Bicycle thread

[flip18436572]

Tip #1 - Put them in a door way until you are very comfortable on them

Tip # 2 - Do not watch the front tire

Tip # 3 - Once you have your speed up, you will be fine and you can pretty much do anything.

[Cat0020]

Rollers could be difficult to master, but they are effecive in improving you bike handling skills.
If you just want to stay in shape without worring if falling off the bike when you're working out at your AT, dying for air.. rear wheel trainer might be better option, less of a learning curve.

[Zodiac]

Originally Posted by Mercury264

Rollers. Talk to me about rollers. The cold weather has arrived here in New England and I hate riding in the cold. I have a static trainer thing but it's not very good. PC or Nashbar have a set of rollers for about $100 or so. I have heard they are difficult to use - true or no ? Any tips on using them ?

Cheers...

They are somewhat dificult to pick up. I learned as a kid, but I was pretty rusty when I got back on them.

1. The smaller the drum the harder to push/balance/ride
2. Release the brake levers (the switch you use to remove the wheels on each caliper. You don't EVER want to use brakes.
3. I actually DO look at the drums, it never bothered me to do that, but it does get easier to zone in on an imaginary staight line.
4. Don't use clip ins until you get good at it.
5. Tires actually make a difference on rollers. The more texture the louder they will be, and rougher the ride.

[Gummee!]

Originally Posted by Perry

They are somewhat dificult to pick up. I learned as a kid, but I was pretty rusty when I got back on them.

1. The smaller the drum the harder to push/balance/ride
2. Release the brake levers (the switch you use to remove the wheels on each caliper. You don't EVER want to use brakes.
3. I actually DO look at the drums, it never bothered me to do that, but it does get easier to zone in on an imaginary staight line.
4. Don't use clip ins until you get good at it.
5. Tires actually make a difference on rollers. The more texture the louder they will be, and rougher the ride.

I'll add
6. keep yer tires inflated to proper pressures. It is important. DAMHIK

M

[ifallalot]

Krietler is the way to go... i used to work at the manufacturing facility... purchased the tubing and saw alot of sets turned on the lathe. The key to smooth rollers is the balance of the tubing. Krietlers methods are unmatched... You can get the "fork stand" if you wish to use your rollers as "hands free" trainer...

[Zodiac]

Originally Posted by ifallalot

Krietler is the way to go... i used to work at the manufacturing facility... purchased the tubing and saw alot of sets turned on the lathe. The key to smooth rollers is the balance of the tubing. Krietlers methods are unmatched... You can get the "fork stand" if you wish to use your rollers as "hands free" trainer...

Being a big Kreitler fan I have to disagree, there's a new roller king in town and here's a link -

http://www.insideride.com/index.php?...d=15&Itemid=36


Watch the many videos of how hese things work and you'll see how archaic regular rollers seem against them.


Definitely on my wish list.

[Gummee!]

Originally Posted by ifallalot

Krietler is the way to go... i used to work at the manufacturing facility... purchased the tubing and saw alot of sets turned on the lathe. The key to smooth rollers is the balance of the tubing. Krietlers methods are unmatched... You can get the "fork stand" if you wish to use your rollers as "hands free" trainer...

I've always wanted a pair of Kreitlers, but the Tacx unit I have hasn't worn out yet! I got it for Christmas in about 1990...



M

[Zodiac]

Originally Posted by Gummee!

I've always wanted a pair of Kreitlers, but the Tacx unit I have hasn't worn out yet! I got it for Christmas in about 1990...



M

http://www.insideride.com/index.php?...d=15&Itemid=36

Kretiler's gota buy the rights to this design, or come out with another version (patent) somehow..

http://www.insideride.com/index.php?...d=64&Itemid=50

[Gummee!]

Originally Posted by Perry

http://www.insideride.com/index.php?...d=15&Itemid=36

Kretiler's gota buy the rights to this design, or come out with another version (patent) somehow..

http://www.insideride.com/index.php?...d=64&Itemid=50

Too bad the price tag on them things is more'n most spend on their bicycles!

$800!!

M

[Zodiac]

Originally Posted by Gummee!

Too bad the price tag on them things is more'n most spend on their bicycles!

$800!!

M

Not in my neck of the woods.. I'd say the avg bike in my bike club is around 2500 and up..

Hey, Kreitler's are around 400 to 800 depending on the model and extras...those insiderides also have adjustable resistance built in.

Not bad really.

[flip18436572]

Originally Posted by Perry

Not in my neck of the woods.. I'd say the avg bike in my bike club is around 2500 and up..

Hey, Kreitler's are around 400 to 800 depending on the model and extras...those insiderides also have adjustable resistance built in.

Not bad really.

I don't have a bike club in my area, but I would guess the average bicycle cost in my small town is under $200.00. I only know of one other person who has spent more than me on a bicycle, and he used to own a bicycle shop that basically only fixed bikes.

I don't even make the $800.00 mark in the earlier post with multiple bicycles.

[Zodiac]

Originally Posted by flip18436572

I don't have a bike club in my area, but I would guess the average bicycle cost in my small town is under $200.00. I only know of one other person who has spent more than me on a bicycle, and he used to own a bicycle shop that basically only fixed bikes.

I don't even make the $800.00 mark in the earlier post with multiple bicycles.

I'm not trying to be antagonistic, but I find that really hard to believe...

- you're telling me the avg bike (and I'm not talking department store fall apart after christmas bikes / children's huffy specials, etc) costs around 200$?

You can't even find a decent new entry level bike for under $500 to $800 (even listed in Bicycling magazine's buyer's guide) that I know of.

Is there a bicycle shop (LBS) in your area, the kind that sell bikes a messenger, wknd roadie, or Mtn biker would ride?

[flip18436572]

Originally Posted by Perry

I'm not trying to be antagonistic, but I find that really hard to believe...

- you're telling me the avg bike (and I'm not talking department store fall apart after christmas bikes / children's huffy specials, etc) costs around 200$?

You can't even find a decent new entry level bike for under $500 to $800 (even listed in Bicycling magazine's buyer's guide) that I know of.

Is there a bicycle shop (LBS) in your area, the kind that sell bikes a messenger, wknd roadie, or Mtn biker would ride?

What I am saying is that 99% of the people that ride bicycles get them at a department store for less than $150 on a day to day basis. We live about an hour from a city that has bicycle shops and even though people go there quite often, very few if any even know what a bicycle shop is.

The only one people even know about is the TREK store, and I won't go back there unless a family member needs something that I MUST get at that TREK store.

I live in a town of about 6000 people and there are very few people that I even see on the streets and we don't have any trails or anyplace for mountain bikes.

I know of a family that buys their kids new bikes at K-Mart about twice a year because the kids destroy them in about 6 months. He threw away about 10 bikes last year that were sitting in his back yard rusting away. He said he waits until they go on sale at K-Mart, or finds the same bike on-line and has it shipped to the house for less.

Most of the people don't ride the bikes enough to care about what shifter will last and when they break, they don't have anyone to take them to anymore. So, they sit and rust away and then head to the local land fill.

[Cat0020]

Above description fits the majority of the population who own bicycles in the US, that population also account for over 80% of bicycle unit sales annually.

[Zodiac]

Originally Posted by Cat0020

Above description fits the majority of the population who own bicycles in the US, that population also account for over 80% of bicycle unit sales annually.

really?

http://www.swivel.com/graphs/show/22618286

avg cost of road bicycle per unit is $806.78 in the US.

Total AVG. for all bikes in US & CANADA is $335.47, but that includes "youth bikes which avg $128 (but that's training wheel bikes which we're not talking about.

Unit sales counts kiddie bikes which of course are purchased more on average. Kids grow, the bikes are cheap shit that self destruct in 6 months anyway.

I thought we were talking about the bikes WE ride? And we were talking about the cost of them, not how many units are sold annually.


Here's a chart that stops 3 years ago =

Category	2002 Retail $ (%)	2003 Retail $	2004 Retail $	2004 Avg. Price
Mountain Front Susp.	26.56	26.24	25.61	$391.31
Comfort	18.03	14.44	11.70	$332.23
Road/700C	16.40	20.79	28.32	$1,152.68
Hybrid/Cross	9.89	12.87	10.95	$386.48
Mountain Full Susp.	9.67	8.87	9.57	$1,319.97
Freestyle	5.56	4.42	3.78	$226.36
Mountain No Susp.	3.12	1.64	0.41	$220.21
Youth 20"	2.60	2.41	2.24	$171.04
Youth 24"	2.51	2.75	2.23	$242.78
BMX	1.98	1.38	0.97	$204.67
Youth 19" and below	1.76	1.72	1.36	$126.72
Cruiser	1.57	1.90	2.38	$270.22

http://nbda.com/page.cfm?PageID=34