Turbo Trainer Tyres and Road Riding

Wardster00

As the winter approaches I am going to begin using my turbo trainer which is causing a dilemma. When I used the trainer last year it was wiping out tyres pretty quickly.

I have looked at tyres for the turbo trainer but I am guessing that they would be no good on the road?

I generally do a couple of sessions on the trainer in the week and get out on the road at the weekends. If I can't use a turbo trainer tyre on the road this would mean every Friday night involving me changing the tyre on my back wheel and back again on Sundays.

Is there a solution to this or haver I got the wrong end of the stick and I can use trainer tyres on the road?

Thanks in advance.

merak

You shouldn't use turbo traiiner specific tyres on the road. The compound is hard and non-grippy to make them more robust on the trainer. I actually use normal road tyres on my turbo and I don't find it wipes tyres out. But you do, so one solution is to get a really cheap rear wheel eg from ebay and dedicate it to the turbo witha turbo tyre - then you swop wheels. Swopping tyres will do your head in.

What symptoms are you getting when the trainer ruins your road tyres?

centimani

Are you setting the pressure between roller and tyre too high ?
My cycleops causes no problems at all on my roadtyre, but i do set the thing up so it runs with the minimum pressure between roller and tyre.

luv2ride

+ for cheap rear wheel. I regularly swap between a cheap rear wheel with a Conti trainer tyre for the turbo and my road wheel - only takes a minute to change and provides complete flexibility to decide whether it's a short interval session inside or brave the wind and rain outside!

BoydD

my cycleOps trainer left a big flat spot all around my tyre and a black ring of rubber on the metal roller on the trainer? Did I have too much pressure or too little pressure applied?

Perhaps somebody should invent cover to wrap a tyre for use whilst on the turbo......he writes whilst wrapping the wife's best tights around his rear wheel...

Secteur

I have a dedicated turbo wheel (wheel, continental home trainer tyre, cassette & turbo specific skewer).

Takes about 10 seconds to switch tyres.

Cost about £130 I think, so not a cheap way of doing it.

m00nd0g

Time to buy some rollers

m00nd0g

Time to buy some rollers

rdt

I've used a Conti Ultra Gatorskin tyre on my Kurt Kinetic Turbo for over 2000 turbo miles (~150 turbo sessions). Tyre pressure is set at 100psi, and tension set at 3 full turns from first contact between tyre and roller.

The tyre shows some wear, but not excessive, and I reckon I'll easily get another 1000-2000 miles out of it - and then swap it for the front for thousands of miles more!

merak

As above, I never change road tyres for the turbo and have never had a problem. That said, I don't do vast turbo miles as I find it too boring. Use a cheap fan turbo with a spring loaded turbo roller wirth no force adjustment. 100psi. Never seen any rubber on the roller.

Wardster00

Thanks everyone that's really useful. I am using shwalbe tyres (the cheapest ones) and I think that this is my problem. It's time to invest in a decent tyre I think.

kmcd21

I just purchased a turbo trainer and I am well aware of tyre degrading over time after getting advice on this forum.

I phoned my LBS to buy a new wheel, cassette and trye. This was going to be to the tune of £130 minimum ! They talked me out of it and themselves out of £100. I only purchased a continental home trainer tyre for £29.95. A relief having spent £250 on a trainer already.

The reason for this, is that a new cassette will effect chainware as the chain will not be bedded into the new cassette. The advisor in the shop said it was advice they gave everyone.

I know its going to be a hassle changing tyre over each time. But look at it like this, I have been lucky enough to get few punctures. So changing out the tyre frequently between trainer and road should put me somewhere in the ball park of a FORMULA 1 pit crew tyre change ! 8)

dawebbo

Keep an eye out for people selling off 2nd hand cheap rear wheels on ebay, classifieds etc (as it makes no difference on the turbo) - you should be able to pick up something for around £20.

merak

@kmcd21 What problem do you anticipate if you leave your normal road tyre on the bike when you use the turbo? In my experience there is no problem at all.

It's hard enough motivating yourself to get on the turbo - if you have to change a tyre everytime then it's going to be even more difficult. Plus, I am willing to bet that if you are constabntly changing your tyre your puncture count will go up.

If you must have a different tyre on the turbo then another wheel is the only solution that makes sense IMHO. +1 for getting an old cheap wheel on ebay.

SBezza

I just use the same tyre as I do for road riding, never yet eaten aup a tyre on the turbo, and I have used Pro Race 3's on the turbo as well.

I swap my PT wheel between 3 different bikes, and haven't had chain/cassette wear issues either.

kmcd21

merak wrote:

@kmcd21 What problem do you anticipate if you leave your normal road tyre on the bike when you use the turbo? In my experience there is no problem at all.

I was going by what my LBS advised. There is no problem using your road tyre, fact is the turbo will eat it faster than a specialised trainer tyre.

I have changed the tyre twice, already this is a ball ache ! I will consider picking up a second hand wheel from somewhere.

www.richtreen.co.uk

I just the same Michelin Krylion on the Turbo and on the road and it seems to be holding up well.

Stuy-b

i built a dedicated turbo bike

*old steel frame NOS from ebay
*i built some 32 hole rims and hubs with 16 spokes as they dont need to be pothole resistant.
*fix gear as i can change the resistance on the turbo so see no need for gears
*no brakes

cant have cost me more than £150 to build and it means i have a bike set up on the turbo all the time.

but im still just useing cheep standed tyres and after all of the turboing of last winter the back one still looks brand new.

i think it has more to do with what turbo you have rarther than what tyres you use.

Cheers
stuy

merak

kmcd21 wrote:

I was going by what my LBS advised. There is no problem using your road tyre, fact is the turbo will eat it faster than a specialised trainer tyre.

In my experience the turbo does not "eat" road tyres.

merak

Interesting that many people use their road tyres on the turbo as I do. When I first started using the turbo, I don't think dedicated turbo tyres had even been thought of. It's amazing what marketing can persuade people to do.

ianbar

i have a cycleops, forget the model but i think its pretty much the cheapest one. i have done only a handful of turbo session never longer than 30 mins a session. however the last 2 where i have started to get into it more the tyre is severely degrading, will definately be looking for a seperate wheel and special tyre to use.

merak

So - what do you mean by degrading? I'm genuinely interested because after 100s of sessions over the years I have never had any problem. Why do some people have tyre problems on the turbo and others none at all?

ianbar

well when i really up the pace i can even smell the rubber! and last time i tried to set the contact between the tyre and the trainer as light as i could! a rubber mark is left and the tyre has a kind of flatish spot around the who;e tyre.

SBezza

If you can smell rubber then the tyre is slipping, and yes if this happens it will cause wear. The tyres can sometimes get a flat spot, but this does depend on the tyre, my Pro Race 3's did this, but they are a softish tyre. Other tyres don't seem to have done this though.

I have done 2 hour + sessions on the turbo with no major tyre wear. I have a Tacx Flow, and it could be other turbos are more damaging.

merak

If there is constant slipping then I can see that there can be wear. The answer then is to stop the slipping. I have a bottom of the range Tacx turbo with a sprung loaded roller that has no adjustment and I experience neither slipping nor wear of my tyres.

The thing to do with slipping is to increase the contact force, not reducve it.

ianbar

oh that is interestng! i had been advised not too put too much contact on the tyre so kept it pretty light. next time i will go for greater contact and see what happens.

p1tse

kmcd21 wrote:

I just purchased a turbo trainer and I am well aware of tyre degrading over time after getting advice on this forum.

I phoned my LBS to buy a new wheel, cassette and trye. This was going to be to the tune of £130 minimum ! They talked me out of it and themselves out of £100. I only purchased a continental home trainer tyre for £29.95. A relief having spent £250 on a trainer already.

The reason for this, is that a new cassette will effect chainware as the chain will not be bedded into the new cassette. The advisor in the shop said it was advice they gave everyone.

I know its going to be a hassle changing tyre over each time. But look at it like this, I have been lucky enough to get few punctures. So changing out the tyre frequently between trainer and road should put me somewhere in the ball park of a FORMULA 1 pit crew tyre change ! 8)

Interesting about cassette and chain, is that right?

mamba80

Not something i ve experienced but then i d put the new cassette/chain on the roadbike and the used one on the turbo trainer.

The only problem i ve had with road tires on the turbo is that they get hot and after a few months, start to bulge out as the breaks down - reducing or otherwise roller pressure makes no difference and it has happened on different makes of tire.
at the mo im using Vittoria slick tires that came with a Dolan track bike, they r £12 ago and seem to be perfect for turbo use.

rich164h

SBezza wrote:

If you can smell rubber then the tyre is slipping, and yes if this happens it will cause wear. The tyres can sometimes get a flat spot, but this does depend on the tyre, my Pro Race 3's did this, but they are a softish tyre. Other tyres don't seem to have done this though.

I have done 2 hour + sessions on the turbo with no major tyre wear. I have a Tacx Flow, and it could be other turbos are more damaging.

Yep pretty much the same for me with my Elite Chrono Fluid. PR3's just don't last well on the trainer and it doesn't take many sessions before you get a flat area. It's interesting that people here recommend changing the pressure that the wheel puts on the roller, on mine this isn't adjustable at all, and the wheel just drops back onto the roller and is pushed down by the weight of the bike+rider.

p1tse

Is there a tyre which is used for road but can withstand some usage of turbo trainer?

ilm_zero7

Secteur wrote:

I have a dedicated turbo wheel (wheel, continental home trainer tyre, cassette & turbo specific skewer).

Takes about 10 seconds to switch tyres.

Cost about £130 I think, so not a cheap way of doing it.

but the best way!