Trainer Tires

After two winter's of riding my Cycleops Fluid trainer for most of my evening workouts, I decided to get a dedicated trainer wheel and tire for use with my road bike (I'd like to say that I upgraded to a Computrainer, but for now the tire will have to do.) Typical road bike tires wear at a faster rate than normal when used on a trainer due to the constant contact with the resistance roller and heat build up from friction. You can usually spot a trainer rider by their characteristic squared off rear tire. Last year when I was riding the trainer during the evenings and then riding on the road on weekends, I went through a couple tires due to the harsh transition from trainer to sandy streets. This year I plan to reduce the wear on my wheel and outdoor tire by using a trainer specific one.

There are handful of trainer specific tires on the market. Many of them employ a harder, less supple rubber than a typical road tire and usually have some type of ribbing or tread to help dissipate heat. While riding a trainer tire on pavement is generally not advised, the guys at my local bike shop told me that it technically could be done and probably wouldn't hurt the tire too much (Continental expressly suggests warns against doing this with their tires.)

The Continental Ultra Sport Home Trainer tire is a popular and well rated Home Trainer tire. It comes in a standard 700c size, has 3 ribs that run along the circumference of the wheel and has a suggested max psi of 120. The tire typically runs $34-$44 from what I could find and seems to be long lasting and reliable; typical of what I've come to expect from Continental (I think their Gatorskin tires are bomber).


The Continental Ultra Sport
The Vittoria Zaffiro Pro Home Trainer Tire is structured identically to the Continental aside from a red rubber instead of orange. The Zaffiro is technically lighter than the Continental, not that it matters when mounted on a stationary set up, has the same profile and tread for heat dissipation and supposedly can be pumped up to 145psi--though with the force and heat generated from trainer riding I'm not sure if this would be advisable. The Zaffiro Pro tire typically ranges $24-$34 and therefore is more of a bargain than the Continental.
The Zaffiro Pro Home Trainer Tire
I've also historically had good experiences with Vittoria tires, and although I generally don't think they are cheaper than Continentals because they were in this case I went with the Zaffiro Pro.

Everything needed for the job, picked up for under $100.
I picked up a standard, cheap Shimano rear wheel with 8-9-10 hub. Mounting the tire was no different than a regular road tire. I used a cheap tube and made sure to use a rubber liner strip to protect the tube. Since I have more than one cassette lying around I put my Dura Ace 11-23T on this trainer wheel to allow for a pretty good range of gears for training.

The whole job was really straightforward, and now I have a dedicated setup that I can leave in the basement and will not have to worry about trashing my outside tires.

Hopefully I can get through the off season with my Gatorskins and then not have to worry about them wearing out before April, when it will be time to switch to summer race tires.