I have been using the Kinetics by Kurt Road Machine for the past couple months, and love it. But I am buying a new bike, and want to have another option for training indoors. I have considered the KK Rock and Roll, but don’t have much space, or the money currently, to spring for that setup. But I do have room for a roller, and the money. I am looking at the CycleOps offerings, one with PVC rollers, one with aluminum rollers, and the aluminum unit with magnetic resistance. So some questions from those ST’ers that use these products:
Is the aluminum that much better than PVC rollers, and if so, why?
Does the resistance unit work well, is it worth the additional money?
I’ve only used aluminum and like them a lot but can’t comment on PVC. I only use my rollers to practice balance and for warm ups at races and leave the hard resistance workouts to my computrainer which, of course, is a bit more expensive.
I was looking at Kreitler rollers, very expensive, but lots of options! And then I saw they were pretty much UK based, so still considering seriously CycleOps. And my LBS carries that brand, so I can try one out.
Hmm, found myself on their UK site I guess! Thanks for the info.
And as far as rollers go, they are kind of the gold standard.
Just don’t get the narrow ones. I’ve seen them and they just LOOK scary. Supposedly even folks that ride normal size rollers get the heebies when they try the narrow ones.
I’ve got a set of the 4.5’s on the way. Can’t gulp wait.
had the pvc rollers from Cycleops with no resistance.
i now ride an old set of alum madura(?) rollers that have a magnetic resistance unit on them. i haven’t ridden my trainer in almost a year!
the pvc rollers weren’t very smooth, at 30mph they really started to get ‘buzzing’. also the fold up option of them sucked and just seemed terribly executed.
the alum rollers are super smooth even know these ones are old
I have similar setup, cycleops jet fluid pro which I love and this year I got emotion rollers. I thought I will use the rollers for base training and keep the trainer for tough interval workouts. Now I can’t seem to get myself back on the trainer. The roller is all I use for base and hard intervals training. I can ride the rollers for 2+ hours with no problem where 1 hour on the trainer seem like an eternity.
I love my Kreitlers with 2.25" drums. Plenty of resistance range for anything except all-out sprinting without having to buy anything else. I originally bought the 3" drums, but found myself running out of gears. (The smaller the drum, the more resistance you get.) The guy above that bought the 4.5" drums will likely be very disappointed, unless he only wants them for recovery rides.
Mine have the poly end caps (not alloy). I’ve ridden them for all of my indoor training since 2006 (which is a pretty good amount of miles since I have to deal with Midwest Winters and don’t typically get outside during the week - even in the Summer). So far, no wear issues with the poly end caps. Heck, I’m still on my original belt!
The guy above that bought the 4.5" drums will likely be very disappointed, unless he only wants them for recovery rides.
Hahaha. My FTP is 250. Plus I got the fan and the flywheel to add if I need more. And I have a stable of bikes from BMX type stuff with huge knobs all the way to a “real” road bike (but even that has fairly cushy tires compared to you racer types), so I think I’ll be fine. I’ve heard the fan can really kick your tail, so we’ll see.
I expect they’ll be just fine with no add-ons for a good while, but we’ll see.
I’ve heard the fan can really kick your tail, so we’ll see.
What exactly does the fan do to “kick butt”? Are you meaning that you actually have to put out more energy because a fan is blowing on you?
I think it’s pointed at you, but I have no idea if it’s enough air to actually help cool you much or not. Supposedly it’s got a little flap on it that you can adjust to change the resistance, too (but you do have to get off to do that, obviously). But the point of it is resistance and apparently at max it makes them MUCH harder.
As for the BMX bike thing, uh, I thought it was BMX types that invented them way back in the day. I can’t say I’ve got a source for that, so it may not be correct, but I do know plenty of BMX types use them. It’s not uncommon at all, and in fact I think they’re FAR more common than trainers to BMX racers.
Now, I’m not a BMX racer and that’s not what I intend to put on it, but I don’t think there’s anything weird about it. I will probably start with a mountain bike that I have that’s got Small Block 8 tires on it and platform pedals. It’ll be a little loud, I guess, but should let me get acclimated, anyway. As for the video, I was planning to start a camera. It doesn’t matter what bike I try it on, the video will probably be “interesting.”
The Killer Headwind fan has a belt that is attached to the front roller. YOU make the fan turn. It’s adds a substantial amount of resistance, which you can adjust as noted above. It’s also REALLY noisy.
That’s interesting about BMX bikes on the rollers. Learn something new every day.
You can put a couple of turns of electrical tape a few inches in on each side to make them effectively narrower. If you’re not holding to the center, you’ll feel your tires go up on the tape but without going off the side.
