Originally Posted by
Riveting
So you recommend a newbie indoor rider to buy an entire wheel, cassette, and tire, on top of performing the wheel swapping process (potentially every other day) if they ride indoors and outdoors frequently in the same week, just to avoid some extra wear on a tire?
Yes. I just did. My trainer wheel and cassette cost $50-60, and I use old road tires that I don't want to use outside any more. Swapping wheels with a QR takes 15-30 seconds, so it isn't much of an investment in time or money, but it does save a lot of wear on my road wheels.
Originally Posted by
Riveting
I've never seen the data, but how many less miles do you think you'd get from a tire on a trainer compared to riding that same tire outdoors? How many miles would it take on the special trainer wheel to see a return on the cost of that entire trainer wheel (ROI)? I'm guessing it takes MANY more miles than the OP is ever going to ride, maybe 5,000-10,000 miles? I've had a smart trainer since 2013, and never went through a tire riding indoors over the winter. But I have gone through 3-4 rear tires in a single season of outdoor riding (8,500 miles that year).
You go through more tires than I do, but that means you probably have some old tires sitting around that are still usable for indoors, but you wouldn't trust on the road. That's the key for me - I like a high performance tire, and I like to be confident in my tires. Using a trainer wheel means I put 500-1500 (depending on the year) fewer miles a year on my road tires.