Tyre Wear issue

1964johnr

I'm new to turbo training and have just purchased a basic magnetic trainer from BD bikes for £60. Set it up okay and did 90 minutes. When I got off I realised that huge amounts of rubber had been shed from my cheap road tyre. There is no tread left on it and it has now been worn smooth. Now this would normally take a thousand miles on the road to happen. I tried adjusting it so that the tyre only just touches the roller, but the wheel begins to slip at certain points so no good. I did a bit of research and found this to be a common problem. I now need to find a solution. Will a turbo specific tyre sort it out?
Any help would be appreciated.

Alex99

1964johnr wrote:

I'm new to turbo training and have just purchased a basic magnetic trainer from BD bikes for £60. Set it up okay and did 90 minutes. When I got off I realised that huge amounts of rubber had been shed from my cheap road tyre. There is no tread left on it and it has now been worn smooth. Now this would normally take a thousand miles on the road to happen. I tried adjusting it so that the tyre only just touches the roller, but the wheel begins to slip at certain points so no good. I did a bit of research and found this to be a common problem. I now need to find a solution. Will a turbo specific tyre sort it out?
Any help would be appreciated.

What you describe is not normal. I suspect that either they tyre you're using has a serious problem, or that the roller was set with too low contact pressure giving slippage. Many people use standard road tyres to many many miles on a turbo without problems. Something standard like a conti gatorskin should last ages.

fat daddy

was the road tyre a "knobbled" one or slick

generally speaking a turbo shouldn't shred your tyres, I only use a turbo specific tyre as my other 2 choices of gp4s or gatorskin hardshell both squeeled too much, so bought a vittoria turbo tyre to shut the bloody thing up

shredding a tyre in 90 mins though :shock: .. I am only assume that the tyre isn't lining up against the roller in a straight vertical manner and there is drag across the width of the tyre due to it being off centre ????? :? causing excessive wear.

the turbo tyre will be harder and take longer to wear, but it might be worth checking how your bike is mounting on the trainer and seeing if there is any room for adjustment to keep it lined up better

slowbike

I suspect that you had slightly too much pressure and the cheap tyre heated up too much.

I've used cheap specialized tyres on the turbo - these are ones I've retired from road use - they get warm and shed quite a bit of rubber - I don't worry about it as they're trash tyres anyway.
Best plan is to have a spare back wheel for the turbo with a dedicated turbo tyre - be that a cheap trashed tyre or expensive turbo tyre - then swap out for the road one when you take your bike out.

fenix

It does depend on the turbo/tyre combo. My turbo has a smooth steel roller and there's no extra wear on the tyre - so I can just use my road tyre.

What turbo are you using ?

markhewitt1978

I had that issue when I first tried a turbo - it was a Tacx Blue Matic, I think looking back I had the roller far too loose ended up burning the tyre onto the roller, thought I'd broken it then put it in the shed for 3 years. Finally dug it out and it wasn't broken at all, worked fine!

1964johnr

I'm wondering now if I did not have a good enough contact between tyre and roller. I was going for a fairly light contact. Maybe if I tighten it a little and create more resistance that might help. Any thoughts?

markhewitt1978

1964johnr wrote:

I'm wondering now if I did not have a good enough contact between tyre and roller. I was going for a fairly light contact. Maybe if I tighten it a little and create more resistance that might help. Any thoughts?

It's surprising how tight it needs to be. It should be pushing into and deforming the tyre slightly.

JoeK1973

As Slowbike says, a spare wheel is the best bet. They're fairly cheap (it's only going on the turbo trainer so get the cheapest you can find), get a cassette, tube , and tyre and you're sorted. I use the Halfords trainer tyre (£10) -

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/turbo-trainers/turbo-trainer-accessories/halfords-essential-trainer-tyre-700x23

1964johnr

I sorted out the problem by increasing the pressure between the tyre and the roller. I had gone for a light touch originally, but quite clearly it needed more contact. I lost about £5 worth of tread from my tyre but now it's sorted it shouldn't be a problem.

MiddleRinger

1964johnr wrote:

I sorted out the problem by increasing the pressure between the tyre and the roller. I had gone for a light touch originally, but quite clearly it needed more contact. I lost about £5 worth of tread from my tyre but now it's sorted it shouldn't be a problem.

Yep it seems counter-intuitive but more/tighter contact gives less wear than less roller pressure! Also if you do a lot of turbo training on your normal road tyre it will square off over time. Best to have a cheap spare wheel for turbo use.

A trainer specific tyre is not necessary, but it will last longer and can also reduce noise levels.

compuwiz_uk

markhewitt1978 wrote:

1964johnr wrote:

I'm wondering now if I did not have a good enough contact between tyre and roller. I was going for a fairly light contact. Maybe if I tighten it a little and create more resistance that might help. Any thoughts?

It's surprising how tight it needs to be. It should be pushing into and deforming the tyre slightly.

i too had problems with a bluematic & it transferring rubber onto the roller & i thought i had applied plenty of pressure as the wheel no longer seemed to slip when i used the turbo ( using a cheap halfords turbo tyre )

returned the bluematic ( smart sensors were not working so had to go back anyway ) & changed it for a flow instead & set that up with the same kinda pressure i had on the bluematic & ran the calibration & it came back massively too loose. my god did it need tightening up massively to get in the green suitable section of the calibration zone on the app, but i have to say, it went from a few smears of rubber on the roller to it being as cleans as a whistle after another run.

tobes99

Has anyone had a problem with adjusting the tension on the tyre ? The small wheel that you turn to adjust the tension isn't locking out and the mechanism flips off after a few minutes of riding. I have tried to vary the tension but it doesn't seem to click and lock out when I press the lever down .