I have not had a chance to try the InsideRide rollers, but even with their flywheel, I expect these rollers lack the same “flywheel effect” that is possible on the Kickr.
A down & dirty comparison is to hit a known wheel speed on the rollers & trainer (same cadence and gearing on both) and do a spindown to a stop, recording the time for each. I’d bet easy $ that the rollers will stop much sooner than the trainer. You could try the two extremes of highest and lowest gears for comparison too.
Generally yes, but it largely depends on the power target for one thing. These act like a standard trainer where faster = higher resistance so you do what you need to do with gearing to hold power. The exception with your rollers (and my DIY ones) is that we also have a manual resistance control to alter the base resistance in any gear.
When I used my rollers regularly, I would play with the magnetic resistance to allow a gearing that I wanted for the given workout. Sometimes I used low mag res so I would be in higher gears for max wheel speed and “flywheel effect”. Others I’d max max res and end up in low gears to mimic climbing effort.
Yes, faster wheel speed usually means more stability on rollers. This helps with newer riders in particular until you get used to the steering & balance control. After that you should be able to handle the bike at a range of wheel speeds.
Yup, when the roller is off-center under the wheel, it leads to some angular forces that can cause the wheel to turn unintentionally. Consider the extreme with the roller in front of the wheel contact maybe 2" [50mm]. Without rolling and holding the bike there it takes a minor lean angle to cause the fork to want to steer in the wrong direction for balance control.
As the cover, as close as possible to directly under the front axle is best.
Give it a couple of weeks and you may surprise yourself. I still remember my first go at rollers back in 1997. Felt like riding on ice and I had no idea how people could do that for an hour. Fast-forward to the season I did most workouts on rollers where I did all intensity and long workouts (3 hours) on them, and I could drink, eat, sit up no-handed, stand & sprint at will. I may be an outlier as a trials rider with the balance that requires, but proficient roller use is accessible if you put in the time.
Just here to say Yes to Rollers. Been using them on and off for 20 years. Been back on them the past few years after upgrading to InsideRide. The full motion and ability to just stand and sprint with no fear of jumping forward (or back) is fantastic. Plus I love the left to right freedom.
Just an interesting observation, I’ll jump back on my Kickr for a few specific TrainerRoad workouts… I find I can hold my power fairly well on the rollers with shifting and cadence. When I use the Kickr (usually in ERG for the workout) my cadence is all over the place, super hard to hold a nice steady pace.
There are some rollers with resistance, I’d invest in one of them.
Mine is an Elite Motion. There are 3 settings, and I can do Vo2 on the higher resistance. My FPT is 310 and I use a 52x36 / 11x30. It works pretty well and covers all power targets except for sprints/anaerobic.
This Elite also has a movement back and forward, about 3cm. It’s something you don’t mind before having, after using it, it’s game-changing. I highly recommend this type of unit.
No need to even do the test. Intuitively, it’s obvious that the rollers will come to a stop much sooner than a Kickr especially in the big ring.
It felt like my rectus femoris was getting more of a workout (especially the uppermost part) compared to riding the Kickr.
It seems logical that you’d work the muscles slightly differently on rollers compared to a fixed trainer. The contrast between being fixed on the trainer and completely free on the IR rollers is enormous. I’d imagine that those muscles will come around with a bit more training on the rollers.
110% yes. My trajectory in training was from dumb trainer, to my DIY motion rollers, to smart trainer. As soon as I got back on the rigid trainer I hated it and recognized the benefits of motion. But I didn’t want the full handling demand or limitation of rollers (flywheel & dumb), which is how I ended up making my first rocker plate to gain back some motion while using the smart trainer.
All that to say that purely rigid function on most trainers is unnatural & lacking IMO.
Yuppers. Even after building a dozen of my own rockers, then testing many other designs… there is a reason the E-Flex is still the only one under me after years of use with it.
Once they came out with the 2.0 version of the front (E-Flex Plus), that became my go-to recommendation for Kickr, Core and Hub trainers.
what tire pressures do you use on the rollers? I’m using a gravel bike (with road tired) and feel that i need to pump up the pressure since i feel it’s too squishy and always bouncing.
Seems like the consensus here is a “smart roller” with adjustable resistance is unnecessary. Does anyone actually have a set of smart rollers and find the smart feature worthwhile?
I have a smart trainer (Kickr Bike)and don’t really use the resistance change features – I just change gears.
Yeah, I don’t see Smart rollers as very necessary. I have a power meter on my bike and I use the lap button and an average power field, 3 second power, and 10 second power to hit interval targets in workouts.
Like you, I set my Kickr between -1% to 1% (usually 0%) grade and then just change gears to do workouts.
I’ve got the Elite Nero. I do appreciate being able to watch TV rather than focussing on my cadence/gear to hit a certain power. Also, if I want to stand for 30 seconds (and so slow my cadence) I don’t need to change gear.
Small benefits over standard rollers, which I think I would miss if I went back
I’ve got the Elite Nero. I do appreciate being able to watch TV rather than focussing on my cadence/gear to hit a certain power. Also, if I want to stand for 30 seconds (and so slow my cadence) I don’t need to change gear.
I have to say that I’m really enjoying the InsideRide rollers. It feels like a completely different workout. Upper quads are worked more, my arms and core are worked more. I don’t know if I would pay $945 for them but I stole them for $350. I can forever more see myself switching back and forth between the trainer. Keep the trainer for short/sharp intervals.
I feel like my FTP might be a little lower on motion rollers compared to my Kickr. Maybe it will even out after I build more roller fitness.
One thing I notice is that my butt is more comfortable on rollers. I feel like I could do longer endurance rides. I have a hard time doing just 150 watts or less on the Kickr because it feels like there is so much constant pressure on my bottom. If I do tempo or higher intervals on the kickr, that relieves the rear end pressure.
I’m definitely thinking of an Inside Ride e-flex for next winter.
