Is it hurting my bike to leave it on the trainer all the time? Also, I have a KK and always feel like I am tilted to the left, but when I put a level on the bike to seems fine. Has anyone had this problem?
Is it hurting my bike to leave it on the trainer all the time? Also, I have a KK and always feel like I am tilted to the left, but when I put a level on the bike to seems fine. Has anyone had this problem?
I had an old bike I just left on all the time
I do not. I just release the drive wheel
I just leave it. Are you worried it’s puttingbtoo much constant torque on the seat stays that are connected to the skewer?
For years I have left my tt on the Computrainer all winter, no issues, I do release the tension on the wheel though.
I also only release the tension on the wheel.
Yeah, I have had problems feeling like the bike is tilted, so I put a lot of pressure skewer and noticed that part of the frame flexes. I was just wondering if that would damage the frame if I keep it on all the time.
I leave my aluminum CX/gravel bike on the trainer in the family room more days than not as I am too lazy to take it down, set it up. It is usually my wife who makes me move it so she can more easily vacuum (I do mop up my own brine underneath). I rarely release the tension on the tire. It is a dedicated trainer/tire setup and the wheel is unfit for use outside, and it seems to have suffered no harm over the years.
Is it hurting my bike to leave it on the trainer all the time? Also, I have a KK and always feel like I am tilted to the left, but when I put a level on the bike to seems fine. Has anyone had this problem?
It’s a good practice. Also, deflating tires between rides will help your tires and tubes last longer.
Is it hurting my bike to leave it on the trainer all the time? Also, I have a KK and always feel like I am tilted to the left, but when I put a level on the bike to seems fine. Has anyone had this problem?
My Shiv stays locked in my Road Machine all winter. Same with my wife’s SpeedConcept, in her CycleOps Fluid trainer.
I also felt like my trainer was “leaning” to the left (I spent a lot of time measuring it, and the bike+trainer was actually not level) so much so, that I built a platform with leveling feet. Now the entire system is level.
So we have a few here with “bent” KK trainers?! I might give them a call in the am…
I leave mine in, just undo the tension on the wheel.
Mine also feels like it leans to the left, but my trainer is a Cascade FluidPro. I haven’t figured out what is causing it yet.
Once ours go in the trainer, that’s where they stay for the winter. We don’t do anything other than check the tyre pressures before each ride. Come Spring, it’s off the trainers and back on to the roads. Same tyres too.
Is it hurting my bike to leave it on the trainer all the time? Also, I have a KK and always feel like I am tilted to the left, but when I put a level on the bike to seems fine. Has anyone had this problem?
I can’t see how leaving the bike in the trainer could possibly hurt it. There’s no strain on anything except the skewer. I also can’t see what would be causing flex in the bike when held in an upright position by the skewer.
Like many who have responded, I leave my tri bike in the trainer all winter and just take the compression of the roller when it’s not in use.
Regarding the bike feeling like it leans left:
The most obvious probability is that it IS leaning left either because the trainer is not straight, the skewer is not squarely in the drops, the floor is not level or the bike frame itself is not straight. However, if you’ve checked the bike and it is level, then it is level. In that case I would suggest a few reasons it may not FEEL level:
You don’t sit straight on the bike when riding outside. You lean a little left and compensate by leaning the bike a little right. When the bike is held level in the trainer it feels like it’s leaning left because you’re accustomed to a right leaning bike.If you ride in front of a laptop or TV, it is tilted right so that you are are tilted to the left relative to what you’re looking at.The house is leaning right so the bike appears to be leaning leftYou are nuts.
Also, deflating tires between rides will help your tires and tubes last longer.Seriously? I can conceive of possibly tires lasting longer if deflated, but the tubes? Why do you think that?
I swear the part of the frame (seat and chain stays I think its called) flex in when I am tightening the KK. Maybe I’m just crazy, thanks for the advice.
I leave mine in, just undo the tension on the wheel.
Mine also feels like it leans to the left, but my trainer is a Cascade FluidPro. I haven’t figured out what is causing it yet.
I feel like my cascade leans to - I think it’s to do with the clamp on the QR, I can prove that theory soon as I am making a new clamp that doesn’t require the special skewer 
WD
I swear the part of the frame (seat and chain stays I think its called) flex in when I am tightening the KK. Maybe I’m just crazy, thanks for the advice.
You’re probably noticing the KK’s legs pushing outward, not the bike squeezing inward.
I swear the part of the frame (seat and chain stays I think its called) flex in when I am tightening the KK. Maybe I’m just crazy, thanks for the advice.
You’re probably noticing the KK’s legs pushing outward, not the bike squeezing inward.
I think it is the stays that flex inward; I notice this on mine as well and it is a little unnerving at first. Obviously, there is a limit (hub is solid), so I would assume the minimal flex is fine. The trainer legs seem more solid than carbon stays; plus, if you think about the skewer, they have springs that while compress to tighten the QR, they do not fully compress to my knowledge (I’ve been wrong once before, so who knows).
In addition to others, I also feel like my trainer leans (not KK, but fluid trainer). I have not yet found the source (or tried all that hard honestly).
In answer of the OP, I too leave my bike on the trainer most of the time (almost all training is indoors) and just release the tension on the tire.
I think it is the stays that flex inward;Mine don’t, at least not visually.
plus, if you think about the skewer, they have springs that while compress to tighten the QR, they do not fully compress to my knowledge (I’ve been wrong once before, so who knows).The skewer springs are not important, they’re not necessary for proper function. All they do is keep the skewer centered to make installation of the wheel easier. Once the skewer is in the closed position, they serve no function.
I swear the part of the frame (seat and chain stays I think its called) flex in when I am tightening the KK. Maybe I’m just crazy, thanks for the advice.
You’re probably noticing the KK’s legs pushing outward, not the bike squeezing inward.
I think it is the stays that flex inward;Mine don’t, at least not visually.
plus, if you think about the skewer, they have springs that while compress to tighten the QR, they do not fully compress to my knowledge (I’ve been wrong once before, so who knows).The skewer springs are not important, they’re not necessary for proper function. All they do is keep the skewer centered to make installation of the wheel easier. Once the skewer is in the closed position, they serve no function.
I’d agree entirely with rijndael. The Kurt Kinetic frame does flex as you clamp the skewer. It has to in order for the clamp to work as it does. The springs on the skewer do not have any part to play. The conical design is so that they can compress flat with very little force and recess into the threaded fittings on the skewer ends. The skewer is a solid rod. It passes through the hub and clamps the hub between the dropouts. The bike is mounted to the trainer via the threaded fittings on the ends of the skewer. This is all pretty simple. There’s only one way the trainer can impose a load on the bike and that’s axially through the skewer. The skewer is initially in tension via the hub and the trainer then imposes a compression force on it. The net effect may be either compression or tension in the skewer depending on the relative sizes of the forces but it doesn’t matter since the overall effect is that the skewer caps compress the dropouts against the hub, thus securing the wheel in the bike and the bike in the trainer. If your dropouts are correctly clamped before you mount the bike in the trainer, I can see no way the frame can be subjected to additional strain by mounting in the trainer. The only change as far as the bike frame is concerned is increase of the compression force on the dropouts. This is a just the clamping of a flat piece of material. It’s position and dimensions do not change measurably (by you or me - they can of course be measured)
When it comes to the bike leaning or not. It’s easily checked.
If it’s not leaning but feels like it is, the issue is almost certainly one of perception…i.e. you.
As I mentioned in my previous post. It may be revealing an asymmetry in how you normally ride or it could be a visual thing involving the other area or equipment around you when you train.
Incidentally - are you sure your bike is symmetrical? Are the bars exactly centered in the stem, the stem exactly in line with the front wheel, the saddle aligned exactly with the top tube (assuming you want it that way), etc…
If I may address a pet hate: The roller clamp does not tension the roller or tyre! The roller compresses the tyre. The only tension is in the threaded bar used to tighten the roller against the tyre. The roller is in compression not tension. A clamp is a compression device… Why does everyone insist on using the term “tension” when talking about tightening the roller against the tyre??? Why???..I’ll be okay, just give me a minute.