A common idea, yes. People are very cautious with putting carbon frames on their trainers even though there's no evidence to suggest they do any damage when installed correctly onto the trainer.

Putting the bike on the trainer takes less than 5 minutes and during the winter it lives there so it feels like a waste of money to buy a dedicated trainer bike to me.

I agree, Zwifiting is fun once you get into it.
So many ways to adapt indoor riding, depending on your preffered habits.
I only have one bike with a powermeter. I use free rollers ( Insideride E-Motion ), so the pedalling is more realistic, just like outdoors.
There is no need to "attach" it to any fixed trainer, taking rear wheel off, or use specific tires.
We're approchaing spring here, so it will soon be outside on good days and inside on bad days for a month or more...
Even if I had the money I wouldn't buy a smart resistance unit, I have all I need to have fun and be motivated for indoors training.
I personnaly wouldn't be as motivated to ride some random fitted bike on a fixed trainer. For hard workouts, I need all my "nice" gear, "feelings" and garment, as for outside workouts.

Louis :-)

That's what I did. I love having the bike always ready. And I can beat the hell out of it during zwift races without any second thoughts.
Also the real problem with the bike on the trainer is really the sweat (even if you try to protect them).

I'm actually building up a trainer bike, using an old aluminum frame and various take-off components...

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"I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 10, and I don't know why!"

I did this for 10 years, I went to a large sporting goods store and bought a brand new race bike in my size for 300 euro. It was very heavy but that didn't matter. Took the brakes off and threw them away. Bike came with shimano sora 8 speed. I ended up using it for 10 years as my default trainer bike, then components started to get too beat up and I stopped using it (and now I rarely ride on the trainer). But it was a really good idea at the time.

Good idea!

I got a new race bike that is the nicest thing I’ve ever owned. Old trusty aluminum Felt S22 is on the (dumb) trainer and my son will use it for a few races this summer.

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

That's what I ended up doing. You're better off with beater. Mine takes a beating from all the sweat. I've almost rotted through my handlebars.

I really like my solution with one bike (ok I have two but I can swap bikes from Kickr to road very quickly, no fuss.)

Key things -

1) Go with a WAXED chain. Search the forums about it if you don't know what this is. No more chain tatoos or chain lube stains - for real. It's awesome. You can grab your chain full out with your bare hand, and there will be zero mess, just a little wax dust that blows off. When this is the case, moving the bike from Kickr to road is totally no problemo, since it's really all about the chain lube grease mess that makes it so annoying. It really makes a huge difference - and is better frictionwise as well!

2) Cover your bike well for trainer training. I use an aero cockpit cover thing and put towels over the brake and front wheel hub. Be especially careful with the front brake - it will corrode and freeze if you leave sweat on the moving parts, and you won't even see it. But I've had no problems for years now, despite being a heavy sweater. Also grease up your exposed cables and other exposed metals to ward off sweat-induced corrosion.

i bought a wahoo kickr bike for that very reason. its extremely impractical to set my bike up where i want it on a trainer, and having a dedicated trainer for indoors frees up the roadie and tri bike completely.

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80/20 Endurance Ambassador

Thanks everyone for the feedback, and not just because it (mostly) aligned with what I want to do.

Maybe some of you will be at SuperSeal next week. I'm planning on it myself, barring everybody getting the flu and freaking out. Cheers!

Thanks. I've been thinking about going with waxed, but didn't know anyone personally who had done so. (Or more accurately I probably know someone who has but just haven't bothered to ask.) The lack of mess is appealing. I thought I had read about there being some kind of drawback to it, but I'm not at the level where smaller details are likely to hold me back.

Waxing is easy, no mess, reduces drivetrain friction, and extends the life of the chain, cassette and chainrings.

The only real hassle is having to completely strip the factory grease off when installing a new chain. As chain life while waxing is about 10,000 km, that is pretty infrequent.

Figure you can pick up a decent older 9 speed race bike say with something like 105 for $300, that would be awesome for the trainer.

As long as you have a bike that you can set up identically to your outside bike, there is no drawback. My trainer bike hasn't been outside for probably 15 years. But I have the same pedals, seat, handlebars, crank length as my "real" bike and I couldn't tell the difference if I had to. It's still 9 speed, but on an erg trainer, who cares?

I'm too lazy to strip the grease off. I just dunk the whole factory chain in wax and swish.

For sure, the was does not last as long on that first ride, almost certainly because the factory stuff is still on there so it sort of interferes with ideal wax coating. But it's so easy and painless to just rewax it at that later point - easier than degreasing a new chain with all those solvents that have to be specifically disposed of.

I'm too lazy to strip the grease off. I just dunk the whole factory chain in wax and swish.

For sure, the was does not last as long on that first ride, almost certainly because the factory stuff is still on there so it sort of interferes with ideal wax coating. But it's so easy and painless to just rewax it at that later point - easier than degreasing a new chain with all those solvents that have to be specifically disposed of.

I have a road bike that I mostly ride indoors now on the rollers it's nice having a dedicated bike for that. You tend to sweat a lot on the bike and it's not the best thing for a good bike. It's not a deal breaker hooking a bike up to the trainer though either. I don't think buying a crappy bike would be a very good solution. Maybe just swap the bike for a while and then when you upgrade you can move the other bike into the basement rather than selling it.

I have an old aluminium tri bike that lives on my wind trainer (I use a Lemond and a Kickr), it's got a cracked head tube (held together with a large jubilee clip) and even though it was a beautiful old QR Redstone, it's looking pretty secondhand now. I've tried to keep the sweat off it, but it's not easy (I sweat a lot).

It does let me set it up to a position pretty much the same as my race bike though, with some bodgery that wouldn't be safe on the road but is ok for a static bike.

I guess I'm one of those folks who don't like putting race bikes on to trainers.

You can go cheap but not too cheap. You want the bike to have the same geometry of what you are riding on the road. You want everything to run smoothly, gears, shifters, wheels, etc. Obviously weight will not be a concern.

I'm sure you could get a good deal on a quality bike that is somewhat used but still running smoothly.

That is a bit overkill. You don´t really need the same geometry. It's enough that you can replicate your position. Since you're not moving you can get away with strange weight distribution or other things that would be a problem outdoors.