Around 15 years ago I used the rollers and found it a great workout. Got to the stage of being able to do pretty much anything on them. This was before I had a power meter etc etc. So no idea about what power I was putting out.
Fast forward today and I’m using a Neo hooked up to TR. I was wondering if anyone uses rollers that are not smart and not resistance controlled with a power meter on the bike,
Can you put out high 200s to low 300s without having to spin 110 plus cadence? I remember my ones being quite loud, is this still the case?
Just looking for an alternative for some sweet spot and tempo sessions
Yes, with my magnetic resistance unit, and gears on the bike, I can easily hit over 400w without resorting to crazy cadence.
Tire pressure can be a tool to play with and increase resistance from lower pressure. But you need to be sure not to get extra low which can lead to excess heat and wear on the tires.
My rollers are louder than most of my trainers, which I feel comes at least from the greater amount of tire contact when compared to the single contact of a wheel-on trainer.
I have a set of Cycleops alu rollers around 5" diameter and its fairly easy to get a 300w workout. I bought an optional magnetic resistance unit as well and with that you can crank it up even further with no issue. The other thing to remember is that reducing tyre pressure will also increase resistance if needed and vica versa.
I find them great for tempo/SST/Threshold work and with an 11 speed cassette you can get fairly small changes in wattage of about 10-15w with each gear change and perhaps a slight change in cadence. They also make the time pass much faster for me I think and after a couple of sessions I quickly get to the point of being dead solid on them and dont need to concentrate at all on what I’m doing. Only downside of course is limited ability with many of the drills TR like to throw in - getting out of the saddle etc, but I’d still take rollers most days.
That’s insane, you made your own!? Awesome. Yes my budget probably won’t stretch to a resistance unit but probably enough for sweetspot work and anything else on a static trainer then, looks a great workout
I recently added a proper magnetic resistance unit to mine, and since then I can do workouts without needing a crazy high cadence or gear. Spinning slower also makes the rollers quieter. I think they are more quiet than my budget smart trainer.
It’s possibly to hack a DIY magnetic resistance unit (assuming you have aluminum roller drums) with minimal cost. These are ones that inspited some of my mods along the way:
Also have two Sportcrafters drums available (from replacing the rear with the Overdrive and the middle with the High Inertia Drum).
Bottom line, I’m not outrunning my setup’s capabilities to challenge me, and I’m comfortable shifting to get different resistance vs needing erg mode/smart rollers.
Caveat: age 66 just 4 weeks post knee replacement so I’m not the typical TR user; YMMV.
I’m sure I’ve gotten around 250w out of my Jetblack R1’s in the 52-12. I notice Saris have a new set of resistance rollers on there site but cant find much more info on them.
I use an old, pre-bluetooth set of Elite E-Motion rollers and a Stages PM.
The rollers have power metering but are about 20w off.
I can set the resistance via an Ant+ dongle connected to my PC and have no issue doing 7-800w sprints at cadence in low 100’s
Standing drills are not an issue but I guess that is down to the incorporated fore-aft movement as shown in Chad’s video.
Yeah they’re a bit noisy but nothing a bit of pumping techno won’t drown out🙂 anyway, I think the noise is a small price to pay for the benefits of training on rollers.
