Go for it.......never had any issues with any of my carbon bikes.

---

I shall never misuse Rex Kwon Do
I shall be a champion of freedom and justice

I've never had a problem after 3 yrs of running a carbon bike on the trainer, however I never get out of the saddle and really pound on it. I mostly just stay on the aerobars and grind out the workout.

Brad

---

3SIXTY5cycling.com

been doing it for just under a year now,
no problems.

As long as your trainer clamps to your bike's rear quick release there's no stress on the bike beyond what it experiences on the road.

I'd only be concerned about the old style trainers that clamped to the bottom bracket.

I am more concerned when I put my older aluminum bike in the trainer. Even when I am ridding in the aero position the bike warps an amazing amount. When I put my P2C in its feels much stiffer and more secure.

You are being paranoid! Now go schedule an appointment to see a psychiatrist.

Actually, you have legitimate concerns. I had a 2007 carbon Felt B2 and it came with little yellow stickers all over the frame warning me to NOT place the bike on the trainer. I adhered as I figured they knew something that I didn't. On the flip side, I have a 2007 P2C that has seen much more trainer time than road time and I haven't had a problem to date and that includes some spinervals action where I come up off of the saddle for brief intervals.

---

Team Endurance Nation

   
You bring up a good point. I wouldn't stand up and ride on my trainer. That puts the weight of your body motion strictly on the dropouts of the frame. But sitting down is the way we should race, so it's fine for us to limit out training to sitting down too.
If you are a roadie or mtber and need that kind of training I'd be tempted to get rollers...

Isn't that where the weight and motion are when you're out on the road? I think a lot of the concern comes from being able to see the frame flex because you have a stationary reference that you don't have out on the road. There may be legitimate concern with the clamping mechanism damaging a frame, but I don't thing frame flex is anything to worry about. If I didn't think a frame could support me on a trainer, I wouldn't be will to use it on a 50 mph downhill.

Didn't Demerely contact a bunch of frame makers at one point and ask this question? Tom?


Thom

Um.....False.

---

----------------------------------------------------------

What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

During the winter, either my Orbea Orca or Transition Expert is attached to the damn trainer. No problems.

---

http://bryanlh.blogspot.com/

For the most part it's only downward force on the rear triangle, because the bike is free to rock back and forth on the free tires.
But when the wheel is effectively locked, the back to back rocking force has to be stopped by the rear triangle.
I quickly changed my mind when I thought about it...Record10 is right that my first post was wrong.

I still don't expect any issues with ANY frame (that's not defective) as long as you are sitting.

That makes sense, if you are on the road and you rock side to side, the whole bike (frame+wheels) rock together and your pivot point is where the tire meets the road. When you are on the trainer, your pivot point becomes the rear skewer, which will distort the rear triangle more than riding on the road. I'm staying in the saddle for my trainer sessions.

I did make a post a couple years ago in response to questions surrounding use of carbon bikes in trainers. I phoned a number of bike manufacturers and held their feet to the fire then listed their names and companies and their responses here on the forum.

At the time I did the unanimous response was that using an indoor trainer did not void the warranty of the bike brands we surveryed by phone. Admittedly, these guys were guarded in conceeding this some times, but eventually did so under the guise of "reasonable and customary use" so to speak. In other words, I was advocating that using a high performance carbon fiber bicycle on an indoor trainer is a part of the normal ownership experience.

They did all conceed it was true, and that their warranty would cover it. If you do enough searching on this forum using the search feature I bet you'll find the thread- it comes up every year about this time without fail.

If there is a enough interest I am willing to do another round-robin of calls to warranty and product managers and hold their feet to the fire again. This time they are forewarned, so perhaps their responses will be a little better though out....

---

Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

I did break a frame in a trainer. It was an old bike that fracuted at the drive side chain stay and BB shell. I have been at group training rides indoors and seen some frames flex in some pretty odd ways.

---

----------------------------------------------------------

What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

I have mine in the trainer. I sit down. I stand up. I'll torque it enough sometimes that one of the legs of the trainer stand hops up off the floor. I'm not too worried.

---

Gnothi Seauton.

If your frame is made of a flexible material (steel) then you don't need to worry. But if it's made of an inflexible, brittle material then the fact that it's not bending, but lifting the trainer off the ground would be cause to worry. Glass doesn't bend before it fractures.
The fact that you are lifting a leg off the ground proves there's a lot of torsional stress being placed there. Are you using a CF frame?

Not sure I agree, but I'll admit I'm only speculating. If a bike is heeled over 10 degrees and you're standing on a pedal, that lateral force has to go somewhere. Ultimately it has to go through the rear triangle. The wheel is isn't free to move side to side, or you would just fall down. Rocking the bike doesn't eliminate any forces. It would be interesting to model it.

Thom

Yeah.

---

Gnothi Seauton.

I think using your influence in this way would be a service to all. As the consumer I need to know if my high end CF or Ti frame is going to be compromised on a trainer. I'd like to see names and quotes as well as those who did not respond to your query. Lets find out where they stand. This would be far more useful information to me than the Kona bike survey, not that I'm disrecpeting that info.

Force is the same (or nearto) but torque is different. Here is my simple, no trig rationale.

On the road: The rider is rocking the bike (say 10*). Bike is canted, rider is vertical. The torque is the force x radius of the wheel.

On the trainer: Bike can't move so rider leans 10*. Now, the torque is the force x distance from hub to rider CoM. This is always going to be a longer lever, unless the rider is humping the rear wheel.

Now, if the CoM is always centered over the bike while standing then there is no issue.

---

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Go that way, really fast. If something gets in your way, turn." - Charles De Mar

Same here. It was actually a good old solid aluminum frame. At first is started squeaking around the cranks - I was too lazy to clean the bottom bracket since I only used it on the trainer. Some short time later it felt somewhat soft and I figured my cleat is getting loose. I thought 3 more minutes and I check it at the end of the interval. All of a sudden the whole bottom bracket triangle of the frame dropped down, me included.

Since then no more hard intervals on a carbon bike on a trainer.

stef

yeah, but you are a monster Stef :)

---

-----------------------------------------------
www.true-motion.com Triathlete Casual Wear since 2007
(Twitter/FB)

Remember to get some cheap skewers for the rear.

---

I shall never misuse Rex Kwon Do
I shall be a champion of freedom and justice