Minoura FG542 Live Ride Hybrid Roller review

The Minoura FG542 Live Ride Hybrid Roller’s front section has beefy tripod legs with rubber feet, a fork support and quick release attachment for the rear portion.

This has a rigid aluminium frame with rubber feet housing two rollers and a resistance unit, a connecting arm and remote control.

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The folded front section measures 60 x 18 x 16cm and weighs 3.45kg, while the rear is 38 x 25 x 18.5cm, weighing 6.36kg.

Setup took around a minute: just open the tripod legs, flip out the central arm, clamp it with the QR skewer, add your bike, adjust the trainer’s length to your wheelbase before locking it, then fit the remote adjuster to your bar.

The 78mm diameter rollers have a 107mm usable width. The front one spins independently and the rear is attached by a grooved rubber belt to the side-mounted magnetic resistance unit.

Any 100mm wide forks with quick release, 12mm or 15mm thru-axles can be fitted to the fork support, which can be raised to replicate 3, 6, 8 or 10 per cent slopes. A Boost-width adaptor is also available.

Bikes with 650c, 700c, 26in or 29in wheels, and wheelbases from 950mm to 1,200mm will fit too.

With the bike raised by 105mm, a step up platform to mount your bike it is needed. A plastic bushing within the fork mount has built-in float, to allow for some natural handlebar sway and reduce stress on the fork. Initially it feels unstable, but it’s soon second nature.

At the lowest of seven resistance settings, pedalling feels quite smooth, the rollers’ steel flywheel end caps helping to maintain some momentum.

It’s very quiet and the steps between the resistance levels are small, but, in conjunction with a high gear, the top setting can make pedalling as hard as necessary.

At high intensity, the back wheel fishtails a bit across the narrow rollers but less than some I’ve tried. Although really throwing your weight hard to one side could tip it over, but it’s unlikely.

The nicely balanced resistance and subtle flywheel effect from the rollers makes pedalling feel fairly natural and far less staccato than other options.

Refined spinning, or the sort of workload that’ll satisfy Hoy-alikes, makes the Minoura a great choice for home training.