Turbo trainer or a roller

never owned either and because the weathers getting wank going to get one or the other. any advice welcome

HTFU, go outside and ride ;-)

i did that and no i ended up with a buckled front wheel, bad back, and a saddle with only half the padding left on, fucking front tyre . . . xD

ive no problem riding outside for my commute but i really dont want to 50 + miles in the rain if there an alternative

Depends what you're trying to acheive. Rollers are more fun, and work if you just want some aerobic work to keep fitness, but it can be hard to gear high enough to get high resistance for interval sessions e.g. I'm running 56/9 gearing on the rollers and can still spin it up to 160rpm for a 10s effort.

Best of both worlds would be one of the rollers with a brake (resistance) system, but I haven't tried any of them so I can't say which ones really work well. I bet the Trutrainer works pretty well!

i just want to keep up/improve my fitness even when i cant get outside. turbos look pretty uncomfortable and the rollers look like more fun, but a bit of an accident waiting to happen

bit of a thread hijack, but if anyone has a turbo they are looking to get rid of I may be interested

Rollers are great with a fixed bike and are good for honing your balance.

rollers look like more fun, but a bit of an accident waiting to happen

Don't be afraid of the rollers. If you can ride in a more or less straight line on the road, you can ride on rollers. Worst case scenario of riding off the side at high speed is actually quite safe, as you only have about 1~2% of the momentum you would have if you were actually riding at that speed, and most of that will be burned off in wheelspin as you hit the floor :-)

When you're first learning to ride them, just set them up through a doorway so your shoulders are in line with the door frame, and you won't be going anywhere harmful whatever happens.

My sister in law is hardly the world's most confident cyclist, and she had it nailed in 5 minutes even with the rollers set up wrong for her very short bike. Even my mum can ride rollers!

That Trutrainer is false economy. You'd be better off getting something a little more expensive and over-engineered.

As mitre tester said use a door way or set your rollers up by the bannisters to your stairs.

ive no problem riding outside for my commute but i really dont want to 50 + miles in the rain if there an alternative

There is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather

i beg to differ in sheffield today, its bad weather.

ive no problem riding outside for my commute but i really dont want to 50 + miles in the rain if there an alternative

Riding on a turbo is mind numbingly boring, it is made slightly better if you are doing specific stuff like intervals or a structured program. Trust me cycling in the rain when it is not cold is way better than turbo work, save the money and put it towards a good jacket.

Personally I only use a turbo in the winter when its very cold and wet and its a last resort. Fair enough if your doing specific race training but just to get fit or stay fit its not worth it just get out on the bike.

its not for just yet, for whens it really bad

I'll sell you some rollers if you like.

I'll sell you some rollers if you like.

There is something slightly sinister about that. I have no idea why, it just set of my 'Very slightly sinister' alarm.

[I have a lot of pointless alarms, including a 'pointless alarm' alarm]

mitre tester you have now set the standard

are lfgss riders better or worse than your mum!

i have built up one of the open pros, the wet weather has been a good test of the ceramic rim and it makes a huge difference

cool, gimme a roller

i plan on getting a turbo for winter, FTP training 2 or 3 times a week. The level of consistency and lack of interruption makes it worthwhile

good luck staying on a turbo or roller for more than an hour, anything over 30 minutes leaves me feeling suicidal.

Sufferfest! Makes the roller session more fun (although harder)

There is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather

There's no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothes.

i have some rollers, but like mitre says it can be easy to to spin out the rollers. my 70gi fixed is way too low so i always use my geared bike. even then i can spin it out when doing a hard interval.

i really like having rollers. somtimes i dont have the time to go out for a proper ride, and im the type of person to not be able to sit still and watch stuff, so i enjoy setting up my laptop and watching stuff. i watched alot of the tour this year while spinning on my rollers.

ive not used a turbo, but i dont think id like it as much as the rollers. i would like some resistance with computer control for doing intervals and drills.

I've got both now - you slowly accumulate stuff over the years.

Good for different things. I'm not sure I could choose one over the other.