Cassopher

What are the opinions about having dedicated bike for your trainer to ride during the winter months or is it better to just ride your “in season” bike?

ClydeClydeson

Depends on what 'Winter' means in your location. Where I live (rural Canada) the roads are heavily salted to eliminate ice, so nobody takes their good road bike out between ~Nov and March, so it makes sense to leave it on the trainer. If Winter means 'slightly rainier than Fall' then you might want to keep a bike for outside use and a bike for trainer use. I would personally probably keep my good bike out of the crap weather and leave it on the trainer, and maintain an older or uglier bike for outside use.

friday1970

If you use a mag/fluid turbo trainer and want to use your normal "in season" bike, I would suggest buying a trainer tire so you're not wearing out any rear tires with some good tread still left on them. I use one for my bike on turbo trainer, as I do not want to chew through a brand new Conti GP5K tire.

Now for rollers, any tire works.

genejockey 

The answer to this question, like so many others, is 'It depends'. I wouldn't buy a bike just to use on the trainer, but if you have more than one already, you might set one up for it. I've been using one of my steel bikes on the trainer, because in Northern California, winter means wet, and I'd rather not expose 30 year old steel frames to that when I have CF bikes I can ride. And yes, I use both a sweat guard and a towel to keep the perspiration off it.

Another consideration is position. You might be more comfortable on the trainer with a higher bar than you ride on the road, especially if you go for a big saddle to handlebar drop.

Even if you don't have a dedicated bike, you might have a dedicated rear wheel, if you're using a wheel-on trainer. I have an old 32 spoke Ultegra/Open Pro wheel with an old Conti 'Ultra Race' tire that's worn flat in the middle, and a cassette I wasn't using, and I swap this onto the bike I use on the trainer to replace the much better wheel/tire I use on the road.

Cassopher

I have a direct drive trainer so rear wheel/tire won’t be an issue.

Nachoman

Dedicated bike, for me, is far superior.
In fact, before I had a good dedicated road bike on the trainer, I had a old beater hybrid, which I even found preferable.

unterhausen

Moved here from General Cycling

I have a dedicated trainer bike. It's a parts bin build, so not much money invested. I might change my mind about riding outside at the last minute and go ride in the basement. I wouldn't want to have to switch the bike back and forth. I recommend it if you have the space

genejockey 

Ooo! You lucky so-and-so!

I think this makes the case for having a dedicated bike stronger, assuming you are able to leave it set up all the time. With a wheel-on trainer, I unscrew the flywheel from the rear tire everytime, and I've also heard it's best not to leave the bike in the clamps all the time, too.

caloso

I have a bike that's setup on the trainer full-time. It's my old road bike that I'd handed down to my son, but during the winter he is usually riding his FG or CX bike, so I lowered the saddle and changed out the junior gears for a standard 53/39 x 12/25. Just like genejockey, the trainer wheel is an old Open Pro with a half-worn out road tire. I've never felt the need to buy a special trainer tire when I have old tires that aren't reliable enough for winter roads but still have tread and hold air.

surak

With a direct drive trainer, I use whichever bike I intend to use less outside. During the drier "half" of the year, that's my 1x rain bike. Other half, my fairweather fenderless bike. I enjoy riding both outside, and while they aren't quite set up the same, the fit is close enough that it doesn't make a noticeable difference for indoor training.

Carbonfiberboy 

Dedicated bike will work fine as long as the fit is identical to your road bike. That's the most important thing IMO. And one of the reasons I ride rollers. Don't need a dedicated trainer bike. I do have a sweat bra I put on my road bike for roller use, but that's very quick to do.