Bike guys: Rollers or Trainer

[FrustratedUser]

I just need to excercise more so I figured I'd get a Trainer or Rollers to hook up the bike to.
I would prefer to ride on the road but it gets dark pretty early here and It gets hot as hell in the afternoon and I usually work until 6 - 6.30 PM so there is not much time to go riding besides the weekends.

Anyone have experience with either?

I read that a trainer can damage your frame and rollers are difficult to keep the balance on.

 

[Gunslinger08]

The hell are you talking about?

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Rollers have a much more realistic feel, and are much more helpful in building good spinning habits. A trainer does exert kinda weird pressure on your frame, but in my opinion this is not something to get TOO worried about, unless you have a very lightweight steel or carbon frame. I ended up buying a trainer in this situation, because I prefer to be able to veg in front of the TV while training, and rollers take a LOT more concentration. When I worked at a shop, we sold some Kreitler rollers called the "Challenge" model, which were about 60% of the width of standard rollers - they seemed like a deathtrap to me. If cost were no object it would be fun to have a Computrainer, but, well, cost IS an object for simple GIs like me! Whichever you choose, make sure to wipe the bike after you get done - my DeRosa developed a few rust spots from riding on the trainer too much.

 

[FrustratedUser]

Rollers: You bike on the rollers and keep your balance as you normally would.
Trainer: Hooks up to the rear wheel of the bike and keeps it stable.

 

[FrustratedUser]

I am kind of on the heavy side so I don't like to strain my equipment if I can avoid it.
Is it easy to hook up the bike to the trainer or is it kind of semi-permanent?

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: FrustratedUser
I am kind of on the heavy side so I don't like to strain my equipment if I can avoid it.
Is it easy to hook up the bike to the trainer or is it kind of semi-permanent?

What kind of bike do you ride? I should be able to give you an idea whether to worry about frame stress. You can easily attach and remove the bike from the trainer - it takes all of ten seconds.

 

[FrustratedUser]

If I would buy a trainer I would hook up my Trek 6500 Mountainbike. That's my commuter bike.
If I get rollers I would use the road bike you've seen in another thread.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

OHHHHH yeah - I had forgotten about your Specialized. The Trek should be perfectly safe in a trainer, but I would worry a little bit about damage to the dropouts on your Specialized clamped into a trainer. You should probably consider how you intend to use the rollers or trainer - other things being equal, rollers are better exercise and have less impact on the bike, but they require some level of concentration.

 

[FrustratedUser]

I just need to get my heart rate up and get some extra excercise for ~1 hour/day or so. It's frustrating to have some real nice bikes but only be able to ride on the weekends.

The roadbike and MTB have to share my time now.

 

[Yossarian]

wait you want training wheels on your bike???

 

[FrustratedUser]

Originally posted by: PipBoy
wait you want training wheels on your bike???

Um, NO!

 

[Yossarian]

hehehe

 

[BuckNaked]

My advice would be go with a trainer.... I was able to get a better workout on my trainer than the kreitlers I had.... Rollers are good if you want to improve the suppleness of your spin, and I also found my bike handling skills improved to a small degree, but I found them mentally fatiguing for training on for any length of time.... I really had to pay attention the whole time I was on them.... I really felt sorry for the poor woman in the downstairs apartment when I fell off a couple of times!!! LOL....

Dave

PS, if you are interested in the Kreitlers, let me know.... they have been sitting in storage for quite awhile taking up space.... and new ones are not cheap!

 

[vegetation]

Originally posted by: FrustratedUser
If I would buy a trainer I would hook up my Trek 6500 Mountainbike. That's my commuter bike.
If I get rollers I would use the road bike you've seen in another thread.

Be cautious with trainers and mtb wheels. The resistance usually is optimized for a bigger 700c road wheel. You may find there isn't sufficient resistance even while in a big ring, small cog combination.

 

[FrustratedUser]

Originally posted by: vegetation

Originally posted by: FrustratedUser
If I would buy a trainer I would hook up my Trek 6500 Mountainbike. That's my commuter bike.
If I get rollers I would use the road bike you've seen in another thread.

Be cautious with trainers and mtb wheels. The resistance usually is optimized for a bigger 700c road wheel. You may find there isn't sufficient resistance even while in a big ring, small cog combination.

Good point. How do I check?

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: vegetation

Originally posted by: FrustratedUser
If I would buy a trainer I would hook up my Trek 6500 Mountainbike. That's my commuter bike.
If I get rollers I would use the road bike you've seen in another thread.

Be cautious with trainers and mtb wheels. The resistance usually is optimized for a bigger 700c road wheel. You may find there isn't sufficient resistance even while in a big ring, small cog combination.

I never found this to be a problem with my Blackburn Trakstand, which I used to use with a mountain bike. It works a LOT better if you use a slick rear tire, though.

 

[FrustratedUser]

Originally posted by: Don_Vito

Originally posted by: vegetation

Originally posted by: FrustratedUser
If I would buy a trainer I would hook up my Trek 6500 Mountainbike. That's my commuter bike.
If I get rollers I would use the road bike you've seen in another thread.

Be cautious with trainers and mtb wheels. The resistance usually is optimized for a bigger 700c road wheel. You may find there isn't sufficient resistance even while in a big ring, small cog combination.

I never found this to be a problem with my Blackburn Trakstand, which I used to use with a mountain bike. It works a LOT better if you use a slick rear tire, though.

Would Semi-slick be OK too? No problems using that on the commuter. Semi slicks still work OK here in AZ if I need to take it offroad if the full suspension bike breaks down.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: FrustratedUser


Would Semi-slick be OK too? No problems using that on the commuter. Semi slicks still work OK here in AZ if I need to take it offroad if the full suspension bike breaks down.

They will work OK, but realize that the center part of the tread will be completely slick before long.

I too like semi-slick tires for mixed on and off-road use, and when I lived in northern California I pretty much used a semi-slick rear all the time. Any real off-road riding seemed to call for a treaded front, though - obviously this depends on terrain.

 

[FrustratedUser]

Semi slicks looks promising.