iterax

I used an old Schwalbe Lugano on my trainer until the tire exploded due to wear and heat buildup I guess. Then I read in a forum somewhere (it might have been here) to tightly double wrap your tire with electrical tape. Do it in a counterclockwise direction (from the drive side) so the exposed end doesn't go against the roller. Worked for me; just had to replace the tape every two sessions as it became frayed and got loose.

chuckybb

Many hours on the 'Vittoria Zaffiro V Training Bicycle Tires" with no problems.

Bigdarbs

Nope, I have been using turbo trainers since the early 1990's and have never used a trainer specific tyre, they'll be fine (In the early days I used mountain bike knobbly tyres, which was an interesting and noisy experience!)

bbbean 

Ifg you ride the trainer very often, get a cheap rear wheel and throw on a worn road tire. That way you can use the good rubber on the road where it counts, and won't need to swap tires or wear out your good tires.

philbob57

I actually did that. Unfortunately, the cheap wheel needs a slightly different rder setting than my road wheel does, so on days like today - 50 & sunny - I either don't ride outside or have to put my bike on a stand and adjust - and then readjust in a couple of days when it gets too cold for me to ride outside. My solution is to use a road tire when I use my (wheel-on) semi-smart trainer, but that's only one of several solutions.

bbbean 

[QUOTE=philbob57;22426757]Unfortunately, the cheap wheel needs a slightly different rder setting than my road wheel does, {/QUOTE]

You can fix that with the addition of a spacer.

rekmeyata

All I use is old tires I don't trust on the road much anymore. BUT, before you use an old tire you have scrub the tire clean, then check for any imbedded stuff in the thread and get that stuff out of the tire, dirt and stuff imbedded in the tire will scratch up the drum on a trainer.

MinnMan

Gatorskins last almost indefinitely on my Kurt Kinetic Road Machine. I haven't kept detailed track , but I do know for certain that I'm only on my second one since joining Zwift, and I have 7k Zwift "miles"

tkamd73 

Yeah I’ve talked to others who have no issues on other trainers, but My Blackburn wrecked a Gatorskin and Panaracer in relatively short order, before I got a trainer tire, no issues after that. Really like the Blackburn, not getting rid of it.
Tim

bbbean 

I've never done any of that, but I also haven't seen any problems from a little wear and tear on my trainer or rollers.

BB

sdmc530

I too use tires not worth of road use and finish them off on the trainer. But the wear isn't a huge issue even on good tires really.

rekmeyata

However, if the trainer user has the trainer adjusted too tight against the rear tire, then it could wear out the tire fast, that's also how you find small bits of black rubber all over the area you ride in

MinnMan

I suppose, but it hasn't been an issue. For quite some time (before I started measuring power with my pedals), I calibrated the trainer with the Kurt Kinetic app, doing a spin down test. If the wheel was too tight against the roller, the spin down test would be out of range (wheel slows too rapidly) and the app would tell me to reduce the pressure. Of course, if the pressure was too low, the tire would slip. So I learned the "feel" of getting it right, even though I no longer do spin down tests.

Also, there is a big black rubber mat under the trainer, so I might not notice black rubber dust.

rekmeyata

Just take the black mat gently over to a whitish floor and shake out the mat and see if any black bits end up on the floor.

MinnMan

Why would I do that? To create a problem that I don't now have?

Anybody with half a brain knows that as the tread of a tire wears down, the material that has worn away is now in tiny bits.

Neither the flux of rubber dust nor the rate of tire wear in my set up are troubling me.

Have you got any other excellent advice?

rekmeyata

So why are you being a jack arse now?? I came here to help you if you don't want any help then go away! I was going to say something about the black debris, but you're on your own.

MinnMan

It's arrogant of you to think you might have any help to offer, when I have evinced no problem in need of your supposed wisdom.

rekmeyata

Geez, what a child, I'm moving on, I'm too old to play with you.

MinnMan

bye.

rm -rf

Yeah, my old Kurt Kinetic doesn't destroy my tires either. Years ago, I had another trainer and a MTB and some smooth tread mountain bike tires. Every trainer session ended up with lots of sand sized granules of black rubber ripped out of the tire tread.

Now, the GP5000 tires on the Kurt just makes a shiny smooth strip on the middle of the tire, no wear.

I only turn the tension knob enough so that the tire doesn't slip with a hard seated effort. (that's 1.5 turns of the knob--I stuck a piece of color tape on the knob to make counting the rotations easy.) And I use 10 psi more than when riding outside. If I tried standing up and sprinting, it would likely slip, but that's not too useful on this trainer anyway.

bblair

I have never seen the dreaded bits-o-rubber on the floor around my trainer. Two plans:
1-use an old tire, so if it wears, who cares.
2-use your regular tire on the trainer in the winter. When it warms up outside, put the trainer away, put on fresh tires and go outside.

caloso

Same deal. Kurt Kinetic wheel-on trainer, GP4Ks. Never noticed any rubber granules. Just a shiny strip, didn't even see any wear down on the little dimples that Continental puts on its treads.

msu2001la

I've added another 500 miles of trainer riding since this post, and still no real sign of tire wear. I have noticed some tiny amounts of black bits next to my trainer, so... maybe it's getting ready to go. I'm guessing this tire has 1000-1500 outdoor miles on it, plus another 2500 indoors. The front has been sitting idle for most of that and looks brand new, so I'll probably just swap 'em at some point.

28mm GP 5000 run at 80psi on a carbon wheel (yep...) with roughly 2.5 turns on a Kickr Snap. I get zero slipping, though I typically don't exceed 600-700 watts. I'm not much of a sprinter I guess.