Bike Use on a Trainer

[rugbysecondrow]

I have a question about training with an indoor trainer. I have been using a trainer for a while (couple years) and I am happy with it, but I have always been concerned about the potential for damage to the rearend of the bike while locked in. Specifically, over tightening, stress on frame, cassette, hub etc. Now that I have nicer bikes (Early 1990's Colorado and Concours ti)I am even more concerned. Now I am thinking of buying a cheap AL or Steel frame bike just for the trainer (a cheapy).

Anyway, do most people have a separate bike for the trainer?

Are my concerns unfounded?

Let me know your thoughts as I recognize that I am a relative newby at this.

Thanks for your feedback.

[regularguy412]

I've always tried to use my secondary bike as my trainer bike. I did, once, make the mistake of tightening the trainer quick release too tightly and slightly bent the axle. Luckily, that hub/wheel was very old and due to be replaced anyway. During the last few years, I've been using my old C'dale Criterium on the trainer. It works really well, since it's overbuilt and flexes very little. I still wipe it down after each session to help reduce salt corrosion. I've also only used full frame type trainers, e.g., the kind where the front wheel is off the bike and the fork is clamped in the fork holder. I tend to be sweat a lot, so I hang a hand towel over the stem to protect the headset from sweat going down into the headset bearings. It may be 'just' a trainer bike, but I still don't want to trash it.

I save the 'good' stuff for the road. I do, however, ride my good bikes on the rollers.

[nobrakes]

It's not a terrible idea of using an older bike for trainer-only duty. I do. I use an older alu bike set up the same as my main bike.
If you can't, or don't want to do that, depending on your type of trainer, it's doubtful if you would cause serious damage to your bike, other than worn tires, chains and cassettes. You won't be wearing out your brake pads, that's for sure.
Get a trainer-specific rear tire, like the Conti Home Trainer, or Vittoria's Trainer tire. Saves your good rubber for the road. Even these tires get destroyed by the heat. I mount them on older wheels, too, and that way your not stressing your good wheels.
Have fun, play music loud, and use a good fan. It gets very cold here, but 15 minutes into the session, a fan turned on with a remote switch is a wonderful thing. If you can, ride your trainer with a group-it makes it much more tolerable. Solo is really, really boring.

[Peter P.]

If using your bike on the trainer was an issue, the bike manufacturers would put exclusion clauses in their warranties regarding trainer use.

Don't worry about it.

[1centaur]

While the strong consensus over the years is that road riding is more likely to damage your bike than trainer riding, for me the superiority of the Conti or Tacx home trainer tire, and the convenience of not lugging your good bike to and from the trainer, are reasons enough to go with a cheaper/older frame. One caution - a trainer frame cannot be too stiff (since there are no vertical compliance issues) but it can be too flexy, creating amplified creaks and frustrating lack of efficiency in a spot where efficiency is very noticeable. Get the stiffest cheap frame you can find on your trainer. I got a CAAD9 frame for the purpose.

[93legendti]

I think Dave Kirk has posted on this issue in the past. If you do a search, you'll probably find it.

[thwart]

Having had to rehab a frame (eBay purchase) that was used extensively on a trainer, I would think the likelihood that you'll tweak or similarly damage your frame in some way in a fixed trainer seems extremely remote, at least for most normal sized riders.

On the other hand, having cable ends rust into their stops and headsets and head tubes getting damaged by corrosion is much more likely. Wiping things down after your workout is better than doing nothing, but the penetration that occurs before you do so is tough to guard against.

I spray Boeshield in all the cracks and crevices at the beginning of the season, much like I do with my commuter.

[John M]

Agree with the others that the frame/wheel are fine if you install the bike in the trainer properly. The biggest thing is the corrosive effect of all of the perspiration that drips onto the bike. Need to use one of those bike-bra type protectors or make your own from an old towel.

[Charles M]

The pressure is on the QR and Rod.


As for the fatigue life / stress from being locked in.

You have a Ti bike...

Enjoy and forget about it.

[Ti Designs]

There are differences between how the trainer holds a bike and how the bike holds itself up on the road. On the road it's balanced on it's wheels, which one could argue is also holding up the bike by it's hubs. The difference is the tire contact patch is a free moving pivot. If you put force on the bike to one side the bike pivots on the tires and moves to that side. On a trainer, the bike doesn't pivot, so lateral force on the handlebars and body weight on the bike holding the trainer base to the floor does generate a twisting force on the bike it could never see on the road.

Once again, this gets put back on the rider. If the rider is generating power at the rear wheel by pulling on the bars in a way they couldn't do on the road, what's the point? This thread is a big selling point for having (and using) both rollers and a trainer. Rollers set the limit on what you can do to generate power. If you can't do it on the rollers, it's not going to work well on the road so there's no point in learning it on the trainer. Once you get that the issue of damage to the bike as well as stability of the trainer goes away.

[KeithS]

On my third indoor season on my Fierte. As other posters have mentioned, sweat guard, training tire, and don't forget the sacrificial cheap skewer. Good suggestions all. Here on the frozen tundra I spin with a group at my LBS with an organized group 4 days a week, coach Troy for 3 sessions and a live spinning instructor one day. Keeps me on the bike and from getting too fat, and for a very reasonable fee I keep the bike at the shop all winter too. A very good relationship builder for the owner too.

Anyway one of my friends who rides a Seven was surprised I was riding my Serotta on a trainer and he cautioned me to check my warrenty, his reasoning was voiding the warrenty.

I lifted this from the Seven site:

"The Aerios, Elium Race, Elium SG, and ID8 are optimized for normal road riding conditions, and not designed for fixed stationary trainers. Use of a stationary trainer with any clamping mechanism will void the manufacturer's warranty."

[Ti Designs]

"The Aerios, Elium Race, Elium SG, and ID8 are optimized for normal road riding conditions, and not designed for fixed stationary trainers. Use of a stationary trainer with any clamping mechanism will void the manufacturer's warranty."

Doesn't a manufacturer's warranty imply that they could fix or replace a frame?

[KeithS]

The manufacturer is also has the ability and right to limit coverage. In this case Seven will not cover any damage to a frame if it is used in "a stationary trainer with any clamping mechanism". I don't understand how that would be proven or disproven, but that's their language.

[Ti Designs]

The manufacturer is also has the ability and right to limit coverage. In this case Seven will not cover any damage to a frame if it is used in "a stationary trainer with any clamping mechanism". I don't understand how that would be proven or disproven, but that's their language.


You're still making the assumption that they CAN fix or replace a frame...

[rugbysecondrow]

Thanks everyone for providing suggestions and helping to address some of my concerns. I think I will keep my eye out for an older bike specific for the trainer (very basic). I feel better about using the trainer until then.

[Charles M]

You're still making the assumption that they CAN fix or replace a frame...

should or shouldn't aside,

What company can't fix or replace a frame?

[John M]

"The Aerios, Elium Race, Elium SG, and ID8 are optimized for normal road riding conditions, and not designed for fixed stationary trainers. Use of a stationary trainer with any clamping mechanism will void the manufacturer's warranty."

Makes me wonder if the potential twisting of the frame with fixed skewer could separate the carbon to ti bonds.

[paczki]

should or shouldn't aside,

What company can't fix or replace a frame?

One that's gone out of business, although I doubt that's what Ed means.

[rugbysecondrow]

Just as a quick update. I bought a Cannondale SR400 and a Blackburn trainer for a grand total of $100 of of CL (http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mld/bik/1007024719.html) today. Don't really need the extra trainer, but I will keep it for when friends come over or sell it in the near future. Anyway, the Cannondale was dirty as could be and the brakes don't work well, but that is not important on a trainer. The bike shifts suprisingly smooth and everything is very well tensioned.

Again, thanks,

Paul

[14max]

*****

[flickwet]

Bike but end up riding the Colorado all winter anyway, I like just looking at her while I'm spinning ya know it can be so boring any added encouragement helps. I'm really careful and drape a bath or beach towel from top of bars to top of seat in conjunction with a sweat bra and I wipe her down afterwords. I think she's gotten far more abuse on the road then from my indoor riding. By the way, Roger Waters The Wall in Berlin, Beethoven 9th Live in Berlin are great motivational headphone CDs for me.