Carbon Cube and turbo trainer?

martyn79
martyn79 Posts: 35
edited February 2013 in Road general
Having bought a Cube Agree i made the stupid mistake of flicking through the owners manual (everyone knows men dont read instructions lol). I noticed that they advised not to use the bike on a turbo but rollers are ok. I know that there are different forces going through the frame due to it being clamped but surely it is no different to alloy/steel frames.

If i had not read the manual i would not have thought twice about putting it on the turbo,so who uses there Cube on a turbo and have you had any problems?

thanks

Comments

  • TakeTurns
    TakeTurns Posts: 1,075
    I laughed. That sounds ludicrous.
  • iPip
    iPip Posts: 90
    You won't find a definitive answer, I tried. Despite what you'll see posted throughout the net, Cube aren't the only ones with a caveat in their warranty. The general consensus is you've got nothing to worry about, personally I don't use my Agree on a turbo, but many do.
    Regards
    Pip

    Cube Agree GTC Pro
    Boardman Hybrid Comp
    Voodoo Bantu
  • Monty Dog
    Monty Dog Posts: 20,614
    Never seen any recorded evidence of someone breaking a carbon frame on a turbo.
    Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    Pro teams use carbon bikes on turbos.
  • dee4life2005
    dee4life2005 Posts: 773
    I could see how there may be a potential issue if you were doing out of the saddle sprints at full pelt where normally the bike would be moving side to side a fair bit. This sideways movement would be all but restricted due to the clamped rear wheel and as such would surely be putting far greater stresses through the frame - possibly to such an extent that it would exceed what the frame was designed to cope with.

    For normal seated riding, or simulated hill climbing I can't see how using a carbon bike on a turbo trainer would cause any problems whatsoever. I certainly hope not anyway, as I use my carbon bike on the turbo from time to time.
    http://app.strava.com/athletes/307297
  • DavidJB
    DavidJB Posts: 2,019
    its fine.
  • rollemynot
    rollemynot Posts: 436
    This was my 2011 GTC Agree, I hear the 2012 is better...................


    m
  • smidsy
    smidsy Posts: 5,273
    Search in training section will reveal this has been done to death. Just use it
    Yellow is the new Black.
  • martyn79
    martyn79 Posts: 35
    Thanks for the replys everyone,i guess i should have looked in the training section :oops:

    Rollemynot i can not see your pic for some reason but im guessing it is of a cracked frame?.

    Im going to go with the majority in favour and give it a try on the turbo,thanks once again all.
  • rollemynot
    rollemynot Posts: 436
    martyn79 wrote:
    Thanks for the replys everyone,i guess i should have looked in the training section :oops:

    Rollemynot i can not see your pic for some reason but im guessing it is of a cracked frame?.

    Im going to go with the majority in favour and give it a try on the turbo,thanks once again all.


    Nah it was my attempt at humour, showing a melted burnt frame. Flipping iPad not allowing images to show properly, joke seems a bit lame now.

    Anyway my 2011 is currently on hour 45 on the trainer this winter and all feels and looks ok to me.
  • 1_reaper
    1_reaper Posts: 322
    Have my carbon frame on the Fortius in the winter come summer no problems
  • dynamicbrick
    dynamicbrick Posts: 460
    The point is that by clamping the rear spindle in place, something needs to flex in order to absorb the lateral forces of pedalling - a task usually done by the bike naturally moving laterally. When clamped to a trainer, the lateral forces all have to be absorbed by rear forks and downtube where they meet the BB - if you look down you'll see a rather surprising amount of flex in this area on the trainer.

    Basically, you're subjecting an area of the bike to repetitive loadings it wouldn't normally be expected to deal with on it's own and in brittle materials like Carbon Fibre or Aluminium, this could lead to premature fatigue in that area.

    This, in turn, could lead to frame failure in that area, perhaps whilst you're out on a ride, and you may end up under a bus which might cause serious injury or deathness. All of which conceivably could be Cube's liability because they'd not told you to not put the thing on the trainer.

    The warranty invalid thing is a bit of a red herring I think - although if it did fail in that area, they probably wouldn't replace the frame as there's no other cause for a frame to fail in that area.

    Basically, unless you're 20st, or have legs like Vostermann, don't sweat it; the frame will probably outlast are lateral forces you can apply to it, or until you get bored of it and buy something new.
  • jordan_217
    jordan_217 Posts: 2,580
    I emailed Argon 18 directly about this a few years ago and their response was:
    8<
    Hi

    There is no problem to use a turbo trainer with carbon frame. The only thing is with the TT bike the derailler hanger is smaller than on the road bikes. So it might be hard to fix it. You need to try to one of you argon 18 dealer with your bike to be sure that it fit cause I can't garantie it will.

    Please let me know if you need more information.

    Best regards

    Cynthia Bremer
    Customer service representative
    Tel: 514.271.2992 ext. 101
    Toll free: 1-877-578-1818 ext. 101
    Skype: cynthiabremerarg
    www.argon18bike.com
    8<

    Not the best English but you get the point. The only issue I had on my old Tacx turbo was that the clamping cup scratched the top of the rear mech as the gap between the QR bolt and rear mech was pretty tight.
    “Training is like fighting with a gorilla. You don’t stop when you’re tired. You stop when the gorilla is tired.”
  • pride4ever
    pride4ever Posts: 510
    LOL CARBON.
    the deeper the section the deeper the pleasure.

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