Indoor Rides

[Jeffrey Zelevansky]

Does anyone use their Riv on a 'smart' trainer?

In my quest to streamline my existence by seeing if I can get by with a single bike (N-1? dunno.), I have installed my Hillborne on a Wahoo KICKR wheel-off trainer.  I stipulate that riding outdoors is infinitely preferable but also refuse to let the perfect be the enemy of the good. 

Other than protecting Sam from sweat, is there anything else I should be concerned about in doing this? Even on the trainer, the Riv is much more comfortable than the older Cannondale I have been using (it's a fit issue). Thanks for any insights.

[Brady Smith]

My Roadini resides on a Zwift hub when not being used outside. I give it a good wipe down after a Zwift session. I believe Zwift has a traditional steel road bike option in game, but since Zwift is the one place where I care about being a weight weenie, my avatar rides a Tarmac. 

Brady in SLC

[Garth]

I ride on rollers in the winter and use a fan when getting to warm and a have a towel around my neck or within reach to wipe my face if needed. I sweat easily and do my best to never drip sweat on the bike. Even in summer I ride with a hanky handy ! No runs, no drips, no errors ! Ahahahaa ! 

Indoors riding is mostly "tolerable" to do so I just ride 10-30 minutes every other day or so. 

Sometimes thoughts of "what the hell are you doing, this sucks !" arise quite loudly when I begin. "Well yeah !,  the idea that anything sucks, well that sucks, sucking sucks , and so what ?!"  It's good for a laugh .... :-). 

I love summer and sweating outdoors also ! Y E A H ! ! ! 

Indoors or outdoors in winter I don't like sweating at all as it's so darn chilling, regardless of the clothing. 

Right now it's raining a 37d, well that sucks even for walking outside !  So, off to laugh my way to an indoor ride ! Teeeheeeheee ;-) 

I must say though, riding rollers is a wonderful way to change setups and fits without having to go for ride outdoors. I mean it's right at-hand, instant feedback and tools at hand. Every bike shop that should have some for the mechanics to ride repaired bikes. The ones I have a made by Sport Crafters of Indiana, the ones with progressive resistance. It really does have road like resistance and I use the same gears. Pedal harder and it gets much harder to maintain it. These are so much more uselful than the Krietler Challenger rollers I had for many years and sold. 

[George Schick]

Speaking of rollers, I have a Technique Pro roller that I purchased from Performance Bike many years ago that I haven't used for quite awhile and would like to get rid of (I'm getting old and am downsizing).  These rollers are folders and they use sealed bearings, but they had rather thin side rails that caused me to stack some flat washers between them in order to tighten the lock nuts properly.  Right now they're adjusted for a wheel base (front hub lock nut to rear lock nut) of about 39 1/2 inches, which should be adequate for most road bikes. The roller diameters themselves are 3 3/4".  I anyone in the Chicago metro area is interested, please contact me off-list.  I will not ship - too heavy - but I will deliver within a reasonable distance of central DuPage County.

[J-D Bamford]

I love Garth's reply, and feel similarly. But after a few decent winters of baseline trainer sessions, I didn't bother setting it up this time and am trying 1-2 runs (on foot!) a week. I don't enjoy running, but it's tolerable.

To the OP... If you're concerned about sweat and rust on a steel frame, consider zip tying an old inner tube around the upper headset and also where the seatpost enters the seat tube, to hinder sweat entry. Then tie an old sock or bandana above each, so sweat wicks away (and you can rotate those thru your weekly clothes wash). I didn't do any of this the last 3-4 winters that I had my old steel randonneur bike on a trainer, but my garage was quite cold and sweat was modest. As I recently migrated parts from that old frame to a new Roadini, I didn't notice any rust for example at the seatpost/tube junction. The seatpost admittedly took a couple taps with a rubber mallet to loosen up, but that's after being in-place for 8-10 years of riding in mostly arid Colorado climate (and not subject to too many surprise Rocky Mountain rain storms).

They sell those hammock-like elastic fabric sweat blockers that stretch from the seatpost to the stem. Funny things. I tried one my first few trainer sessions some years ago. Kinda makes mounting and dismounting a nuisance, so I tucked it away in a drawer. I'm not particularly concerned with sweat landing on the top tube, since it's painted and clear coated, and because any hints of beausage there would be fine.

[Jeffrey Zelevansky]

I haven't ridden rollers since I was a teenager...a lot of fun and a totally different challenge than riding on the Wahoo. Mine are long gone but not forgotten.

[Garth]

Yeah, Rollers definitely require full focus, in some ways even more than outside as you have only 15" or so to ride on ! I had a Turbo Trainer back in the 80's, basically one of the original "remove the front wheel" and ride the rear wheel on some sort of resistance unit. That being small fins to catch air. I thought it would cool to watch tv like MTV and all while riding that, but no, the two just don't mix for me. Music about voice loudness though is complementary. But hey, I've always loved radio/audio much more than TV/visual. In some ways that's what riding rollers is like, just listening"to the rhythm of the movement with or without some soft music playing. Like a symphony of activity ! Close your eyes and the sound bursts forth the screen of the mind into all manner of wonderment, so to speak. 

[J S]

I  use rollers with a fork mount as I am no longer willing to take a fall. I was lucky years ago to get a used Krietler roller and then a used fork mount. The only issue is that I have to re-adjust the seat angle so I have 2 seat posts and 2 saddles which makes the whole thing a lot easier. After 3 back surgeries and a knee replacement  this is the best I can do without a gym membership. It is cold in the basement but a good fleece takes care of that.