Upgrading my rollers...Elite Quick Motion rollers?

I use mine on a concrete floor with thin lino over the top, no other mat. Probably the harder the floor the better as the rollers already have that fore-aft motion that absorbs vibration. I did set my old rollers up elsewhere in the house on a suspended wood floor (Victorian house) and I noticed more vibration with that.

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I actually use an Elite training mat on a concrete floor BUT I use two 1X6" 5 foot boards on top of the mat and under the wheels of the Nero so that it will not sink into mat. I think this smooths out any deformities in the concrete garage floor.

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Hi,

Short update: i received great service from Elite replacing my device and the drums. Amazing!
So now I am really enjoying the workouts, have done various sessions already, low/high cadence/intensity and do not miss my sold Kickr so far.

I have clicked the Elite Misuro B+ power meter into the rollers and get quite reasonable power data to the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt which I have connected to the Misuro.

So far I am enjoying the setup.
Great work Elite - thanks to all of you as well.

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I am so happy to hear this!

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Iā€™m using QM for my training. I got some though by todayā€™s training.

Itā€™s winter here and my paincave is now as cold as 3 deg celcius(38F). Today I did lamarck(4x10min 100%) and observed that resistance decrease as interval progress. When I enter the interval I start with 90~93 rpm, but at the end of the interval, I have to put 95~97rpm to keep up with target power. rpm values are not exact value, but I have to lift cadence as interval goes. Re-calibrate PM doesnā€™t solve the issue.

https://www.kurtkinetic.com/magnetic-resistance

Magnetic trainer performance is affected by heat, which causes resistance to decrease. Most magnetic trainers generate resistance by spinning magnets next to a fixed steel disc with a separate fan for cooling.

This may be the explanation. Doesnā€™t QM have adequate heat dissipation mechanism? Or temperature of my paincave is just extreme case? It looks like I need a fan towards the rear side of the roller.

Had my QM out on the terrace now during lockdown with weather being fine actually. Now I forgot to put them inside overnight and with early morning heavy fog the rollers ended up being soaked. Anything I should do with that? Any reason to think there could be a problem?
probably not?! one time a little wet should be ok i guess. any thoughts are welcome.

Yeah canā€™t see how it would be an issue at all

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I have noticed that even on dumb Tacx rollers I use now without any resistance - after some time in higher speed (over 300W and 50x13) I have to progressively ramp up the cadenceā€¦ is it because of the bearings runnings smoother when heated up or simply the effect of higher speed = better ā€œfloatā€ and less diagonal motion in between both wheels, who knowsā€¦ but it happens :slight_smile:

I suspect itā€™s a combo of heat buildup in the rollers bearings, and even the tire/tube warming and becoming more pliable from the heat.

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Chad would love to hear your opinion - and from others on this topic

So what is the best drum material? Alu or plastic?
I have completely strange feelings, I have a set of very old Cycle Ops ALU rollers that spent quite a lot of time on a balcony, exposed to humidity&temp changes and sunlight, so today bearings are probably far from ideal state. Also the elastic snapped. But as far as I remember, they always had this characteristic - very loud (maybe also because of those hard trainer tires IĀ“ve put on my indoor wheels) with a kind of metallic jingling sound coming from the tire-drum contact points, sometimes even with light smell of burning rubber (I have an impression that drums with line-structured surface somewhat eats into the tires) and rather slippery feeling on them
Now I use Tacx Antares from my friend and their concave shape is supposed to gravitate you towards the center, which rather works, but I feel somewhat unnatural due to that. Bigger drums certainly have a bit more inertia, which is nice and to my surprise they are quiter than alu ones on the contact with the tyre. And they do not have any option to adjust resistance, so I will definitely have to upgradeā€¦

Now I am thinking, go low-cost, just buy a new elastic for those old CycleOps and make a DYI motion plate? Or leave the prejustice behind and go for plastic, buy Quick motions and just ride and forget them? :thinking:
Thanks in advance for your opinions! :beers:

Either will work but sometimes there is a material or tolerance issue and plastic end caps might crack.

If itā€™s an option, Iā€™d get the full alloy. Krietler has full alloy drum offering as does TruTrainer to name two options. But itā€™s not end of world to go plastic or hybrid if full alloy isnā€™t available in the rollers you want or if the price increase is not tolerable.

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i dont think the question is Alu vs Plastic, rather floating vs fixedā€¦

I would not use fixed non-floating rollers anymore. It a great feeling ti be able just to get out of the saddle and ride on with easy balance and no worries about falling off the rollers with floating systemā€¦ I was able to do loads of high wattage high cadence workouts, sprints, climb simulations on my Elite QM Rollers. cant imagine to do that on old school rollers, maybe it is just me, maybe it is possibleā€¦ but definately not as easy as with floating rollers.

  • I have aluminum Kreitler rollers that I rode today. (I keep these at my office for impromptu de-stressing, head-clearing, therapy.)

  • I have plastic Elite Real e-Motion rollers at home, I rode last weekend.

The plastic is a little quieter. The aluminum ā€˜feelsā€™ more slippery for the first few minutes. In the end, theyā€™re both absolutely fine and will likely live for years and years. What wears out on rollers isnā€™t the roller. Itā€™s the gigantic rubber band thing.

Whatever brand you buy, just get an extra rubber band or two, and youā€™ll be set forever.

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Well, in my case there is also a location issue - all the fine alu options with swing motion I saw are US based without any distribution channel in Europeā€¦ and buying it would take ages to come from US (in the post-Covid world) and SUPER expensive due to customs :roll_eyes:

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Itā€™s possible, but not much fun. I agree on the fixed vs. motion. My Elite rollers at home are ā€˜motionā€™ ones which rock an inch or so, and frankly theyā€™re more fun in just about every aspect of the ride.

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I have not used plastic rollers, so canā€™t really comment on the ā€œbestā€ aspect. Rollers in general have a bit more noise than many trainers. Itā€™s the result of more moving rubber on surfaces that can transmit and even amplify sound. If quiet is the most important goal, there are trainers that handle it better.

For rollers, I do recommend the fore-aft motion as key. It just makes riding them so much better all around. If you are inclined, a DIY setup is not terribly hard and can be added to any rollers for more options from which to choose. Check out my video for just one of the many DIY examples you can follow.

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Looking at trying rollers.

ā€œStupidā€ question: What is the minimum set up? I understand one might (should?) use roller tyres, but do I need brakes for them? If roller tyres are a ā€œmustā€, then Iā€™d have to get another set of wheels, and looking to make it as cheap as possible. Does the quality of the wheelset matter at all?

I actually think there is less tire wear when using rollers vs a wheel-on trainer. Wheel-on trainers use a strong force on a single, smaller roller that can lead to more wear.

The rollers use your weight on the bike like outside, and apply only that load on the tires. The rear (that bears more weight than the front) is split between two rollers to share the load and wear. Because of that, I have never used different tires than my regular road bike when riding rollers.

Perhaps this may differ if you are using a very soft and pliable race-type tire but for an average tire, I see no issues on regular roller use.

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IMVHO you only need clean tyres (any mud or sand), slicks are the best. I saw tyre wear only on smart Nero rollers, but never on Quick Motion.

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using these rollers now for two years. fun thing, like it much more than my Kickr I sold.
No need for special tires, just try to have slicks or tires as smooth as possible otherwise it gets quite noisy. I put max pressure in the tires and ride for 2h wirhout problem.
The QM rollers do offer various intensity levels so it is easy possible to simulate a long climb. Getting out of the saddle is no issue at all. Short burst sprints are possible as well, but take a bit of more focus.
I like it.

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