Minoura Japan – ActionRoller Advance

The biggest benefit of rollers is its natural riding feel.
You can enjoy very realistic riding feel such as steering little by little for maintaining your balance on the freely spinning roller drums. It cannot be expected on any stationary trainer that holds your bike stiffly.

The steering character will be changed to very quick on rollers, so you need to keep the correct riding theory that you must sit on the saddle center properly and hold the handlebar softly. Otherwise, your front wheel will lose stability, will be shaken side by side, then it becomes quite hard to maintain balance.
In other words, we can say you will able to do the perfect riding even on actual road – maximum performance with minimum power – if you can ride smoothly on rollers.
Rollers is the best tool to learn the total riding skills.

The bike on rollers is not supported at all. It just stands on freely spinning rollers by the gyro moment from wheels. Therefore, you may fall off once you lose balance.
This is the point people feels that rollers is not familiar with beginners. But you don't need to worry about it so seriously. We are sure you can get learned quicker than you imagine.

You need to concentrate on riding on rollers. You may not be able to watch TV or stretch your body when get tired while you are on rollers. We say you need to train seriously and excitingly on rollers, therefore you won't be bored.
Don't worry, these things can be done after some training.

In addition, rollers will not apply so much resistance to the tire, so you can expect much longer tire life.
People usually replace the tire from the expensive new one to the old one for using stationary trainer just before the race for warming-up, but it is not necessary if you use rollers.

In general, the biggest problem on rollers is its louder noise.
Even though we put an insulator in each roller drum to reduce the noise as much as possible, the total noise level must be higher than stationary trainers. So we don't recommend you to use rollers indoor if your neighbors are nervous to noises.

Dancing on rollers is not recommended even if you are an expert rider.
Also do not apply braking while on rollers. You will be dangerously blown backward.

Basically, trainer is the equipment for changing your body how fast you ride. Both stationary trainer and rollers are designed for this purpose, but each type has its own benefit.

The stationary trainer that clamps the rear wheel is mainly for building up muscles and increasing cardiopulmonary function. It gives artificial resistance to simulate climbing up the slope.
Please note if you are focusing too much on just building up muscles, your pedaling technique should become worse that you just push down the pedal strongly. It's not good for smooth and fast riding. Imagine "rotating" on pedaling.

On the other hand, rollers is focusing on getting total riding skill rather than just building up muscles. You can learn correct riding position and more effective pedaling technique that make your actual riding faster and more powerful.
Once you become to ride on rollers without any unnecessary movement, it means you can also ride on road smoother, safer and faster.

At first, get on bike and support your body by holding a wall or handrail.
Apply your main weight to the center of the saddle. Adjust your hip position to sit in exact center of the saddle. If your hip position is off the center, you won't be able to ride rollers correctly.

Grab the handlebar gently, not hold so strongly.
If you use a drop-bar, grab the top-bar just next to the stem.
If you use a flat-bar, you should grab the metal part of the handlebar because you don't use brake at all on rollers.
This helps to maintain your balance as symmetry as possible. For this reason, the distance between the wall and bike should be close enough that you naturally touch the wall.

Do not look down. Raise up your head to see 2 - 3 meters ahead.

Start pedaling while supporting your body by holding the wall.
If you are confident you can start without holding the wall, you should pedal a little fast, not slowly. If you are not so confident, pedal slowly and concentrate on keeping the bike vertical.
If you spend 50% or more force to hold the wall, you will never ride rollers. Reduce the power from your arm. Be sure you just touch the wall.

If the bike is slant on rollers, the front wheel will have to move to the roller end rapidly and you may fall off.
Concentrate on keeping the bike vertical that the wheel won't move sideward even if you remove the hand from the wall.
Do not look down, otherwise you will loose the sense of balance.

When you become to ride stable without shaking, try to remove your hand from the wall and promptly grab the handlebar. Do not do slowly, it will lose your balance.
The bike itself is designed to keep the stability, so do not apply any unnecessary force to the handlebar.
The gear position should be in middle setting, not too light nor too heavy. Try to keep 20 km/h or faster.

As per learning the riding on rollers, try to change your pedaling from just push down to "spin" the pedal.
Try to pull your knee-head to close to the top-tube.
Be sure you maintain the same speed.

If you remove every force from the handlebar and you sit in the saddle properly, you should be able to ride without holding the handlebar. But don't do it until you get enough skills. Do it at your own risk.

To stop on rollers, do not apply any brake, just stop pedaling to reduce the speed.
Just before you lose balance when the bike is almost stop, reach your arm to the wall to support.
Look carefully your toe to put on the step, then get off the bike.

The proper front roller drum position is 10 - 15mm longer than the actual wheelbase to make the handling gentle, not so quick.
As per orienting yourself to rollers, you will shorten the distance. It will change the handling sharper and sharper. Professionals set the front roller just beneath the front axle.

However, if you have set the front roller behind the front axle, you may fall forward by the force to the handlebar, so it's not recommended.
On the other hand, if the front roller is too away from the front axle, the handling will become too tough and it will change to quite hard to be recovered once the steering starts.

All of Minoura rollers have light alloy metal roller drums. On the other hand, competitors adopt plastic roller and try to differentiate the design from us. We don't have plastic rollers with the following reasons;

Firstly, it's avoiding static electricity.
Every trainer including rollers is usually used in cold winter season. The cold air reduces the humidity and will become drier.
Static electricity is generated between the rubber tire and roller drums. As per the air becomes drier, the static electricity will not be discharged and kept in rider and bike.
When the rider gets off the bike and touch a metal piece, he will get heavy and uncomfortable shock.
Plastic roller cannot discharge static electricity and keep saving the power, so the shock will have to become harder. But the metal material will escape the electricity in the air gradually then the shock can become weaker.
This is the biggest reason why we choose metal roller.

Secondly, the trueness of the roller drums.
Even though the rollers spin at very high revolution, if it's not trued and deformed, the bike will have to be shaken and you cannot expect comfortable training. The technical limit of trueness should be 0.15mm. If it becomes over 0.3mm, you will clearly feel the vibration.
Every plastic parts is made from hot and melt material, so it cannot keep proper trueness and deformed while radiated. If the manufacturer wants to get precise trueness, they need to machine each drum and it must increase the cost.
In fact, the latest Tacx Antares's plastic roller shakes 0.3mm in actual. However, our Advance's metal roller is stayed in 0.05 - 0.1mm level.

Thirdly, the shape of roller drum.
Tacx and Elite try to make the roller design as unique as possible to differentiate from others. They hate simple cylindrical form and adopt conical shape. They say this design will stabilize the bike, but we don't agree with this opinion as the result of our own test. Actually they have different looking but the function is meaningless unfortunately.
We prefer providing rollers at reasonable price by staying in standard cylindrical form rather than increasing the cost by chasing meaningless design.

Fourthly, the hardness of roller surface.
It is prohibited to apply brake on rollers, but the beginners often grip the brake lever involuntarily when they lose balance. As the result, the tire is locked on the roller and stain black marks on it.
This stain can be removed easily on metal roller, but it's impossible to delete from plastic roller because the plastic material had been ground physically. We cannot accept it.

By above 4 reasons, we keep fixating on metal material on roller drum.

Advance has smaller diameter roller drum than Action Magroller, so it generates natural resistance automatically. However, the well skilled riders may want more power for effective training.
At this time, they can put on additional magnetic resistance unit on Advance.

The Mag unit is installed on the frame via the metal bracket which is fixed together with the rear roller. The unit is driven by a V-belt.

The Mag unit doesn't have remote shifting device, because it is dangerous that the long cable will be caught by crank arm or wheel while riding.
The power is adjustable in 7 levels by operating the manual lever on top of the unit.

• If you are just beginner, you must have a well skilled helper. Use rollers beside a wall or handrail for your safety.
• Do not apply any force to handlebar and apply most weight to saddle for safe and stable riding.
• Adjust the front wheel position correctly to fit your bike's wheelbase perfectly. If the front roller is set in wrong position, you may fall off.
• Do not apply brake at any times on rollers, otherwise, you may lose balance and fall off suddenly. To quit training, just stop pedaling for slowing down.
• Dancing riding on rollers is not recommended.
• Adjust tire air pressure correctly before use. Roller drum compresses the tire much harder than ground, so if the air pressure is too low, the tire will be deformed and may burst in worst case.
• Do not touch the spinning wheel, roller and belt to avoid injury. Keep children and pets away from rollers during session.
• Do not stand on the roller drum.

Training Mat 2
A floor mat to protect the floor or carpet from scratch and stain, and reduces the vibration to the floor up to 75%
Extra Pad Set
A set of 4 soft foamed PVC 100 x 100mm pads. Just put beneath the trainer legs to reduce the vibration to the floor
Safe-T Net 2
100% cotton frame protection net catching salty sweat while training
Action Bridge
Supports the front fork to help beginners who still cannot ride rollers alone
Step & Guard
Combo of safety device. Plastic base for resting your toe and a pair of wall to prevent falling off the front wheel
Front Guard Roller
Upper grade front guard with caster wheel to reduce speed gently
Magnetic Resistance Unit
Pop-on resistance unit for additional power demand. Driven by rear roller
Dualist 700x23c
A specially tuned road bike tire for reducing tire noise and super long life. Dual purpose for indoor training and for road. 700x23c only

• SKU 400-3580-00 (normal) / 400-3590-00 (wide)
• Resistance Adjustability Option (7 levels, non-remote)
• Applicable Wheel Size 24-inch – 700c
• Roller Drum Size 80 x 360 mm (normal) / 450 mm (wide)
• Dimension D 1,310 x W 490 (normal) / 580 (wide) x H 110 mm
• Wheelbase Adjustability 970 – 1,090 mm
• Net Weight 4.6 kgs (normal) / 4.9 kgs (wide)
• Max Load 120 kgs (including bike weight)
• Accessories Instructions manual, Warranty policy card
• MSRP US$194.99 (normal) / US$199.99 (wide)
• Warranty Period 1-year (roller drum) / 5-year (frame)

Roller Drum Cap Color
Changed from yellow to red
Frame Color
Changed from silver to off-white

• Instructions Manual (PDF 424KB)

On rollers, the tire is compressed much harder than road because the roller drum contacts the tire much sharper than flat road.
If the tire air pressure is low at this moment, you hear the squealing noise when the tire moves side to side on the roller.
To solve this problem, inflate the tire to maintain the air pressure to normal or more (up to 20% plus).

If the tire is in cold condition, you should hear same squealing noise. In this case, it should be disappeared after one minute ride.

The roller belt connects the front and mid rollers to drive the front wheel together with the rear wheel. On rollers, it is necessary to spin both front and rear wheels to generate the gyro moment to stand the bike.
If the belt has been broken, you cannot stand on rollers at all.

Our roller belt is made of flexible urethane material so it is completely universal on every rollers from old to new.

To re-joint the roller belt, put both belt ends onto hot iron for melting, then rapidly put them together while they are melted.
Of course, you can simply replace the roller belt to the new one. The replacement belt is available from your local Minoura dealer.

Be careful when handling hot iron.