I'm considering rollers and have some questions for those with some experience

Triathlon Forum
1

I’m currently using a dumb trainer (Kurt Kinetic Road Machine) for my indoor training. Mostly in combination with Zwift. I do a couple of indoor training sessions a week (typically 70-90mins) in addition to longer outdoor rides.
I don’t own a power meter or have any plans to get one in the short term.
To add some variety and because I suspect my pedalling efficiency isn’t the best, I’m considering a set of rollers.

However, there’s a few things I’m unclear on and would appreciate some clarification before making my final decision.
I’m leaning towards a set of Tacx Galaxia T1100 rollers at the moment, but that might change depending on responses!

First off, the Galaxia rollers have two features I believe are intended to make them more stable and easy to ride. That’s the concave rollers (to make it easier to stay central I presume) and the frame fore-aft movement (to eliminate rocking if surging/sprinting I think). These both sound positive, but do they detract from the technique improvement aspect most associate with rollers. In other words, does it make them easier to use and remove the improvement stimulus? Do you favour plain cylinders or curved? Same question for the fore/aft motion?The Galaxia rollers do not have any resistance adjustability. Can someone with a power meter tell me roughly what range of power is available on these? Is it all about cadence, or can you get a bit of load on the pedals too and do a hard steady effort? 300W, 400W, 500W? I imagine I’ll continue to use the trainer for my power focused sessions but I’m unclear whether I could realistically do FTP or VO2 intervals on rollers.I presume there’s no way to usefully combine rollers with Zwift, Traineroad, etc without a power meter?I find the saddle uncomfortable when fixed rigidly in place on the trainer. A common complaint I think. I presume movement on the rollers is sufficient to eliminate this problem and be much more similar to road comfort?Do you think rollers provide a significant benefit when combined with a trainer for indoor training?Any other advice or warnings to share?
Thanks

2

I haven’t used the Galaxia myself, but I do have a set of the basic Tacx Antares so I will use that for my descriptions.

  1. Concave rollers - I didn’t notice a difference between them and any normal drum rollers I have used.

  2. Resistance - My antares don’t have much resistance at all, but I think part of that is that I am a pretty light weight rider. I haven’t heard of any others with issues. When I was riding mine more frequently I would just make sure I had a trie with high rolling resistance and only inflate to 65-70psi and I would be able to get up to about 300w. Part 2 of this is that I wouldn’t recommend rollers for higher intensity efforts until you have lots of practice. As the body and brain fatigue it will be a bit harder to stay upright especially right after a hard interval when all you want to do is coast.

  3. Haven’t used with Swift, but I believe like with some “dumb” trainers some of the rollers will provide virtual power.

  4. Depends ha. Some rollers will have a bit more vibration than riding on the road depending on the roads you ride, and how perfectly round the rollers are.

  5. I liked the rollers for easy riding since you have to stay focused a bit more. I found that made time go by faster so I would ride longer, but I don’t think the extra core and balance people claim makes a big difference. Balancing a bike usually isn’t hard for most people.

  6. Have fun

3

To add some variety and because I suspect my pedalling efficiency isn’t the best, I’m considering a set of rollers.

While using them will certainly add some variety to your training, what makes you think using rollers would improve your pedaling efficiency? Is this something roller manufactures are claiming now?

Hugh

4

I have ridden conventional rollers, stationary trainers, and e-motion rolllers, each fairly extensively.

I have no connection to the company (just use their rollers) but you really really should look into InsideRide e-motion rollers.

They are the easiest and safest to ride.
They have fully adjustable resistance.
And they, by far, can do the most to improve your pedaling technique over any other training device.

5

I have owned ‘concave’ and flat rollers. I prefer concave because they give you a little warning if you go too close to the edge. Sure you will have purists tell you that you can pay attention and have no issues, but I really don’t like staring at my front wheel for an entire training session. I really only break out the rollers a handful of times a year, so I’m no authority. Likely close to or just under 100 roller rides total. I prefer smart trainers. Sold my ridiculous Kreitler setup and bought the Nashbar rollers used for cheap variety.

First off, the Galaxia rollers have two features I believe are intended to make them more stable and easy to ride. That’s the concave rollers (to make it easier to stay central I presume) and the frame fore-aft movement (to eliminate rocking if surging/sprinting I think). These both sound positive, but do they detract from the technique improvement aspect most associate with rollers. In other words, does it make them easier to use and remove the improvement stimulus? No. You just pedal so that you don’t feel it rocking back and forth…if you’re under the belief pedaling without fore/aft movement makes you a better rider. I don’t know.

Do you favour plain cylinders or curved? Curved/concave. Same question for the fore/aft motion? Don’t know. Tried fore/aft once before and thought it was cool, but not worth the money for me. The last roller ride, I rode off the front somehow for the first time ever. I would have solidly said no need for fore/aft movement before that.

The Galaxia rollers do not have any resistance adjustability. Can someone with a power meter tell me roughly what range of power is available on these? Is it all about cadence, or can you get a bit of load on the pedals too and do a hard steady effort? 300W, 400W, 500W? I imagine I’ll continue to use the trainer for my power focused sessions but I’m unclear whether I could realistically do FTP or VO2 intervals on rollers. No idea for your trainer. At 185-190lbs, 40 x 11 on 31mm Schwalbe Ones at ~50 psi I had to be over 100rpm to hit 300 watts on the Nashbar rollers. When I used the same gearing on 42mm Kenda Happy Mediums at <40psi, I had no problem getting into the mid 300’s at lower gears and rpm, but hot dang was it noisy. Probably could have hit 400’s, but usually rollers are for my easier days where 200 is about tops. I never had a power meter with the Kreitlers, but had to add one of those belt driver fans to get any meaningful resistance.

I presume there’s no way to usefully combine rollers with Zwift, Traineroad, etc without a power meter? Correct. That roller is not supported by either one.

I find the saddle uncomfortable when fixed rigidly in place on the trainer. A common complaint I think. I presume movement on the rollers is sufficient to eliminate this problem and be much more similar to road comfort? No. I probably move around less on my rollers. Time to work on the saddle, fit and/or flexibility.

Do you think rollers provide a significant benefit when combined with a trainer for indoor training? Define significant benefit. Less ‘other’ movement while riding? Sure. Faster? Eh. If you’re working on higher turnover, I feel the trainer does just as good of a job.

Any other advice or warnings to share? 1) Never bite a gift-horse in the mouth. 2) Pedaling efficiency is a touchy subject. My n=1 with different non-round rings and round rings on the rollers just showed me my legs adjusted to whatever was going on. I think I’m smoother at higher cadence with non-round rings, but maybe I’m just trying to justify owning them. If you’re using rollers to clean up anything holding you back, then yes there’s a benefit. If you’re aiming for “FTP or VO2 intervals” I should steer clear of rollers.

6

I ride Sportcrafters rollers… I like the diameter of the roller and the OverDrive drum. It provides a progressive resistance that makes for a great workout. You have to focus on balancing and smooth pedal stroke while working out.

  1. Those two things would make it easier to ride for sure but still a bit of a challenge as compared to a trainer. The fore and aft rocking design part is pretty cool actually.
  2. I don’t ride with power so I can’t really address this… Sportcrafters has a power curve associated with their OverDrive drum to give some approximate numbers. Tire pressure, tire types, etc. can affect power/effort on rollers.
  3. I ride my road bike mostly and use rollers… I was thinking about upgrading my bike’s speed/cadence sensor to the Bluetooth option which would work with an iPad. I’m guessing I’d have to go with Zpower… forgive I’ve never used Zwift.
  4. I don’t have any saddle issues on rollers but this could be a lot of things honestly if you’re not comfortable in your saddle.
  5. All I ride are rollers when I ride indoors.
7

I’m still riding 15 year old cheapie Nashbar plastic drum rollers with a resistance unit. I’ve tried static trainers and I hate them. With proper cooling I’m can make almost as much power indoors for my 2x20s as I can outside. I can’t do that with a static trainer, it’s nice to be able to rock your hips and move around. After a winter on the rollers my cadence is always high, but then it drops as the summer progresses.

8

I’m a krietler guy. Everyone seems to be pointing you in the right direction, I’ll add:

Man it’s easy to use rollers. No more skewers or cranking down the trainer, just get on and ride. Staying on takes practice.

Tire choice really influences resistance. On my 3" rollers I can get to the low 300s with race tires and pressure. With spec armadillos at 80 psi, I can hit 400 watts.

9

This should be mandatory viewing for any thread where rollers are discussed…(wish I knew how to embed the video…sorry)

Rollers…Old School.
.

10

I have ridden conventional rollers, stationary trainers, and e-motion rolllers, each fairly extensively.

I have no connection to the company (just use their rollers) but you really really should look into InsideRide e-motion rollers.

They are the easiest and safest to ride.
They have fully adjustable resistance.
And they, by far, can do the most to improve your pedaling technique over any other training device.

This this and more this. I love my emotion rollers. The time flies on those suckers.

11

I have ridden conventional rollers, stationary trainers, and e-motion rolllers, each fairly extensively.

I have no connection to the company (just use their rollers) but you really really should look into InsideRide e-motion rollers.

They are the easiest and safest to ride.
They have fully adjustable resistance.
And they, by far, can do the most to improve your pedaling technique over any other training device.

This this and more this. I love my emotion rollers. The time flies on those suckers.

X10 on the emotion. Can’t recommend it enough. Also, they now have the option to add smart resistance with BT and ant+ FTC-C compatibility so you can use it with trainer road and zwift.

I have been using them for over 5 years and would be happy to answer any question.

12

The Ride Inside eMotion rollers certainly look good and eveyone seems to love them but unfortunately they’re more than I want to spend this time around.

13

Thanks dangle I really appreciate the detailed feedback.
Regarding the saddle, it’s not that I move around very little on the trainer and thus have problems, it’s that the bike is rigidly fixed so neither the bike nor the saddle moves while riding. I find my saddle very comfortable on the road and I’ve done 6hr rides without a problem. However on the trainer, no saddle is as comfortable for me, and this appears to be a common complaint. I expect that since the bike moves a little as you pedal on rollers, similar to outside, that this will be less of an issue.

When I say “significant benefit” I’m really just asking if you feel the rollers make worthwhile differences to the outcome of your training above what you would get from just a trainer. From much of what I’ve read, the suggestion is that rollers promote smooth pedalling as opposed to the pedal mashing that trainers can facilitate if you’re not paying attention.
I expect, regardless of whether I get rollers, I’ll continue to do FTP and VO2 efforts primarily on the trainer.

14

Thanks fort the link. Great bit of video!

15

Don’t buy rollers without variable resistance.

Elite Axiom and the new version of Arrion have pretty good resistance curves.

I have the Axiom and it’s always at the highes resistanceand I’m no power monster: 63kg, FTP of about 250-270w.

16

A few have mentioned different tyre having a huge impact on power. I’d intend to use my normal training/race tyres which will always be something reasonably quick like GP4000s II. Definitely no Armadillos or Schwalbe Marathons!

Thanks all for your comments. It’s very useful!

17

Don’t buy rollers without variable resistance.

Elite Axiom and the new version of Arrion have pretty good resistance curves.

I have the Axiom and it’s always at the highes resistanceand I’m no power monster: 63kg, FTP of about 250-270w.
My FTP is currently about 270W. I wouldn’t intend to do much high power riding on the rollers but that could change once I try them, who knows!

18

The Ride Inside eMotion rollers certainly look good and eveyone seems to love them but unfortunately they’re more than I want to spend this time around.
Sell your trainer and get the emotion rollers. They come with a fork stand and will work like a stationary too, with the added bonus of the front/back movement which helps dampen the harshness of a stationary. They have four resistance settings and work exellent with trainer road vertual power. Get used on ebay . Parts are cheap and easy to get from insideride.

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This set up is the the shit, best of both worlds.

1484916612253-1417385244.jpg

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The Ride Inside eMotion rollers certainly look good and eveyone seems to love them but unfortunately they’re more than I want to spend this time around.
Sell your trainer and get the emotion rollers. They come with a fork stand and will work like a stationary too, with the added bonus of the front/back movement which helps dampen the harshness of a stationary. They have four resistance settings and work exellent with trainer road vertual power. Get used on ebay . Parts are cheap and easy to get from insideride.
That’s not really going to work for me!

My trainer is a good quality 4 or 5 year old fluid resistance dumb trainer (KK Road Machine). It works great and facilitates realistic power simulation on Zwift which I’ve been enjoying recently. If I did sell it, I doubt I’d get much for it and certainly not enough to cover the cost of high end rollers.
Secondly, I don’t intend to lose the ability to use Zwift. That means without a trainer I’d need either a power meter or rollers with a known power curve. That’s more money again. I’m thinking <€200 for relatively basic rollers to give them a shot alongside my trainer. Not €1000 for high end rollers and/or a power meter and get rid of the trainer. Part of the attraction is to add some variety, the trainer is part of that scenario.