Would you use your race wheel on your indoor trainer in my situation?

Triathlon Forum
1

My race wheels are HED Jet 6s with a powertap G3 hub. Would using that rear wheel on the trainer (with trainer tire) lead to premature wear and damage to the wheel/hub? I am limited in funds and I am hoping to get >5 years out of that wheel. I currently use it for racing and all training rides with my tri bike. Most of my outdoor rides are on my road bike with a different set of wheels.

The different set of wheels are old Jet 6s with an old wired powertap which finally died. I have called powertap and they will replace the internals with new G3 parts.

Would you use your newer race wheels on the trainer, or pay the $300 to get the older wheel up to par for trainer rides (plus it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have power on my road rides).

The main thing holding me back from using my newer wheel is potential wear and tear plus the PITA during the springtime when I am bouncing between indoor and outdoor riding.

2

Can’t see why it would wear out the wheel. Obviously you’ll want to put a new tire on it in the spring as the trainer will wear your current tire out.

3

The trainer puts a lot less stress on a wheel. I’ve never hit a pot-hole on the trainer.

4

The wheel would be fine. Trainer trashes the tire not the wheel. I swap wheels, but to protect the tire not the wheel - tires that are too cut up for outdoor riding (I hate puncturing…) get put on the indoor wheels so I get some extra mileage out of them and also preserve the outdoor tires for as long as possible.

For indoor riding you can get a pretty accurate measure of power using trainerroad anyway. Will cost you ~$40 for a sensor instead of ~$300 to get your old powertap up and running again.

5

My trainer wheel is a Zipp disc with PT, also serves as my race wheel naturally.

6

not really a problem really but you can get a crappy wheel for 50 bucks, do that. ask you busiest lbs to keep an eye out for a played out wheel, they throw wheels away.

7

I have an old “trainer” wheel but I want power on the trainer. So that $40 sensor described above would be pretty sufficient for trainerroad use?

8

I’ve three seasons on my trainer with Reynolds Assault. Mainly because it was PT so I had to use it. Now with a Quarq I bought a $50 cheap wheel for the trainer. Not because I wanted to protect the assault, I just wanted a dedicated wheel for the trainer now that I don’t need the PT wheel there.

9

I have an old “trainer” wheel but I want power on the trainer. So that $40 sensor described above would be pretty sufficient for trainerroad use?

Yes. And you’ll see a massive return on that $40 + the TR subscription. You can’t go wrong with them. Period.

10

Well, yes, but given you have a powertap that you can use on the trainer without any real risk of damage why not use it so you have the same metrics for inside and out?

Virtual power is good, but it won’t be identical.

Trainer road will work with the power tap too.

11

I do exactally that, I have a HED Jet 60 with a powertap G3 hub. I just swap out the tire when I ride on the trainer (usually put an old tire on vice buying a dedicated “trainer” tire). Then I put my race tire back on before tri’s. Find I need to replace the battery quicker (2-3 times a year) but other than that no issues.

12

Works like a charm
.

13

Use the wheel, be happy.

14

I would vote for the PowerTap rebuild. You can’t have enough fast wheels and I bet you will find that you won’t use those Jets anymore because they no longer have power.

I have a set of Mavic Cosmics that don’t have a PT and I bet they get ridden once or twice a year at most, usually when I find that my PT wheel has a flat and I am in a hurry. The rest of the time they are just a garage ornament. Use them or sell them would be my recommendation.