Rollers or Turbo?

[screenman]

Old bike always on turbo in front of tv, music and kindle, I like to remove barriers as much as possible.

 

[172traindriver]

Rollers are great fun, as they certainly teach you to concentrate and you also learn to pedal very smoothly. Take your eye off the ball and it can be interesting to say the least
You wont get the resistance that turbos offer plus also these all singing all dancing ones that hook up to Zwift seem to be all the rage, and very good but at a cost.
I was sure I read somewhere that Evans's had stuck the prices of turbos up considerably in the last couple of weeks due to the increase of sales in them. Also stems from the fact Mr Ashley and his Sports Direct empire are their owners.

 

[DCLane]

An oldie now, given this was me on crutches just over 2 years ago, but my son on rollers:





He's got a smart turbo now as well, but much prefers his rollers.

 

[I like Skol]

I love rollers, and if you spin them up and push on past the 1hr mark then boy do you know about it!

Get the ear plugs in and get cruising, with practice you can even sit back and take a drink non-handed when you need a breather. If I end up digging them out I will post a vid

 

[Zipp2001]

I lived on roller for many, many years as my winter training program.

 

[Seevio]

Out of rollers and turbo, it's rollers every time but neither is close to a smart trainer.

 

[Milkfloat]

Agreed, rollers over a dumb trainer, but a smart trainer is significantly more versatile and interesting for me. What I need is smart rollers.

 

[Globalti]

How do rollers provide resistance?

 

[BalkanExpress]

I picked up a cheap turbo from decathlon just before our lockdown started here in abelgium. Not had to use it yet as we ate still allowed to ride outdoors for exercise,

Given my bike handling skills, i’d probably end up in A&E if I tried rollers

 

[jay clock]

With rollers what happens when the bike skids sideways off the back? Presumably the tyre hits the floor and you shoot forward?

 

[TissoT]

How do rollers provide resistance?

They don't .... Manly used to warm up on.

 

[DCLane]

With rollers what happens when the bike skids sideways off the back? Presumably the tyre hits the floor and you shoot forward?

Usually with a black mark They don't go that far as you're not actually moving and both wheels are unlikely to come off at the same time.

 

[Adam4868]

Rollers...a bit like clip in pedals for me.Your more than likely going to have some sort of mishap sooner or later.All part of the fun isn't it ?

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Old bike always on turbo in front of tv, music and kindle, I like to remove barriers as much as possible.

Do you find your bike crashes through them otherwise?

 

[Fab Foodie]

How do rollers provide resistance?

It seems you can get magnetic adjustable resistance, but other than that it's a function of the tyre pressure/deformation on the narrow roller plus the energy also to turn the front wheel at speed. Clearly by using the gears enough resistance is possible for a reasonable work-out.