Trainer Tyre Damage

Swapped out the trainer tyre for a road tyre this morning and noticed the trainer tyre is starting to split in a strange way. Has this happened to anyone else? Probably has less than 2000km on it, general shape and ‘tread’ still ok I think. Wondering if I’ve been riding for a while with the tension too low or something. I might keep using it regardless…not like it’s going to cause a crash.

I’ve had the same thing happen with Conti trainer tires when using it on Computrainer. I’d replace it, so you don’t have it fall apart in the middle of an interval set.

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What pressure are you running that tire at? Tires heat up on trainers. Many people probably run the pressure too high.

I have an old Conti GP4000 on my trainer. I pump it to 80psi and it essentially shows zero wear. I have no black dust on the floor under the trainer.

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120 psi and as much roller tension as possible works for me. They have to be clean of course (glass cleaner works). 80 psi wrecks my tyres through slippage.

I’m pushing quite hard with high resistance on low gears. Easy spinning on high gears doesn’t require the same amount of friction.

Huh. I use old GP4000s on the trainer as well. Work great, last a long time, but I DO have lots of black dust around the trainer lol.

I doubt I’m as good about keeping the pressure topped up though. I generally just air it up when I hear it starting to slip every now and then.

I just keep the pressure at 100 and tension good according to Tacx app calibration. Not been noticing any dust really, just this split. Strange.

I think this ones close to hanging it up.
image

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I noticed a small bump while riding, got off the bike and saw small bubbles on the tire, they kept slowly getting bigger, until they exploded, the explosions noises were truly impressive.
I didn’t get a flat, only the upper layer ripped appart, the casing was intact, I guess the glue must have heated up or something.

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Oh yeah I had a tire blow out in a similar manner on the trainer. It sounded like a gunshot in my small garage.

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Its funny…every trainer specific tire I have tried has blown apart…but I have never had a road tire come apart.

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Cheap wire bead road tires seem to be the best trainer tires. Never had an issue with my old Specialized Espoir tires on my Road Machine or PowerBeam Pro.

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I have the elite tyre and it has been bullet proof for over a year now. I have a tacx one on the way (matches my dumb trainer) but only if the current one dies I have back up.

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Well I can’t say you didn’t warn me! It started making knocking noises early on in a workout today and I actually ordered a new one during a rest interval (Schwalbe this time). Then it went bang on the next set.

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Yea, same thing here. Only 800 miles on them maybe. Running with a Fluid 2 at 80psi. Just switched out for a Conti Hometrainer for this indoor training season.

Only at 80PSI? Usually the recommendation for trainer tires is to run them up to the max for either the rim or tire. That low pressure will just cause the already bad heat problem to be worse.

For reference, I usually pump mine up to ~110 or so.

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@mwglow15 I’ll try that with the new tire. When I had the other one pumped up high I had some issues with flats, which I didn’t have at the lower pressure.

I’ve had good luck with old tires from my stash. They tend to be hard from sitting in the garage for too long.

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Whoa, I actually laughed, sorry, I’ve never seen a tyre do that before, like bubblegum.

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