Bicycle Mechanics - Indoor Trainers - How often do you lube your chain???

Hi,

I am new to indoor training. Outdoors I lube my chain every 200 miles. How often do you lube your chain when riding on an indoor trainer? Without the elements and road grit/grime can you ride longer between lubes?

Thanks for your input!

I have an old bike dedicated to the trainer and I only lube the chain only once a month or so during the winter and I'm careful to wipe off the extra. My wife would be most annoyed to find chain lube sprayed all over the family room floor. :)

As you noted, without the grime and water of road riding, the chain sees very little abrasive stuff so the demands are low.

BTW, the trainer is a good place to recycle (pun unavoidable) used cassettes and chains from your road bike since the demands aren't nearly as great.

People use trainers in very different ways -no way I could use an old chain or cassette.
Also, I need to lube very week, and put a matt under the trainer, for the lube spray and rubber spray (I do through a Rubino a month).

During the winter months, I do approx 10 hours a week on a trainer.

Personally, I have a bike that seems to have become dedicated to the stationary trainer. On this bike, I oil the chain only when it gets noisy or sluggish. Inside, that happens infrequently. Maybe once or twice per month.

...and put a matt under the trainer, for the lube spray and rubber spray (I do through a Rubino a month).

You have the rear wheel tension on your trainer set much too loose or too tight if it's eating tires like that. I get more than an entire winter from one tire and never have rubber spray. The "rule of thumb" is to set the tension so that if you grab the stationary rear wheel by hand and give it a hard yank, the tire should slip very slightly. If it slips a lot, the tension is insufficient and if it won't slip at all, it's too tight.

A friend was having exactly the tire problems you describe and resetting the tension correctly eliminated them.

Lube your chain when it squeaks. Should like like there's a bird in there before you lube it.

Has anyone seen Conti's new "trainer tire". They made a tire specifically for use on the trainer. It's orange.