Can't use turbo trainer as virtually no gap between wheel and floor!

shapeshifter42Yy2z6DN3

I'm probably opening myself up to a load of ridicule here, but I'll take it on the chin. Anyway..

Just bought a Tacx Flow Smart and brought my barely-used 2014-ish Boardman CX into the house to use on it. However, no matter how I try and set this up on my thinly carpeted office floor, there is less than one inch between the wheel and the floor BEFORE getting on.

I didn't notice this at first as I had the roller set up so it was touching the wheel straight off, and my difficulty mounting the wheel like this distracted me. Of course, when I tried it that tiny gap underneath disappeared and the carpet got marked. THEN I saw the tiny clearance!

I re-fitted the roller using the other position so that there was now a 2-inch-ish gap between wheel and roller, and the roller sat nicely on the wheel when the clamp was activated. This makes no difference to the floor clearance though.

I took the bike to the hallway which is laminate and tried it there. The gap is slightly bigger there, but only JUST so when I'm sat on. Every picture or video I've seen has a good couple of inches gap, so I'm wondering what's going on here? There is only one way to mount the wheel!

I wondered if the outdoor tyre was the problem, but all my research showed this was only possibly a problem for wear and tear, not total wheel size. Likewise, a mat was recommended for carpets for similar reasons (plus stability and cleanliness). I'm open to propping up the back legs with a carpet off-cut or 2, but this feels wrong.

Any ideas?

rafletcher

Umm, maybe I'm missing something, but a 1" gap is a 1" gap. It isn't going to get smaller when you sit on is it? (I've not used a Flow, but none of the wheel-on trainers I've used had ANY movement in them once the QR was clamped up).

Ben6899

rafletcher said:

Umm, maybe I'm missing something, but a 1" gap is a 1" gap. It isn't going to get smaller when you sit on is it? (I've not used a Flow, but none of the wheel-on trainers I've used had ANY movement in them once the QR was clamped up).

The gap will decrease as the feet of the trainer are pressed into the carpet pile. Not sure why this would happen on hard floors though?

Is the trainer flexing [too much]?

kingstongraham

If your turbo's legs sink into the carpet, there will be a very very small gap, and if when you get on it sinks a bit more, it will get even smaller. Here's mine, and I've just noticed that because the legs of the turbo dig into the mat, it's got so close that it has rubbed on the mat a bit (but I'm not bothered). If you have a proper solid flat surface, it shouldn't rub.

Charlie_Croker

...I'm sure it's fine really
But if your worried put the turbo on a piece of wood/chipboard/MCF/plywood

diamonddog

That doesn’t look right, I used to have the same trainer set up on fairly thick pile carpet for a few months and never had this problem. Take it off the turbo and start from the beginning setting it up.

diamonddog

This should be how it looks.

kingstongraham

diamonddog said:

That doesn’t look right, I used to have the same trainer set up on fairly thick pile carpet for a few months and never had this problem. Take it off the turbo and start from the beginning setting it up.

It's a picture of mine, and it's fine. I've no problem, just the mat goes up a bit there and the feet are sunk into the quite spongy mat.

I repeat, it's not a picture of the original poster's issue.

diamonddog

^^ Got it

johngti

A picture would be useful though. Of the OP’s setup of course. Not just some random photo.

kingstongraham

johngti said:

A picture would be useful though. Of the OP’s setup of course. Not just some random photo.

Yes, be useful to see it on laminate and it still being that low. Mine is on a soft surface which is why it makes sense.

jlloyd

I've got a tacxflow - just measured the gap - it's 1 1/4 inch. Though this is on a concrete floor and i do have a couple car mats under the legs (prob 1/4 inch).

DeVlaeminck

I suppose a deep pile carpet and a big tyre could create an issue. I used to have a Tacx Grand Excel (ask your dad) and on that the frame or I think a bolt in the frame actually bent a little which allowed the wheel to rub even on a hard surface - it was a similar design so might be an issue?

shapeshifter42Yy2z6DN3

Thanks for all your responses. A little more reassured than I was, I just wish I hadn't been so keen and put some boards or carpet tiles down first. Here's some pics as requested.

kingstongraham

Looks a big tyre, and I wouldn't use a knobbly tyre on a turbo.

On the laminate it's close, but shouldn't get any closer when you sit on the bike.

shapeshifter42Yy2z6DN3

I think that was a bad choice of words suggesting it was getting closer on the laminate when riding. It certainly does on the carpet though as you can only just see daylight underneath in the pics.
And I know I shouldn't use an outdoor tyre, but as I also said, all the research suggested this was because of wear and tear, not because of any size/clearance issues. However, if those tyres are particular big, I'll get a training tyre.

I'll uploaded a pic of the tyre specs in a mo

tonysj

I have the same turbo trainer and with a standard 700c tyre its a good inch clearance. I once mounted the wifes old Giant sit-up-and-beg road bike and the tyre is similar in size. It only just fitted and was only tried out the once by the wife ( to hard for her ) but even the short 15 minutes use there was black rubber everywhere off the tyre. Id dego change the tyre to a stock road tyre or whatever will fit. I use old road tyres rather than a turbo specific tyre.

webboo

The tyre looks like it’s nearly rubbing on the the thing that holds the roller. You need a smaller tyre as suggested above.

shapeshifter42Yy2z6DN3

Having trouble uploading image of wheel specs (getting too compressed to read label), but it says 622x19C

You have a point, webboo, about the wheel being close to the frame, but at least sitting on it does not cause the wheel to actually touch it.

daniel_b

If you have some left over laminate, or some wood or mdf of any kind really, just put a length under the feet on each side of your turbo, and the same under front your wheel riser.

Charlie_Croker

daniel_b said:

If you have some left over laminate, or some wood or mdf of any kind really, just put a length under the feet on each side of your turbo, and the same under front your wheel riser.

Which is exactly what I said up the thread

kingstongraham

If you could use one of these let me know, I've got one unused that's no good to me. That tyre just looks too close to the trainer itself than it's meant to be, never mind the floor.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/turbo-trainer-tyre-700x25/_/R-p-168766

shapeshifter42Yy2z6DN3

I have some left over laminate. I've quickly tried some just under the back feet (will do properly later) and it already seems to work well enough. Think I'll leave it in place even when I get a training tyre.

Thanks for all the replies guys.

daniel_b

Charlie_Croker said:

daniel_b said:

If you have some left over laminate, or some wood or mdf of any kind really, just put a length under the feet on each side of your turbo, and the same under front your wheel riser.

Which is exactly what I said up the thread

Apologies, totally missed that

To the OP - sounds like a plan, I wouldn't want to be worrying each and everytime I got on the bike, so best to get it sorted comprehensively.

gethinceri

You might want to consider raising the feet of the turbo slightly, and the front wheel. Perhaps something like some left over laminate flooring that you might have lying around.

daniel_b

gethinceri said:

You might want to consider raising the feet of the turbo slightly, and the front wheel. Perhaps something like some left over laminate flooring that you might have lying around.

What a GREAT idea

MattFalle

ignore - me eyes went all skewey looking at the pics above.

daniel_b

MattFalle said:

ignore - me eyes went all skewey looking at the pics above.

Were you going to suggest the OP should use some wooden flooring under the turbo to elevate it slightly and increase the gap....?

kingstongraham

#laminate

MattFalle

daniel_b said:

MattFalle said:

ignore - me eyes went all skewey looking at the pics above.

Were you going to suggest the OP should use some wooden flooring under the turbo to elevate it slightly and increase the gap....?

no, but thats a blimmin' good idea.

I just thought that the op's wheel looked weird on his t/t - ie too far forward thus lowering the clearance 'twixt tyre and floor and maybe he had assembled the roller onto the t/t therefore causing the issue but then when I looked at the other picture of that trainer no one here owns it sorta looks in the same place so put it down to my tired eyes.

However, he should just slam the whole thing on a pallet to raise the turbo up but wide enough to maintain stability.

daniel_b

Tired eyes - I see what you did there.