carbon bike on trainer?

dragster said:

i have a minoura trainer .. is it true it is not advisable to use a carbon bike on a trainer? bec it might flex the frame?. i have a cervelo r 2.5 carbon bike

If i was gonna use a trainer i would use a beater on it. i would not use my race bike rather it be carbon or aluminum. they make all frames flex.

dragster said:

i have a minoura trainer .. is it true it is not advisable to use a carbon bike on a trainer? bec it might flex the frame?. i have a cervelo r 2.5 carbon bike

I've never heard that. Assuming you're talking about a trainer that holds the rear wheel, I can't imagine it would put more stress on your bike than stomping up a hill on the road.

kennf said:

I've never heard that. Assuming you're talking about a trainer that holds the rear wheel, I can't imagine it would put more stress on your bike than stomping up a hill on the road.

The stresses are a lot higher. When you stomp on the road, the rear end of the bike is free to lean side to side. With the rear axel constrained in a trainer, all of that force gets turned into big torsional deflections. I would take zascar's advice and just get a beater bike for the trainer. It also saves you the trouble of having to swap the rear wheel/tire every time you have to ride inside.

artmichalek said:

The stresses are a lot higher. When you stomp on the road, the rear end of the bike is free to lean side to side. With the rear axel constrained in a trainer, all of that force gets turned into big torsional deflections. I would take zascar's advice and just get a beater bike for the trainer. It also saves you the trouble of having to swap the rear wheel/tire every time you have to ride inside.

Agree. I won't put my CF bike in the trainer except during race warmups. I'm just spinning at that point rather than doing hard work, so I'm less worried about breaking the stays. Even my aluminum beater bike creaks and groans from the stresses of working hard on the rear-wheel trainer.

I was riding my Pinarello on the trainer once and my buddy said you should see that thing flexing... from that day on I've switched back to my old steel frame...

would a stationary bike ( the one they sell at sporting good stores) be comparable to having a real bike on a trainer?. stationary fitness bikes are much much cheaper than buying another bike plus a trainer. How do they compare to each other - bike on a trainer vs. stationary bike-

dragster said:

would a stationary bike ( the one they sell at sporting good stores) be comparable to having a real bike on a trainer?. stationary fitness bikes are much much cheaper than buying another bike plus a trainer. How do they compare to each other - bike on a trainer vs. stationary bike-

Only two things matter. The position of your body and the quality of the resistance unit. It might be considerably cheaper to get a $20 garage sale bike and a nice trainer than to get a good stationary bike.

CampagnoloBora said:

I was riding my Pinarello on the trainer once and my buddy said you should see that thing flexing... from that day on I've switched back to my old steel frame...

Buy that man a beer. I've heard horror stories of people who didn't realize how much their frames were flexing on the trainer until the chainstays broke off of the bb shell.

I recently purchassed a CF bike, that has a lifetime warranty on the frame. I was not that concerned as to the flex mentioned, as bikes are designed to flex. However, I asked Kinetic what they thought of it. Here is the reply...

" This is a myth. Your warranty on a CF bike is not void when you use it on a trainer. I confirmed this with several TI and CF manufacturers. I did not find a single manufacturer who had a problem with using their bike on a trainer. If you find one, I would like to know who it is.

Also consider that every TdF rider used a trainer to warm-up for the Time Trial Events. The TT bikes are CF.[font=Arial]Carl Gulbronson, Kurt Cycling Products Division "[/font]

dragster said:

i have a minoura trainer .. is it true it is not advisable to use a carbon bike on a trainer? bec it might flex the frame?. i have a cervelo r 2.5 carbon bike