Just wipe it down afterwards. You should do that after all your rides anyway (I never do, but I should :D). It'll put some extra wear on it, but nothing too bad. You will wear your tires down a lot faster, though. A lot of people downgrade tires from road tires to trainer tires so they don't burn up good ones, kind of like a sponge going from kitchen sponge to bathroom sponge.

I have done both. If I use my good bike then I swap out the rear wheel. For my other bike I just use it as is. I sweat when I ride outside, so don't know how much different that is from inside.

THANKFULLY only had to ride inside a few times this winter when it snowed. Rain, cold I just ride outside.

I have never understood why people say it puts more stresses on a bike than riding outside. There are no potholes to hit or bumps in the road that intesify the loading on the bike. The only thing that I can imagine it doing would be adding a little extra stress to the head tube because the bike can't rock from side to side when when you really exert alot of force onto the pedals(the bike is locked in and must stay uprigts when it wants to rock). Personally I think that it is more of a myth than something that actually happens, but I could be wrong.

I have notice that there is more sweat on the bike after I ride inside than outside so I also bought one of those terrycloth bike covers, they work pretty well.

the rear triangle is where the stresses are greater when riding on a trainer. on the trainer, motion in all three directions is resisted by the lockdown device at your rear hub. when the frame rocks on the road, only the loads put on it by your body stress the frame (which is only so much because you only have the leverage of your weight/position/force and the shock absorber of the inflated tire). that all being said...i doubt the stress on the trainer approaches the limits of the frame's capabilities

Thanks for all the replys- quite helpful. I don't know if the stress is greater in terms of actual force put on the bike inside vs. outside, however, bikes are made to absorb things like bumps, potholes, etc, but not neccessarily tortional force resulting from the hub being lockdown to the bike can't move side to side.

Listen to you guys with your fancy bikes... I have a great solution. I don't have a good bike. :) If you don't have a good bike then you don't have to worry about getting it messed up. Just be like me and buy the best thing that $300 can get you...

I basically need buckets for sweat - so I just use a bunch of towels. One on the floor, one over the top tube and another over the areobars and then another one for me.

Reading on the bike? If you can do that then you are not working hard enough! ;)

OK..I normally lurk but feel compelled to respond to this. Haven't you guys ever actually looked *down* at your bike while on a trainer? You can visibly see it twist! I would never ride my "good" bike on my trainer - heck, I'm worried that I am destroying my "training" bike on my trainer. When you pedal you are applying a non-axis symmetric force which results to in a torque. Outside this means your bike tilts each way (about the line where the wheels touch the pavement). On a trainer the bike can't tilt laterally and this off-axis force becomes torques twisting your bike laterally as well as in yaw since the point of attachment is at the hub. The effect is more pronounced when out of the saddle but you can still see it happening even when seated.

Felt even mentions this in their faq. Either Felt bikes are weaker than the other manufacturers, or they are the only honest bike manufacturer (I'm going with the later).

Towels, and that is a recent addition. I will need to swap out the tires, however my summer riding season isn't quite over yet, so wont be doing that until the last minute.

I only have one bike, and a rainy Pacific NW winter to contend with, so my bike goes on the trainer. However, my tri bike has a titanium frame, so I don't worry about breaking it at all (if I did, I think I'd have some super-human pedaling strength going for me!). Also, titanium is almost as resistant to corrosion as platinum, and withstands acids and salts very well. Plus, I don't really sweat much. Bottom line: my bike gets a lot of trainer use in the winter and I don't worry about it.