Using the Continental Trainer Tire
 

Just thought I would report on my experience with this tire, of which I was hesitant to purchase and try as opposed to just still using old or cheap road tires. Once I got the tire on (which is a whole other story!), I have found that my CycleOps Fluid trainer is much quieter (just about silent) and the ride is much smoother with no slip and "better" progressive resistance. Also, I have found no breakdown or "mess" as some have reported.
As far as mounting the tire, oh boy! Apparently, Continental likes to make their tires "tight," but this was a bit ridiculous. Some people report no problems whatsoever getting them on, but I had moderate problems, much like others. I did find though that if you fight with the tire and put it on without the innertube first (therefore not running the risk of pinching the tube) once or twice, it seems to maybe stretch it a tiny bit. When I then took it off and remounted with the tube, it was "a little" easier. When inspecting the tire, it seems that the seam in the rubber is not perfect, and has a very small wavy, deviation at the seam, which could be production imprecision and account for why some are tighter than others.

Oh well, I like them, so far. Hope this helps anyone looking to try them.

Thanks for that review. I've been meaning to get a trainer tire to save my road tires. Nice to hear it might improve my trainer experience.

I got the Conti hometrainer tire and I thought mounting it was easier than the GP4000S. But maybe that's due to practice with the GP4000s :P

I also have those tires (Conti). I have put quite a few miles on them on the trainer (Mag trainer, fluid trainer and now a computrainer). I have hardly any wear on them (little bit of color change). With the computrainer it says to wipe the tire with a paper towel with some alcohol on it to remove the mold release or other chemicals that might cause the tire to slip. Love those tires.

I see what you mean about ordering them. I figured Performance or Nashbar would have them, but noooooo. I finally ordered from Total Cycling. Even with the exchange rate and shipping across the pond, it was the best deal going.


Edit: Oops, sorry, I lied. Nashbar does have them, but they're about $17 more, not including shipping.

BikeTiresDirect has them too- $41 each.

Mold?? What are you referring too?? I'm confused.

i have been using a cheap $10 tire from performance for the past two winters. sure it shreds and stinks of burning rubber with hard efforts, but it was 10 bucks. later.

I should have mentioned: at Total Cycling I paid a total of $30.61 with shipping. YERMV (exchange rate) ;)

I've been using cheapo tires for years on my trainer, but I'm getting sick of slippage, squeaks and tire bits on the floor. After the OP's review, I'm willing to give the specialty tire a try.

Basically the, manufacturer coats the mold with a release chemical. They inject the material into it the mold of a tire, gloves, whatever there making. When it has had enough time to set, they crack the mold open and pull out the tire, or whatever. The chemical that they use helps the tire separate from the mold, ie faster production, so the poor guy/gal doesn't have to fight with the tire to get it out. But it affects some trainers/turbos more then others, causing some tire slippage. Hope that helps.

I thought the whole idea of the training tire was to use a cheap tire that saved your more expensive road tires? At $41 a pop, that ain't cheap.

I use a <$10 Bell Streetster that does not stink, shred, or make noise. After more than 3000 miles of use it still looks and performs the same as the day it went on. I don't know if they make it in 700c. I started using old bikes with 27" wheels on the trainer because I don't like using nice bikes indoors and sweating bucketfuls on them. But there must be a dirt cheap nylon 700c tire available for much less than $41.

^^^^ as you should have read above it has been indicated that the advantage to these "trainer" specific tires is less noise and debris and longer life. i have no experience with them, but may give one a go next winter. later.

You should read the thread again. You said that your $10 tire shreds and stinks, but no one mentioned that as the intended design of the Continental Sport Hometrainer Tire. I often hear people say they are buying one to save wear on their expensive road tires.


Actually, Continental confuses me on what purpose the tire serves. If you view the brochure on Continental's website:
http://www.conti-online.com/generato..._tires_en.html

they claim: The roller tyre. With a modern roller and the Ultra Sport Hometrainer in the house, winter can set in when it wants to. Thanks to its special cold-running compound, the Ultra Sport Hometrainer doesn’t experience the heat buildup of a road tyre, nor does it suffer the tread separation that the road tyre is prone to under the special loads occurring when in cycling and braking on the roller’s revolving drums. The Ultra Sport Hometrainer has been designed explicitly for rollers and is not suitable for on-road use.

The cold-running and tread separation may be their way of saying that it does not stink or shred. I don't find this to be a problem with the cheap tires I have used. It hasn't been a problem with my regular road tires either, now that I think about it. But the "special load caused by braking", is this really a problem? I never hit the brake while on the trainer. When they say rollers, do they mean trainers as well? I have no experience with rollers, only trainers and don't know enough to determine if rollers require a different tire design than trainers. What special loads are involved?

I've used two different trainers with a variety of different tires over the last ~10 years. I didn't find a road tire that didn't spew black bits on the carpet over time. But the biggest problem is the treads always seems to glaze after a few sessions, so they slip and squeak during hard efforts.

My 1Up has a somewhat unrealistic power curve that is harder than regular road riding, so slippage can be common and annoying. I'm willing to be a guinea pig and try the Conti trainer tire. If, as the OP suggests, it slips less (or not at all, dare I hope?) then I'll be satisfied.

ProBikeKit has the Conti trainer tire in stock for $19.97 Shipped.

Dang, wish I'd know about those guys before I ordered. Oh well, I've got their link now...

Ok, so my tire arrived and I've used it a couple of times now. You can definitely tell the compound is different from normal tires. It seems a lot thicker and heavier, and the rubber compound is smooth and tacky compared to a normal road tire. Surprisingly, it went onto the rim more easily than a normal tire, once I got it started. (Getting it started takes a little patience since the material "wants" to stay flat rather than forming around a tube.)

I've used it for about 3.5 hours on the trainer so far. It does not squeak under heavy loads on my trainer, which was one of the annoyances I hoped it would correct. Given its thick skin, I expect it to last many years. Also, with the bright yellow color, it's not likely I will forget to swap out the rear wheel when I go for a ride outdoors.

Overall it's a decent enough product, and trainer-specific tires is a niche market if ever there was one, so at ~$20 it's not a bad deal.