Turbo training on bestest road tyres

slog

I know it's best to use a proper turbo tyre, but i find it a bit of a pain swapping back and forth. All winter i've used my shiny new bike with a turbo tyre, but i now want to use it for all but 2 of my weekly sessions on the open road - wahoo!!
If I keep my road tyres (conti gatorskins) on for 2 measly sufferfest bouts a week, will they disappear in front of my very eyes :shock: Please say no

Anonymous

No.

But yes. Don't do it.

JackPozzi

It's not a great idea to use your best tyres on the turbo, although to be fair gatorskins do hold up pretty well, I only use them as turbo tyres! Maybe give it a try for a while and keep an eye on the tyres, if they start degrading swap them out?

amaferanga

I rode outside on a Conti tyre last weekend that had been my turbo tyre for the winter. It looked ok, but on the damp roads I had very little grip and had lots of scary moments. As well as the scary moments I couldn't honk up Mam Nick because my rear wheel kept slipping.

Might be okay if you're doing most of your riding on the roads though.

JackPozzi

amaferanga wrote:

I rode outside on a Conti tyre last weekend that had been my turbo tyre for the winter. It looked ok, but on the damp roads I had very little grip and had lots of scary moments. As well as the scary moments I couldn't honk up Mam Nick because my rear wheel kept slipping.

Might be okay if you're doing most of your riding on the roads though.

I found that with gatorskins at the best of times, that's why I only use them on the turbo now!

Lightning

Maybe consider buying a cheap wheel just for the turbo? I wouldn't use the same tire as they really start dying really fast and become dangerous, but give it a try if you want I guess.

slog

Thanks for the replies, kind of confirms what i already thought. My first plan was to get a cheap back wheel, but the general consensus in my LBS was that I'd need a new chain as well as cassette etc. and that as I'm running Ultegra this wouldn't be a cheap option. Looks like I'm going to get lots of tyre changing practice........

Pokerface

slog wrote:

Thanks for the replies, kind of confirms what i already thought. My first plan was to get a cheap back wheel, but the general consensus in my LBS was that I'd need a new chain as well as cassette etc. and that as I'm running Ultegra this wouldn't be a cheap option. Looks like I'm going to get lots of tyre changing practice........

Your LBS is just trying to sell you extra kit you don't need.

I've had the same turbo wheel with the same cassette on it for years. It gets a lot less use than my regular wheel of course, but no need for a new chain, etc. And if you have an old(ish) cassette lying around - you can use that on your turbo wheel.

Might be a different story if you are using the turbo wheel every day (and more than your road wheel, etc).

Lightning

You'd need a cheap wheel and the cheapest cassette with gears similar to yours. I suggest you look around anyways, just to have an idea of how much it'd actually cost. When I asked my LBS about it, they made it look like it would be really expensive and troublesome to get a wheel so I just kept changing the tires and gave up on that but I eventually looked around and asked for help here and it was actually pretty cheap and works perfectly (10 speed would be a bit more expensive but worth to check).

SteveR_100Milers

I have always used the same wheel / tyre that I race on (on the TT bike). I've never had a problem with excessive wear or polishing of the tyre - Fortezza tricomps.

Zachariah

Depends on the turbo as well - gel rollers will be kinder to tyres than metal ones.

andyrr

I used a Gatorskin on a Kurt Kinetic turbo - it sped up the squaring-off of the tyre but not hugely quickly so in an ideal world have a spare wheel + turbo tyre but for occasional use the road tyre will be ok, just keep an eye on the wear.

Thick Tester

tbh i would not use a gatorskin on the road so the best place for it is the turbo where you can shred it to your hearts content

Big Hairy Wallapers

I used the standard Bontrager tyres on my Trek on the turbo and was thinking the same as you. The rear tyre had 2 small splits in it before I started. I decided to spend the £30 on a pair of krylion carbons instead of a turbo tyre. I was half way through my final turbo session of the winter and .....BANG!!!
They were going in the bin in a half hour anyway and it was worth it for the look on the kids faces when the tyre exploded!!!
So a cheap almost knackered tyre had lasted 300 miles on the turbo before dying a quick death!!

Happy days.

emx

Thick Tester wrote:

tbh i would not use a gatorskin on the road so the best place for it is the turbo where you can shred it to your hearts content

as above - if gatorskins are your 'best' tyres, then you need to raise your standards....

andyrr

Nothing wrong with Gatorskins IMHO - not fast/race-type tyres certainly but been perfect for a quick 1 hour commute each way for the past couple of years.

SBezza

I turbo on my Pro Race 3's, the damage a turbo does to your tyres is very minimal IME. I have never seen any evidence of tyres being shreaded on a turbo.

Pokerface

SBezza wrote:

I have never seen any evidence of tyres being shreaded on a turbo.

Come to my house

SBezza

Pokerface wrote:

SBezza wrote:

I have never seen any evidence of tyres being shreaded on a turbo.

Come to my house

Get a better turbo Colin

Pokerface

SBezza wrote:

Pokerface wrote:

SBezza wrote:

I have never seen any evidence of tyres being shreaded on a turbo.

Come to my house

Get a better turbo Colin

That is the crux of the problem without a doubt!

Although at the Track World's I was using one of these:




We are one of two teams worldwide provided these trainers for free from Mr Lemond himself (the other being Garmin-Cervelo). And it's my understanding that I should be getting one to bring home to use!

Absolutely superb feel as as your bike attaches directly to it, no rear wheel issues. If there's any problem with them, it's the weight. Heavy compared to 'some' turbos.

sagalout

SBezza wrote:

I turbo on my Pro Race 3's, the damage a turbo does to your tyres is very minimal IME. I have never seen any evidence of tyres being shreaded on a turbo.

Same here - I've probably done about 40 or 50 turbo sessions over winter on Pro Race 3's that I've been using since last summer, and whilst the back has squared off a bit its perfectly fine on the road. I'll just replace in a few weeks so I have fresh new tyres for the season, but certainly not worth the hassle of changing tyres every session!

slog

Lordy, I sense a change in the tidal flow of public opinion..... Maybe
I'll risk a weekly Sufferfest on me Conti's. Without wishing to change this to another "which tyre ?" thread, I thought Gatorskins were a tidy puncture resistant boot ....

ADIHEAD

I've got a turbo on loan and don't bother with it because the rear tyre slips under acceleration. As others have said, it depends on the quality of the turbo and how you use it, if it slips you're gonna wear the tyre, just like on the road!

On the subject of Gatorskins, I stopped using them simply because I want a folding tyre, and at £25 for the folding Gatorskin can get better alternatives. However, in my experience they aren't all that bad and although other training tyres can work better in the wet, they're ok if you're careful. GP4's, Rubino Pro's and Krylions are feel more secure though I admit. Presumably though you won't be riding in bad weather from what you've already said so perhaps get some summer tyres like GP4000s's or the like?

With the chain/cassette issue. You're using a new bike, so am assuming chain still ok. Get a Park Tools chain checker and check it regularly, then a cheap back wheel and a 105 cassette from Ribble/Merlin or the like for about £30. Simply then swap the chain before it get's to the .75% mark and you'll be fine running 2 cassettes. I run 4 sets of wheels myself between 2 bikes and it works for me.

slog

Thanks Adihead, some sage words there. I think therefore, my plan of attack is;
Get chain checker and learn how to use it.
Get cheap back wheel and cassette
Research tyres threads
As I'm training for an Ironman triathlon, my rides are going to be whatever the weather. Tyres wise I'm willing to sacrifice a bit of speed over durability and puncture resistance, hence the gatorskins

P_Tucker

Christ, those who turbo on nice tyres without ruining them need to try harder. I've got a proper yellow Conti Turbo Tyre and still my turbo is covered with a fine yellow powder from when I've been giving it some. MTFU.

ADIHEAD

P_Tucker wrote:

Christ, those who turbo on nice tyres without ruining them need to try harder. I've got a proper yellow Conti Turbo Tyre and still my turbo is covered with a fine yellow powder from when I've been giving it some. MTFU.

Yeh, one of my riding buddies destroyed his Conti Home trainer in a few weeks! He's a bit of a monster but think the main problem is poor interface between wheel and trainer. Still, he's just returned it to our LBS and they're trying to get a replacement under warranty. Cheeky b*&$r

andyrr

My own comparison between Gatorskin and Conti turbo tyre - I've used the TT tyre pretty regularly for probably 4 years (less used in Summer etc) and it is not worn square at all. If I touch the centre of the tyre immediately after a hard effort it is cool hence the low wear rate. The Gatorskin wore much quicker - not worn out but visibly squared just with part of this Winter's usage. The TT has cracked quite badly - not sure why, as it was always run close to 100psi but I'll keep using it until it goes bang ! Not an easy tyre to fit so if you were to swap between road and TT for each session then you'd probably have to put aside 20 minutes to swap the 2 tyres over which would be a bit of a PITA !

SteveR_100Milers

I reckon it depends on the quality of the turbo. If you have a cheapo thing with excessive resistance then there is probably a significant amount of slip. I use a Tacx flow, I do my 2 x 20s at around 300W with the brake set so that its around 30 mph - the additional momentum of the wheel and flywheel all helps to make it more road like. I have no problem with tyre wear, let alone flecks of it flying around the room.

MTFU?? LOTB!

JackPozzi

Would guess it depends how you use it as well? I have an imagic (pretty much the same resistance unit as the flow AFAIK) and a cyclops fluid 2 and they're both ok for endurance style constant effort sessions but when I do 5secs on 5 secs off flat out repeats they do tend to eat tyres!