training wheels for rollers revisited -- front roller placement, steel pipe rollers

I found some directions posted online, and just as dvt said, the bike gets
more stable as the front roller moves forward. This seems to contradict the
rake/trail concept, but I believe the curvature of the roller affects the
steering geometry when the wheel is turned. I started by moving the front
roller directly under the hub as instructed by diane_1234, and this helped a
lot. I then found directions for my Nashbar rollers online that said to
mount the front roller so that the BACK of the roller is directly under the
hub, moving the front roller FORWARD. This helped a bunch. Thanks to all
for the help and anyone else who reads this, please note the position of the
front roller in relation to the HUB, and not the bottom of the tire, since
it can be deceiving. I used to only be able to ride then really fast,
meaning any slow speeds would be very hard and twitchy, but now I can ride
them just like I would ride a bike, with only a small to moderate increase
in balance effort needed. It was a huge difference from the prior
experience. Thank you all for you input!

Also, I took my original plastic rollers and had them replaced with schedule
40 4" steel pipe. I had them turned on the lathe to make sure they were
straight and to remove any rust and debris. The added weight of the steel
pipe tended to add the desired effect of inertial to the rotational mass, so
that if I had to adjust my seating position, I could stop pedalling for a
moment and the speed would not drop off really fast as before. I no longer
have to worry about the rollers warping due to exposure to the sun, and the
only care I see is the need to put a little wax and/or WD40 on the rollers
to prevent them from rusting. The wax tended to be sticky and helped when
getting on or off the rollers, as the tires still adhered to the roller at
the steep angles as I mount/dismount the bike.

"F1" wrote in message
ink.net...
I found some directions posted online, and just as dvt said, the bike gets
more stable as the front roller moves forward. This seems to contradict
the
rake/trail concept, but I believe the curvature of the roller affects the
steering geometry when the wheel is turned. I started by moving the front
roller directly under the hub as instructed by diane_1234, and this helped
a
lot. I then found directions for my Nashbar rollers online that said to
mount the front roller so that the BACK of the roller is directly under
the
hub, moving the front roller FORWARD. This helped a bunch. Thanks to all
for the help and anyone else who reads this, please note the position of
the
front roller in relation to the HUB, and not the bottom of the tire, since
it can be deceiving. I used to only be able to ride then really fast,
meaning any slow speeds would be very hard and twitchy, but now I can ride
them just like I would ride a bike, with only a small to moderate increase
in balance effort needed. It was a huge difference from the prior
experience. Thank you all for you input!

Also, I took my original plastic rollers and had them replaced with
schedule
40 4" steel pipe. I had them turned on the lathe to make sure they were
straight and to remove any rust and debris. The added weight of the steel
pipe tended to add the desired effect of inertial to the rotational mass,
so
that if I had to adjust my seating position, I could stop pedalling for a
moment and the speed would not drop off really fast as before. I no
longer
have to worry about the rollers warping due to exposure to the sun, and
the
only care I see is the need to put a little wax and/or WD40 on the rollers
to prevent them from rusting. The wax tended to be sticky and helped when
getting on or off the rollers, as the tires still adhered to the roller at
the steep angles as I mount/dismount the bike.