Flywheel a little worn

Equipment
1

I noticed my fly wheel is black and slightly worn by the tire. I done a workout the last day and I tried to get out of the saddle but lost power watts so tried really hard to get back up the watts but I smelt the rubber burning from the tire. 1. Would I need to tighten fly wheel to the tire a bit more, I’m using an elite novu cheap smart trainer. 2. Would this have made the workouts any easier because it was worn. I have been hitting power targets no problem. 3. When would you need to change flywheel or tire?

2

As the friction between your tire and the trainer increases, the roller wheel on the trainer can heat up and “melt” some of your tire. My best recommendation is to follow the steps at the bottom of this article regarding proper tire inflation and keeping trainer tension consistent: https://support.trainerroad.com/hc/en-us/articles/201655670-Setup-and-Tips

You may also want to look into a specific trainer tire, there’s a lot of options out there. I hope this helps!

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3

120 psi, sticky tyre compound, clean tyre, more roller pressure.

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4

Thanks. Could this have made the workouts any easier by the resistance not being as tight?

5

If using virtual power (trainer power), you lose shown power if the tyre micro slips every pedal stroke - your effort doesn’t register. If the roller tension increases, your effort translates into less virtual power/shown power.

The main goals with a wheel on trainer is to set everything up so that it never slips, but not any tighter than that. When you have done this, keep everything consistent every single ride. If anything changes, you need a new ramp test.

I use a real power meter with a dumb trainer. The only thing I need to care about is to have enough friction between the tyre and the roller so that it never slips the slightest, and that the roller doesn’t deform the tyre so much that it melts from heat. When that is accomplished, you never have to change anything again - just jump on and ride. I haven’t had any trainer/power/slippage/tyre wear issues in many, many months.

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