Rollers

Both rollers and turbo have a place in bike training in a country with terrible weather.

Rollers will help you become a more efficient rider (better balance, smoother pedal stroke, better use of core muscles, etc), which means a higher percentage of your energy output is making the bike go forward rather than 'bleeding' out into unnecessary movement. We all know a rider who can't ride without bobbing their head and shoulders from side to side...
While a turbo is great for lactic acid training, max effort sprints, etc where you'd soon get tired and be in too much pain to not fall off the rollers before you've finished the session.
As for Colm's original question about what would be best after a heavy squat session, that depends on what part of your training cycle you're in and what your training goals are.
Either way, both are pretty darn useful in the lovely British weather...!

Rollers everytime, just much more intresting, run wider tyres and lower presures to get more resistance if needed.

Maybe covered somewhere else, but cant see it - can you run a track bike on a turbo trainer without too much bother? Seen in the past some people saying track axles arent long enough for turbo trainers - any truth in this?

Yes, lots of truth in it.

If you have this problem (some, not all turbos) and you have solid axled track hubs then you would need special long axle nuts (not that hard to get).
If you have hollow track axles, most of the cheaper hubs do, then you can get a QR skewer and stick it through. It won't go all the way through and you won't put the nut on the end, but it will provide extra width to fit the turbo.

or monkey the turbo axle holders to the right width

cheers fellas - apparently tacx do a set of axle nuts for use with their turbos (which I'm sure would be fine on most brands) which might also do the trick. Not sure if they are for this purpose, or just meant for road wheels with threaded axles. Im looking at the elite turbos and trying to find any minimum axle dimensions for these, but havent found any yet. Will stick any info up if I find anything.

on another note! anyone any advice on fluid vs magnetic? I know the fluid ones are meant to be quieter, but wondering if theyd give enough resistance if using a fixed gear bike where you cant move through the gears.

I've a cycleops supermagneto pro (magnetic) and the resistance curve increases the faster you go.

It has the benefit of 4 resistance settings from spinny recovery rides to climbing.

I like it, insofar as one can ever like a turbo.

Quiet too. But still pisses off the Missus.

cheers spuds, trying to decide between the elite hydromag and elite crono fluid. Both are a fair bit of cash so dont want to get the "wrong" one.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/elite-crono-hydro-mag-elastogel-trainer/
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/elite-crono-fluid-elastogel-trainer/

will mostly be doing a mixture of sprints and basic recovery rides.

some useful power graphs on the elite website too
http://www.elite-it.com/qubo-hydromag/
http://www.elite-it.com/qubo-fluid/

Good rollers are, I think, the only way. Fixed gear bicycles and rollers are a great pair. If one does not want the feeling of balance of can just as well instead of a turbo trainer get on a spinning bike at the local .

Sending my 2nd set of TACX Antares rollers back to Wiggle. 1. Noisy, due to poor bearing design and 2. Lock to keep rollers open doesn't lock. If your going to go for rollers. Having used others of a similar price I'd recommend the Elite Ghibili instead.Not as asthetically pleasing and not so easy to carry. But much bettter as a set of rollers.

Since they are now available in UK I'd highly recommend Kreitler (alloy end-cap) rollers. They are very well made. The Elite E-motion rollers are right now the hottest and hippest but the Kreitlers win out in old school appeal--- a design spanning 40 years-- and do what they intend to do.

We have a tax flow , it's fantastic .....

Just picked up some Tacx Antares for 40 notes, I'll take noisy bearings and possibly dodgy lock at that price!

The headphones I use while on the rollers have finally disintegrated.

Any recomendations for good, wireless, sweat resistant headphones?

Any recomendations for good, wireless, sweat resistant headphones?

There are a large number of sports specified headphones on the market and they are nearly all sufficient for hearing over-driven MP3s while hammering on a trainer. Actually no need even for a "good one".. Sloppy non-linear exaggered sound is just what most people want--- that's why also the vast majority of popular music has compressed dynamic range and little headroom-- and this is what even the low-cost China phones offer--- getting things linear and "acurate" is expensive but they don't make sense here--- in big heapings.

Starting question is in or on-ear... might even suggest corded as they are even cheaper...

Vote for turbo - been training hard on my Tacx i-Genius for the last 3 months with dramatic effect on power output. Just don't see how I could replicate these kind of precise functional threshold and VO2Max intervals any other way, with nice graphs showing power output, HR, cadence etc. and ability to export to Excel so I can extract the numbers in a meaningful way to me. Ability to ride virtually up the Alps or in Mallorca etc is a big bonus with the appropriate Tacx DVD and means I can happily spend 2-3 hours on the trainer without getting bored. I know this is a £££ option but considering the benefit in terms of increased power output it's extremely good value compared to for example trying to get faster by buying a full carbon setup.

Starting question is in or on-ear... might even suggest corded as they are even cheaper...

On-ear. I should have said.

I'm guessing from your post that you're a lot more of an audiophile than I am. So this might be a basic, and poorly worded ask: something with good, even exagerated bass. Cords just tend to get in the way.

Just picked up some Tacx Antares for 40 notes, I'll take noisy bearings and possibly dodgy lock at that price!

I think for £40 I'd be happy. Some Antares are noisy some are not. There is a fix for the noisy bearings. The reason they are noisy is because the bearings vibrate on the shaft. The solution is to get some Loctite Studlock / Bearinglock. (Ask your local car mechanic or LBS if you can borrow it.) Then dismantle rollers, place a 24mm socket on the floor, place bearing of each roller over the top of the socket and use a rubber mallet tap the shaft, The shaft moves and the bearings come out, apply the studlock to the outside of each bearing surface and re-assemble, hey presto noise free rollers. The studlock does not stop you taking it apart if the bearings should wear. But if my instructions don't make sense, see link..

http://www.johns-cycling-diary.co.uk/?p=4671

I don't have a fix for the dodgy lock unfortunately.

nice job

I use a Elite elastogel hydro, pretty quiet, not given any significant wear on the back tyre (use it 3 x 1hour tempo sets a week)

Definately better in the winter, just melt on it in the summer! tried my fixie on the turbo was ok resistance wise, but for a gentle work out. really need some gears to make the most of it. Really helped my pace

Planet X doing a turbo for £99 does anyone have it?

I had a £60 turbo from eBay and had to sell it on because it was too noisy!

Planning to start doing roller sessions, with the specific aim of improving my pedalling style/speed. I'm doing plenty of other riding, so these sessions are about technique rather than fitness. Which bike am I better off using? Track or road?

100% track bike. It will smooth your pedal action. It's less forgiving than gears.

Doesn't really matter. But use your track bike if your goals are track racing based.