alt+f4

I borrowed an indoor trainer from my uncle, but there are no instructions. It's this one:



I set it up the other day and it felt solid in it, but I had no idea how much pressure to put on the rear wheel. Is there a standard for this? Any other hints or tips? I used it the other night for a half hour of intervals, but every so often the rear tire would get kinda wobbly and the resistence would go WAY up, without me switching gears. No idea why.

DocRay

Set your rear tire pressure at 110-120psi. Tighten the roller until it just touches the wheel, then two full turns.

Other tip: get a large fan, and don't use expensive road tires, use cheap, hard, wire-rims.

timmhaan

for the rear tire i adjust the roller so it makes contact, then i turn the knob about 2 full rotations. basically you just want it tight enough that no slippage occurs. not sure what's going on with the resistance thing though.

alt+f4

I did read the "two turns after contact" thing here with other trainers, but it just seemed way too tight against the tire. Maybe my tire pressure wasn't high enough...I'll check that tonight.

DocRay

If the tire pressure isn't at recommended, and the roller not tight enough, you will shred the tire.

Spinner24/7

Make sure to point the bike towards the TV ok really...

1) loosen roller adjustment so it won't obstruct the bike going on the trainer
2) Put the rear axle between the two cups and tighten the cups onto each side evenly
3) Tighten roller back up 2 turns after contacting wheel

As recommended above, get a large fan from Target or something. You will sweat!!! I never realized how well moving air cooled you until I rode a trainer.

domestique

+1 on a fan! VERY important!

As for tightness only tighten it until the rear wheel dosen't spin out when you pedal in a high gear

Sprocket Man

People have been make the "two turns after contact" suggestion, but as someone who owns both a Blackburn trainer (like the one in the picture) and a CycleOps, I'd say that this may be too tight for the Blackburn.

First, make sure that you use a skewer that fits snugly into the cups and tighten it down well. Then, to adjust the pressure on the tire, I adjust it until it barely makes contact and I tighten it a little (less than 1/4 turn), then grab the wheel and jerk it up and down a bit. If the tire slips on the resistance unit, repeat the process until it doesn't.

As for the change in resistance occuring while you're using it, I've experienced that too (though only with the Blackburn). It usually happens about 3-4 minutes into my session - the resistance will increase and stay at that level for the rest of the session. I asked someone at my LBS about this. He said he's familiar with this feature. He said he doesn't know for sure, but he suspects this feature is built in so the user doesn't have to deal with a higher level of resistance until he is warmed up. Makes sense to me.