I never thought it was really possible to destroy a bike by riding it on my trainer and not taking care of it. I thought the worst that could happen is that I would have to replace some parts. I was wrong!
I have a 2yr old Tarmac Pro that I bought for $6,000. I rode it a lot (RAAM in 2019) and in March 2020 I bought a gravel bike to start training for the Belgium Waffle Ride and I decided to dedicate my Tarmac Pro to my Wahoo Kickr. It was right about this time Covid started so my basic routine for the last 7 months has been riding SufferFest on the trainer 5 days per week for about 1.5-2hrs each ride.
Everything was fine but I did notice a lot of salt on my bike stem and maybe even a little rust on the front tire quick release and the chain seemed to be turning a rusty color. About 2 months ago I noticed my bottom bracket was making a funny clicking noise and seemed loose but I did not think it was a big deal since I was not shifting gears because of the smart trainer.
Last week the bottom bracket seemed to be real lose and the clicking noise was louder than usual. I realized I really had a problem when the chain actually was falling off every once in a while just when I was spinning. It was at this point I decided to bring it to the HIGH END bike shop for a professional tune up and replace everything that was rusty and corroded. I expected to spend at $1000+.
The mechanic looked at my bike and said they were really going to have to take a good look at it. 1hr later he said the bike is pretty much a complete loss and they can't do anything. The left bottom bracket was really hard to get off and was destroyed with corrosion/scraps of metal and dust. The right bracket was stuck on the frame and they can not remove without damaging the carbon on the frame. The ball bearings completed gone. Lots of other damage but they were worried about the carbon frame.
They said to maybe contact Specialized to see if they would do any warranty/trade in value like for a crashed frame. That is my only hope right now! Totally my fault for not taking care of my bike and I only blame myself for just being too lazy to take my bike to shop!! $6,000 lesson learned!
Now I have to figure out what to put on my trainer??? I don't want to ruin my gravel bike plus I still like riding that outside and don't want the pain of setting up on trainer so that bike is out of the question. I have an old TriBike. Do I pay for the parts/labor and convert the TriBike into a regular road bike (basically handle bars/Etc and try to get into proper road bike fitting) and put on trainer? Do I just put TriBike on trainer and not care about set up and position (Tri vs Rode)? Do I buy a cheap road bike and put on trainer? I ride an 58 inch bike, my wife's old Trek 5500 is a 54....do I some how see if I can get the small bike fitted like a 58 into a decent position just for the trainer?
I really like riding on the trainer and doing Sufferfest. I think it has really made me into a much stronger rider so I don't want to waste time and risk injury from being in a bad fit or working the wrong muscles on Tribike? I also still want to enjoy riding inside so i don't want bad equipment to take away from my enjoyment/pain/suffering.
Any advice besides the obvious "next time take care of your bike idiot!"?
Thanks in advance!
I have a 2yr old Tarmac Pro that I bought for $6,000. I rode it a lot (RAAM in 2019) and in March 2020 I bought a gravel bike to start training for the Belgium Waffle Ride and I decided to dedicate my Tarmac Pro to my Wahoo Kickr. It was right about this time Covid started so my basic routine for the last 7 months has been riding SufferFest on the trainer 5 days per week for about 1.5-2hrs each ride.
Everything was fine but I did notice a lot of salt on my bike stem and maybe even a little rust on the front tire quick release and the chain seemed to be turning a rusty color. About 2 months ago I noticed my bottom bracket was making a funny clicking noise and seemed loose but I did not think it was a big deal since I was not shifting gears because of the smart trainer.
Last week the bottom bracket seemed to be real lose and the clicking noise was louder than usual. I realized I really had a problem when the chain actually was falling off every once in a while just when I was spinning. It was at this point I decided to bring it to the HIGH END bike shop for a professional tune up and replace everything that was rusty and corroded. I expected to spend at $1000+.
The mechanic looked at my bike and said they were really going to have to take a good look at it. 1hr later he said the bike is pretty much a complete loss and they can't do anything. The left bottom bracket was really hard to get off and was destroyed with corrosion/scraps of metal and dust. The right bracket was stuck on the frame and they can not remove without damaging the carbon on the frame. The ball bearings completed gone. Lots of other damage but they were worried about the carbon frame.
They said to maybe contact Specialized to see if they would do any warranty/trade in value like for a crashed frame. That is my only hope right now! Totally my fault for not taking care of my bike and I only blame myself for just being too lazy to take my bike to shop!! $6,000 lesson learned!
Now I have to figure out what to put on my trainer??? I don't want to ruin my gravel bike plus I still like riding that outside and don't want the pain of setting up on trainer so that bike is out of the question. I have an old TriBike. Do I pay for the parts/labor and convert the TriBike into a regular road bike (basically handle bars/Etc and try to get into proper road bike fitting) and put on trainer? Do I just put TriBike on trainer and not care about set up and position (Tri vs Rode)? Do I buy a cheap road bike and put on trainer? I ride an 58 inch bike, my wife's old Trek 5500 is a 54....do I some how see if I can get the small bike fitted like a 58 into a decent position just for the trainer?
I really like riding on the trainer and doing Sufferfest. I think it has really made me into a much stronger rider so I don't want to waste time and risk injury from being in a bad fit or working the wrong muscles on Tribike? I also still want to enjoy riding inside so i don't want bad equipment to take away from my enjoyment/pain/suffering.
Any advice besides the obvious "next time take care of your bike idiot!"?
Thanks in advance!