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Pro
Rollers
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2006 Product
improvements
Tougher polycarbonate end
caps for longer life
"Locking" ribs inside drums
resists very high torques (from the occasional ride-off)
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No roller in the industry beats
SportCrafters for smooth ride, quiet, reliable performance and rugged
construction.
You don’t have to be a pro to start your roller
training regimen with our user-friendly, low profile frame and off-the-shelf
road level resistance.
But if you're a pro, well, that's OK
too. |
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What BICYCLING had
to say:
"Smooooth. The drums .... spin
with such fluidity that, to paraphrase a bike-review cliché,
they disappear beneath you. At 90 rpm in medium gearing, the
drums let you whirl at talking pace but are small enough to make you
suffer at high rotations.... we found the ride exceptionally
smooth at all speeds but especially so at heavy loads with
high cadence..."
"OUR VERDICT: Exquisite
ride and great looks"
(Bicycling, January/February 2004)
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SportCrafters rollers are
available only through authorized retail outlets.
Please refer to
links page of the this website for a current listing. |
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All SportCrafters rollers are designed to make the best
technology in bike rollers available at the most affordable
price. If you’re considering rollers, you already rank among the
small percentage of cyclists who know what rollers can do to
improve technique, power, efficiency and handling skills, so you won’t find clever sales
slogans or cliché’s here, just facts. The rollers you
eventually choose, whether ours or from another manufacturer,
should best suit your basic training needs and should not be
chosen based on low price or tricky features. If your roller
fits your training program and you are comfortable using it, you
will wear it out. If not, it will gather dust. The most
important basic decision is roller drum diameter and material.
Please spend some time researching the discussion below on these
subjects. If our roller drums meet your needs, we then encourage
you to compare all other features against all other rollers on
the market before making your buying decision. We also encourage
any questions you have. |
Technical Stuff
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Aluminum |
PVC |
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Drum Diameter |
3.25” |
3.50” |
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Drum Wall Thickness |
0.125” |
0.250” |
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Typical runout |
<0.001” |
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Balance |
Computer
spin balanced |
Close
tolerance components provide smooth ride at average road
speeds |
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Fits Bike Wheelbase |
38" - 44.25" (965
- 1124mm) |
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Width |
16” |
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Frame |
Bi-fold tubular steel 1”
square 16 guage |
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Bearings |
Precision,
low friction hi-temp grease packed and sealed |
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End Caps |
Molded
Polycarbonate
New!
2X tougher than ABS |
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Suggested Retail |
$269 |
$179 |
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Spin balanced aluminum drums. |
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All aluminum drums are spin balanced using modern computerized
two-plane balancing equipment. Spin balancing combined with the
lowest industry tolerance for runout provides the smoothest ride
on rollers that you’ll ever experience |
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• Lifetime lubricated and
sealed radial ball bearings. |
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Truly SEALED
precision bearings give you no noise and lifetime performance. A lot of
roller bearings are only caged, even though they are claimed to be “sealed”.
Non-sealed bearings can become contaminated with moisture, dust and carpet
fibers which will cause noise and premature failure. Our bearings are filled
with high-temp grease and sealed with soft rubber seals on both sides of the
bearing. We believe in over-design, so the load and speed ratings of these
bearings are well beyond the most severe duty cycles. |
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• Oversize axles (3/4” OD
between bearings) will not flex. |
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At some time
during the life of your rollers, you will probably come down hard on one of your
drums during a fall, or in transporting your roller you may hit one of the
drums. A weaker axle will flex on impact and cause some runout by allowing
a slight misalignment of the bearings. So although it may seem that you
damaged a drum, in fact all you’ve done is bowed the axle slightly.
A oversize “beefy” axle will not flex so your drum should maintain its balance
at all times. Although the axles are hidden on assembled rollers, we
encourage you to ask for specific dimensions from other manufacturers to assure
you’re getting the value you’re paying for! |
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• Rugged power-coated steel
folding frame always keeps 6 oversized rubber padded feet on the floor. |
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The frame
uses very rugged 1” square, 16 gage tube from U.S. mills. Note that
most other frames use smaller tube size or flimsier extrusions. The hinge
in the middle of the frame allows enough compliance to allow all 6 feet to hit
the floor so you don’t have to find the flattest floor to train on. Once
unfolded and ready to use, you can put all your weight on the frame to
step on/off without any flex or damage to the frame. This rugged yet
compliant frame design is critical to maintaining good balance and control.
Powder-coating is the most rugged paint technique available. The US Navy
uses powder-coat on seagoing ship components to protect them from highly corrosive and abusive environments. |
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The soft
rubber feet are specially designed to absorb shock and vibration to help give
you the smoothest ride. Unfortunately the precision on the roller drums is
no match for imperfections that are typical of bike tires and wheels, so we try
to accommodate these imperfections as much as possible to give you the best ride
with whatever equipment you’ve got. |
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• Low profile keeps you close
to the ground. |
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For getting
on and off, as well as recovering from an occasional run off the side, you will
appreciate being as low to the ground as possible. The frame is entirely
flat on the top to allow easier step on/off. Note that other frames often
put a stand-off hinge right where you’d like to step! The drum axles
extend through the frame rather than on top so that if you do ride off the side,
your tire will safely contact a flat surface rather than an axle flange which
can inflict more serious damage to your bike! |
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• Knobs, not nuts. ... No
tools needed for drum adjustment, or even complete disassembly. |
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We know that
a good roller may be used by several riders, often at the same workout session
or event. Using knobs, we made it a lot easier to adjust drums and disassemble. |
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Selection of material is
important to a satisfying workout and lifelong use of your roller. |
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Aluminum |
PVC |
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Tires |
Does
not wear tires (like some trainers) but can leave an aluminum residue
on tires, so be careful indoors!
Note: Tires
vary significantly in quality and cure of the rubber compound. Some
tires (regardless how expensive or cheap they are) can leave a black residue
on the drums. If this happens, the marks on the drums can be cleaned with a
solvent, but we recommend switching tires. |
Does not wear tires, and PVC material
leaves no trace on tires.
Same comments apply to
tires possibly leaving marks on the drum. If this happens, use only a mild
solvent to remove residue from PVC drums. |
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Economy |
Best for long term, all-purpose use |
Best for indoor use |
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Noise |
Quiet |
A little quieter than aluminum (not much,
though) since PVC will naturally absorb audible sounds |
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UV/Heat resistance |
Not sensitive to normal environmental
conditions in any area of the country. We can not guarantee, however,
lifetime performance in the crater of a live volcano nor at the bottom of
the ocean. |
Keep away from sunlight and excessive heat or
drum will warp and you may sense some vibration. DO NOT transport in a
car in the summer! |
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Selection of
the proper drum diameter for your level of training is very important. Larger
drum diameters of 4” or more are made popular by a lot of manufacturers, however
you’ve probably noticed these are typically sold with resistance units. Large
drums give you a relatively easy spin on high pressure road tires, and a little
more aggressive spin on mountain bike tires. If you train on hybrid or
mountain bike tires and your body weight is above 170 pounds, you may want to
stick with the larger drums. |
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Smaller
diameter drums give you increased natural resistance from tire compression. Some
rollers are as small as 2-1/4” which promise a very strenuous workout no
matter who you are or what gear you’re in. We don’t recommend this;
rollers should always allow you a moderate workout to simulate a level road.
Whether you add resistance to provide some occasional uphill simulation is up to
you, but you shouldn’t be fighting your roller constantly. |
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We’ve found
that drums in the 3” to 3.5” range give you a good workout and relatively easy
spin on high pressure road tires at your normal road speed range, assuming your
body weight is less than 220 lbs and you’re in good physical conditioning.
Resistance can be added to these units if needed for stronger workouts, but most
people find drum diameters in this range to give them the best overall training.
Resistance will change with speed, so your gearing will give you a very wide
band of resistance range. |
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If your body
weight is higher and you ride a road bike, the smaller diameter drums will give
you appropriate resistance but you may need to gear down to a speed less than
typical road speed. Your other option is to step up in diameter if you
want to use your normal gearing. |
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All
SportCrafters ZRO roller drums are lathe-turned on CNC equipment using a unique
process of finishing the drum
after
it is assembled to the axle, using the axle as the center. This
takes into account all the tolerance contributions from the bearings, axles,
bearing press into the caps, etc. That’s how we can create such
extraordinary tolerances on the finished drums, and why the competition can’t
match it! |
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For the
average cyclist, our “Rule-of-thumb” is that if you can see the run out on the
drum (usually on the order of 0.005”), you will feel it. If the run out of
the drum is less than 0.005”, then generally the condition of your bike tire
determines how smooth the ride will be. For the more accomplished
cyclist who will ride longer intervals at higher speeds, much tighter runout and
balance are important to a satisfactory ride. As always, the tighter
the runout, the better the ride. Also important is tight concentric
tolerance control of the tubing and caps, which contributes to dynamic balance.
Weight imbalance as well as tire and wheel condition can cause vibration under
high speed. We control all tolerances to assure proper balance.
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Back to Top
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Some products go to a lot of trouble to
simulate "realistic" conditions, which can include weights and devices
that add rotating inertia. While this is a marketable selling
point, the fact is that training (in the most general sense) is NOT
intended to bring a true riding
experience indoors if your purpose for indoor training is to improve
your cycling skills and efficiency. Good roller training works
on all of these areas; technique, handling, cadence, coordination,
balance and stamina. Higher inertia takes away the cadence
and technique elements.
Why? To maximize your efficiency and power
output you will need to take advantage of the entire pedal stroke (360
degrees), not just the downstroke. High inertia allows you to coast thru the dead spot (12:00 and 6:00) with little
effort (like outdoor riding), so you are less likely develop the skills
to power through the entire stroke and maintain precise control while
doing it. Low inertia is therefore the better alternative to
develop your cadence to power through the entire stroke.
I mentioned "control" above. How
does that factor in with cadence? As your power transfers from the
downstroke to the backstroke (and from the upstroke to the forward
stroke) the forces you generate with your legs change from up/down
(which is reacted through the bike to the ground..which is why some
mountain bikes have lockouts on suspension devices) to a torque
that is reacted through your seat and handlebars. Your body must
learn to respond to this torque with smooth, efficient steering and
balance corrections in tune with the rhythm of your cadence and the
dynamics of the bike. On rollers, since your dynamics are highly
amplified, you will more quickly develop smooth, efficient technique.
All other devices that make rollers
easier to ride, keep you from going off the side, lets you climb out of
the saddle, etc. are NOT helping your training. Yes, these
make rollers less intimidating for a little while, but you will be
surprised how quickly your skills will progress, which will make these
expensive devices obsolete very quickly. |
If you have any questions or
comments about rollers, please contact us. We’re happy to try to help
determine the best fit for your training needs.
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