bike for a trainer

[pnsathyan]

hi,

Thinking of getting a bike for trainer ( kk rock n roll) just so i dont have to swap out the trainer wheels and guess needed a reason to get another bike .

Considering to get one of the older steel bike ( raleigh 1993) and found one locally for ~300$. Is it a bad idea to put one these older bikes to a trainer ?

Thoughts if somebody has considered this.

Thanks

[ergott]

I see no problem. If anything the little bit of give/flex in the older steel frame would be a good thing.

[wallymann]

Originally Posted by pnsathyan

hi,

Thinking of getting a bike for trainer ( kk rock n roll) just so i dont have to swap out the trainer wheels and guess needed a reason to get another bike .

Considering to get one of the older steel bike ( raleigh 1993) and found one locally for ~300$. Is it a bad idea to put one these older bikes to a trainer ?

Thoughts if somebody has considered this.

Thanks

i unretired my old '90 bottecchia SL/SP frame (which was sitting unused) and equipped it with the bare essential bits to function as my dedicated trainer bike like +20 years ago...many hundreds of hours later its doing fine. earlier this year it transitioned from a KK to a direct-drive neo 2T, no problem.

IMO a dedicated garbage/trainer bike is preferable than exposing a nice bike to the sweat and general wear and tear of thankless trainer duty. also, the time saved by not faffing about fitting/removing your bike adds up.

[reuben]

I thought we bought trainers for bikes, not bikes for trainers.

That's the way it's been for me.

But RYOB (Ride Your Own Bike).

[C40_guy]

I picked up an older Trek aluminum frame on CL for $75 and built it up with spare parts.

I'd lean towards aluminum over steel, but since this is a sacrificial bike, that's not critical. What *is* important is that you will be able to essentially replicate your fitting on this bike. You may need to tweak stem length, etc. I even replicated my standard road seat on my trainer bike...

So...if you need to start replacing parts (stem, seat, crankset, handlebars), it may be more economical to start with a bare frame...depends on the CL and FB market in your area.

[robt57]

Trainer bike here has no brakes, and s single front chainring, single rear cog on a cracked Bonty Race-X wheel.. I still use the same computrainer for forever, and in ERG mode all the time, so shifting would be superfluous anyway. There isn't even a headset in the thing, just tapered conical rubber fork shipping blocks.

No brakes, don't expect to need any. Setback, reach and bar drop same as my road bike. And old saddle I loved for near a decade.

It is an aluminum Sirrus frame, it works.

[unterhausen]

I have a nice old Centurion Semi-pro on my kickr. I'd rather have a bike with vertical dropouts, but once I put a internal cam skewer on it, I haven't ridden the bike off the trainer.

Mine has some old tektro brakes on it to keep the brake levers in place. I have thought about rigging something up to do that some other way, but I see no other uses for the brakes that are on there right now and they work

[tmf]

I recently built up an inexpensive bike to use on my direct drive trainer. I wanted 11sp to match the existing freewheel on the trainer and didn’t need brakes. I used a set of inexpensive brake levers that had comfortable hoods (Tekto or similar), a 105 11sp rear and just about any front derailleur will work. For shifters, I went Dura Ace 11 bar end, but you can also use Either Microshift 11 or Campy 11 depending on what drivetrain you have.

[Peter P.]

I think it would be cool to build up a trainer dedicated Frankenbike on the cheap from craigslist and eBay finds.

Requirements are minimal as is the investment.

[thwart]

I'm embarrassed to admit this bike is almost solely used for wintertime garage/rollers duty nowadays. Obviously nice 'n light so it's very easy to take down from the hook in our overcrowded garage and throw on the e-motions. The drop stretches my back out nicely. While I do work up a sweat in spite of the frigid temps, very little gets through what I'm wearing.

Duende and Neo Primato are getting all the pavement miles, found I just prefer the feel of steel...

I need to de-content the thing. Build is too nice for its current role.

Or just bite the bullet, sell it and get an appropriate 'sacrificial lamb'.

[C40_guy]

Originally Posted by robt57

Trainer bike here has no brakes

I've got one on the rear, just in case the dog wanders into the workout room and gets curious/nosy...

Oh yea, and for 10 years I had that rear brake cable duct taped to the top tube, until one day I was farting around (a tip of the hat to Kurt Vonnegut) and noticed that it had internal cable routing.

Of course now, with the improved aerodynamics, I'm much faster on Zwift.

[bigbill]

I picked up a 2009 Ti Fierte about five years ago for $800 and rode it for three years before putting it in a KICKR. Ti is nice, I can sweat all over it. My previous trainer bike was a 95 vintage Cannondale 2.8.

[Ronsonic]

I've got an old Redline Conquest frame with a cracked headtube I keep threatening to build into a trainer queen.

I just don't spend enough time and effort on the trainer to put in the time or effort.

[ridethecliche]

I'm trying to do a few things on a limited budget these days and sold my race bike from college for peanuts about a year ago. I miss that caad9 with DA7800 but the fit just wasn't going to work for me any longer.

I got lucky and found an 11 speed 105 ghost nivolet for a song. So I figured I'd use that and just swap wheels. Then when I started riding more I really wanted to bring an old bike back to life so I built up my 84 trek 760 into a geared bike. Ended up putting the 5800 from the ghost on the trek and getting R7000 for the ghost.

Trek is now the trainer bike on the 14 year old fluid 2. Problem is, I live riding the trek outside so hilariously I might have to swap the builds around and throw the ghost on the trainer.

The above has been my long winded way of saying that you really should be sure that your trainer bike doesn't feel better outdoors than the bike you allegedly built for that purpose!

Originally Posted by tmf

I recently built up an inexpensive bike to use on my direct drive trainer. I wanted 11sp to match the existing freewheel on the trainer and didn’t need brakes. I used a set of inexpensive brake levers that had comfortable hoods (Tekto or similar), a 105 11sp rear and just about any front derailleur will work. For shifters, I went Dura Ace 11 bar end, but you can also use Either Microshift 11 or Campy 11 depending on what drivetrain you have.

If you were building a trainer bike on the cheap you could honestly just use downtube shifters and friction shift it. You're on the trainer, who cares if you have to move your hands!

Originally Posted by Ronsonic

I've got an old Redline Conquest frame with a cracked headtube I keep threatening to build into a trainer queen.

I just don't spend enough time and effort on the trainer to put in the time or effort.

Maybe if you had a trainer bike youd ride the trainer more!

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[tmf]

Originally Posted by ridethecliche

If you were building a trainer bike on the cheap you skills honestly just use downtube shifters and friction shift it. You're on the trainer, who cares if you have to move your hands!

The frameset is a 2007 SystemSix with a large diameter DT, so downtube shifters weren't a simple option, otherwise that would have been a good choice. Your advice is good - aim low!