I have tried a trainer tire.
I have tried washing the roller in case it was oily or greasy.
I have tried sanding my tire sideways to make tiny grooves.
It seems to grip just fine at high speeds. If I try to roll at a realistic road speed it squeaks with what I think is my down pedal stroke.
I want to keep it at that speed because it makes less noise and more realistic uploads from my powertap/garmin combo; comparable to summer rides.
I probably don’t have a perfect round pedal stroke but can’t seem to fix that either.
So…
Any other tricks to get the tire and roller to grip more?
How tight to clamp down with the knob? If it’s happening on your downstroke it sounds like your tire is slipping.
I have a tacx trainer with a screw type clamp. I do about 3 full turns from first contract with the tire. Maybe I could try a 4th one but it’s pretty tight.
How much pressure should I put in the tire? I put approx 100lbs like I would on the road.
each time you use the trainer, rub the tire with a rag and alcohol. When heated, as during use, the rubbers release oils from the compound. I’ve done that before every ride for the last number of years, and no slips, or sounds.
How tight to clamp down with the knob? If it’s happening on your downstroke it sounds like your tire is slipping.
I have a tacx trainer with a screw type clamp. I do about 3 full turns from first contract with the tire. Maybe I could try a 4th one but it’s pretty tight.
How much pressure should I put in the tire? I put approx 100lbs like I would on the road.
Grab the back of the rear wheel and quickly move it up and down. Tighten the roller on the tire until it doesn’t slip (or squeak) any more. My guess is that 3 full turns are not enough.
Make sure that the bike is secure in the stand so there is no side to side tire movement.
Tire pressure at least 100 psi. I inflate to 120 psi every 5 to 7 days which means it drops to about 100.
Make sure the pressure against the rear tire is enough. If you can, grab the trainer wheel and see if you can move the tire, if you can, it isn’t tight enough. Alternatively, ride as you would normally do and if you get a squeak, tighten it down more and try again.
Clean the tire (and roller) with rubbing alcohol and a cloth (paper towel).
Try standing while pedaling to do more trouble shooting. It may be you are doing something like moving your body weight around too much.
If this just started happening, get a new Trainer Tire.
I used to have the same issue even with a trainer tire. So annoying!! I assumed trainer tires weren’t worth it after that until I bought a different model (green sides, I think it says “Made for Kurt Kinetic” or something like that.) I don’t know why I got it but the squeaking stopped entirely. And I have an old Tacx trainer - like, 10+ years old - that I clean about once a year.
If a new trainer tire doesn’t help, check if your tire is perpendicular to the roller. The squeaking got much worse on mine if bike tilted in the least bit. Sometimes the clamps on the skewers loosened just enough to let the bike move, and that was enough to get the squeaking going again. I also bought skewers sold by Tacx this year and that stabilised the bike. The old skewers were too rounded to allow the clamps to really stabilise the bike.
Try wrapping one layer of electrical tape around the trainer where the tire makes contact. The rubber on tape helps with slipping and eliminated the squeak for me - I’m using a Kurt Kinetic trainer and an old road tire. Make sure to change the tape occasionally as it will get worn and to keep the trainer from getting too sticky. Hope that helps!
There’s also a good difference between a trainer tyre and a road tyre. If you’re not using a trainer tyre, i’d highly recommend it.
+1… no issues at all since going to a trainer tire. It only squeaks when it slips, and that because either tire pressure is too low or I need to increase the tension on the roller.
Also, what are you cleaning the roller with? You might try some something more aggressive. Maybe chain cleaner followed by alcohol.
Make sure that the bike is secure in the stand so there is no side to side tire movement.
Tire pressure at least 100 psi. I inflate to 120 psi every 5 to 7 days which means it drops to about 100.
Make sure the pressure against the rear tire is enough. If you can, grab the trainer wheel and see if you can move the tire, if you can, it isn’t tight enough. Alternatively, ride as you would normally do and if you get a squeak, tighten it down more and try again.
Clean the tire (and roller) with rubbing alcohol and a cloth (paper towel).
Try standing while pedaling to do more trouble shooting. It may be you are doing something like moving your body weight around too much.
If this just started happening, get a new Trainer Tire.
Good luck.
120psi!? Before or after tightening down the trainer roller? Cold too, I assume? Not that your tire can’t technically handle it, but when you pump a cold road tire to 120 psi, clamp the trainer onto it, and then ride it 'til it gets hot your actual tire pressure is probably closer to 150 or 160. Even with a trainer tire the temperature change still happens, the compound just resists physical/chemical changes due to the heat better. I suppose this is all irrelevant if you haven’t had any blowouts, and get the mileage you’d expect out of your tires.
I can’t think of any reason to pump your tire up that high for use on the trainer. You can run your trainer at lower tire pressures than outside because the tire isn’t bearing any part of your weight so it doesn’t need to be firm enough to withstand the bumps and impacts that could cause pinch flats, and finally the aim of the trainer is to create resistance, not minimize it, so rolling resistance is not an important consideration on the trainer as long as you keep it relatively consistent for the purposes of speed-based power estimation programs like trainerroad.
Make sure that the bike is secure in the stand so there is no side to side tire movement.
Tire pressure at least 100 psi. I inflate to 120 psi every 5 to 7 days which means it drops to about 100.
Make sure the pressure against the rear tire is enough. If you can, grab the trainer wheel and see if you can move the tire, if you can, it isn’t tight enough. Alternatively, ride as you would normally do and if you get a squeak, tighten it down more and try again.
Clean the tire (and roller) with rubbing alcohol and a cloth (paper towel).
Try standing while pedaling to do more trouble shooting. It may be you are doing something like moving your body weight around too much.
If this just started happening, get a new Trainer Tire.
Good luck.
120psi!? Before or after tightening down the trainer roller? Cold too, I assume? Not that your tire can’t technically handle it, but when you pump a cold road tire to 120 psi, clamp the trainer onto it, and then ride it 'til it gets hot your actual tire pressure is probably closer to 150 or 160. Even with a trainer tire the temperature change still happens, the compound just resists physical/chemical changes due to the heat better. I suppose this is all irrelevant if you haven’t had any blowouts, and get the mileage you’d expect out of your tires.
I can’t think of any reason to pump your tire up that high for use on the trainer. You can run your trainer at lower tire pressures than outside because the tire isn’t bearing any part of your weight so it doesn’t need to be firm enough to withstand the bumps and impacts that could cause pinch flats, and finally the aim of the trainer is to create resistance, not minimize it, so rolling resistance is not an important consideration on the trainer as long as you keep it relatively consistent for the purposes of speed-based power estimation programs like trainerroad.
Well, the 120 psi has been because that’s what I always inflate my tires to before a ride. Never really thought to only go to 100 on the trainer. Having said that, I have done some testing with press-on force and discovered that I can use less force at a higher psi to achieve the same level of “non-tire-slip”. I’ll have to check my pressure after a ride to see what it goes to.
Make sure that the bike is secure in the stand so there is no side to side tire movement.
Tire pressure at least 100 psi. I inflate to 120 psi every 5 to 7 days which means it drops to about 100.
Make sure the pressure against the rear tire is enough. If you can, grab the trainer wheel and see if you can move the tire, if you can, it isn’t tight enough. Alternatively, ride as you would normally do and if you get a squeak, tighten it down more and try again.
Clean the tire (and roller) with rubbing alcohol and a cloth (paper towel).
Try standing while pedaling to do more trouble shooting. It may be you are doing something like moving your body weight around too much.
If this just started happening, get a new Trainer Tire.
Good luck.
120psi!? Before or after tightening down the trainer roller? Cold too, I assume? Not that your tire can’t technically handle it, but when you pump a cold road tire to 120 psi, clamp the trainer onto it, and then ride it 'til it gets hot your actual tire pressure is probably closer to 150 or 160. Even with a trainer tire the temperature change still happens, the compound just resists physical/chemical changes due to the heat better. I suppose this is all irrelevant if you haven’t had any blowouts, and get the mileage you’d expect out of your tires.
I can’t think of any reason to pump your tire up that high for use on the trainer. You can run your trainer at lower tire pressures than outside because the tire isn’t bearing any part of your weight so it doesn’t need to be firm enough to withstand the bumps and impacts that could cause pinch flats, and finally the aim of the trainer is to create resistance, not minimize it, so rolling resistance is not an important consideration on the trainer as long as you keep it relatively consistent for the purposes of speed-based power estimation programs like trainerroad.
Well, the 120 psi has been because that’s what I always inflate my tires to before a ride. Never really thought to only go to 100 on the trainer. Having said that, I have done some testing with press-on force and discovered that I can use less force at a higher psi to achieve the same level of “non-tire-slip”. I’ll have to check my pressure after a ride to see what it goes to.
Sort of. Friction force (i.e non-tire-slip) is a function of the coefficient of friction (more or less a constant for the interface between rubber tire and metal roller–shouldn’t change tremendously with tire pressure) and normal force (i.e press-on force). If you mean that at higher tire pressures you could use fewer turns of the tension knob to achieve the same level of friction as at lower tire pressures with more turns of the tension knob, that would generally be correct.
~20% more tire pressure, or ~20% more turns of the tension knob…I’ll take the tension knob option.
I already had a trainer tire, blue one which frankly does not seem to grip any better than a road tire.
Already was using the skewer from tacx.
I’ve cleaned the roller and tire with rubbing alcohol. Had no idea we had some but my wife did.
I’ve increased the pressure against the tire to the point where it’s very visibly deformed by the roller and I can’t turn anymore.
No squeaks at all in normal cycling. I can get it to squeak a little while standing up and pushing hard but that’s ok with me.
There was a discussion in FixedGearFever on how to get a trainer to do standing starts and sprints. Ultimate answer was to knurl the roller to add texture. A less extreme measure is to use textured grip tape (3m anti slip floor tape) on the roller which works until it starts to slip then it needs to be replaced. If you are not doing full on standing starts with a heavy flywheel the grip tape does a pretty good job.
120psi!? Before or after tightening down the trainer roller? Cold too, I assume? Not that your tire can’t technically handle it, but when you pump a cold road tire to 120 psi, clamp the trainer onto it, and then ride it 'til it gets hot your actual tire pressure is probably closer to 150 or 160.
Let’s do a sanity check. Go to look up the ideal gas law. Hold volume and gas molecules constant. Calculate the temperature increase to achieve 150 psi. If you had 120 psi at a beginning temp of 295K (71 deg. F), you would need to hit 190 degrees Fahrenheit to achieve 150 psi, unless I have made an error. This raises all kinds of questions for me, such as can you cook pancakes on your tires after a trainer ride? Perhaps I made a mistake somewhere, but I’ve never gotten my tires up to 190F, afaik.
How tight do you clamp down with the knob? If it’s happening on your downstroke it sounds like your rubber is slipping.
Anyone else think this sounded incredibly dirty?
Now it does.
