jnbrown

Changing tires to use the same wheel on the trainer is getting old.
Was hoping to use 32H rim I already have, but couldn't find any cheap 145mm rear hubs.
The cheapest I can find is Velocity in 40H, would have to buy a 40H rim.
I suppose this hub would be good enough for trainer use?

Carbonfiberboy 

Use rollers.

geranimo57

Meh.. We are having a blast with Zwift and the new Tacx smart trainer. I'm running my gatorskin with no issues, why are you changing tires?

RomansFiveEight

Some people change tires to prevent wearing out their 'good' tires on the trainer.

YMMV but, honestly, I've not experienced that. I'm sure there's wear but, not substantial for me. Tires aren't THAT expensive. By the time you buy a new wheel, hub, and special trainer tire, how much have you really saved?

BUT; that's me. If you do a LOT more trainer miles than I do, then you might get a benefit from a specific trainer tire.

jnbrown

Good thought, I will give it a try. Using Conti GP4000S they don't have very thick tread. Actually half the work is just changing wheels, so leaving the same wheel and tire on would mean doing nothing which I like.

RomansFiveEight

Yeah I'm curious to see which tires and trainer combos actually have noticeable wear. While I can tell my trainer wears my tires and perhaps a smidge faster than the road; it's not been significant enough for me and my trainer riding (7-10hrs/week) to warrant doing anything about it. Some of these guys who train a LOT more would probably benefit.

jnbrown

Wow 7-10 hours is a lot, we do maybe 2 hours a week. I can barely make it through a one hour session.
For some reason riding at a lower heart rate on the trainer seems harder than a higher heart rate on the road.
Could be because it usually is later the in the evening after work, like last night started at 7:30
Right now lucky if we get on the road twice a week with cold rainy weather.
I get next week off work so hoping to get out more.
If the GP4000S wears too much it would probably be worth changing to a thicker tire just for the winter.

RomansFiveEight

I loathe the trainer. I loathe being out of shape in the spring more. I enjoy riding my bike on the road; I ride my bike on the trainer to keep me in shape! I don't do it because I like it, I just do it. It's usually closer to 7 than 10. Often I'll do one two-hour ride a week, and do an alternative 90 minute / 30 minute plan, with one rest day a week. If I don't do a long ride, that's about 6 hours. If I do a longer 2 hour ride, or do more than one 2 hour ride, that's when I get more hours.

But I know some guys who do 5 or 6 hours on a Saturday, and 2 hours every night. Yikes!

waynesulak

I think having a spare wheel for the tandem is a good idea but don't know that buying one specifically for the trainer is economic. The cost of a tandem rear wheel will pay for the price difference of quite a few tires. Just throwing some numbers together, if you save $20 per tire comparing trainer tire vs road tire usage then it would take 12 tires to pay for a $240 wheel. At 3,000 miles per tire on the trainer that is 36,000 trainer miles to pay for the wheel. Maybe the cost savings on the tire is higher than $20 but it is still a lot of trainer miles.

RomansFiveEight

That's what I'm curious about too.

If a trainer wears a tire twice as fast (my experience is that it's much less but, let's go with that), and a tire costs $20 and lasts 3,000 miles (road), or 1,500 miles (trainer), it just seems like it would take a long long time to make up the cost of a new wheel and trainer tire. Of course, the wheel can be anything that'll fit, even some rusty old steel wheel. There's no performance difference on a trainer. But still.

jnbrown

I bought the trainer this year because both my wife and I work full time and she doesn't like riding after work in the dark and cold (nor do I). I can always ride myself during the day during lunch.
Like you I wanted us to not loose too much fitness during the winter and I think so far its helping.

geranimo57

We are keeping it simple.. need to keep in shape and the tacx smart trainer with zwift, gives us an enjoyable and very strong workout. We ride a heavy tandem and don't plan on racing anytime soon. I don't think the trainer is going to run down the GatorSkins any faster then the rough roads we normally ride. Like another poster stated tires are not that expensive considering they can last over 4000 miles!