You can turn your indoor fitness workouts during the off-season into something way more productive using the Nashbar Parabolic Rollers.
While outdoor rides are next to impossible during the winter months, improving your bike handling skills and perfecting your pedal strokes is crucial if you’re serious about your cycling. And no, you will not get bored while training with this roller trainer because you’re going to have to concentrate like crazy on staying perfectly balanced and steady!
As with any other roller trainer (like the much fancied Z rollers from Kinetic or Nashbar’s other great roller, the Reduced Radius rollers), the challenge in riding it rests on your capability to maintain your balance while spinning those wheels. It requires concentration and a smooth cadence to ensure that you stay on top. Once mastered (you can typically feel in control after your first 10 minutes), your superior balancing skills and pedaling skills are going to move your cycling to the next level!
Find the latest reviews & discounts for the Nashbar Parabolic Rollers on AmazonWhat we liked about the Nashbar Parabolic Roller Trainer
The Nashbar Parabolic Rollers provide an excellent workout and really help improve your cycling form and pedaling efficiency. The parabolic shaped drums will assist in keeping your bike from straying beyond the curved edges, and will make it easy for you to remain in the center while cycling.
The quietness is also impressive, since the bearings are sealed to minimize noise. In fact, the noise level is low enough to ensure you can listen to the radio/TV at normal volume settings. The roller will, of course, run smoothly with minimal noise if your bike has tires with a smooth tread, or training tire. Mountain bike treads are going to be much noisier and less smooth, something to bear in mind for those of you intending to ride these rollers with your MTB.
Ease of setup is another nice factor that won us over; it is quite easy to setup since all you have to do is to unfold it and position the drive belt on the front and middle roller drums. The roller fits bicycles with wheelbases that measures 37 to 43 inches; the frame axle has holes that will allow you to make the necessary adjustments to fit the wheelbase of your bike.
The ultimate joy with this roller trainer is it’s ability to get you to really concentrate on the ride in order to gain balance. You learn how to school your body to be steady and reduce the movement of your upper body to the minimum. And as your balance improves, you can start to apply some resistance by shifting the gears on your bike.
Here’s a great little video of someone trying out the Nashbar rollers – and they sound pretty darned quiet!
Some of the Parabolic’s main features
- It is equipped with parabolic shaped drums with ramped edges. The parabolic shape of the roller is quite effective in preventing your bike tires from moving over the edge.
- Sealed bearings give you a smooth and quiet ride. The bearings are permanently lubricated and require no maintenance. In fact, you will know that you are straying sidewise when the noise level increases, so you can check your drift immediately.
- Fits wheelbases from 37” to 43”.
- Lightweight design folds up easily for storage and transport.
- It is quite easy to set up.
- It’s relatively easy to master, once you’ve done those first few minutes! If you learned how to ride a bike, you will likewise learn how to master the roller, even with a few spills along the way (hopefully not too many like this).
What we didn’t like about the Nashbar Parabolic Roller
Well, if you’re really hoping to pump in some intense sessions on roller trainers, you’re likely to be disappointed. This roller from Nashbar, as with any other roller trainer, is not really appropriate for power training because of the very limited resistance. If that’s what you’re after, you should plump for a great fluid trainer, or the Kinetic Rock n Roll trainer, which comes complete with an awesome rocking motion (as when climbing or sprinting).
One thing we did notice about the parabolic rollers: being small in diameter, they tend to heat up quicker than many other rollers, and thus have the potential to cause more wear on your tires.
In summary: this baby improves your riding skills!
You can definitely work on improving your bike handling skills and develop a smooth cadence with the Nashbar Parabolic Rollers. It will keep you fit and in good cycling form, which translates into smoother form on the road. It will definitely make you a better rider and equip you with the necessary skills to handle any obstacles out there on the road.
And if it’s a tossup between this one and the Reduced Radius from Nashbar, we’d have to say go with this one.
