rbrides

I've read putting your bike on a trainer "stresses" the frame in potentially harmful ways. What experiences do you folks have?
Winter is coming and I was considering buying a cheap old bike to mount to the trainer. That is a little more $ and takes up more space.

I already have a wheel + tire + cassette exclusively for using on the trainer so as to not wear out my road set up. But what about the frame?

Bmach

Cheap old bike, who cares!

CAT7RDR

I feared my crabon frame would ass-plode (blow up real good) with my Clydesdale butt on it. I just ride my MTB outside now in bad weather.

biker128pedal

So I NEED an aluminum frame road bike for my trainer so I don’t harm my carbon frame road bike? Or after two winters is it going to explode?

Troul 

been using a fluid trainer + hybrid/road bicycle. Seems fine.

Thomas15

Over the last year i have put on over 3500 trainer miles using a Kinetic Road machine and a steel frame road bike. For all my trying I have not been able to do any damage to the bike. If anything it is harder on the bike rider than the bike itself.

rebel1916

My 9 year old high end bike does miles on the Kinetic every winter. Hasn't hurt it yet.

ddeand 

I picked up an old steel frame bike for my trainer earlier this week. I could use my old Raleigh International on it, but I’d rather put miles on a not-so-special bike.

aclinjury

as long as you don't do out of saddle sprints, then frame should be ok.
However, I wouldn't put a superlight frame on a locked out trainter though.
My trainer is the rock-n-roll one, which allows the bike to rock freely, and this relieves all of the stress involved with the framed being locked, worth the investment if your bike is on the "high end" side

topflightpro

You'll be fine.

I spend a lot of time on the trainer. In fact, I've worn out two fluid trainers over the last 15 years. Out of the saddle sprints are fine. Hard efforts are fine. Your bike is not going to break on the trainer. I've done aluminum and carbon bikes on the trainer. You might scratch up the skewer. The only issue my wife or I have ever had is that the RD hanger bolt somehow got stripped on her Specialized Amira on her Kickr. The RD hanger just fell off once she took it off the Kickr. We replaced the hanger and everything was fine.

rbrides

To clarify, I was considering buying a cheap old bike to put on the trainer instead of riding my carbon frame bike.

But, the general consensus of the replies is that mounting a high quality carbon bike to a trainer has not damaged those bikes. I should be able to do the same.

Bmach

Yes but if something happens it might void any warranty you have.

hsuBM

I think winter clothing + old bike with fenders costs about the same as a trainer but is roughly 23x10^7 times as fun.

my math is a bit rough, though. If I’m off, please show me the equation so I can see where I screwed up.

sdmc530

I have a dedicated alum frame bike with a carbon fork (Cannondale CaadX) on my kurt smart trainer. Going on my 4th winter season now and not one issue. I am a clyde…..250lbs on the set up. The frame flexes like crazy when standing to sprint and such but never had an issue yet. I probably put on 1200-1500 miles from Oct.1st through March 1st and other than eating up rear tires no issues.

I use the almost used up tires from the normal riding season and finish them off on the trainer. A good use of a old tires to eat them up. I have buddies who only have one road bike, some alum, some carbon and they use trainers in the winter as well. They have not had any issues either. But they are not as heavy as I am.

etw

I have also had no issues putting my CF road bike on the trainer each winter

Thomas15

If the question is "will the trainer damage the frame?" the answer is not in my experience.

A different question is "what do you all think of having a dedicated bike on your indoor fluid trainer"?

My answer to that question is again in my experience it is worth having a dedicated bike on the trainer. The positive is although it isn't difficult to install and uninstall the bike it still is a hassle. Think about what you are going to do when you ride your trainer. Your going to put on the same cycling clothes you use in the summer, shoes, jersey, gloves, sweat band, shorts, joy gel, put on your heart monitor, turn on your computer, turn on your TV, gather up water bottles, turn on your smart phone app, turn on your cooling fan "system", turn on your sound system, turn on your bluetooth headset, apple music, wake up the sensors, start Zwift, make sure everything is paired, calibrate, select a route, then finally ride. Not as much as a ride outside but you will very quickly discover that you can get in a quickie 10 mile ride due to the convenience of the trainer. Some of that convenience goes away if you have to install the bike on the trainer.

The only negative in my view is it will take time and money to get the dedicated bike configured same as your outside bike. A small price to pay in my judgement.

sdmc530

I think unless your a power monster I don't see how the frame can fail. Just not a common issue with all the trainers out there now.

A dedicated set up is a MUST. The first fall of removing the bike on nice days and setting up the trainer on crap days was awful. Not difficult but a PIA after a few weeks to me. Never did this again just for the convince. If you can afford it its well worth a dedicated set up.

Thomas15

Let me just say that I'm currently transitioning back to my trainer but as weather and time allows I'm riding outside. I don't want to be bothered fooling with the trainer anymore than I have to, so a dedicated bike is very useful to me. I would say that by November 15 I will be basically riding inside all the time with some but relatively few outside rides for about 5 months. I'm really a big advocate of trainers, it has improved my riding so much. Having something like Zwift to go along with the trainer makes it tolerable and at times even fun.

It's not the same as outside but last year being my first winter on a trainer I went into the winter as a "meh" rider, exited the winter a reasonable decent recreational rider and vastly improved my ability to pull the hills. I'm currently in the process of putting together a training plan for this winter. Since I have all of the Zwift bonus XPs from riding routes the first time and have all of the challenges completed (California, Italy, Everest/Tron) I'm going to have to make my own goals as moving up levels is really difficult without bonus XPs. I'm going to ride up the Alpe once a week and Ven-Top twice a month, will probably do intervals and crank up short hills like Box Hill with all I've got. I really want to get my outside flat terrain fun ride of 40-60 miles up to as close to 20 MPH average as I possibly can for next year. I can't do that without training indoors over the winter.

msu2001la

When I purchased my Cannondale SuperX, the shop told me they've never seen a carbon bike come in with damage caused by a trainer. They also said trainers were considered "normal use" by Cannondale and covered by their frame warranty . The only concern they had was that I not over-tighten or strip/cross-thread the thru axles. Those concerns applied equally to non-trainer use as well.

I do know that some (not all) manufacturers specifically state that trainer use voids warranty, but some also specifically state that their bikes are fine to use on trainers. Canyon, for instance, has this: https://www.canyon.com/en-ae/support...o-trainer.html and they even go so far as to say bikes not on their "approved" list are still fine for use on trainers, but they just haven't specifically tested them for this type of use. Canyon will also offer crash replacement for trainer damage on any bike, even if it's not specifically on the list.

While googling the topic, I found this article which also seems to concur that carbon frame damage from trainers is a myth, though it may still void your warranty depending on which manufacturer you're dealing with: https://zwiftinsider.com/will-indoor...-carbon-frame/

Troul 

The bicycle on the trainer will likely be in the living area, nearby things that you want to keep clean. The second one might be best route If you ride outside then bring it indoors to use on the trainer. Going thru the cycle of mount dismount until the weather locks you indoors 100% can create for a lot of cleaning time just so the living area isn't tracked up with the nasties.

The kick-up from the tires is a problem, but the chain can & will release gunk when in motion. A spotted up wall, couch, dog, window, or kid can happen.

rbrides

Thanks all for taking the time to share your input. All good info and very welcomed.

Thomas15

As a parting thought, I'm about 3 weeks away from my 1 year anniversary using my trainer. I started using Zwift almost from the beginning and as of today have 4250 miles on Zwift. Previously up thread I said 3500 miles but Zwift Companion says 4250 miles. When I set up my trainer last year I used my 1986 Asian steel frame 2x6 speed bike.

I have another similar bike from the same era but of lesser quality. That bike I was trying to convert into a gravel bike but it was starting to cost too much and take too long and in the end I wouldn't have a very good gravel bike. So I decided to take my bike off the trainer to use as a back up road bike and put the gravel project on the trainer in it's place.

I have about 50 miles on the new configuration. I guess that I need another 3 or 4 rides to get the bike adjusted to me personally. I've made some radical changes to the seat height and angle and probably will replace the seat. Same with stem and bar adjustments. Riding a trainer without some sort of system to give the bike some "give" for example a rocker plate is uncomfortable. Not so uncomfortable that it isn't worth doing because I think it's been good to toughen me up. I just installed power meters on my road bike. A comparison to the power data I get off my budget Craigs List Kinetic Road Machine with InRide 3 shows that the power data on the trainer is actually quite accurate.

sdmc530

I will second this. Use a mat, I even put an old towel under the rear tire still. The crap that comes off even a clean bike was shocking. The tire throws "dust" and even a clean dry lubed chain throws stuff. We have a dedicated workout room for our bike so we can hook our ipad to a TV for large Zwift viewing. The first season we didn't use a mat and the carpet was well BAD....we learned. We have not put the rubber workout type flooring in our gym room yet but now we will have to after we ruined the flooring. Our treadmill throws dust as well, not an issue but workout equipment is messy.