Why is is that most trainers need us to use both wheel and cassette, when direct drive with one mechanical gear and variable resistance would do, and with much less noise to boot. There are so many easy ways to this, yet most trainers wear out both cassette and tyre.

Cost, smaller/more compact stand, one's bike already has gears to help adjust the resistance.


I take issue with a stand wearing out your bike's metal parts at any faster a clip then outdoors riding does. If anything the lack of grit and grime inside likely lessens the drivetrain wear.


As to your tires wearing faster- Yes but. Most riders set their roller tension (against the tire) too high and don't tend to keep tire pressure up to the max. When I have a customer complain about rubber dust/tire wear I suggest that they keep max air pressure and minimum roller pressure. The roller only needs to be pressed against the tire enough for steady state riding to have no slipping, under hard acceleration some temporary slippage is expected. Additionally as trainer stands tend to reward poor cycling form and don't have a feedback for said poor pedaling technique the rider often falls into a "pedaling squares" style, a lousy form to take back out on the road later and another factor of tire/roller slippage. Andy