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| No Assembly Required. Comes with a simple instruction sheet because it is super simple to attach |
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| Quality Construction and Paint |
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| Simple No Tool Required Attachment with using the hand adjustment knob |
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| You will need to use your own or buy an additional front skewer |
Fork Stand for E-Motion Rollers - Why?:
I've used E-Motion rollers since 2011 and have a lot of hours on them by this point as my weekly calendar puts me in a situation where I need to train indoors year round if I am to get in the training hours. Original Blog Post
I suppose the first question one might ask is why put a fork stand on rollers. Simply put there have been times where I just wanted to take balance out of the equation. For instance I have found it tough to do Vo2 type intervals and hold that intensity for the given duration and at the same time have to concentrate on keeping the bike upright. The intensity is tough enough mentally and physically as it is. The balance factor is not much in the equation, but to have full focus with a bike locked into place is what I may want for a particular day. Other times I don't mind having balance in the equation just like riding outside. There have been days when doing active recovery that I wanted to just let the legs spin light with my hand free from the bars. There may be some specific workouts where I want the front fork stable like hard quick interval jumps. Simply having the option of a fork stand adds versatility and allows the user a variety of options.
What is nice that the folk at Inside Ride made this quality fork stand as an optional attachment for those who want to quickly attach it to model F or H rollers.
Function:
My first concern before ordering was how fast would it be to attach and remove since I am usually time crunched and do not like spending much time setting up equipment. I couldn't really tell from web based pictures. It only took a few seconds to spin off the front roller hand adjustment knob to remove the front bumper wheels and attach the stand. Since I will probably just use the stand on rare occasions, I will just set the front bumper wheels in front of the rollers until I am finished with that particular session and then return back into its original setup.
I used the front stand last night in a 60 minute TrainerRoad session with a 2 x 20 threshold/L4 type intensity. This was obviously a non-ERG session using a bike with a PowerTap G3 hub. The feel was really nice with the roller resistance set to level 2 in order to hold the intensity per the workout. At a steady state cadence the carriage had light movement and the rear wheel had a very slight wag back and forth. This was a good feel on the saddle for the workout. The slight carriage movement and only the back wheel moving seems to have less grinding in the crotch as I sometimes experience on a stationary type trainer.
Toward the end of the workout I gave a few hard standing jumps in intensity kind of like a light sprint to see how the carriage would react. Normally when I have done this on the typical setup the carriage would rock pretty hard when I returned to the saddle and a couple times my back tire put some black marks on the wall as I had the rollers too close. With the front fork locked on the stand the carriage did move, but not near as much. I like these hard out of the saddle interval jumps in intensity with the fork stand locked as compared to the free rolling style.
This gives the user flexibility to use the fork stand or not and with how easy it is to attach the stand and remove the user doesn't have to worry much about excessive equipment setup time.
Last Thoughts:
As a user of E-Motion rollers for the past three years it is great to see the folk at Inside Ride turning this into an indoor trainer that can be used in a multitude of ways. Once they finish with the wireless controller that will give the user an opportunity to use with a program like TrainerRoad or PerfPro in ERG mode. In my opinion the E-Motion rollers could become a single indoor bike trainer option that fits many types of needs and/or personal desires for taking training to the next level.
It may not be for everyone and it could be baffling for others to understand why you would want to add a fork stand to rollers, but at least you can if you want. Thanks to Inside Ride for making this another option for those of us using type F or H models.
