Changing cassette

[hammertimeone]

Hi all, I have just bought a cheap rear wheel to use on a turbo trainer so I can switch back and forth between indoors and out. Current set up is an 8 speed 12-26 index, the wheel I have bought is a screw on and am struggling to find a cassette that matches. Is it more important to match the index or speed? I am near enough a beginner and have a beginner road bike, only plan on keeping it a year before upgrading, any help would be great!!

 

[dabac]

Screw-on = freewheel An entirely different beast than a freehub/cassette wheel. Electric bikes have pushed the development of both 8 and 9-speed freewheels, although it IS a poorer design at heart. But for trainer use it shouldn't matter much. Find a gear that'll run clean and use that. Vary resistance on the trainer instead.

 

[hammertimeone]

Thanks dabac, do you think it is more important to try and match the number of teeth on the freewheel then to current setup?

 

[dabac]

Mount the wheel in the frame, attach trainer. See if you can find a gear that gives you the appropriate resistance. And where the chain will run clean.

If you can find that, you're OK.

If you wanted to ride on the trainer just like on the road, then you'd need to match the number of speeds on both wheels, and preferably the tooth counts too.

But trainer riding is like riding on a stationary bike, or a spinning bike. It's a synthetic, make-believe activity. Once you have a setup that gets a good sweat going, you're pretty much there.