Suki

Hi guys,

I just got an indoor Kinectic trainer to start putting in miles on my roadbike after work at night. I've had a trainer once before, years ago - same bike, a 2004 Klein road bike with a Ksyrium wheel set and continental tires. Anyway, the first time around, I developed a flat spot on the rear tire due to the friction of the trainer and so I wanted to consider getting a dedicated second rear wheel for indoor use only. I have no idea what to look for - how cheap of a wheel can I buy? I have an Ultegra cassette on the current bike setup. I understand that I can go down to something cheaper for the cassette, but what about the wheel itself?? What are your thoughts? What do you think this will run me? Also, I would probably put a trainer specific tire on this one.

rubiksoval

Why don't you just release the resistance so the trainer isn't pressing against the tire when you're not using it?

Suki

But doesn't the flat spot occur during the actual use of the trainer, not just from being left there after the fact? (unless I'm missing something??)

colnago62

I would get the cheapest on I could find that fits my bike.

rubiksoval

I don't know. I don't see how that could happen to a rotating wheel unless it was untrue and had a significant hop.

Sy Reene

+1 Get whatever you find cheapest out there. And put a trainer tire on the wheel instead of using actual road tires (unless you're talking about crappy old ones you don't care about).

Alternatively, swap between your road and trainer tire on whatever wheel you have. More work and annoying if this is eg. a 3x/week thing though.

rubiksoval

Trainer + second wheel is nearing the expense of a rear wheel off smart trainer.

I'd get the rear-wheel off smart trainer and not worry any more.

Sy Reene

some of those steel drums heat up quick and wear down center to flat pretty quick. No cornering obviously.. so it's pretty noticeable.

datlas 

If you are going back and forth between trainer and road, you could get a cheap pos rear wheel/cassette from craigslist or equivalent.

If you are going to be mostly on the trainer for awhile, get a cheap tire and keep the wheel.

Or just use what you have and accept that the trainer will wear down your tire.

Life is full of trade-offs and there is no perfect answer.

rubiksoval

Right, but "flat spot" had me thinking it was just one part of the tire.

General wear makes sense, though.

jaxgtr

when I got my Wahoo Kickr Snap, I used an old rear wheel I had from a prior bike and put a trainer tire on it. worked like a champ.

rivers

I bought a cheap second hand wheel for the trainer. Works a treat.

berner

I have several old folding tires I no longer use on the road. One is on a cheap wheel for use on the trainer. It may be you are setting the rear wheel on the trainer with too much contact pressure. It does not take much pressure for the trainer to work properly.

CyclingFool95 

For 2 decades, I used an old wheel with Shen Hao tire that never really seemed to dry out on a Blackburn Mag trakstand. When I went to ten speed (from 7) on my trainer bike, I bought a cheap Shimano R500 set from Merlin (~$120), sold the front, and put on a cheap Continental Ultra that had been in my parts closet for years and would never see road anyway. I think its got a Tiagra cassette on it. Either way, I went to a Wahoo Kickr so now it sits unused, but it was a small investment. FWIW, I used to release the tension on the roller all the time after use but eventually got lazy. Given I was using the trainer every day or two at most, it didnt seem to do any harm.

topflightpro

The tire will develop a flat spot along the outer part of the rim as the tire wears, but that is the same wear one gets from riding on a road.

If you are getting a hop in the tire, that is from leaving the resistance on the wheel when not riding it. It won't develop a hop just from riding on the trainer. Unscrew the resistance when you are done, and you won't have problems.

caloso

Just get the cheapest wheel you can find that will accept the right cassette. A lot of folks use special trainer tires, but I just use an old tire. Waste not, want not.

Thomas15

I don't have anything useful to add. But, I use a dedicated trainer tire which of course cannot be used on the road. The bike on my trainer is a back-up. So in general I don't need to use the bike but when I do use it, I have to replace the tire. A big pain in the *


I found a used 700 wheel on Craigs List inexpensive cost and had a threaded hub for a freewheel, which is what i need. Put the dedicated tire on and discovered that the hub is 5 or 10mm too wide for my frame. I measured the length on the correct wheel drive side and using spacers of different thicknesses was able to get the space to within about .3mm. That should work. I also trimmed the axle to the length of the other axle. So now all I have to do is add and subtract spacers on the non-drive side to get the wheel to fit my frame.This whole project has been moving at literally a snails pace so I can't recall all the dimensions.


Two potential problems I see, the first is the wheel dish being off, the second is I might have to adjust the RD limit screws when swapping the wheels. I don't care about tracking because it is a wheel-on trainer and I rather adjust a RD than re-mount a tire but i should be able to get this to work, at least I hope so. Will know soon.

Iride01 

Can't you get another bike for the trainer? Why wear out a decent bike going nowhere?