I didn't know what section to post this in, but curious if anybody here has used tires other than trainer specific tires on rollers? I only have one set of wheels and its too much of a pain to switch to trainer specific tires for the occassional roller session. DId you get abnormal wear when using regular road tires? The tires that I will be using on the rollers are some softer panaracers, specifically the jack browns which are slicks at this point.

thanks, in advance.

If I am going to be spending a lot of time on the trainer, I'll just use an old tire on the rear wheel. There's no danger of puncture on a trainer so you don't need much tread. Trainer specific tires seem like a waste of money to me.

Rollers, with their large tubes, don't cause much wear on tires like trainers with their tiny pipes. I wouldn't worry about a special tire with rollers.

Rollers are nicer to tires than the road, IMHO.

I just use old tires on a KK trainer which has about a 2 1/2" roller clamped on the wheel. If you're riding rollers which generally have a larger diameter roller and no clamping force I can't imagine you'd be wearing a tire down very quickly. I think you'll blow your brains out from boredom long before you wear out a tire

The idea of trainer specific tires is a recent concept, which IMO is simply a way to get folks to spend more.

We rode rollers and trainers for decades with standard smooth tread road tires. If we had a dedicated tire for the job it was to save dough by using the cheapest tire possible to avoid shredding our best tires.

So, unless it's to remove a good tire and ride a cheaper tire, feel free to use what's on your wheels now.

This is one place where cheap can be better. Many of the less expensive tires are made with thick, relatively hard rubber for durability and some degree of puncture resistance. I've got some old Bontrager H2 Eco hybrid tires that I use on the trainer. I used them all winter and really didn't notice any appreciable wear. Since they retailed for about $25 a few years ago and had a year of riding on them before being relegated to the trainer, and the pair will last me multiple seasons, I'm getting by pretty cheaply. Since you aren't worried about road vibration, cornering, etc. tires that would be considered crap for the road are perfectly acceptable on a trainer. No reason to waste good road tires when the cheap stuff will do.

It's amusing that some folks don't seem to notice the difference between trainers and rollers. Some trainers seem to need a trainer-specific tire, judging by the anecdotes on here. However rollers most definitely do not. I've been using one of my bikes for rollers exclusively for a while. The odometer says 3300 miles since the last battery change. Maybe 8000 miles since I stopped riding it outside? Very little tire wear and these rollers have resistance, so I do work hard on them sometimes. Interestingly, I've had a couple punctures from odd bits of debris on the rollers - they're out in my shop. I've gone through I think 3 tubes due to valve failure because I pump every time I ride the rollers so that my intensity will always be the same at the same speed. I had to change out a front tire because the casing cracked due to age, even though it showed no wear.

I try to use trainer specific tires on the trainer (but not rollers). But buying them? A "trainer specific" tire is one that is so worn you don't trust it on the road (or rollers)! But flatting on a trainer? So what? And why kill a tire you care about?

Ben

My bike came with some cheap vittoria zaffiro tires. I use a somewhat better set when I'm mostly on the road in spring, summer, and fall, and in the winter when I'm mostly on the rollers I put on the zaffiro's. I use a significantly higher pressure on the rollers than on the road. I have seen little or no wear to the zaffiro's. If I go from the road to the rollers, I wipe the tires down so there isn't any grit getting on the rollers.

Thanks for the advice all. I rode my tires last night, and it seemed to work fine. When I got done it smelled like burnt rubber in the basement and the tires had dots on them which you can see in the photo that were not there before. Long story short, my trainer tires are the obvious better choice compared to these soft tires...but doesn't look like too much damage to the rollers or my tires if im only ridding the rollers a 3-4x a month with these tires.

It's possible that you have the tire pressure against the roller too high. That greatly increases tire flex and heat builup, besides putting added strain on the trainer's bearings. Try backing off the tension to the loosest level that allows the tire to drive the roller without slippage, or even with a bit of slippage but only on sudden acceleration.

....

Are we discussing rollers or a trainer??