I’m sure I’m not the only dork here who’s gotten a flat tire or shredded a tire on a computrainer during training. What are the best tires or tubes recommended for computrainers for the full gammot of workouts (intervals, long rides, etc)
Continental Ultrasport training tire…give these a try. Used them all last year and you can barely see any wear on the tire. Unfortunately you can not use them on the road so I bought an extra rear wheel to quickly change to an outdoor setup when the weather permitted.
- With a modern roller and the UltraSport Hometrainer in the house, winter can set in when it wants to.
- Thanks to its special cold-running compound, the UltraSport Hometrainer doesn´t experience the heat buildup of a road tire, nor does it suffer the tread separation that the road tire is prone to under the special loads occurring when cycling and braking on the revolving drums of the roller.
- The UltraSport Hometrainer has been designed explicitly for trainers and rollers and is not suitable for on road use.
- Size 700C x 23mm
- 120 PSI Max.
- Weight 240g.
I shredded a tire when I first got my computrainer. The tire was not a slick. Now I use the Michelin Pro that is on my training wheels. Seems to work fine for all types of rides. I know a friend of mine with a ct got a big heavy slick tire from his lbs for about $25 bucks (don’t know the brand) and he says that it works well.
Ditto…
Continental Ultrasport on a cheapo spare rear wheel. Makes switching between trainer and outdoor rides a breeze.
My Michelin is disentegrating by the minute on the CT. The folks on the CT forum recommend this tire, but it’s only available in 700c http://www.roadcycling.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/6/1097
It’s way too early to be talking about being indoors 
The Conti indoor specific tires & the Schwalbe Blizzard Sport would be my choices
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I would recommed the cheapest slick tyre used only for your trainer. A dedicated rim would be ideal, as well. The dedicated rim makes perfect sense so you can easily switch. I am in agreemet with the other poster on the dedicated rim, for certain.
Check the air pressure. I would go on the lower side of the recommended air pressure, as the tyre heats up and expands pretty quickly. I measured the heat from a turbo trainer tyre once, and it can get in excess of 150 degrees, sometimes even hotter; so I surmise the effective tyre pressure goes up quite a bit. Also, I would get the roller (in the case of a turbo trainer) on just tight enough, not too tight, but definitely not slipping.
I used to go through a tire every few months but my trainer tire life increased by a factor of about 10 once I increased the tension I put on the roller. It seems counterintuative but the tighter the tire is against the roller, the less wear you will have. Tires are destroyed by slippage of the tire on the roller which results in heat buildup. They are not destroyed by too much friction so crank down on it.
I just use the cheapest slick tire my LBS has. I have a full indoor season on it and it still has at several of months of trainer life left in it. The cheaper the tire, the harder the rubber and the more trainer abuse it will take.
The cheaper the tire, the harder the rubber and the more trainer abuse it will take.
I second this. I got lucky and picked up several Kenda Koncept 650c tires a few years ago for (as I recall) $8.00 each. Perfect for the trainer.
I still think the Conti trainer tire is the way to go. At just over $30 and the little wear I saw on it even after a couple thousand KMs on it last winter, I’m thinking this tire isn’t even broken in yet. Combine that with the issue of heat (I had 8, yes 8 blow outs last season until out of frustration I bought these tires), and it is a no-brainer. Runs nice and cool and I think it doesn’t slip as readily as a road tire.