ride off you don't even break ribs! You could have a bungy cord thingy to make it less shocking. Good on you for calling me out.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

I dunno, I can't imagine a climbing harness around your legs wouldn't cause some chafing, aside from other issues

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

We use rollers to warm up on our fixed gear track bikes at every event... and no one wears helmets ! Alot of it has to do with the diameter of the rollers. The 'skinny' ones provide more of a load - not really suitable for a track bike (unless you can cook toast while on them) Every one I know has the 4.5 inch Kreitler and it works just fine.

A more advanced move is to ride rollers on the track bike in the aero bars !

I do know a friend (!) who was watching a fast a furious movie while on the rollers, he is a 30+ year experienced roller rider, but he took a turn with a car, went off the rollers and dislocated his pinky finger in the fall, it hurt quite a bit (i mean he told me it really hurt!).