Trainer Questions
61
Member
1202 days
wilsondaj posted 1 year ago.
Hey I am stuck on the trainer too due to weather problems
I rode mine all winter and have had pretty good experience,
1) As far as how tight to crank the roller, what I do is tighten it down just enough for it to touch the tire then push the wheel by hand back and forth a few times pretty quickly. If the wheel slips on the roller, I tighten it down a little more and repeat untill there is not much slip. You'll get a pretty good sense of how tight it needs to be so it doesn't slip when you are riding pretty quickly. Basically you want it as loose as you can without it slippin.
2) I suspect your vibration and tire wear problems are due to over tightening the roller, although the trainer does wear the tire pretty quick. A technique I have heard of but never tried is to put a few wraps of hockey tape around your tire where it contacts the roller, if you are going to be using the bike exclusively on the trainer this might be a good option. Otherwise just put some really cheap tires on for your training and have another set for racing.
3) Had really good luck watching 24, made it through 2 seasons in the last month and a bit. Its great cause each episode is a cliff hanger and it makes the long painful rides a little easier. Also there are 6 (?) seasons of it out now so there are 100+ hours of entertainment out there.
Good luck
D
978
Member
1148 days
PJT posted 1 year ago.
1-2 turns usually means full revolutions. I don't have a blackburn, but in general you want the fit to be quite snug so the tire does not slip when you really hammer. Make sure your tire is fully inflated.
Don't use your best tires on a trainer--they will wear quickly no matter how tough. Some people use old tires until they completely wear out. Continental makes a trainer-only tire (it's orange and really thick rubber and cannot be ridden outside) that will last a long time and does not slip on the trainer very easily. I'm still on my first one after 2 winters of trainer riding. Last season, I change tires every time I use the trainer w/ my tri bike. It's a pain during the spring when I alternate indoor & out the most, but I've gotten really good at changing tires. Some people do use an old wheel on the trainer, as it's much faster to change a wheel than a tire.
Spinervals DVDs give a great workout on the trainer. TV & movies are OK, but you have to make sure you don't get lazy.
116
Member
715 days
jerallen posted 1 year ago.
I'm sure your tires are of a soft compound. I would purchase a tire with harder compounds such as teflon or carbon tire, or there is even ones specialized for trainers, Continental Ultra Sport Home Trainer tire.
247
Member
1415 days
o2Ripper posted 1 year ago.
I even air-down my tire to get better contact with the trainer...
-Branden
"Its an addiction"
Ok... so I finally bought a trainer. Not so much because of the weather as because I have young kids and it is challenging to get in a bike workout wihtout taking time away from them so now I can mash at night after their bedtime! Anyway - I bought a blackburn fluid trainer (like this and I have some questions for those experienced with trainers.
How tight do you crank down the roller to the tire? The manual said "1-2 turns" but does that mean 1-2 hand turns or 1-2 turns of the screw? At least the way I define them, 1 "turn" of the knob only pushes the screw down half a turn. Turing the screw 2 full turns really seems like too much me. So... how do you know how much contact is appropriate back there?
Second, the trainer is quite smooth much of the time, but at certain speeds it starts vibrating quite a bit. Last night I tried adjusting the contact pressure between the wheel and the roller... increasing it made it worse (?) easing back a bit seemed to reduce it. Any thoughts here?
Tires - I know the trainer is supposed to really wear down a tire but this is ridiculous. I only have a few hours on the trainer so far and there is quite a bit of wear including a nice gash right down the center of the tire about 1-2 inches long (it looks like a split or seam almost). There is no way I would use this tire on the road. I was thinking of upgrading to Armadillo puncture resistant tires on my road bike anyway - but can I use these on the trainer? At $50 a pop or so - I don't want to just grind them down. Do you use a seperate wheel for your trainer and just swap it out when you want to take your bike on the road? All help is appreciated.
Finally, so what do you all watch on the trainer? I've watched some episodes of Heroes and House. Thinking of renting Lost from Netflix since I haven't seen any before. Curious what snags your interest. If you're one of those that doesn't watch anything because then you can't focus on the pain... no need to respond to this last question and out yourself as a sadist.
Thanks all!