(banging noises) (slow techno)
- I love a bit of smart tech, and today I'm gonna be
checking out these Elite Nero Smart Rollers
that they've kindly sent in, but why?
Well firstly, these rollers are nothing like
your traditional ones, instead they've got
automatically controlled variable resistance in them
which makes them a genuine alternative in my opinion
to the ever-popular direct-drive turbo trainer that people
are using on virtual reality worlds, such as Swift.
Having used rollers for literally decades,
I was very excited for these to land on my desk.
But firstly, let's actually explain what rollers are.
Well, they're a free-standing product
that allow you to ride your bike just like a turbo trainer,
but while with a pretty obvious difference to it.
The difference is you're not supported in any way at all
when you're riding on the rollers,
whereas on a turbo trainer, you're clamped into position.
So you rely on balance, speed,
and battling against gravity to stay upright.
It's just like, well, riding a bike!
Now these rollers, they actually only share
a couple of similarities to the rollers
which we would see riders using way back
in the 1960s until almost the present day,
and that is that there's three rollers
actually in them in total, so you've got two here
at the rear that your rear wheel sits between,
and then the front one here which is driven
by these two bands, so as you're cycling away,
your back wheel propels the front one and you've almost got
a virtual rolling road as you're going along,
so it's just giving you that road-like feel.
And then a recent addition into these rollers
which is super cool is the 2.7 kilogramme
fly wheels in each rear roller.
So you're carrying a certain inertia,
a momentum if you like, just like riding on the open road.
If there's one thing rollers does,
it gives you that feeling.
Now with all this out of the way,
let's get onto the smart bits of tech.
They are a smart roller after all.
Well firstly, you can connect them
via ANT+ or Bluetooth to either
your computer or a smartphone, meaning that you can
ride your indoor cycling worlds or any pre-planned workouts,
and the resistance adjusts accordingly.
So, depending on the terrain you're riding on
or any pre-planned efforts you've got set,
these will do the job for you.
Now, how is that done exactly?
Well, it's via magnetic force within
these rear roller drums, so the harder the terrain,
the stronger that magnetic force is gonna be
and the easier, well, the less force there's gonna be.
So it's all gonna adjust accordingly.
Now the resistance can work in conjunction or independently
from another great feature of these rollers,
which is the ability to simulate
riding on a gradient of up to seven percent,
which is probably enough for most of us out there.
This truly turns a pair of rollers into a training aid
that I feel can compete with any other out there.
Combined with the fact that you can ride it
up to 1350 watts at 60k an hour,
I think it's time we bring in a special guest
to run through more of the great features.
Right, good to have my main man Hank here now to actually
run through a few of the different features on it.
First up then, let's actually explain
that the Nero Smart Rollers are adjustable,
so if you've got a really long mountain bike
or a really short road bike, well, you're catered for
'cause there's 11 different adjustment positions
just down here that you extend the rollers
in order to get the best riding position.
Of course, for maximum comfort
and well, smoothness in riding,
you wanna have the front axle either over the centre
of that front roller, or just to the back of it.
So you've got a little bit of room there
to play around with, but well,
with no further ado mate, I think it's about time
you took a step up, quite literally.
The Neros have actually got a handy little fold-down step
which make getting on and off of the rollers a lot easier,
because normally, well, we've got a couple of inches
haven't we James, to actually, you know,
the bike's elevated more than normal.
And it's not necessarily that simple
is it, to actually get started.
- No, you're kinda off-balance before you even get on,
so having that step just brings you to a level
where you can sit on the saddle and get the pedals going
without too much trouble, so you're not relying on
maybe a friend or a wall to help you.
- The one thing that many riders find and feel
when they first get on a pair of rollers
is that they have a bouncing type feel
rather than the circular motion of pedalling.
So, the reason for that being is that rollers
actually subconsciously teach you to pedal in circles,
because it makes the ride quality a lot better.
So many of the best riders in the world
who have supless, so a real smooth pedalling action,
is normally actually because they've grown up using rollers.
So think of riders like Iljo Keisse,
Bradley Wiggins, Frank Vandenbroucke, guys like that,
they had such smooth pedalling actions
and it would've almost certainly come because of this.
Plus, if you don't have that natural smooth pedalling style
which, well, I'm not blessed with,
I don't know about you, are you blessed with that, or not?
- Probably not mate, given my style.
(laughing) - The great thing is
that Elite have actually incorporated something
called Quick Motion into the rollers.
Now what this means is that rollers themselves
actually rock backwards and forwards very very slightly.
So you can see here, that when James is doing that,
they're kinda taking up any of that imbalance
or sort of unnatural pedalling style
so that he can still ride long in, well, comfort really.
Have you ever ridden on anything like this before
with the floating movement? - I mean, it feels
a lot more comfortable with this floating
and you don't end up rolling on top of the roller.
- Yep. - It keeps you in
the nice stable state where you can
basically just concentrate on your riding,
and not too much about your balance
and kinda where you're sitting on the roller.
- [John] What about getting out the saddle,
because on a pair of normal rollers,
well, it's not very easy, is it?
- It's not, so with these, when you get out the saddle
without you rear wheel flying off the back
as it would on a fixed pair of rollers,
that slack's taken up by the float of the rollers,
so you can find it a lot easier
to stretch your legs, basically.
- Yeah, 'cause that is something you tend to find,
isn't it really, when you're riding on rollers
for quite a long time, 'cause you do
tend to get a little bit sore here and there
purely just 'cause you're in one position.
I mean, you're not, you know, when you're out on the road
you're always moving around and stuff.
- Yeah, that's correct, it's like riding
a piece of flat road for an hour on end.
You do wanna get out the saddle,
stretch your legs, get a bit of blood flow going
before you settle back in and crank up the power.
- Yeah, now you say that about
riding on a flat road for an hour on end,
but, well we've got it linked up here,
haven't we right now, to Swift.
And well, you're riding up a six percent gradient right now,
could you feel that? - And to be honest John,
I could definitely feel it! (laughing)
- Exactly, you got out of the saddle just at
the right time to demonstrate.
- Might need to get back out! - And also, the actual rollers
themselves are parabolically shaped,
so at the edges, they're shaped in such a way,
if you were to drift over there,
it kind of gently nudges you back in
the right direction, doesn't it?
- [Hank] It does indeed, so if I try and demonstrate.
- [John] It's quite hard isn't it,
to demonstrate it when you-- - Well it's harder!
- Yeah, but there we are, you know, yeah.
- So basically, just puts you back into the middle.
So your rollers want you to sit in the middle
of where, it's more stable, and it's easier
to ride than right on the edge.
- Yeah, and I mean for us, rollers, traditionally,
they were used really as like a, you've honed your
pedalling technique, wouldn't you, or maybe use them
for a little warmup or something like that.
But I mean, you can see now, linked up to Swift,
you're going up an eight percent climb right now.
That's adjusting in the actual resistance
of the rollers too, I can see by a couple of
beads of sweat coming down, rather him than me.
- I'm getting out of breath John!
(laughing) - It is actually, you know,
I never thought I would say that rollers, you would be
able to use them as a viable training alternative
for a turbo trainer, for those real hard intervals.
But I think with this, I'm really
really, like, pleasantly surprised.
Right, there we are, I'm gonna leave Hank to this
because well-- - I'm in a session.
- Yeah you are, aren't you, you've really started to
enjoy this, it's great! (laughing)
We're not gonna be getting any more filming done for today.
- No. (laughing)
- So remember to like and share this video
with your friends, and keep your eyes peeled
on the channel, because we've got
a couple of pairs of these to be given away soon,
so that's good news for someone out there, isn't it?
- That is for sure, and if you get ahold of them,
let us know what you think in the comments section below.
- Yeah, remember also to check out the GCN shop
at shop.globalcyclingnetwork.com.
Got a whole heap of new goodies
including this brand new Cobbled Classics t-shirt,
riding kit, you name it, we've got it.
And now for two more great videos,
how about clicking just down here and just over here.
- Right John, can you get me a towel now?
- Yeah, do you want a drink? - Oh, desperate.
- You're going well mate, you're going well!
Setting me some new Pbs on Swift.
(sighing)