story short.....i recently had knee surgery and got my very first trainer from my wonderful husband to keep myself going and get back into go mode. i have a minoura hyper-mag (type r). i have a mountain bike, medium tread, not too knobby. the trainer make some vibration and noise, which i understand happens with tread. i am concerned though about the squealing i'm getting off the roller as well as the inconsistent stroke. at the bottom of the stroke it hesitates almost as if its "sticking". my wheel is slightly off in terms of truing, but nothing major that would seem to affect it. i have played with the roller tension, the tension knob on the roller housing as well as my own gears, but no combination is working. please tell me i have other options besides a slick.......
Just put the slick on. Most likely it'll solve all of your problems and it's a very simple solution. Get a hlaf-way decent quality slickk too, as a cheapo one will tend to quickly wear-away on the trainer.
Once you've done that, tighten the resistance roller against the tire just enough so that the tire doesn't slip.
Regarding the "inconsistent stroke," that is the result of having little momentum. The trainer is providing resistance at all points in the pedal stroke but you have little momentum to carry you through the "dead spots" in the pedal stroke. On a trainer, all you have moving is the rear wheel and a tiny flywheel. On the road, you have two wheels, the bike, and the rider. That's why high end trainers sometimes have heavy flywheels so that they feel more like riding on the road.
There's really no solution other than buying a different indoor training system. A slick tire will help with the other problems.
I have a mag trainer and experience the same problem with "sticking" at lower RPM. This is usually when I first get on the bike because I'm not warmed up / spinning fast enough. If you go to your easiest gear, warm up, and then progress up through your gears maintaining a moderate to high cadence you should be able to minimize the problem - otherwise it's buy an air or fluid trainer...
