Bike Trainer Reviews » FAQ

Do I Need a Special Tire for a Bike Trainer

Admin — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 13:31:26 +0000

Jessica asked:

My bike (Trek 5200) just has the regular tires on it that I ride for the road, I think they are Michelins but not positive. I have gotten into great shape this summer and don't want to lose it over the winter when I cannot ride as easily. I want to buy a bike trainer to ride indoors on but I don't know much about how they work? Can I ride the bike on the trainer with the same tire I ride on the road? I've seen special trainer tires so that is why I am asking. Thanks for any help you can give.

Our Answer:

Jessica...first congratulations on getting into shape, cycling is a great way to do that and is what turned us into bike trainer junkies too. Once you get into great shape, you don't ever want to lose it....way too much work to get there.

So to answer your question, yes you can ride your bike on the trainer just like you do on the road. It is possible but trainers tend to be hard on the rear tire, so it will probably wear your tire out more quickly than just road riding will. That is why they make special trainer tires, they are a different compound than road tires and are designed not to wear quickly. They wouldn't have much grip or handle all that great on the road, but they are perfect for a bike trainer.

So if you want to, you can run your road tires, but if you are concerned with tire wear then you should change out to a trainer tire. Hope that helps.

Best Bike Trainer Under $300 dollars?

Admin — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:52:35 +0000

Shawn B asked:

I took up cycling this year for the first time and I am in love with the sport. I've worked hard all summer to get in shape and lose weight and I've dropped like 40 lbs. I don't want to gain it back over the winter but I am not about to ride in the snow. I want to buy a bike trainer and I've been given conflicting information regarding whether a trainer or a set of rollers is the best bet. I only have around 200 bucks, maybe 300 at most to spend and I want to get it right the first time.

Thanks in advance!

Our Answer

Shawn...welcome to the sport of cycling! It's very addictive and is a great way to keep the pounds off so congratulations on the weight loss. I am not going to expound terribly much on this subject as I am sure

others will chime in with comments but my preference is for a regular bike trainer versus rollers. For someone that is new to riding on a trainer, you can get on one and ride today without any knowledge or skill. Rollers require practice and can be quite frustrating at first.

A good set of rollers more closely resembles real bike riding than a bike trainer but they are hard to balance on and can be frustrating. So I would recommend that you go with a solid bike trainer and with a price range up to $300 dollars then you can buy a really nice one that will last you a long time AND give you a great quality workout and closely emulate real road riding.

Our own favorite is a Kurt Kinetic bike trainer which you can squeak in just under $300 dollars if you look. These are listed for $369 on the Kurt website so this one at $285 is a great deal. The Kurt Kinetic trainer is a fluid trainer and the design is superb. In a nutshell this is one fluid trainer that will not leak, period.

Check it out and enjoy and we'll see what everyone else has to offer.

Bike Trainer for Mountain Bikes?

Admin — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 03:48:53 +0000

Robert B asked:

It seems that most of the indoor bicycle trainers that I have seen are designed for road bikes. Do you have any recommendations on a good trainers for use with a mountain bike? My bike is a 20" Specialized Rockhopper bike and I don't want to buy a different bike just to train with.

Our Answer

Robert...great question and you are right, you never see any bike trainer ads with a mountain bike as the bike loaded up on board. The nature of a mountain bike tire would not make it a good match for the smooth wheel of the bike trainer though. The knobby tire would be incredibly loud and would wear your tire to nothing in almost no time, neither of which you want to do.

You have two choices, you can go with a bike trainer that is known as a Rim Drive trainer like a Minoura RDA80 type trainer. The drive wheel actually rides against the rim of the wheel instead of the tire. If this particular trainer isn't to your liking then you could always simply mount a training tire on your rim for the winter. It's not like they are difficult to change and come spring you can change it right back.

If changing out the tire isn't to your liking then a stock rear wheel can be had for a few bucks and you could simply change out the whole wheel and tire assembly when you want to rock the trainer. Your call which way you want to go.