Easiest way to get a mountain bike on the trainer

Equipment
1

This winter, I am committed to getting my mountain bike on my bike trainer. This is to accomplish 2 things: specificity and ensure it does not get hit by a car when we pull into the garage.

My question is, what is the best way to accomplish this? The equipment I currently have are:
Bike - Pivot Mach 4 sl with dt swiss wheels 25mm internal width
Trainer - Gen 1 Cycleops Magnus with thru axle adapter

I haven’t had much luck finding a 29er trainer tire. Anyone out there have any good slick recommendations? Or should I just bite the bullet and get a direct drive trainer? Getting direct drive is definitely more expensive but if it allows me to not have to hassle a bunch with tires/wheels as much, I could make it happen.

2

You should be able to find a range of “slick” or minimal tread tires that can fit that wheel. Just a few examples via search:

2 Likes
3

And any 700c 40c or wider will work with your wheels. If you have the adapter, you just need the slick tire. I’m a big advocate for rollers so something else to consider too maybe, just need a pair of slick tires in that case.

4

Thanks Chad! I had come across those and thought they could work. My one concern was how they’d last on the trainer. If I could get a full off-season (November-April roughly) out of one tire, that could definitely work.

5

Only one way to know, but considering how large the tire is, and the amount of apparent traction it should offer, I expect it to last quite a while. Just make sure to get the tire pressure & roller pressures as appropriate, and you should be good to go.

Not to mention that they both cost less than a large pizza, so you could easily by a few for a season in the worst case. But I just don’t see that as an issue.

6

I would rather a direct drive than have to swap tires every time I ride.

But I would also rather have a beater old bike on the trainer than use my MTB on the trainer. Only time I ride my XC bike (which is what I train for) is when I am racing.

7

It also seems like a lot of force is applied to the bearings/linkages of a full suss bike when it’s locked into a trainer. When I tried it, to compare my PM and Trainer for accuracy, I was not comfortable with it as a long term solution.

I bought a cheap HardTail for alternative MTB trainer training (road bike set up at home) all bikes have the same set up, but the road bike obviously has different gearing.

With regards rollers, be careful that they are long enough. Many (of the older ones) aren’t for modern mountain bikes.