Roller folks, I need your help. I’m new to rollers and got myself some Elite Arion Mag rollers to switch things up a bit on endurance/recovery rides. So far I have done 2 workouts and each time there have been a few moments where I get a little wobbly and there is a buzz saw sound, imagine an electric saw cutting through wood.
My theory is that it comes from the back wheel as that is what seems to move the most. It might be my back rim hitting the plastic roller?
Sounds like hitting the edge of Elite rollers to me. If you’re new, it’ll improve…if not, stop riding so near the edge! If you’re using a front wheel brace, it might let you hang out there but from my experience of using just rollers if you hear that noise you’re either correcting or stopping fairly soon!
A video with sound would be priceless here. Outside of that, it sounds like:
You are getting wide to the edge of the rollers and getting more noise from a tire riding on the raised-rounded section of the rollers. This would engage more tire surface and likely lead to more noise.
You are leaning the bike more in those instances and potentially hitting a “noisy” section of your tire profile more from that lean vs a more upright angle. This depends on your tire profile and inflation level.
There is a noticeable vibration of the belt when the noise hits. Not sure if it is source or a symptom though?
Additionally, seeing as you are on two different surfaces (hard in front, soft in rear) and different apparent heights, I think that is not an ideal setup. The delta in heights and surfaces may be leading to odd loading on the support feet of the rollers. Their setup has 8 contact points, and it would be ideal for them all to be on the same surface and height.
I think a test on a uniform surface, preferably hard, would be beneficial in diagnosing the issue.
Wild guess but could one of the rollers be a little loose (side to side play)?
Separately is the rubber band running smoothly and clearing the carpet stop by a good bit (if its close a wee bit of roller frame flex could be causing it to rub sometimes under load.
Thanks for the suggestions. Went and checked the rollers and of course the middle roller was quite loose, leading to a lot of side to side play. Tightened that up and things look better now. The band itself does have a lot of room above the carpet. I’ll give it another shot tomorrow and if that doesn’t work then I’ll make sure to change the position to be fully on the carpet (and scarily not between a door frame).
