new trainer is burning rubber

[baileyj]

Hi everyone,

im new here and new to road cycling. I bought a Minoura Mag 500 trainer and just tried it out for the first time tonight. after i was done I noticed that there were little chunks of rubber all over the place. Please help me out here, what can I do to fix this because at this rate i'll be going through rear tires fast.

thanks alot
jon

 

[Mansmind]

Hi everyone,

im new here and new to road cycling. I bought a Minoura Mag 500 trainer and just tried it out for the first time tonight. after i was done I noticed that there were little chunks of rubber all over the place. Please help me out here, what can I do to fix this because at this rate i'll be going through rear tires fast.

thanks alot
jon

welcome to trainer world, this problem seems to be the norm..you should see the wall behind my trainer.

It seems to help (a little) to keep the tension against the tire as low as possible, but heavy enough that you're not getting tire slippage (you should hear a high pitched squeak if it slips).

Hope this helps!

John

 

[mymilkexpired]

Hi everyone,

im new here and new to road cycling. I bought a Minoura Mag 500 trainer and just tried it out for the first time tonight. after i was done I noticed that there were little chunks of rubber all over the place. Please help me out here, what can I do to fix this because at this rate i'll be going through rear tires fast.

thanks alot
jon

Check to make sure your rear wheel is true. A wheel out of true can contribute to excessive wear (rubber shards). Overall though, some rubber shavings are normal...

 

[rollers]

welcome to trainer world, this problem seems to be the norm..you should see the wall behind my trainer.

It seems to help (a little) to keep the tension against the tire as low as possible, but heavy enough that you're not getting tire slippage (you should hear a high pitched squeak if it slips).

Hope this helps!

John

This seems like good advice. Try it and if it works you're good to go. If by chance it still does not do the trick then try going tighter with the tension. I crank mine really tight. As a result I no longer have rubber powder in the mechanism or rubber buildup on the contact roller.

 

[baileyj]

Rollers - when you crank your tension really high does that create the rear tire to look deflated when it is spinning or just resting on the trainer?
Mansmind - mine seems to squeal no matter what tension i set it at, could it be that my rear tire may be not fully inflated to 100 - 115 psi? to bad i couldnt record the sound and then post it so you could tell me if it is normal or not.

im pretty sure my wheel is true, ive only ridden about 250km on it or so, and when i spin it, it looks true to my eye.

guess i'll just have to keep screwing around with it.

any more adivce, please advise
thanks guys for the help so far.

 

[gotendurance]

Yes, this is very typical of trainers. A common trait. My advice, use a cheap tire so your not burning up good rubber.

 

[rollers]

Rollers - when you crank your tension really high does that create the rear tire to look deflated when it is spinning or just resting on the trainer?

While the roller makes a distinct impression, I wouldn't say it makes the tire look deflated. I keep the pressure at ~100psi. I probably don't have the strength to crank it hard enough to make that kind of impression. I just crank it to the point that I cannot, without extraordinary effort, crank it further with my bare hand.

In the category of other [helpful?] advice, I'll submit that you should strongly consider using your trainer tire only on the trainer and not on the road. The dirt and embedded bits on your road tire will increase slippage and wear rate. I bought a cheap wheel for trainer use only. I did this because I didn't want to deal with the mess of cleaning the tire when moving it from road to trainer and I didn't want to consume my expensive road tires on the trainer.

Oddly enough, my obscenely cheap 'trainer tire' will significantly outlast my road tires.

 

[baileyj]

thanks for all the advice guys, seems to be working better now. no more large chunks of rubber shooting off and no more squealing.

since i bought this bike in august, ill just use this tire and if i need a new one in the spring, just do that.


anyway, thanks again
jon