What is a good way to learn how to ride a bike on rollers?
how do you learn how to ride on rollers?



Believe you can do it.
Do it!
Do it in a doorway.
Practice



  How long does it take you to get the hang of it?


Took me about 30 min. on a set of plastic parabolic rollers before I felt comfortable enough to take the rollers out of the doorway and just be next to a wall.


  are almost guaranteed to fall off a couple of times before you get it nailed?


No... and maybe. Depends on your comfort level of being on a bicycle, hand eye coordination, and what kind of rollers you are riding on. I have yet to ride off of or fall off of my parabolic rollers. I had spent a lot of time on a bike before ever getting on the rollers the first time and my balance is fairly good. 

If I had learned on a pair of cylindrical rollers, I think I would have ridden off or crashed at least a few times before really getting the hang of it. Not looking down and getting the wheels spinning makes a big difference. The hardest part is getting going. I found it fairly easy to start out by holding on to the doorway and having my bike in a middle gear so I didn't have to shift when starting out. I would then have one hand on the top of my handlebars and start pedaling. Focusing on getting my wheels spinning, I would slowly let go of the doorway but keep my hand there so I could grab the doorway when I wanted. Once I was starting to get comfortable, I slowly let go of the doorway and put both hands on the handlebars. Success!!


http://www.flickr.com/photos/bikeride/250957762/