bellows@uiucdcsb.CS.UIUC.EDU (12/17/85)
Has anyone out there had experience with the TACX rollers with wind resistance fans? It is supposed to have strong bearings and two plastic fans which generate more resistance than anyone would need. I haven't had a chance to try them out yet, but a local shop can order them for me for $145. Comments on the kind of workout this system gives and other similar products would be appreciated. Thanks, Doug Bellows
reg@mentor.DEC (01/02/86)
A little while ago someone asked for experiences of people with TACX rollers, here are mine:- I bought a set of TAXC rollers last winter and enjoy them enormously ! I think I paid $119 mail order. The work outs you can expect are principally aerobic. Athough you CAN make the load very heavy it is essentially limited to what you can push while seated, i.e. it won't help your sprints or standing climbs very much, but it will help your basic strength and fitness building. It will also improve your "form" a lot by helping you learn to deliver your power more evenly throughout the circle. I think that this is because there is very little inertia to carry you through the top, so you become much more aware of the acceleration/decceleration that stomping causes. When you really get your balance the upper body relaxes a lot more and you just seem able to put all the energy into turning the cranks. I was surprised at how useful this was for dirt riding, where it is often necessary to put out a lot of smoooooth power in a low gear while climbing a lose surface. It seems to be generally agreed that the rides are also less boring than with stationary trainers since you have the balancing parameter to contend with. Here's a couple of tips:- If you are using them in a very dry climate (New England winter) you may experience static build up. I have solved this on my set by adding small coat hanger wire loops to the frame, these support small metal chains that hang lightly over the rollers and then touch the ground. The great thing about the TACX set up is that you can run them with one, two or no fans. In conjunction with a closely spaced set of sprockets you can get just about any load you wish at any cadence, you also can chose the slope of the curve at that point. If you break a fan don't throw it out, cut off the rest of that side and use it as a half fan. Then you have a four way choice: 0, 1/2, 1, 1 1/2, you may not want to bother with replacing the second fan, 1 1/2 is enough for most people. Another way to get the same effect is to tape over one side of an unbroken fan. The fans are quite fragile, to make storage easier I have mounted the vertical brackets onto two short lengths of wood which I just "plug in" to the rear ends of the side rails. This also has the advantages that the noise is quite a lot farther back, they are less easily kicked when mounting/dismounting and there is nothing to trip the back wheel when I ride clean off the side. While learning:- Leave both fans disconnected, in fact its probably better that you don't assemble them onto the rollers for a while, its very easy to tread on them when learning to mount/dismount from the extra 5-6 inches of height that you get with rollers. Position the rollers about 6 inches from a wall, if you are right handed this should probably be on your right when you are riding. If at all possible have someone help you stay on the rollers by steadying the bike at the head tube, not to help your balance, just to keep the wheels on the rollers. A helper doesn't have to be an experienced roller rider themselves and they don't have to be very strong, just understand their role and provide some physco support too. If you can't get a helper just crook your wall-side arm a bit so you can hold the bars and keep your elbow against the wall for balance. Get your speed up to 30 or so KmPH (19-20 MPH). This is the toughest part because at first the steering is very twitchy, but just like when you first learned to ride it will get a lot more stable the faster you go. Before you add a fan find some way to cover the head-set and top tube, it can be surprising just how much "moisture" seeps from the brow and just gets lost in the wind when on the road. On rollers that evaporative effect is lost and you probably don't want to rot out the frame, sure it eats imron. Reg
marcum@sun.uucp (Alan Marcum) (01/04/86)
I recently got a set of Kreitler rollers, and also like them very
much. Regarding learning to ride them, I recommend putting the
rollers in a doorway, positioned so that elbows and shoulders can
be used to right oneself when beginning to fall in either direction.
And, don't worry, if you actually DO fall off the rollers, everything
just stops -- now (experience talking!).
--
Alan M. Marcum Sun Microsystems, Technical Consulting
...!{dual,ihnp4}!sun!nescorna!marcum Mountain View, Californiabellows@uiucdcsb.CS.UIUC.EDU (01/08/86)
Thanks for the info on rollers (I wrote the original request). I've bought myself a set of the new Tacx rollers and I think I'm going to enjoy them. I've learned to balance on the things although I haven't hooked up the fans yet. I found that the best way to learn was to lean against one side of the doorway, get your wheels up to speed, and then inch the wheels closer to the wall so that you can start balancing yourself. If you are in a doorway you can catch your- self on either side, and you can lean on the doorway without interrupting your legs' spinning. The new rollers have heavy metal fan guards, so the fan-breakage problem doesn't exist anymore. Happy spinning, Doug Bellows (bellows@B.CS.UIUC.EDU)