gthomson

For those who are using a wheel on trainer, is it important to have a dedicated tire that's "designed" to use on the trainer? I started Zwifting about 5 years ago and bought a new tire because I thought it was a trainer tire but it was just a road tire with red trim.

It's still going after all these years but I am noticing some rubber debris building up around the roller.

Bearhawker

When I bought my trainer tire, the dealer suggested the trainer would probably eat a road tire and possibly throw tire shreddings/dust

No idea if it was a sales gimmick or not but the trainer tire has lasted WAY longer than any road tire I ever had

Jeff Neese

I read all the stuff about special tires, but decided to try a regular tire anyway and put on an older used tire that I wouldn't mind ruining. I now believe the special tires are just a marketing grab. I've had NO problems with a regular tire. It hasn't shredded or thrown rubber dust, nothing - perfectly fine. I've had it on my trainer for almost a year now and I'm not seeing any more wear than when I ride on the road.

Canker

Same. I've just been using an old 23mm tire for 3 or 4 years now still going strong.

tempocyclist

I've always used worn road tyres. They do the job. As long as it's a smooth-tread design it'll be quieter.

Trainer specific tyres are likely a harder compound so they resist heat and wear a little more. Just use whatever you have on hand. 🙂

Photokid1970

When I had my Trek Pilot 5.2 on a dumb trainer upstairs on a wooden floor, it reverberated just enough that it made the whole floor hum. It wasn't loud in the daytime, but it carried through the wood enough that it would wake up the wife. A red trainer wheel stopped that.

Now that I'm in the basement, I don't use it. On the concrete it seems to be a non-issue.

gthomson

Ok, so I switched to the dedicated training tire and retired my existing tire but don't really see much of a difference and I think it's actually louder now ha ha. My experience with my bikes, the old saying, "if it ain't broke don't fix it" seems to always apply to every change I make.

Oh well, maybe the rubber debris won't be an issue any more.

Jjbailey930

I had older Vittorias on an old Trek I was using for trainer with Wahoo Snap/ERG wheel on trainer. It was squealing crazy so I got a dedicated trainer tire. Another Vittoria tire. It was quiet and no debris. I need to mount this on the newer Felt from 2014 that has the originals, but I just may wear that one out. BTW, trainer tire a little harder to mount as it's not very pliable.

gthomson

Ah yeah, discovered that as I had to change it 3 times since the original tube exploded (probably a kink) and then grabbed another tube which I had hanging on the wall but it had a slow leak so grabbed a new tube and third time was the charm. The tire is also a Vittoria Zaffrino Pro but not fun to get on. My thumbs were bleeding under the nails from all the rolling I had to do to get it on the rim.

Not quiet though so wondering if I need adjust the tire pressure or adjust the mounting of the roller to increase or reduce the pressure.

base2 

IME I went through a trainer tire about once per year. Road tires lasted between 3-5 weeks.

bblair

Never used a trainer-specific tire on my wheel-on Wahoo, or previously on rollers. And have never seen shavings or tire dust either.

As long as your tire is relatively smooth, not knobbies, you should be fine.

That said, while riding a stage of the Tour de Watopia last week, I got a flat just as I crossed the finish line. Weird, huh? Patched 'er up and good to go.
(Maybe my massive power output heated it up to past the melting point of rubber!)