Trainers and tire wear

[Bud]

My wife gave me a new trainer for Christmas. Having never used one before, I don't have any experience with tire wear when using a resistance trainer (this one is a CycleOps Fluid 2). I've heard folks mention that they put an old or cheap tire on the back wheel when using the trainer so they don't wear down their good tires. What does everyone here do?

Thanks

[Kevin]

You should use an old cheap tire, an old cheap wheel and an old cheap skewer.

Kevin.

[dave thompson]

Your Cyclops should have come with a steel rear skewer. Use it so your good skewers won't get munged up. If you have the front wheel riser from Cyclops, buy a second one. With 2 stacked risers used you can stand and pedal as if you're going uphill much better. Trainers will wear down tires relatively quickly so I always use one that I don't mind trashing more.

[coylifut]

I only use Dugast tubulars on my trainer. Everyone knows that pros ride tubulars only

[Serpico]

I only use Dugast tubulars on my trainer. Everyone knows that pros ride tubulars only

exactly... :p


I actually saw conti tires for trainer, they're high viz construction orange--which is good because, well... err, not sure why--

[1centaur]

I bought the Conti trainer tires at cbike (good price) and am very happy. They are constructed to disipate heat well, which is important when you are climbing the slopes of Europe on your Computrainer (even with the fan on the unit), plus they are quieter than any normal tires I have used in the past. No more shredded rubber bits coming off the back. I will not get another tire for my trainer from now on.

[Elefantino]

You should use an old cheap tire, an old cheap wheel and an old cheap skewer.

Kevin.

And an old cheap bike. Seriously.

[Tom]

I'm going to have to completely take apart the old bike and rebuild it. The steerer and the front hub are completely frozen and the bottom bracket is starting to squeak. I sweat a lot. It's an old aluminum Trek, some mornings I wonder if the frame is giong to come unjointed.

[spiderlake]

Came across this thread and thought it might be nice to cross-reference. Lots of different opinions out there! : )

http://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?p=130430#post130430

As for me, I only have one road bike and one set of wheels. I have about 300 miles on the trainer in the last couple of months and haven't noticed any tire wear yet. I use a towel to cover around the stem and head tube area. My trainer (Elite Fluid) seems to be designed to allow for flex and the bike doesn't feel so rigid.

[Bud]

Like Spider, I only have one road bike and one set of wheels, so using that with the steel skewer and an old tire will have to do. It would be nice to have a bike just for the trainer, but that's not going to happen. I do protect the bike from sweat.

Luckily, I don't have to ride this thing for months on end, as we usually get some decent riding days all winter long. Right now, lack of daylight is my biggest problem (heck- it's going to be 60 degrees out today).

Thanks for the opinions from everybody.

[george]

Definatly use an old cheap skewer. After riding my brand new Serotta CDA for a few months I decided not to ride it through the Chicago snow and slush. So I set it up on my Cycleops for indoor training. Come March when it was ready to ride outside it was almost impossible to get it unattached! Eventually the skewer was scratched and roughed up. I had to wiggle and wiggle over several sessions to get it out! :crap:

[nobrakes]

Continental has a clincher tire on the market that is specifically designed to be used on resisitance-type trainers. It's even stated on the sidewall that it's not to be used on road surfaces. Talk about specific-use design. I've found that a heavy wheel (rim) and a steel beaded tire actually enhances the resistance training by the additional weight of heavy rim (mavic CXP 30), heavy tube and heavy tire. Kind of a flywheel effect that can smooth out eratic pedaling somewhat. Saves my gooder wheels n' tires for the road.

[Ti Designs]

I bought the Conti trainer tires at cbike (good price) and am very happy. They are constructed to disipate heat well, which is important when you are climbing the slopes of Europe on your Computrainer (even with the fan on the unit), plus they are quieter than any normal tires I have used in the past. No more shredded rubber bits coming off the back. I will not get another tire for my trainer from now on.


Not enough tension between the roller and the tire. If you can hold the flywheel/roller and move the back wheel of the bike by hand, you need to add more tension. Shredded rubber off the wheel is a sign that the tire is sliding on the roller. Other than that friction, tire wear on a trainer should be minimal. I don't have an "apples to apples" comparison between trainer and road miles, but I would guess there is at least a 2:1 wear ratio (road to trainer). Add to that the boardom factor (who rides a trainer for 4 hours???) and the need for swapping tires all but goes away.

[1centaur]

Slightly incorrect on the shredded tire comment Ti. I always went WAY beyond the point at which I could move the tire by hand against the fly wheel. Some tires spewed some rubber when they got very hot, some did not (the red Michelin Megamium did not, thank goodness, it just eventually melted after too many TdF HC climbs). I think it was a combination of tread compound and Computrainer's point that at grades past 15% the unit both gets very hot and tire slipping is inevitable.

Incidentally, I have noted a lot of new courses added to Performance Central lately that have max grades over 30%, including Mt.Wachusett. I am guessing those were the reult of using powermeter data and getting spikes of some sort not related to terrain (those courses are fun to watch on screen). Not having had a powermeter, but considering one for fun, do they tend to suffer such spikes frequently?

[William]

I don't use a trainer, just rollers and the road.

I have noticed increased wear on the rear tire from riding the rollers. But when you think about it, you have two contact patches on the rear tire when riding rollers compared to one CP on the road. Makes sense. I've never considered using special tires for it.

As far as sweat? It's never been a problem. I have a fan blowing on me and I drape a towel around my neck. When the sweat starts getting heavy, before it starts dripping, I wipe my face and neck down (and sometimes arms). The jersey and shorts that I wear tends to wick and evaporate the sweat before it gets too heavy. Doing that, I rarely ever get sweat on my bike.


William

[Too Tall]

1centaur - Sometimes. In my experience I do not see spikes in watts on a frequent basis. SRM and PowerTap are very reliable. Infrequently I'll see a brief and suspiciously high number usually associated with a very hard effort eg. sprint. In the powertap and srm files I've seen this the data appears for no more than 1 or 2 seconds and I ignore it. If you had set the powermeter to sample at unusually long intervals such as *10+ seconds than it is more possible to see what you've described. *Mostly folks sample between 1 and 5 seconds.